Tales from the Pantry One

I'm tired, and it's wintur! -3

"Zayn. ZAYN!" Liam screamed. He clapped his hands loudly next to Zayn's ear. He was sitting on the floor of the candy aisle sleeping.

"I'm not waking up," Zayn mumbled. He'd been up all night spray painting his bedroom walls. He barely got three hours of sleep. There was just SO much space to cover.

"Zayn, If you don't wake up, I'm going to write you a citation."

"Damn," Zayn sighed. He slowly stood up with his eyes closed. He turned around to block Liam from talking to him, and he continued to check the expired starbursts. This front half only expired a week ago, so it can stay on the shelf. The back half expired two weeks ago, so it needs to get thrown out. What a waste of perfectly good starbursts. What does the FDA know? Maybe I'll give some of the trash ones to Niall. Zayn continued sifting through the slightly expired candy, and Louis began restocking the empty racks and shelves.

Zayn yawned for the sixth time in ten minutes. Louis asked, "Zayn, are you ok? You seem really tired today. Well, more tired than normal."

Zayn just kept his head down, "I think I'm fine,"

Louis frowned, then smirked. He had an idea, "Hey Zayn, you know how I'm learning witchcraft? What if I tried to use some of the knowledge from my craft to help wake you up!"

Zayn slowly turned his head to face Louis, who was grinning ear to ear, and his bright blue eyes were glowing with life. He looked so excited. How could Zayn turn him down? "No," Zayn deadpanned. He put his head back down.

"What?!" Louis practically shrieked. "But why not? Zayn, look me in the eye and give me one GOOD reason why you don't want me to do spells on you."

Zayn sighed and turned his head back. He looked Louis in the eye like he had asked and said, "You pissed your pants the other day while doing this stuff."

Louis turned red. He started breathing angrily and scrunched up his face, "I didn't piss myself!"

"Then what happened?"

"I- it doesn't matter. Also, your reason is invalid because I. didn't. Piss. Myself." Somewhere in the distance, Harry was blushing. The store really isn't that big. "Give me a good reason Zayn- A real reason. I bet you can't. I am very powerful, you know. People of my skill can give the illusion of pissing yourself, but in reality-"

"Oh my god, If I let you do some of your magic shit to me, will you shut up?"

"Yes," Louis replied contently. He was so excited, he couldn't decide what to do first! He made up a list in his head: incense blessings, breathing and meditation, release by flame, and who knows, maybe Zayn will let him do a water manifestation. Louis started running around the store getting supplies: incense, candles, a lighter, a cup of water, some tape, and a garden hose.

"What's the garden hose for?" Zayn asked.

"It's to circulate your energy, obviously." Louis replied with a hint of sass. "Come with me into the break room!" Zayn put his head in his hands. He had no clue what was coming for him.

"Ok," Louis started. "Step into the circle." Zayn stepped into the circle that was indicated by the hose. He was surrounded by candles, and the pentacle symbol was taped on the floor. "Now, I am going to cleanse you of sleepiness. Visualise yourself feeling awake" Louis tried to sound assertive, yet calm. Zayn tried to visualize light as Louis walked in a counterclockwise motion around him, holding an incense stick. "Do you feel more awake?" Louis asked.

"No," Zayn said.

"Well, do you feel less sleepy?" Louis asked impatiently.

"No," Zayn replied.

"Ugh, you're probably doing this wrong! Phew, ok, now I'm going to invite alertness into your energy. Make sure you VISUALIZE." As Louis walked in a clockwise motion around him, dragging the incense stick behind him, Zayn made sure to really "visualize" this time. He imagined a red light coming from the incense stick to swirl around him. He could feel the light. He visualized white light coming from himself. The light from the joined in with his own light, and with a deep breath, the light was-

"So, did it work? Do you feel alert and awake now?" Louis asked quickly and eagerly

"I didn't get to finish my visualization. Now I'm even more tired because I was closing my eyes for all that time!'' Zayn said with aggravation. It's definitely too late to go back and try again.

Louis took a deep breath. "It's ok," Louis said, his voice a little high pitched now. "We can try something else! You can cast your intention into a flame. It might burn the place down but-"

"Louis, I'm not gonna commit arson. I think I'm just gonna sneak in a power nap, ok? If Liam looks for me, tell him I took my break early." Zayn walked over to thetable, and put his head down. 

"Fine." Louis stormed out, slamming the door behind him. 

"Guys? GUYS?! Where did you go?!" Niall yelled out from the middle of the store.

"We're right here, Niall." Liam said

"Where?" Niall called.

"Well, If you'd turn around, you'd see me at the coffee machine-"

"I'M NOT IN THE STORE!" Niall screamed. He turned around to reveal his eyes had gone completely white.

"NIALL!" Liam screamed. "I'm gonna call someone. Zayn, go stand next to Niall." Liam ran for the phone and started dialing frantically.

"Hey, dude," Zayn started. "It's gonna be ok, we got you,"

"ZAYN? IS THAT YOU? I CAN BARELY HEAR ANYTHING!"

"Oh god," Zayn whispered. He closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again-

"Niall!" Zayn screamed. "He's gone!"

Zayn gasped. He woke up in a cold sweat. Whatever he had just dreamt felt so real. Like it was a prediction. He had to tell Niall about this; He had to warn him. I can't tell Niall about this; he'll think I'm crazy. Shit. I've got to do something about this.

Zayn walked out of the break room. "Zayn, watch this!" Niall exclaimed. He was doing a minute-to-win-it cookie challenge. Harry and Louis were standing very close together at the counter chanting, and a couple of teenagers were watching happily. "YEAH!" Niall cheered when he got the cookie in his mouth. The crowd cheered, too. "Did you see that, Zayn? Zayn? Is there something wrong?" 

Zayn exhaled slowly, "I'm fine. I just have something to tell you."

"Ok, what?"

Zayn looked Niall in the eye. He bit his lip nervously. He took one last deep breath, "I snagged you one of the trash starburst rolls."

"Aw, thanks man!"

Shit.

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Yay! Another one is up! I'm trying to make it so that each of the boys get their own bits of spotlight. It's great! Any thoughts on this chapter? Please tell me<3 I'm very open to suggestion and ideas. I will buy an ice cream from the real Pantry One in honour of the first person who comments on this chapter.

Thank you so so much to anyone who would actually spend time reading this<3