"Audrey, since you can hear voices, I'd suggest you to meditate or something, just, you know, concentrate and listen to what your mind says. Maybe those voices might help you." Liam said.
"What makes you think those voices might help us now?" I asked.
"I don't know. Only Zayn and you have heard until now. I don't think Zayn would be ready to try it, that's why I asked you." He said.
"Definitely not." Zayn said. "Hearing those kinds of voices, uhh, I find it quite disturbing."
"Okay but, the voices I've heard so far were all scary." I said.
"It's worth a try." Louis also agreed.
"Yea. Give it a try Audrey." Elsa said.
"Well, Harry, what do you think?" I asked him.
"Go for it. I don't suppose anything can happen to you if you do something now. It's pretty crowded here, and we all are here." He said.
"Okay. I'll try. Stay alert guys." I said. I closed my eyes and tried to concentrate hard on those voices. I think I did it for a minute, but just as I thought that, I heard that voice again, that same voice. The same man.
Not her. Please. I need her. Take me. Kill me.
The next thing I knew was that I was lying on the bench outside the ICU.
"What did you hear Audrey?" Elsa asked.
"That same terrible voice...again. That same man." I said.
"What were you thinking of?" Harry asked.
"Well um, those voices." I said.
"Why not something else? I guess that's why you passed out." Liam said.
"Think about Niall coming back to normal. You might hear something." Louis suggested.
"I really don't think she should try again guys." Zayn urged.
"She's fine Zayn. Aren't you Audrey? Try again. Just one more time." Elsa said.
"Well okay. I'll try." I said. I closed my eyes and tried again. This time, I concentrated hard on Niall. Oh happy all of us would be if he came back. I was thinking hard on him. I began thinking everything nice about him. I guess I did it a bit longer than the first time, but I didn't hear anything this time.
"Nothing." I opened my eyes and said. "Not even a word."
"Zayn, wanna try?" Liam asked.
"No way." He said.
*
Nothing happened that day, or that entire week. Niall didn't recover yet, but he was getting paler by the day. Louis' football practices didn't go as expected. They had no choice but to bring a substitute for Niall. Even if Niall recovered later, he couldn't join the team.
A month passed by, and the bloody message on the wall had faded away JUST a bit now. The janitors tried everything to get rid of it, but it didn't go that easily.
My acid marks were completely gone now, but the scar marks were still there.
Lisa was still a bit shocked after that incident, but she didn't show that while she was in front of us. Something tells me she saw who did it. Or else, why would she get THAT scared?
The football match was approaching and we got even more worried about Niall. He was shifted to a room in the same hospital now. Mrs. Horan was even more worried than all of us.
"Louis, do you feel you'll be alright during the match?" I asked him as we were having our lunch in the cafeteria.
"I don't know... have to." He replied." Last day of practice today. I really wish if Niall was here."
"Guys, our first term exam time tables have been put up on the notice board." Elsa came out of nowhere.
"When does it start?" Louis asked.
"Last week of this month. "She said. "Just one week after the football finals."
"Oh thank goodness. I'll have a week to study." Louis said. "First match tomorrow. We're facing Jake's team first."
"Is his leg fine?" Zayn asked.
"Nope. He's not playing." Louis said. "Good for us. He's really tough."
"I'm worried about Niall." Harry said. "Will he EVER recover?"
"He WILL." I said.
"It's been a month now." Elsa said sadly.
"I feel he saw HER that day on the field. And ever since that happened, SHE didn't spear to any of us, did SHE?" I asked.
"Yea. True that." Louis said. "So, you're saying, that if she appears to anyone else again, Niall will be back to normal?"
"I didn't say so. That sounds silly though, but I guess that's the only way." I said.
"How do we make her appear again?" Zayn asked.
"You have to do that Zayn." Liam said.
"What? Why me?" Zayn complained.
"When do we go?" Elsa asked.
"You guys are really planning to kill me?" Zayn asked.
"Nothing will happen to you Zayn. This time we all will be with you." Elsa said.
"Audrey, you too agree with this?" He asked me.
"Yes." I said. "I don't see any other way."
"But guys, when do we go?" Elsa asked again. "We have math next, and then chemistry."
"Denver is absent today." I said. "I don't know why but he's taken a lot of days off the last month. We can go in the next hour."
"Zayn, please don't scream this time. Or wait, why don't you just meditate like what Audrey did that day?" Louis said.
"But she didn't appear that day, remember? Audrey only heard the voices." Zayn said.
"Yea that's because she was thinking about those voices, and later Niall. What happened later depended on what she thought about. So, why don't you think about HER?" Harry suggested.
"I don't know about this guys." Zayn said nervously.
*
All of us went to the library immediately after lunch. We rushed to a spot where no one else was there. It was like we were summoning spirits, except we were not using an Ouija board.
"Isn't there any other way? Why don't we use an Ouija board?" Zayn asked.
"That's really complicated stuff Zayn. If something goes wrong while using it, then-..." I started but he interrupted saying "You've ACTUALLY used it before?"
"Enough Zayn. We can't waste any more time. Hurry up. Start meditating." Elsa said.
"Okay okay wait." He said. "All of you guys, please stand close to me."
"Fine. You start." Elsa urged. "And remember, only think of HER."
"Okay." He said and closed his eyes. He shut his eyes tight and started meditating. I just hope this works. It had been about a minute by now, but then a familiar cold wave swept past us.
Yes. Do it. DO IT.
Said a voice inside me. "WHAT?" I yelled out. Zayn opened his eyes with a start. It became cold. All of us stood there nervously waiting for HER, but SHE didn't appear.
"Is SHE here yet?" Zayn asked.
"Shh. Wait." I said. But this time, it wasn't HER.
"That man. It's HIM. This was the man I saw that day in front of HER." Zayn whispered immediately. Me and Zayn were staring at a distant wall.
"Who is HE?" I asked.
"Who's there? There's no one there Zayn." Elsa said.
"Please don't tell me you didn't see HIM Elsa." I said.
"No I didn't" She said.
"Neither did I." Harry said. Even Liam and Louis agreed that they hadn't seen HIM.
"WHAT? Impossible. We all were standing right here. How on earth did only the both of you see HIM?" Elsa asked.