*Trigger warning for a suicide scene*
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Post your reactions as you read. This chapter is a break from Zayn and Salma's bickering.
William's P.O.V
William jerked awake when the door was kicked open, sending it flying and banging against the wall. Before his hazy vision could adjust to his surroundings, he was roughly grabbed by the collar and yanked up.
"Where is she?!" the intruder shouted in his face.
"What the f-"
His fist collided with William's jaw making him taste metal in his mouth.
"You blasted son of a - "
William's ears muted out his screams when another fist collided with his face again, turning the world around him upside down. William was already disoriented because of the drugs streaming in his system, and now this devil decided to show his revolting self in the middle of the night.
"Get off me!" William rasped through his bloodied lips. "You bloody -"
He was awarded with another punch to his nose, effectively cutting him off.
"How dare you!" the angry boy thundered in his face. "How dare you, Sterling!"
William struggled against his assault on him. Blood ran down his lips. Even through the haze, William could see his caramel eyes darkening into a demonic shade of brown. The devil was ballistic. He looked quite mad.
"It's none of your business, you arrogant piece of dirt!" William snarled, finally shoving him off.
"Shut up!" he yelled, grabbing William by the collar again. "Shut the hell up! She is my business! She has always been -"
"- Your play thing, Harris! Nothing more!" William drowned his voice with his own.
He totally lost it. Throwing a punch at William, he climbed on top of him.
"You left her, Harris -"
A blow to William's jaw.
"And I didn't -"
Another blow.
"I was there for her!"
The raging boy kept pounding his face. William was in no condition to fight him off. Just as he thought he was going to get killed that night, the punching stopped and the assailant got off. William was quite certain he must have been hallucinating, or perhaps, he did hear a feminine cry.
"No! I said stop!" William could make out his panicked pleading with her.
His terrified tone confused William. He blinked. Breathing hard, he tried to see through his puffy eyes. To his horror, he saw her standing by the kitchen door. Her blonde hair ruffled, her face pale and expressionless, her blue eyes raw and mascara streaming down her face as she cried. She had stopped him from hurting William.
"Don't do this, Please." The dark haired devil begged her. Just then William's eyes landed on the knife in her hand, making his blood run cold.
"I asked you before!" She screamed, pressing the knife to her wrist threateningly to stop the panicked boy who was trying to edge towards her. He halted his movement, as William too was stunned to his spot. "Yes, or no?!"
"Please, don't," he begged her again. "Please! Just come with me. We can -"
"Don't-" William tried to intervene.
"Yes or no, Zayn?"
"Put the knife away, and we can talk about it!"
"Do you love me or not!" she shouted. William heard the finality in her voice. There was no denying that she was going for it. William figured he had to get to her before she ended up doing something stupid. He tried standing up, only to fall off the couch. A wave of nausea washed over him.
"Stop," William slurred, fighting off the dizziness, "He's not worth it . . ."
"Say it, Zayn!" she demanded savagely, ignoring William's request completely. "Yes or No!"
Harris hesitated. She tipped the handle, ready to swipe the blade across her sensitive vessels. Seeing the mad glint in her eyes, both of the boys panicked.
"NO!"
There was a swift motion and a glint of the the metal. Harris dived towards her, but her blood was already sprayed crimson on the wall next to her. Feeling nauseous upon realizing what she'd done, William stumbled towards her. However, he was roughly shoved against the table by Harris. By the time his dizziness subsided enough to let him see straight, Harris was halfway through the door with her in his arms. One of his hands tightly clasped against her bleeding wrist.
"No!" William tried to reach for her.
The door swung behind them. He saw her face. White as a sheet. But it was her half closed brown eyes, and dark hair that took William by surprise. He gasped as her features registered in his mind.
Sally?
"No . . . !"
William's mind cleared and his vision sharpen the moment the door shut tight and Zayn took her away. A tortured sound escaped his lips as he screamed her name.
"Salma!"
William jolted awake and sat up straight in his bed. His breathing was quick and shallow, and his body was drenched in sweat.
Oh God, please no! He ran a shaky hand across his face, Not this again!
Salma's expressionless face flashed acrossed his mind and he felt the urge to throw up.
It wasn't her! he told himself firmly, burying his face in his hands, this was just a dream. It wasn't Salma!
It has been years since the events of that night had haunted him. Years since Harris's egotistical need to control everything ended up in her losing all she had. If only William was there for her quick enough. If only he could have protected her from his arrogant desire to keep someone around who worshipped him constantly. Someone, he did not give a damn about, till they decided to quit and get a life. If only William could have saved her.
He was nearly there. He almost had her. She virtually fell for him. That night, she basically chose him over Harris, but then he had to come barging into her place, acting like he gave a damn about her. That inhuman, possessive git just had to toy with her till she could not take it anymore.
She decided she had had enough. William never saw her again.
His stomach twisted in painful knots when it crossed his mind that Salma could be his next prey.
No! She won't! He fisted his hands tightly. I won't let him!
His phone started buzzing, pulling him out of his haunted memories. Swallowing hard, he reached for it and swiped across the screen when he saw Asim's I.D.
"Hey Will," Asim's voice carried through the phone, "We just got a call. Agent Alex has been discharged and he's going to hold a meeting tomorrow. Are you coming with?"
"Yeah," William croaked, then cleared his throat, "Yeah sure."
There was pause.
"Are you alright?" Asim asked, concerned.
"Yes, I'm fine," William reassured him, his mouth felt dry. "I'm alright, thanks. Just woke up from a nap, so yeah."
"Right, I'll be off then." He answered. "See you in a few?"
"Sure, later."
They hung up. William ran frustrated fingers through his long hair. Reaching for the water, he tried to calm down. What hell was this Agent going to send them to now?
Ever since Flintoff's revelation that Salma and the devil were together, the atmosphere in the house was really tense. That fool was too thrilled for his friend being alive, to see that no one in Salma's family was excited to have her placed in the devil's palm.
William wondered when Harris had managed to recruit this fresh worshipper. The happy idiot was nowhere in picture back when William knew him. He hoped Flintoff wouldn't end up the same as the rest of Harris's admirers.
As if on cue, Salma's limp body from his dream flashed across his mind. He gripped the glass so hard that it shattered between his fingers. A shard pierced the skin of his index, causing a nasty cut.
Cursing, William jumped to his feet to clean the mess.
***
William stared hard at the picture displayed on the screen; his raven hair streaked with blonde pulled up into a perfect quiff, his sculpted jaw littered by the slightest stubble, high cheekbones and those twinkling, innocent, doe like eyes staring right back at the camera. If anything on his perfectly handsome face gave away the devil that he actually was, it was the corner of his lips tugging up into an arrogant smirk.
Trying hard not to smash the screen of his iPad, William glared hard at every bit of the evil's face with so much contempt that it would have been enough to burn him had he been around.
Yes, it's him! He swallowed, gritting his teeth, It's definitely this boy with a different name. I'd recognize him anywhere.
Taking in a deep breath, he read the caption below.
'Time off: Cooling off at the beach, the much adored LA Galaxy forward is a definition of hot in the picture he shared on his Instagram.'
"Bullshi-!" William stopped himself just in time. He had not spoken much to Salma in the past couple of years, but hers and his family's strong disapproval of bad language still kept him from using swear words to let some of his anger out. Sighing, he slammed the iPad on the table.
Lies! All lies!
Placing his elbows on the table, William rubbed his tired eyes. He had not been able to sleep very well these days. Salma has not been found yet, and he was now having nightmares. He felt like his head would explode. Running his fingers over his sore temples, he wondered what to do with the information he had on Zayn. Should he at least tell his mother? Or Asim? Should he tell any of his family, at all? Should he worry them and let them know about him, the boy, that was not some sports celebrity, but the devil masked by all the glamour and charming smiles?
No, of course not! William sighed as his head throbbed, It won't help anyone, but then what was he to do? Should he leak the information online?
William groaned at the idea that seemed even lamer than the first. The public thought Harris was a talented, handsome, superstar, who was supposedly vacationing on the heavenly beaches of Hawaii. Letting his fans know of his true nature would do nothing to help Salma.
William's insides churned just thinking of the possibility of Zayn actually being around his cousin. It made his blood boil to think of the kind of torture she might be going through by having to deal with him. Harris was the perfect example of Lucifer himself, excruciatingly beautiful; an eye candy, but a manipulative, cunning demon as a person. William knew the real player, the person away from the eyes of camera and off the football pitch. He knew the boy behind all those dazzling smiles and smashing hairstyles. He knew the mysterious, dark boy that few people knew about.
For Zayn Harris everything in life was a challenge, a game. And a person like Salma was nothing short of a challenge. If they were anywhere within each other's reach, he could almost see how it would go between them. He knew Harris would be his usual arrogant self and treat her like dirt. This had worked on many girls that are too shallow to get past his looks and fame and are ready to lick his toes no matter what the price, but it would not work on someone like Salma.
William knew how she was. He knew she would slap his arrogance right back across his face, giving him such a whiplash that it would topple him on his backside, but Salma also happened to be just too nice a person to judge him too harshly. He could almost see Harris dropping his arrogant act after a while. He would target her for her weaknesses, being a manipulative jerk that he was. He would try to allure her into his trap with his looks and charms, till she would let him in, and then he would make a move to break her.
William had full confidence in Salma's strong personality, but she was overly simple and innocent for his gameswhile he was far too cunning. William just hoped Harris would not resort to violence when Salma gives him a tough time. Because he knew, once frustrated, nothing could be past Zayn Harris.
If Sally was with him, William thought to himself, then she was in far greater danger of getting hurt by him, then by anything that lurked in the shadows of the forest.
Tapping the screen, Zayn's picture showed up again.
You better not hurt her, Harris! William clenched his jaws, I will not stand by this time. I won't let you play someone that I care deeply about without retaliating.
Not a second time.
Author's Note:
A bit of roller coaster, this chapter and a break from 'Zalma' (The previous batch of Losties chose this name :P) Don't forget to vote and comment your thoughts. I want to read what you guys are thinking.
Also, anyone interested in doing vote and comment goals? I'll post quicker updates regardless, but if you people want to have more updates we could do goals.
Loads of Love!
J.