Smile For Me || Niall Horan

36: Protecting The Family

When you love someone, you protect them from the pain. You don't become the cause of it.

I dropped my phone to the ground with a thud. Did I seriously just hear him right?

"Lex? Alexis are you okay?" I hear my brother's frantic voice coming from the device now sitting by my feet. I lean down and put my head in my hands.

The killer. He's back. He's going to find me and kill Claire and Niall and all the other boys just like in my nightmares.

This can't be real. It must be another nightmare. Soon I'll wake up and Niall will be there to sing me back to sleep just like he does every night. This is all in my mind. My head playing tricks on me. But why does it feel so real?

"Lex?" I hear Niall's worried voice come from the living room as a tear rolls down my cheek. I don't say anything. Instead I pick up my phone, run upstairs, and shut the door roughly.

I run out to my balcony and cry my eyes out. I didn't care that it was around twenty degrees, maybe less. I didn't care that I wasn't in a coat or even shoes. I didn't care about anything except the fact that the man who destroyed my life is out there in the open, able to do whatever he wants on his own free will. It terrified me.

I sit there and cry more than I've cried in the past three years. I cried more than when my parents and Jake died. I cried more than when Niall and I were having problems. I cried more than when Derek said those awful accusations. But they weren't tears of sadness as much as they were tears of fear. Fear for me, for Claire, for Austin, for the boys. Fear for everyone that I could possibly think of ever being close to.

Soon enough the door opens, and Niall steps outside with me. "Talk to me," he says in a gentle tone, sitting down next to me and draping a blanket over my shoulders. He hugs me to keep me warm even though he didn't look too warm himself. I cry into his chest, soaking his shirt. I shake my head.

"This can't be happening. Just when everything is perfect...."

"What happened?" he asks, obviously worried about me.

"He's free! He escaped! He's out there somewhere probably taking more lives! Lives that mean something to someone! They probably have families and children and people who care about them, and he's out there in the open just killing them off one by one!" I rant, more tears flowing. He comforted me just like he usually does each night, except this time it didn't work. It did nothing to calm me down or stop me from shaking. I'm sure Niall is smart enough to figure out who I was talking about.

"He's not going to come near you."

"You don't know that!" I snap. I instantly regretted being so nasty, but was too upset and traumatized to think straight. "You can't see the future...."

"No, but I can predict. And I think that as long as we have security and body guards, you are going to be one hundred percent safe." I cuddle into him closer.