Chapter Six
Yazer grabs Niall’s once again, and in a frenzy, Zayn reaches behind his bed and grabs his plastic Thor hammer from beside his night table. In a flurry of tan body parts Zayn wields the hammer and swings, his baseball swing, and nails his dad’s stomach. Clutching his chest Yazer bends over, and Zayn streaks in his pajamas out of bed, screaming like a wild banshee as he thwacks his father over and over again with his toy.
“You’ll leave us alone! You hear me? You won’t ever hurt us ever again!” Thwack thump thwack smack thump. Zayn wails on his dad’s body with his Thor club. He drops it, pounding on his dad’s body with his little balled up fists.
“You’ll leave us be!”
~….~
Zayn Jawaad Malik takes a deep breath. He wipes thick tears from his eyes as he retells the story of his abusive, neglectful childhood. His psychiatrist looks at him for a little while, as Zayn toes his tennis shoes on the floor. One of his laces are untied.
“Is that all that you have for me, today, Zayn?” The doctor, Doctor Ed Sheeran, scribbles something on his small leather bound notepad and tears it free from its spirals. He looks at the paper in his hand, shakes It for emphasis, in then hands it to Zayn as he stands to escort him out of the room.
Zayn follows him out of the room, out of the hospital, and into his car. He revs the engine as he looks at the note.
ARE YOU READY TO LET GO?
And on the back it says,
WRITE YOUR OWN FREEDOM ZAYN.
But Zayn isn’t sure, even as a big shot writer like himself, that he’s ready to tell the last and final story he has to tell. The most important one. His own. He crumples up the small sheet of paper, throws it in the passenger seat, and takes off down the darkened road.
When he gets home, nineteen your old Zayn sits in front of his laptop and wills himself to write more of his story. Because it didn’t end there with the Thor club and the knowing mother. No, it went on for years after that. So he cracks his knuckles, splays his fingers over the keys, and does what he does best. He writes. But his fingers won’t dance over the keys. So he turns on a recorder, closes his eyes, and lies on his back. If he can’t write it, he can speak it. So he does.
~…~
Things weren’t the same the next morning. Yazer and Patricia had a screaming match, it developed into full blown pushing fight, which then led to Zayn wheeling Niall into the elevator and taking them up to the second floor as the sound of shattering glass echoed through the house. Maria arrived promptly at eight thirty in the morning, as she did every day, and swept up the glass. She closed the cabinet, and put waffles in the presser as she called the house for the boys. She poured coffee for Yazer, tied the back of Tricia’s dress, and sent the fuming couple out the door.
She rode the elevator up, it stopped abruptly on the second floor and she heard shuffling. When the door opened she saw little shoes peeking out from underneath the back windows curtains. The curtains themselves swayed with movement.
“I wonder where the boys are?” The nanny called, finding it a simple, childish game. She pretended to open doors and pick up and set down toys as she slowly neared the curtains.
“Oop! There you are!” She trills as she throws aside the curtains. Instead of a boy, she sees a pair of small Supras’ Niall’s favorite, and she whirls around. “Boys?” She hears a pair of gentle feet padding across carpet, then she hears the ding of the elevator as someone gets in it.
Maria jogs to the elevator and wedges her white nurse’s shoe in the crack forcing it open to see Zayn and Niall perched in the corner, holding hands. Niall has tears streaming down his face as Maria steps inside and the double doors close behind her and they begin to descend.
“Oh, oh I thought you were my mum,” Zayn breathes wiping Niall’s tears with his hands as the door opens on the bottom floor. “Oh I’m sorry Maria,” Zayn lets Maria wheel Niall from inside the elevator.
“Why would you be running from your mother?” Maria asked as she pushes Niall’s chair up to the counter. She watches Zayn climb on his stool as she flops warm waffles onto plastic plates.
She watches Zayn and Niall exchange secretive glances.
It hits Maria like a freight train.
“Does it have something to do with Niall’s bruises?” Zayn nods his head vigorously and Maria advances.
Just then the door swings wide! Patricia advances, her red heels clacking on the tile. She’s popping her chewing gum. It’s on the tip of Zayn’s tongue. He wants to tell her, wants to blurt it all out to Maria and get help.
“That’ll be enough, Maria. I’ve decided your services will no longer be needed.” Patricia snaps. She sees the look of terror in her sons eyes and says, “Forever.”
Dr. Ed leans forward with his head in his hands and his elbows on his knees.
“So that was it?”
Zayn shrugs his tattooed, broad shoulders. “I guess.”
“Your mother, she was eavesdropping?”
Zayn shrugs.
Dr. Ed writes something else on his paper and rips it free. He waves it in Zayn’s face.
Write away the pain of your past.
I think you’re ready to let go.
Then Zayn excuses himself and gets in his car. He wants to see Niall.
YOU ARE READING
When You Must -Lirry & Ziall-
AdventureZayn's likes to eat alone, sleep alone, drink his freshly ground black coffee in the morning alone, likes to dance alone, listen to music alone, but he doesn't actually fancy being lonely; but ever since the death of his handicapped younger brother...
