Let's Pretend [Niall Horan]

Chapter 5

"You're on speaker," I said as calmly as I could.

"My daughter, Faith.  She's still alive. She had to sacrifice her memory to keep living, but yeah, she's well." Elizabeth sighed, the sound tinny and far too loud for the hotel room.

But how the hell could she be alive when Niall was so certain she was dead?  Didn't she die like three years ago?  

"We need to tell Niall!"  Louis finally spoke, his eyes as wide as mine probably were.

"No!" Elizabeth's voice yelled through the receiver, making me jump.

"I mean–it will put Niall through too much, emotionally.  He has already adjusted to her death, and to learn that she actually never died, but can never remember him, would just kill him."  Was it just me, or did her voice linger on the word 'kill'?  "For both of their wellbeing, let us make sure that Niall never meets Faith, okay?  I know what's best for him."

"How is this better?" Zayn asked, rubbing his chin with a worried expression on his face.

"Trust me. I know Niall and I know what's best for him." Elizabeth repeated in that weird tone that scared me, even though I didn't know this lady.

"I suppose..." I replied, pursing my lips. This Elizabeth woman did not seem like someone who we should say no to.  "But hold on." I clicked the hold button on the phone and turned to Zayn and Louis.

"How do we know she's not lying? This whole thing could be a huge prank." I said, rolling my eyes and chuckling over the tension in the air.  Now that I thought about it, it probably was a sick prank.  Yes, that's what it is.  How could Faith possibly be alive?  I chuckled again.

"Harry's right." Zayn agreed, nodding.  I could see how uneasy he was, though. "Let's just say okay and carry on with life.  We all know for a fact that she is definitely dead." 

I turned the phone off of hold and before Elizabeth could speak, I said, "Okay. It's a deal." 

I just wanted to get off of the phone with this weirdo already. What kind of joke did she think this was? Pretending a dead girl was alive, especially when the girl in question meant the world to Niall. That was definitely not cool.

"Good." Her strange accent filled the air. "It's settled, then. No telling Niall."

"Yeah. Okay. You do know him better than us, I guess," Louis also agreed, rolling his eyes at me.

"Okay, fine, but are you sure this is best?" Zayn asked.  I wasn't sure that he actually believed that this was a prank, which was silly.  What else could it be - real?

"Do you have a family?" The lady asked in a monotone.

"Well, yeah..." Zayn replied.

"Would you do the best for your family, if you had the option?" Elizabeth asked silkily.

"Of course?" Zayn replied.

"Then do what I said." She replied in a fake-sweet voice.

"Okay, then..." Zayn trailed off.

"Thanks, boys!" Elizabeth crooned.  "If you ever, and I mean ever break that agreement that we just created, bad things will happen." There was a click and the phone went silent.

Zayn, Louis and I all exchanged looks.

"That was some weird prank," Louis commented before picking up his cards and proceeding with the game as if nothing happened.  

I forgot about that call for so long. The day that Faith met us in the 1D meet-and-greet was when I realized it was all true. Elizabeth wasn't some sicko prank caller.  It wasn't a lie. She was alive.  And ever since then we've all been pretending...