Deaf [A One Direction Fanfic] -Amy's Adventures Book 1- #Wattys2014

Chapter 23

~Liam's POV~

I knock on the door, drawing in a quiet breath as I wait for an answer. When there is none, I knock again, looking around nervously as I wait. It is dark, no lights other than the moon and the lamp hanging beside the door I stand in front of. The door opens and a hand grips my arm, pulling me inside. I hear the door shut behind me, then another hand grips my other arm and the two men force me down a hallway. I hear whimpers of pain and freeze, letting the men pull me as I've lost the ability to move. A door opens at the end of the corridor, and I'm forced into the room, where I find myself face-to-face with the man I hate most. He has three people tied up behind him who I recognize quickly, and I can't help but breathe a small sigh of relief when I see that there is one member who is still safe.

"How kind of you to join us, Payne." The man says, and my friends scream at me. Even though they are gagged, I can still understand them well enough to know that they think I made a mistake. They think I shouldn't have come, I should have saved myself. I shake my head to them, focusing my attention on the man that brought them here in the first place. He walks over to me, smiling in a way that makes my blood run cold, but I try to stand tall. "Tie him up." The man commands, and his two henchmen force my hands together behind my back, tying my wrists with rope them grabbing my arms tightly once again. "You will do what I say, understand?" The man says, looking me in the eye. I don't move a muscle, instead returning his glare and smirking when he gets angry. He swiftly reaches out, punching me in the stomach before withdrawing his hand. I collapse inward from the pain, unable to fall because of the grips on my arms. "You want your friends to go free, correct?" The man asks, and I finally nod. He smiles, stepping back and picking up one of my friends by a bound arm, holding him in the air. "Three lives for one. Three freedoms for one death. Sounds reasonable." The man decides, dropping my friend to the floor. I wince when he whimpers in pain. "Untie them and hold onto them, they can watch." The man orders, and the two henchmen release me into the man's arms.

"Liam, don't!" One of my friends screams as soon as the gag is pulled from his mouth. He tries to get to me but the man holds him back, pushing him to the side. "Paul will come soon, just hang on!" He yells right before he's shoved into the wall, groaning in pain. The other two yell similar things, but soon they have both been forced next to the other, and all three of them are standing against the wall, facing me. He was right. Paul will be here. But he will be here too late.

"Let's finish this now, Payne." The man says, kicking me hard in the backs of my knees and making me fall so that I'm on my knees in front of my friends. I feel the cool metal of a gun against the back of my head, and the man laughs when the door flies open and Paul runs in, followed by about ten other guards. "You're too late! You're too late!" The man screams, pulling the trigger. I feel pain shoot through my head, then nothing.

I sit straight up, breathing heavily. Zayn is sitting next to me, and I hug him tightly, surprising him. After a few awkward moments he hugs me back, and I smile, breathing heavily. "Liam, are you alright?" Zayn asks, looking at my face. I shake my head, looking at my chest.

"That was a stupid question, I'm in a hospital. I just had a nightmare, that's all." I say, thinking about the horrid dream I just experienced. Zayn nods sympathetically, slinging an arm around my shoulder.

"Wanna talk about it?" He asks, raising an eyebrow. I shake my head, thanking my lucky stars that I'm talking to Zayn. He's the only one in the band who won't press you if you don't want him to.

"Don't tell the others about this, please." I beg, and Zayn sighs, nodding. "It was just a dream, nothing to be afraid of." I say, more for my own gain than his. Before Zayn can say anything, the door opens and Harry runs in, followed by a nurse.

"Niall is flipping out! I think he remembered something really bad, he won't let anyone touch him and he keeps calling for Liam." Harry says, breathless. I look at Zayn and swing my legs over the side of the bed, standing. Zayn quickly pushes me down and into a wheelchair, which makes me groan.

"I am really sick of these things." I complain, looking at the nurse.

"If you want to see your friend you have to stay in it. He's stressing himself out and it could cause problems, so please hurry." The nurse says, running back out of the room. Zayn pushes me out after Harry, who opens the door next to ours and lets us go straight in. When we arrive, I gasp, taking in the scene before me. Niall is screaming, crying, and shaking, and every time a doctor, Louis or Paul tries to touch him he swats their hand away, curling up into a tight ball. Niall yells my name and Zayn pushes me over to the bed.

"Niall, calm down please." I say softly, and he stops screaming. I can tell he's still crying, and he's definitely still shaking, but it's a start. "Please tell me what's wrong, Nialler." I say, ignoring the fact that he probably doesn't remember the nickname. Niall pokes his head out from his little ball and looks at me with his uncovered eye, almost unsure. "What happened? What's wrong?" I ask in the same calm voice. Niall doesn't react, and I reach out, pulling the shaking boy into a hug. He slowly stops crying, and I finally get him to unfurl from his curled-up state after a few minutes. His eyes never leave mine, and I smile. "Niall, did you remember something?" I ask, and Niall's eyes widen. He reaches out and grabs my arm, gripping it firmly.

"I remembered everything, Liam. Everything about Greg. It's like my life stopped at X-Factor and started again the day he stabbed me in the meeting. I remember everything after that point but only bits and pieces from before it. I remember why Greg hates you, Liam." Niall says quietly, still looking into my eyes. I nod, waiting until I'm sure he's finished.

"What did he say, Niall?" I ask, thinking back to my nightmare. Niall looks like he's thinking, then he frowns.

"It didn't make sense. I think he was drunk, he said, 'I'm gonna kill that rascal for what he did. No one messes with me.' And so on so forth. He kept spewing nonsense and I don't think he even knew I was in the room, not that I wanted him to. Then he said, 'That man is lucky I let him off easy, he deserved so much more. I figure his son will even out the field, maybe that daughter of his, too.' Liam, Greg's only after you because he wants revenge on your dad." Niall says, and I feel my face heat up in anger that I try to fight away.

"Did he say what my dad did?" I ask hopefully. Niall shakes his head, looking down.

"I'm sorry, Liam." He says. I reach out and lift his chin, forcing him to look me in the eyes.

"Niall, what you told me is much, much better than nothing at all. I know it was hard for you to remember all of that, and it's perfectly fine that you don't know everything. Never ever ever apologize for anything, Nialler. There isn't a single thing you should feel sorry for." I say, hugging Niall tightly again.

"Liam, can I ask you something?" Niall asks into my shoulder.

"Of course, anything." I reply, smiling a bit.

"Are you really afraid of spoons?" He asks. I burst out laughing, hugging Niall tighter.

"That was the one thing I didn't think would come out of your mouth. And it's complicated." I say, and Niall starts laughing with me.

"You know, I read once that our fans have a name for fans who still live by all the old stuff like Liam's fear of spoons and Kevin and things like that. It's after Louis' carrot joke, they're called carrots. I think Niall is only remembering carroty stuff." Harry comments, grinning.

"So you're saying Niall is a carrot?" Zayn asks, copying Harry's smile. Louis, Harry, and Niall all start laughing uncontrollably, and I bite my lip to keep from laughing with them. "That made way more sense in my head." Zayn complains, groaning.

"That didn't make any sense in your head, admit it. We have some very strange fans, that's for sure." Louis says, ruffling Zayn's hair. Zayn frowns but doesn't do anything, other than slapping Louis' chest.

"I don't know, but even if Niall can only remember things that happened three years ago it's better than nothing." I say, smiling. "That means he's remembering, and that's a really good thing. Now then, Niall, about my fear of spoons..."