ESCAPE

Chapter 8

ZAYN

The next morning I woke up to the sizzling sound of something being fried.

Since when did we use the kitchen stove?

I groaned and turned over so that I could go back to my disturbed slumber.

'That sweater looks good on you Val', I heard Harry say from up front and that made me open my eyes again.

'Zayn? Oh, he hates waking up', he said again.

'Yeah, the dude could sleep through a zombie apocalypse', said Louis.

Very creative Lou.

Very creative.

'There is no such thing as a zombie apocalypse', said Harry.

'Oh yeah? Then explain all that noise at night', said Louis.

'What noise?', asked Niall.

'All those weird sounds as we drive through the night', he said.

The silence that followed was a sign that they were actually thinking about it.

Ladies and gentlemen, I give you my best friends.

I buried my face into my pillow so I wouldn't have to hear anymore of their nonsense.

A minute later and I had fallen asleep again, but this time there was a dream.

'Zayn', I heard a voice and I looked around.

It was like I was trapped in some sort of maze made of mirrors.

I knew that voice anywhere.

'NOVA!', I called and tried to run towards the direction of her voice.

'Zayn it's a trap!', I heard her scream and it made my blood turn cold.

'No! I wont leave you!', I yelled and tried to make my way trough the maze.

All I could see was my desperate reflection,running around like a mad man but in the corner of my eye, I caught her blonde hair and I ran towards it.

As I turned the corner, there she stood, looking bruised and weak.

'Nova!', I yelled and she lifted her head to face me but  almost immediately  a gunshot rang through the air and I had to duck in order not to get shot.

The mirrors that surrounded us exploded into tiny bits and I fell on my knees, trying to shield my eyes with my arm.

I looked up and I found Nova on the ground, just like I had found her that night.

But instead of a knife, there was a long shard of glass in her abdomen.

'..Zayn..ZAYN!', called a voice and I flung my eyes open as I sat upright.

'Zayn, Paul just-', started Liam but he stopped when he saw me.

'Mate, you look pale. You're sweating bullets. Are you sick?', he asked as he felt my face but I shook my head.

'Bad dream', I said and climbed out.

'Do you want to talk about it?', he asked but I ignored him as I continued to walk towards the bathroom.

'Was it about Nova?', he asked and I stopped in my tracks.

'It was, wasn't it?', he asked and I heard him approach me.

'Zayn, you have to tell someone mate', he said but I shrugged him off.

'Zayn', he said and I turned to face him.

'Who am I supposed to tell Liam? A doctor? Because I'm pretty sure management will be up my ass if they hear me share any of their 'top secret' cases with anyone! They wouldn't care even if my life was on the line! All they care about is their ledger being squeaky clean!', I yelled and slammed the bathroom door.

VALENTINA

We were all laughing at Harry's pancake flip, which had managed to get stuck on the ceiling, until we were interrupted by a series of loud voices.

'...They wouldn't care even if my life was on the line! All they care about is their ledger being squeaky clean!' and it was followed by the slamming of the door.

'Something tells me that today's meeting is going to be just swell', said Louis as he sipped his hot chocolate.

Paul sighed and shook his head, he had boarded our bus a while back so that they could discuss about me.

Liam appeared from the back and we all looked at him.

'He woke up to a bad dream', he said and everyone held their breath.

'Nova', I heard Niall say under his breath.

'Paul, it's just getting worse', said Liam and he sighed.

'You know that it's out of my hands lads', he said and they nodded.

I looked at Niall with a confused look and he simply smiled at me and said, 'It's a bit personal Val'.

I nodded and decided not to bother myself thinking about what was wrong with Zayn.

Harry, on the other hand, was looking up at the ceiling, studying his stuck pancake.

'It must be the batter', he mumbled.

The sound of the bathroom door opening was heard and everyone quickly went back to their normal selves, to lighten up the atmosphere.

'Well, I'm up. What is it?', asked Zayn as he stood at the doorway that separated the kitchen from the bunks.

'It's about Valentina', said Paul and I felt Zayn's stare on me.

'Yeah, what about her?', he asked.

'Management wants to meet her', said Paul with a tensed expression.

Zayn's expression changed and I could see his eyes turn a shade darker and I also noticed that everyone was holding their breath now.

'Well you can  tell management to go fu-', but he was cut off by the pancake which had decided to fall down on his head.

'So, it was the batter!', exclaimed Harry with a very pleased look as he examined the gooey breakfast that was dripping into Zayn's hair.

Louis was the first to burst out into fits of maniacal laughter which was followed shortly by Niall while Liam simply pursed his lips.

Zayn slowly picked up the pancake from his head and then looked at Harry who looked dead scared now.

'Oh Hazza is so dead', said Louis and before we knew it, Zayn had poured the whole batter onto Harry's head.

Louis laughed out loud but before he knew it, he was attacked in the face by a flying pancake.

'Thanks, Z', said Harry.

'Anytime Curly', he replied and retreated back to the bathroom.

I looked at Paul who now had his head in his hands and he smiled faintly at my stunned expression.

'Welcome to the One Direction family, love', he said and I grinned.