The Quest for Niall

LOUIS

Louis' day was rotten.

First, someone nicely takes Niall away, without asking, as if he were taking away garbage, then the four friends have to go cycling out in the scorching sun on a rescue mission to save Niall, then the dude in the van sees them and throws a spoon, and Liam freaks out when he sees the spoon, nearly making them lose the van.

Seriously, why did Liam fear spoons so much? It was not even a living thing. There was hardly any chance, in fact no chance, that someday a spoon would suddenly jump out and attack Liam. Besides, the spoon was used for eating, and it was made for eating. It would not be angry to be used for eating. Instead, it would snuggle up in the mouth, enjoy the warmth, and thank the eater for dunking it into many food items. But, there was something good about this fear. Louis got the opportunity to play his pranks. Oh, Liam would get so frightened, the poor guy would almost faint!

Okay Louis, that's being mean, Louis scolded himself. But deep inside, he knew that he enjoyed scaring Liam.

He and Liam had had no problems in chasing the van after the spoon incident. But Louis' strength was decreasing. Liam was slowly going ahead of him. Louis was panting pretty badly. Sometimes, if Louis looked down and back up, he would see things in a blur. Finally, when they reached a signal, Louis couldn't take it anymore. He stopped, slid off his cycle and asked Liam whether he could hitch a ride with him. Liam considered only for a moment and said, "Sure! Well, I will have a heavier load, but who cares?! It will simply be a test of my strength. But you will have to drag your cycle along. I won't be able to do that for you."

Louis thanked Liam, and sat on the backseat of the cycle. That was what Louis loved about Liam – his competitive spirit and his eagerness to help people. Maybe he earned a day free of pranks.

The signal turned green, and the vehicles started moving. The black van picked up speed. Liam also picked up speed. Liam sped along so fast that Louis had to hold onto Liam to stop himself from falling off the cycle. Louis was impressed by Liam's energy – what, was it a hundred horsepower energy? Liam seemed to be a machine zipping its way after the van. Now all Louis needed to concentrate on was to stay on the cycle and to keep his cycle from tilting and falling onto the ground, and the latter task was quite hard. Finally, Louis steadied his cycle. When he looked around him, he noticed that they were not in the city anymore. They were climbing a mountain slope, which was pretty surprising, for Louis felt that he had been busy with his cycle for only a minute. As they whizzed along the road, Louis enjoyed the cool fresh air that brushed against his face. "How's it going, Super Man?" Louis called out to Liam. Liam seemed to have grinned at the words "Super Man". "Well, I feel like I'm having a great jog. You should try it someday. Hey! How about tomorrow, you and I go jogging? It'll be so much fun!"

"Uh, no thanks, Spoon Phobiatress."

On hearing that, Liam jerked the cycle so hard that Louis a) nearly lost his grip on his cycle and b) almost fell off the cycle. "Hey, watch it man! A dude about your size is sitting behind you, with nothing to hold onto."

"Oh yeah? If you have a problem, why don't you ride your own cycle, rather than disturbing the rider by alarming someone scared of spoons by calling him "Spoon Phobiatress. Gosh! I'm disgusted; I'm not even a female!"

"Sorry dude. I just can't help it with all your 'Daddy talk' about jogging." said Louis.

They two of them travelled in silence after this. Soon, they were at the top of the mountain and the road began to straighten. After another kilometre or so, Liam was cycling after the van on a smooth road, Louis enjoying the wind and practically doing nothing at all. After another ten minutes, the black van stopped at a large mansion which did not lift Louis' spirits. It was not anything like those little Princess palaces with pink doors and glittering curtains. This was a typical gloomy mansion – black everything. The black was not the colour of the walls, it was the dirt and grime which had accumulated due to, what seemed like, no cleaning of that place. Liam stopped the cycle behind a large tree, and as Louis got off to park his own cycle, he saw two other cycles there. Hmm, that was strange. Maybe there were other men who had worn themselves out by cycling over to the mansion. "Oh, joy", thought Louis.

Liam and Louis left their cycles there and, keeping behind the trees, sneaked up to the mansion. Soon, they were by the side of the mansion. The man had gotten out of the van and was doing something on his phone. Suddenly, Liam pricked some spiky leaves at Louis' nose, making his nose itch very badly. "Ouch, ouch, stop it! What did I do, man?" cried Louis.

"That's for calling me 'Spoon Phobiatress'", replied Liam, seeming quite self-satisfied as he threw the prickly leaf away. Suddenly, Louis had an annoying urge to sneeze. He tried to ignore it, but the urge was too irresistible. "Good job, Liam. This is just what I needed in the middle of hiding. Thanks a ton", said Louis madly.

"Wait, what? What did I do?" asked Liam, puzzled.

"Oh, what did you do? You've done it. Poking that prickly leaf under my nose, and now I need to sneeze so badly."

"Oh. Well, can't you just hold on?"

"Gee, I didn't think about that at all. Lemme try – no Liam. You see, any dumb person in such a situation would have done that in the first place. So, naturally, yes, I tried holding on, but such a sensation caused by a prickly leaf is so hard to resist."

Louis felt the urge growing. Soon, he felt that any moment he would sneeze. The man was about to lock his phone, and Louis let go.

AAAACHOOOOOOO!!!!

The man was startled. He looked in their direction, and started walking over to find the source of the sneeze. "Now we're done for", grumbled Louis. Louis led Liam away towards the back of the mansion (because that was the best place Louis could think of at that time!). The man also started walking towards the back of the mansion. Louis saw a door at the back of the mansion, and pointed towards it to Liam. Liam looked at it, frowned and said, "No ways. I've been avoiding going into the mansion. "

"Okay, then you're as good as dead meat", said Louis harshly.

Liam grumbled. "Fine. Let's hurry."

Louis opened the door and they scrambled in. Liam pulled the door shut just as the man turned over the corner, and they were left in darkness.