"What?" Is the only thing I can think of saying. Zayn is sitting right next to me. He's really here. Why is he here?
"Hey, man!" Louis greets Zayn like he hasn't been missing for a week. "Why were you late?"
Zayn calmly responds, "I just didn't feel like getting out of bed." He picks up Lia's bread and starts to eat it.
"Zayn?" I say his name. I still can't believe he's actually here. What the heck is going on?
He turns to me and smiles, "Hello, Aimee. I want to apologize for throwing paint at you yesterday."
"That...that was a week ago." I quietly point out.
"Really? Could've sworn it was yesterday. Oh, well. I'm sorry for that." He apologizes. Then, he turns to Harry, "And I'm sorry for not returning your paint to you when I should have, Harry. I know better than to cause trouble like that."
I look at Harry, who has gone pale. He stares at Zayn with wide eyes for a moment, then at me.
"It's alright, Zayn, I forgive you. Aimee? Can I talk to you for a moment, please?" He asks me, standing up. I nod and stand up as well.
I follow Harry to the nearby empty corner of the South Wing. He turns to me once we've reached it.
"You see Zayn, too, right?" He frantically whispers, his hands shaking a bit. He sighs in relief when I nod. "Good, I thought I was going crazy."
"Louis spoke to him, how could you think you were the only one who saw him?" I ask.
"I wasn't paying attention. I was too busy internally freaking out!" Harry exclaims.
I take a deep breath and look at Zayn, who is eating and joking around with everyone. It's almost as if he was never gone.
"What's going on?" I can't help but ask. I know it's not safe to learn about things like this, but curiosity always gets the best of me.
Harry sighs, "I don't know, but if I wasn't scared before he showed up, I am now."
"He seems so...friendly." I point out. He's not acting like himself.
"There's something wrong with him." Harry suddenly states.
I look at him, "What makes you say that?"
"He's never gotten along with any of us so easily, just look at him." He explains. "And since when has he ever apologized for anything?"
Harry has a point, it's really unlike Zayn to be sorry.
"Why do you think he's acting so nice?" I wonder out loud. "How did he even come back? We didn't find him anywhere in the West Wing, so where was he?"
"Aimee..." Harry sighs, pushing his fingers through his hair, "I think it's time for me to tell you what Louis said he saw on the search last week."
"Really?!" I ask, getting excited.
"Yep." He solemnly responds.
"Well, it's about time!" I exclaim.
Harry chuckles, "Keep your voice down, why are you so excited?"
"Sorry, it's just that I've been waiting for almost a whole week." I explain.
"You sure you want to know? You have been acting strange about the whole situation since Lia disappeared." Harry states.
I'm a bit nervous to hear what Harry has to say, but it's important that we tell each other everything we know. For the past five days, I've been trying to convince myself that learning is dangerous. I have been repeating "knowledge is bad" in my mind ever since Lia went missing.
