As Far As I'm Concerned [Ziam Palik AU]

The Birth of a Reaper

[Prologue: The Birth of a Reaper]

October 1998

            That chilly afternoon in October, Zayn Malik was in the car with Perrie Edwards.

            She was the love of his life; at least he had thought so at the time. He didn’t tell anyone that though. Really, for someone to be the love of one’s life, one would probably have had to have told them how they felt first…

            Of course, Zayn didn’t do that.

            No, he was in his junior year at his local university as an English major and he was still the plain, spineless kid he’d been in high school. He spent most of his time fretting about the future and how quickly it was approaching, all while ignoring the girls that wanted to be with him and pining after the ones that didn’t.

            Zayn didn’t really get the big picture then, but that was okay. He’d learn soon enough.

            Anyways, Zayn found it a miracle that he even got this girl in the same room with him, outside of class, that is. He supposed that by deciding to never again be known as, “that guy that sits behind me in English” his luck had shifted a bit.

            “Are you alright, Zayn?”

            Her voice was like a chime, as cheesy as it sounded. Yes, Zayn noted for probably the hundredth time that he was hopelessly smitten with the girl.

            “Sorry,” he said, glancing over a bit from the driver’s seat. “Just drifted off a bit there.”

            “What were you thinking about?”

            It was funny, really. Before, Zayn had hardly even had a chance to talk to Perrie, but now he was suddenly getting the window of opportunity to tell her how he was feeling. It was a crazy thing, but he almost felt like he was fated to tell her that day. And maybe it was true; maybe fate was on his side.

            “Perrie,” he announced, clearing his throat and trying his best to sound clear and bold. “I have something I’ve been meaning to tell you-“

            When he looked over at her again, he was surprised to find her stormy eyes already looking back at him. It was enough to make him slow down in the world, just stop and catch his breath as if it were all going too fast.

            Unfortunately, the world didn’t slow down with him.

            In just a split second, everything was spinning, literally. The car was flipping and rolling like something out of a true action movie, the screaming of metal and people mixing together against the asphalt.

            It all was happened in about five seconds, tops, yet for Zayn, it felt like hours of being thrown in a blender. When it finally did stop, jolting the pair of them in their seats, everything sounded just dead.

            Zayn wasn’t dead though, not yet.

            He groaned a bit, instantly feeling pain throughout his entire body. Some of it was numbing while some of it was more like a burning fire, but either way, he knew he was in trouble.

            He also knew that if he was like this, then Perrie couldn’t be much better. They’d managed to land sideways with his door to the ground, and when he looked over to her, all he could see was a mess of blonde hair and blood that made him want to retch.