The sweet aroma of honey wafted through the room the pungent scent brewing in the air caressing the nostrils in a decadent pulse. Golden hair flowed gracefully through the air as the blond ran across the hall into the kitchen, her small body traipsing ungracefully across the carpeted floor as she squealed in excitement; she could hear the sizzling of the pan and the bubbling of the pot and the gentle tapping of her mother’s feet across the tiles. She entered the sweet smelling kitchen her face contorted in an expression of utter glee as she observed her surroundings, overflowing with tinsel and golden leaves the mattering of green tendrils decorated with tinsel raced along the walls as it enshrouded the small room in an almost woodsy feel. In her peripheral she could see her mother a tall woman with long auburn hair and the warmest caramel eyes she has ever seen. She smiled at her and approached her moving nearer and extending her arms to hug the slender woman, letting her small frame enlarge to the permutable size, her wiry arms capturing the single leg of the woman smiling and laughing in utter glee, the woman gave her a war smile and reached for her again and lifted her of her feet leveling the little girl to her face and placing a chaste peck on her forehead and brandishing a warm smile.
The woman’s soft features caressed gracefully into a round face, warm chestnut eyes boring into her bright azures, the warming effect filling her like amber honey slopping lazily into her senses, grand and languid filling her with a nostalgic warmth. The little blond girl smiled in utter glee her eyes crinkling as she murmured an ‘I love you’ to the woman. But as she basked in the glorious glee that filled her senses something clicked, and the sudden warmth was replaced by a rush of an unforgiving chill, enthroning her with a dread so powerful and stark that it chilled her to the very core. The warm hands which held her suddenly turned cold and frigid. Blue eyes opened and searched for the warm eyes of the woman but were greeted by a tense expression; her eyes pale and empty as if the very essence of life drained by an unknown force, her skin was pale and rough, her smile replaced by a straight lip.
The girl face suddenly contorted into a face of terror as she saw droplets of crimson dripping from the woman’s head. The little girl screamed, her entire body contorting into abnormal positions as she cringed and groveled out of the woman’s grasp, falling ungracefully on the kitchen floor, her body could not function as fear overtook her entirety as her heart gripped in dread and sadness as willed herself to move, but found that everything to be futile, then her heart stopped as she heard footsteps approaching her, slow and deliberate as each step filled her with unfathomable anxiety, then she felt a shadow over her and two fingers pressing into her skull, the cold prongs invading her body with malice and hatred as she fell into a deep darkness.
+++
Blue eyes opened as the a screech filled the room where Niall Horan slept his eyes red and poufy as he tried to adjust himself to the real world, his heart beating in an upbeat tempo, unrelenting and undeleting in speed, he felt he was close to hyperventilating, feeling the anxiety growing within himself, but he willed himself to calm down, trying to remember thoughts and images which would bring him to the calm, he tries to remember Harry’s smiling face, Louis knowing smirk and a soft hand pressing warmth to his back. He returned to reality his breathing normal and his vision somewhat acceptable looking around his room, filled with objects, pieces of his reality. He laid himself back on his mattress the horrific images scattering relentlessly in his mind the gaunt images flashing before him imprinting a dread, and a feeling of familiarity that he could not understand. He couldn’t sleep, his brain was too preoccupied with sorting the cryptic messages of his dream, and that girl, he was certain that it was her as a child. But he could not bridge anything together, from what he saw she was kidnapped and is now in a place where no happiness exists, but who was she to Niall? Nothing was making sense anymore, grunting in frustration Niall sat up and looked at his bedside clock.
The neon glow of the alarm clocked showed it to be half past three in the morning, the date October 18, 2010, just a week before his birthday. After learning of this Niall groaned at the idea of that day, others would have been excited to be celebrating another healthy year on the earth but for Niall his birthday only spelt trouble, it was an odd occurrence, that every year on Niall’s birthday something completely tragic would happen. He remembered his 5th birthday when there had been a freak accident in an early Halloween parade wherein an inflatable pumpkin burst and somehow landed on their house, the Horan’s spent Niall’s birthday in the shadow of a pumpkin. Another memorable one was his 8th birthday when the authorities had closed off the entire park due to some sort of sporadic virus advising everyone to head indoors; needless to say the Horan’s spent that day indoors. His 10th birthday would have been the last time they’d try to celebrate his birthday, it was weird, an anomaly as it was, every single person that day forgot that it was Niall’s birthday, Niall himself only realized later that afternoon, and having come to the epiphany of the incidences of that fateful date Niall merely shrugged it off as if it never even transpired, he merely asked that they never leave the house on his birthday. Nothing had happened ever since.
He peered once more at the electronic box, the faint glow flitting in his mind, the blinking caressing the recesses of his mind, in the precepts of his inner thought the mystery repeated itself, the woman, the girl, the shadow and the warmth repeating in his mind, until his mind stopped and his eyes fastened slowly inviting him into a solemn oblivion.
Next week was to be his 18th birthday, and on that day Niall would have been very far from indoors.
+++
The next day Niall walked sulkily down the sidewalk having missed the bus due to him oversleeping, he was still a little disoriented due to the rush and was currently ignoring anything happening on the outside world, his mind still engrossed with the dreams he had been experiencing. Niall was currently confused, bemused and alone in his endeavor not being able to share his weird dreams without sounding like a complete psychopath; he huffed in scorn as he continued his journey that is until he was taken away from his reverie by a very loud grunt. He poised his head upward and found the road to be deserted, scrunching his eyebrows in confusion he once again continued on his stroll dismissing the sound as some deranged bird. But once again he was interrupted by a loud noise, he once again looked in front of himself, once again not finding anything he grunted in annoyance and was in the process of trudging forward once again when a tap on his back suddenly made him jump in complete surprise, eliciting a very unmanly squeal from his mouth. Turning to find the proponent of the intrusion he found a tall boy with glisteningly tan skin “Zayn,” Niall mouthed his eyes widening in shock, and then he recalled his last encounter with the impossibly handsome lad, “What are you doing here?” Niall sneered regaining his composure. Zayn merely smirked in reply, something very foreign to Niall, having only seen Zayn portray a blank or an anxious expression the entire week Niall has known him.
“Exercising my right to freedom,” Zayn remarked sarcastically.
“Ha –Ha funny, where did you get that from? A dummy’s guide to sarcasm,” Niall sneered, turning away and walking to the direction of the school. He heard footsteps follow him and moments later found Zayn walking right beside him.
“No actually I got it from the Constitution of the United Kingdom,” Zayn replied smiling.
“There’s no Constitution of the United Kingdom you idiot,”
“There’s no written one but that doesn’t mean there isn’t, well what makes a constitution a constitution anyway? Is by functionality or is it is my purpose and human convention?” Zayn smugly retorted.
“Don’t go all metaphysical on me asshole, I still don’t like you,” Niall said venomously
“Does it help that I’m actually here waiting for you,” Zayn said quite sincerely
“Maybe, but don’t go getting your hopes up,” Niall finished.
Zayn merely smiled “Oh, you don’t have to worry about that, my hopes are already high, there’s nowhere else to go,”
“Shut up,”
+++
Niall didn’t know how his anger for Zayn dissipated within a matter of minutes, but that didn’t mean Niall wasn’t going to make Zayn grovel for his approval.
“So Niall do you want to eat lunch together then, seeing as you charmed by my manly good looks?” Zayn questioned his eyebrows rising in suggestion.
Though Niall was surprised with Zayn’s tenacity, his demeanor was something to take notice as well, he had drastically changed from the last time he had seen him and was quite confused with the sudden change in behavior.
“Dramaturgical Theory,” Niall stated.
“What?” Zayn asked perplexed.
“Dramaturgical theory, a sociological theory which states the two parts of man, the front stage and the back stage. Are you portraying a play or are you portraying your life?” Niall asked
Zayn looked offended, but changed his expression to a smile, “We all portray a play Niall, but that doesn’t mean that it isn’t true. I was afraid, we are all actors, sometimes the masks we put on are more complex than others, and I think you of all people would understand.” Zayn replied
Niall understood what Zayn was trying to say and was happy, finding someone so eloquent and poised with dialect, it was one of Niall’s turn-ons, forget looks and personality, Niall needed some intellectual stimulation, the fact that Zayn was an absolute god was just an add-on. Niall gave him an understanding nod and proceeded to class.
“I’ll see you at lunch then!” Zayn screamed.
Niall just walked on with a smile on his face.
+++
Zayn looked at the retreating figure, and clenched his fists in apprehension; he wouldn’t be able to hold out with just a week from Niall’s birthday.
He remembered the very first day he showed his face, he knew what he had to do, he had been doing it his entire life, but he hadn’t counted on the powerful aura Niall exuded. The first time Niall tried to read his mind Zayn had to contain himself from fainting. And when Niall had been walking him around he felt the strong urge that Niall’s pull had on him, conjoined with the fact that Niall was so warm and friendly and absolutely gorgeous it was no joke to try to resist him. He was close to letting go that day, but somehow he had managed to survive in one piece. He knew that he couldn’t be close to Niall, he would have cracked, hence the distance, but the day when Niall had a vision of her Zayn knew that it was time to start the process of maturity. So when Zayn placed his hand on Niall’s shoulder, he had counteracted the seal. He didn’t expect the blowout though, so now he had to get closer, he had to do it for one more week, with this kind of distance, he knew that it would be extremely difficult, but the time was approaching and his mind had to adapt and Zayn’s heart had to adapt as well. To not beating so fast whenever he heard Niall’s laugh or his voice, or panic whenever he saw Niall in distress. He had to be unreadable until the time came, then they could finally get her, they could finally bring her back home.
Seals? Maturity? Birthdays? What?
So many revelations and so many more questions, what is Zayn? Who is she? What is Niall?
I’m so sorry for the unbelievably slow update and sorry for getting you more and more confused, but at least we have little glimpse into what Zayn has been doing.
Hopefully you like this chapter, it is unbetad because I’m lazy, but I wanted to put out something, I’ll correct this as soon as possible but hopefully you guys like it so far.
Enjoyxx