Wanted | Niam AU

Chapter 1: Niall

Two years later

Two days before I was set to graduate, here I stood against my locker in a state of shock. People were walking by and going to class, not knowing the hell I was going through—or at least not caring.

Memories of what my mother said to me when I was seven had to come back to me right at that moment.

My whole body started to shake.

Why? I wanted to just scream out as loud as I could: Why?

Maybe my mother was right; no man would ever want me or would ever truly love me. I needed to just give up on men for good.

I just wanted Greg, when would he get here? I had to tell him what happened or he will know something is wrong the moment he sees my teary red eyes. Greg will know what to do to take away this pain before I have to go home and face my mother. I can never let her know what happened. She will never let me forget this, just like she always brings up Josh. God, I was having a problem getting air in my lungs. I just needed Greg.

Greg is my older brother by three years. He has been the only person in my life to be there for me. He was going to the University of Texas and studying Architectural Engineering. He worked his ass off in school to get perfect grades and of course he kicked ass on the football field as well. He received a scholarship to play football at the University of Texas. He could have gone anywhere, but he stayed in Austin to help take care of my mother and me.

He would not leave me all alone to deal with her. He is all I have in this world.

My father left when I was three. He came back to see us only once after he left. It was right after Greg got his scholarship to UT. He showed up on our doorstep acting like a proud father. I thought Greg was going to beat the shit out of him. He only stayed long enough to give Greg and me part of an inheritance from a grandmother neither of us remembered. He also caused our mother to go into another drunken fest and lose another job.

Greg made me put the money away for college and he bought his truck and paid off what was owed on our mother's house. My mother is nothing but a drunk who half the time does not even know she has two kids. I'm nothing but a reminder of the man who left her alone and unwanted. She told me how much I looked like him when I was younger. Her hatred for him drives her to drink away her problems, or at least she attempts to drink them away.

Greg is another reminder of our father but my mother pretty much just ignores him more than she does me. As long as he puts money in her account each month for her alcohol she is happy. Greg has worked since he was fourteen to help keep food on our table. I stopped counting how many jobs my mother has had in the last ten years. Sometimes she would be gone for days at a time, which was fine by us. How Greg managed to work, study and get to football practice all the while taking care of his baby brother I will never know.

I love my brother so much for all that he does, even for our mom. Greg is the only person in my life who has been there for me.

I only needed two people in my life... Greg and Harry. Well shit... at least up until thirty minutes ago, I thought the only two people I needed in my life were Greg and Harry. Harry has been my boyfriend for the last eight months; pretty much all of my senior year has been spent with him...what a fucking waste.

I guess I should say he was my boyfriend. That fucker! My body started to shake again as the image came back into my mind. I felt the tears threaten to come again. No! I wasn't going to cry over him anymore.

I had gotten a text message from Harry asking me to meet him in the auditorium during sixth period. I was an office monitor and it was not uncommon for me to meet him during sixth period before he left campus for the day. I could've sworn he told me he was leaving right after fifth.