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::: The mood was glum, sad and dull. The whistling of the trees and the sound of sobbing was the only noise heard.
Then, the reverend began speaking, "We are all gathered here today to memorialize the life and death of a sister, daughter, niece, friend, and ex girlfriend... Zuria Anelle Pierce."
The tension in the air grew thick once her name left the short, stubby man's mouth. He stood outside, beside the mahogany casket that was closed shut, with a solemn but sad expression as he watched the people before him grieve.
"Now," he cleared his throat earnestly, "would anyone like to speak on the behalf of Zuria?" He questioned, his eyes searching the crowd of at least a dozen people dressed in black.
Mrs.Pierce was sobbing into Mr.Pierce's shoulder, gripping his black suit in her clenched, clammy palms. Zelena was on her knees wailing while Tyson tried to comfort her and Zinovia and Zenara were shedding tears like nothing else, right beside each other for support.
Tessa, the nurse, was there, Zuria's relatives were there, Tyson was there, her old high school friend, Rena, was there, Donovan, Zuria's old high school crush was even there, their neighbors were there, and way in the back, there was Niall.
Niall opened his mouth to yell out, yet nothing was uttered. He was behind the crowd of people, stiff, like another tree. He turned his head this way and that way, his mouth opening and closing though he was like a mime without any words spoken, no matter how hard he tried.
"I'd like to speak," Zinovia spoke, her voice cracking as she stepped forward, the wind pushing her long silk dress behind her like a black cloud spiraling through the wind as she trudged over the dirt.
"The floor is yours, young lady," the reverend said, stepping aside as Zinovia took his place beside the casket.
Zinovia expressed a look of distraught as she placed her hand calmly on the surface of the casket and squeezed her eyes shut, tears escaping her long eyelashes and rolling down her brown cheeks.
"I'm sorry..." She mumbled in between a choked sob.
"It's okay, Zin," Mrs.Pierce managed to speak dryly while her head rested on her husband's broad shoulder, "take your time, baby." She had a handkerchief pressed against her lips and the bags underneath her eyes were as heavy as the clouds that were growing darker by the minute.
Zinovia sniffled and cleared her throat, looking up right at Niall who was still standing far in the back trying to find words to say. "My sister was an angel to me. She was so down to earth and beautiful..." She started, her voice cracking all throughout her words.
"She was, yes," the reverend added his two cents, his head lowered as he looked down in prayer.
"Yes. Uh..." Zinovia cleared her throat and continued, "...she was a true angel. She looked like one and my parents even thought she was one, at first. She was the good girl out of all of us. Now, she really is an angel. She's..."
"Your very own guardian angel," the reverend said, "that's who she now is."
"Yes. A beautiful angel, she now is..." Zinovia said.
"Like a flower that bloomed through hardships and pain!" The reverend preached in the midst—no, start—of Zinovia's speech. "But now, that flower will be regrown and sprouted in another place. A place called Heaven. Amen."
"Look, I know you're trying to help but you didn't know her," Zinovia glared over at the reverend, "so with all due respect, please shut up."
"Oh. Um..." The reverend looked abashed as he looked down at his hands.
"Anyways, my sister was an angel..." Zinovia continued. "...an angel who became tainted once she met Niall James Horan."
Niall's eyes widened as her glare met his again.
"She was such a sweet girl—so down to earth and super funny...before she met him. He made her start lying, he made her weak, he made her dull, and he... He cheated on her," Zinovia sniffled. "He hurt her over and over again. I couldn't believe it but now I do. He hurt her...to death."
"Yes, yes he did," the reverend just had to say.
"I'm... I'm done," Zinovia choked out. "I can't stand up here and face him." She ran back to her previous spot and began sobbing softly in the comfort of her sisters embrace.
"Thank you, Zinovia, for your kind words," the reverend said.
The clouds started to shield the sun, dropping an eerie gaze down upon them. Niall had managed to move his foot forward—though, it took all of his might. Once he was able to push forward, he felt himself running before he finally reached Zuria.
His hands clammed the cool surface of the casket as he tried to pry it open. The reverend was still speaking, staring out into the sobbing crowd as if Niall wasn't even there.
Niall tried to pry open the casket, screaming out Zuria's name as he searched for a latch. He came up empty handed and spun around, looking towards Mrs.Pierce who was still clinging onto her husband who had tears streaming down his emotionless face, his posture hard and stiff.
"Mrs.Pierce!" Niall approached her quickly, reaching to touch her but having his hand go right through her. He jumped, his eyes wide as he did it again to be sure that his eyes wasn't tricking him.
"My baby..." She sobbed. "Not my baby..."
"Mrs.Pierce, it's me, Niall!" He yelled. "What happened? What happened to Zuri?" He, instead, questioned her.
Still, she didn't answer.
Niall turned to Zelena who was pounding her fist against the ground, screaming and shoving away Tyson who was only trying to calm her down.
"My sister..." Zelena sobbed, gripping a handful of grass and yanking it out of the ground. As Niall approached her, she chucked the grass at him. He didn't feel it, it just went straight though him and sprinkled to the ground. "Why her?" She continued to ask, screaming and crying loudly.
"Zelena," Niall lowered down so that he was staring at the top of her head.
Suddenly, Zelena looked at him, her eye sockets empty—nothing but a deep, dark hole was there to replace where her eyes used to be.
"What the..." Niall recoiled, staggering back to where the casket was—or used to be.
Niall felt his foot slip, as if there was a large hole behind him. He turned, not seeing the casket anymore, but a hole in which it was lowered into.
Suddenly, dirt started to rain from the sky, slowly filling the hole. It powdered the top of Niall's head and sprinkled down his face once he looked up with furrowed eyebrows.
Ignoring the powdered earth falling down upon everyone, he went to his last resort for answers. He stopped in front of Zinovia whose large black hat fell over her eyes. He was thankful for that: he couldn't see the empty sockets that seemed to replace everyone's eyes.
"Zinovia..." Niall whispered, tears flooding his face as he began to tremble, leaving dirty streaks of muddy water running down his face. "Please, Zinovia, tell me what's happening? What happened to Zuri?" He begged for answers that no one seemed to give him.
Suddenly, Zinovia's head snapped up, her dark eyes glaring into Niall's frightened blue ones. "YOU KILLED HER!" She screeched. Her scream was so loud and so ear piercing that it made the crows start to swarm the dark sky, croaking and flying low, causing Niall to duck as they pecked at his clothes, ripping them almost to shreds.
When he looked up, everyone who had attended the funeral was standing there, about five feet away, glaring at him with their deep, black eyes, unmoved and silent. A crow sat on their shoulder, silently, watching Niall too.
"You killed her!" Mrs.Pierce spoke, her voice so cold that it nearly made Niall's blood freeze. She stepped forward, her voice still a menacing curse, "You killed my daughter emotionally for years... Then, you killed her physically!"
"No, no," Niall staggered backwards as everyone started to slowly move with Mrs.Pierce, "Zuri isn't dead. She's only in a coma. She's okay."
"Niall, you idiot!" Zelena screeched. "She died of heartbreak, you dumb ass!"
"B-But I was just there at the hospital," Niall told them, stepping back again as they moved closer. "I kissed her goodbye an-and left."
"Yeah, left to the bar!" Ally appeared in the crowd wearing a skimpy white dress and veil, just to piss off the dark atmosphere. "You drunken asshole! You almost kissed me! You wanted to marry me!"
"You're lying!" Niall said.
"You are lying!" Zinovia yelled. "You lied about everything! You lied and said that it was a mistake! But you killed her!"
"I DIDN'T KILL HER!" Niall yelled, gripping the sides of his head as they all got within a few feet away. He staggered back again, his foot sliding into the large hole behind him. He pulled it out and looked towards them, still moving even when he couldn't.
"I should've been here to kill you first," Zenara mumbled, staggering forward. "I should've stopped everything and flown out here before you murdered her!"
"STOP BEING A FOOL, NIALL!" Tyson bellowed. "YOU TOLD ME ALL KINDS OF STORIES ABOUT HOW YOU LOVED CHEATING ON ZURI! TO SAY THAT WE WERE BEST FRIENDS... YOU'RE SICK!"
"N-No I didn't say that," Niall said, his vision blurred as tear mounted in his eyes. "I love her. I would never say anything like that. I-I just saw her yesterday. She was good when I left."
"YOU'RE DRUNK!" Mr.Pierce said, his voice deeper and much more scarier than everyone else's combined. It made Niall's knees nearly buckle up, shaking like a young lamb in the winter. "YOU MURDERED MY DAUGHTER. NOW YOU'RE GONNA PAY!"
They were now so close that if they reached out, they would be touching him. Niall turned and looked at the hole that was halfway filled with dirt, the casket no longer visible underneath it.
When he turned back around, Zuri stood there in her blue hospital gown stained with crimson blood. Her curly hair was frizzed and hanging in her face, over her crazed expression. Her eyes were the darkest of them all, blood spilling from them like tears. IV's hung out of them, curling into the dirt beneath their feet. She was barefoot, her toes also digging into the dirt.
"And now..." She grinned menacingly, her neck arching painfully and possessively as she stood inches away from him. "...I'm going to break your heart and bury you!" Zuri thrusted her hand into Niall's chest, ripping out his heart and chucking it at the ground, watching it shatter into a million pieces, suddenly red glass shards.
Though, it did leave a puddle of blood soaking into the muddy grass beyond the stained glass that was once his pumping heart.
Niall couldn't feel the pain but the heart looked real before it turned into bloody shards in the dirt.
"Bye, now, you lying, filthy cheater!" Zuri shoved Niall hard, watching him fall into the hole.
Expecting to fall and emerge into the dirt never came as Niall continued to fall. Everyone gathered around the hole, right above him, glaring down at him with malicious smirks.
"Noooo!" Niall cried out, flailing his arms and legs as darkness surrounded every inch of him except for the small blurb with Zuri's crazed, smiling face.
Suddenly, Niall jolted awake and saw that he was still sitting on the blue seat of the city bus, not in a cemetery full of terror, but on public transportation being stared at by multiple strangers who seemed to get on while he was asleep.
Niall stood up quickly, looking around at all the curious and confused faces of everyone. His cheeks were stained wet and the bus was parked.
"Where... I..." Niall paused, catching his breath and taking a large gulp of air.
"Are you okay, sir?" The bus driver asked him. "This is your stop. You mentioned a hospital when getting on?" He questioned.
"Y-Yeah..." Niall cleared his throat, feeling his cheeks burn as he maneuvered around the passengers.
He thrusted open the back door and was engulfed in the cool wind surrounding him. He let out a long, heavy breath and squinted towards the hospital.
Suddenly, Niall thought about the nightmare he had. So damn scary, he thought.
Zinovia's urgent voice before his phone died and the nightmare worried Niall to no end as he sprinted across the street and towards the entrance of the large hospital.
The receptionist at the desk was the same receptionist he had encountered the day of Zuri's accident. She knew who he was but didn't quite know if he was on the list yet. Once checking, she nodded at him to go inside, and watched Niall run to the elevator.
Tension and anticipation rose with the ascending elevator, and the door slowly diverted open. Niall slid through the small gap it managed to make and turned down the hall, going towards the familiar hospital room.
He saw that the door was open and increased his speed. Stopping, he shoved the door further open and stepped inside. He was shocked to see an Asian woman wearing a cast on her neck, craning her neck to change the channel on the TV.
"S-Sorry," Niall stepped back out the door, "wrong room."
"It's cool," the woman said. "Hey, you mind changing the channel for me?" She suddenly asked, exhausted from trying to see the screen fully.
"Um..." Niall was in a rush but felt himself nod anyways. "Sure." He stepped inside and she tossed him the remote. He caught it and glanced at the screen. "What channel?" He asked, his thumb resting on the OK in the center of the remote.
"Although they got some real shitty shows, nowadays," the woman chewed her lip in thought, "Disney."
Niall nodded and jammed in the number on the remote—he watched those shitty shows all the time. Girl Meets World was playing and he sat the remote down on the empty chair beside her bed.
"Thanks, have my chips," the woman tossed a bag of potato chips at him before he could say 'no thank you' and resettled her eyes on the TV again.
Niall furrowed his eyebrows and left the room. Turns out, they moved Zuri into a different room.
That made Niall's heart pound against his ribcage as they told him the recent room number.
Why did they move her?
He took slow and painful steps towards the room and reached the door. He peeked inside through the glass window and saw all of Zuri's family members standing there, their backs to the door and hugging one another.
A painful knot twisted inside Niall's stomach as he noticed the bed empty. He felt tears immediately sting his eyes as he thrusted open the door.
Everyone turned to look at him immediately after the door had hit the wall. Niall could barely walk as tears cascaded down his cheeks, pain continuing to increase inside his chest at an alarming rate.
Niall choked out air, his eyes searching the room before landing on a curly head of hair. "Zuri?" He felt the pain subside quickly and a relived sigh leave his lips, but didn't feel much relief as his eyes widened in shock. "Zuri! Y-You're awake!" He exclaimed, running towards her.
"Niall—" Zinovia said as Niall ran to Zuri, engulfing her in a hug. He felt like he was melting as his arms wrapped around her warm body and nose drowned in her cocoa scented curls.
He pulled away and leaned in to kiss her, only for her to recoil in what looked like disgust.
Niall felt that pain start to slowly build up again as she moved her head back, her eyes wide as saucers.
"Who do you think you are just coming in here and kissing me?!" She exclaimed incredulously, pushing his hand off of her thigh and scooting back.
"Zuri, I'm so damn glad that you're okay," Niall began, tears still flooding his eyes as he witnessed Zuri alive and well, sitting up in her hospital bed looking as beautiful as she did when he first laid eyes upon her.
They were thirteen years old and he felt that instead of being in love with her for eight years (from age 16 to 23) he was in love with her for ten years (the day they met, only a week before Niall turned fourteen).
"Hey, Niall..." Zinovia started to make her way over to him.
"What happened that day, I..." Niall didn't care that he was surrounded by her family members, he just wanted her to know the truth behind what her eyes told her.
"Niall." Zinovia spoke again, but this time from beside him.
"...I understand if you want to leave but hear me out, please?" Niall continued, wanting badly to grab her hands but not before he got her to calm down with the truth.
"Niall!" Zinovia yelled, gaining his irritated attention as he snapped his head towards her.
"What?" Niall almost yelled.
"Niall..." Zinovia said again, ignoring his extra octave as her eyes filled with sadness.
"What's wrong?" Niall immediately asked her as the room grew quiet.
"U-Um..." Zinovia choked on her words before turning her gaze towards the wall, not being able to speak anymore.
"Niall, honey," Mrs.Pierce stepped forward, her eyes appearing puffy. "There's something we need to tell you...about Zuri."
Niall was confused as he turned to look at Zuri. She was a good foot away, still staring at him.
Her gaze wasn't angry or disgusted, it was just...confused. But she was alive—so damn alive and they were sad?
"Why is everyone so sad?" Niall chuckled out forcibly. "Zuri is awake. We should be celebrating."
"Smells like you already have," Mr.Pierce muttered, the alcohol that Niall drunk managing to create a strong scent upon him, putting him higher on Mr.Pierce's 'dislike' list.
"Honey, let's talk about it outside," Mrs.Pierce suggested, placing her hand on the back of Niall's shoulder and walking him towards the door. Mr.Pierce, to Niall's dismay, followed behind them. "The door, please, Terrence," Mrs.Pierce said, pulling Niall aside so that they were standing in front of the door to the room beside Zuri's.
"Mrs.Pierce, you're scaring me," Niall told her, his smile still forced but eyes showing worry and concern at everyone's unexpected mood. "Is there anything wrong with Zuri? Is sh-she sick?" He tried to guess, though he was hoping and praying the answer was no, that the news was entirely good—they just didn't know how to take it.
"No, no, not sick like that," Mrs.Pierce told him, though Niall caught that she didn't deny Zuri was even sick at all. "Do you want to sit down for this or..?"
"With all due respect, Mrs.Pierce, please just spit it out!" Niall said, gritting his teeth in frustration.
"Watch it, boy," Mr.Pierce said, his arms folded firmly over his chest as he glared at Niall.
"I-I'm sorry..." Niall apologized, looking down in shame before meeting Mrs.Pierce eyes again with a desperate stare. "What's wrong with Zuri, Mrs.Pierce?" He asked again, but less angry.
Mrs.Pierce took a deep breath and she went to grab one of Niall's hands, cupping her other hand over the top of his trembling hand. "Zuri... She's, uh..." It seemed like a hard subject for her to speak upon too as she kept pausing. Finally, she gathered up the courage to say, "When Zuria was hit, she also obtained a brain injury. While in a coma, that brain injury seemed to take a turn for the worse. She woke up this morning...confused."
"Confused, how?" Niall repeated, not really seeing the big problem in her words. A lot of people are confused after accidents, she probably doesn't even remember being hit—that's why she's confused.
"She was confused about where she was, Niall," Mrs.Pierce said. "She didn't know where she was or why she was even there. The nurse called us immediately and asked us to say hello to her. We did and she... She didn't know who we were."
"What?"
Tears started to smother Zoanna's eyes as she continued, "We thought she was joking but she wasn't. She really didn't know who we were...at first. The rest of the family came to test her memory and she seriously had no idea of who they were, she couldn't even recall what happened. I mean, she vaguely remembers her childhood and the doctor told us that she would regain some of that memory back in these few upcoming weeks but... As far as her memories goes from the past ten years..."
"G-Gone?" Niall questioned meekly.
"Yes..." Zoanna said quietly, looking down at her hand on top of Niall's who appeared to vibrate—reaching a higher level of tremble. "She knows who her family is, seeing as we've been there her entire life but..." She trailed off again.
"She doesn't remember me?" Niall guessed painfully. Or Tyson—but most of all she couldn't remember Niall—or any memories dating ten years back all the way to the day she was in an accident.
"Niall, the doctors diagnosed Zuria with amnesia," Zoanna finally told him, reaching over and moving her fingertips across the tear drops slowly descending down his cheeks.