Broken || Niall Horan

Chapter 2

The group walked for who knows how long, but just to be safe, I pushed my way to the front of the crowd. There were more people crowded around what looked like a stadium, it had a line of medal blockades all around the perimeter.

In the front, there were security guards in all black filing us in neatly. I was put up in the front, right up against the blockades. All the girls behind me were screaming, and pushing me, so I tenured around and politely told them to, 'Shove off'. They all just rolled their eyes and moved to the side.

Hours passed, I wanted to leave, but the girls were so packed in I couldn't if I tried. Most of the girls quieted down, but some of them started screaming at the most random things.

As more hours passed, the sun rose higher and higher in the sky, and it was warming up, so I rolled up the sleeves on my sweatshirt. I crossed my arms on the bar in front of me and laid my head down. Eventually I was able to zone out the screams and close my eyes.

I don't know if I fell asleep or not, but the next thing I know, everyone is screaming again, and I am being shoved into the bar. They keep pushing harder and harder, the bar is right under my ribs and I can barely breathe. One of the girls is shoved into me, and the bar is shoved deeper into my ribs, I'm at a loss of breath, followed by sharp pain. It hurts to breathe. I use my arms to lift myself so my ribs are above the bar, this action was followed my waves of pain.

Normally I have a good pain tolerance, so I closed my eyes, held my breath, and tried to forget. I exhaled, the pain had lessened, and I tried to focus on what everybody was screaming about.

I saw a boy walk past, well he wasn't really a boy, he looked like he was 19 or 20 or something. He had hair nicely gelled into a small mohawk. His brown eyes glistened as he waved to the sea of screaming girls.

The next guy had a nice smile, and brown curly locks, piled atop his head. He had glowing green eyes, and waved to the crowd.

The next one had brown hair, and blue eyes, and a little bit of stubble growing from his chin. He showed his white teeth as he smiled at the girls.

The next guy had black pointy hair. He had brown eyes framed by the longest eyelashes I have ever seen on a guy. He kindly smiled and waved as he walked past. They all seemed to be in a hurry to get to where ever they were going.

The last one came jogging up, he had blond hair and piercing blue eyes, I watched as they met mine. He started to walk closer, and the girls went mad, and shoved me back into the bars.

"Are you OK, you're not screaming like everyone else, and you look like you're in pain?" he had an Irish accent, and his brows furrowed as hie eyes searched mine.

"Uh, yeah," I gasped, "What is there to fan-girl over?" I tried to move my body to a comfortable position.

"I don't really know..." he trailed off. I noticed his eyes had moved down to my arms. I was about to cover them up, but he grabbed my hands. He held them out to examine them. His expression softened, and his eyes were sad. He looked me in the eyes, then back at my arms. He gently ran a single finger over my arm, feeling every scar. I heard some of the girls behind me shout things like, 'Emo!' or 'Ew' as hard as I tried, I couldn't zone them out.

He looked at me, "Why," he whispered. I took my arms back, and rolled down my sleeves.

"You wouldn't understand," I whispered, looking at the ground, my eyes blurry with tears, I wish I would just disappear.

He leaned over the bar and whispered in my ear, "Then help me to understand, please." He took my hands again. A security guard came over and asked him if everything was 'OK'. He shook his head and whispered something in the guard's ear.

"I'm gonna need backup," he spoke into a radio.

Shocked I looked deep into the blonde's blue eyes, "What, are you going to kick me out now?"

He smiled, and whispered, "Just wait." Other guards arrived, they hopped over the blockades, and pushed the girls back. The head guard nodded to the boy, who held his hand out to me.

"C'mon, hop over," his smile was warm, and I hopped up and sat on the bar. I swung my legs over and he wrapped his arm around me to help me down. His arm was wrapped around my ribs, and the pain flowed back into my body. I gasped and jumped from his arms, gasping for breath.

He looked hurt, "What's wrong, I'm so sorry, did I hurt you?"

"No," I gasped, "I just," c'mon, breathe, "my ribs." He looks at the guard who nods, and he wraps his arm around my shoulder. We walk through a pair of double doors, and walk in silence to a door labeled, 'Medic'.

He opened the door, and we were greeted by a round middle-aged woman, she smiles at us, "Hello dears, what do we have here?"

"Uh," I start, "My rib, is, uh."

"It's OK, let's have a look. Can you please remove your sweatshirt?" My eyes widen, and I look at the blond boy. He leaned over and whispered something in her ear.