Fate

I tried not to think of what Harry said as I walked away. What the hell did that mean? That my being here was better than heaven even though he just compared it to hell? Or is hell good enough for him now?

I sighed, it’s not like I would know the answers to these questions. He was probably just loopy from the morphine. People always say stupid things they don’t mean when they’re under the influence of drugs, I reassured myself.

I walked back into the kitchen and into a tense silence.

“Well that was… interesting.” I said.

Paul raised his eyebrows. Niall stayed silent, just looking at me.

I shifted awkwardly under his gaze before he spoke. “I suppose we should head back to your apartment so you can shower and change. You do want to head to the police right?”

I nodded and Niall turned to Paul, “I have a feeling it’s best that you stay with Harry, don’t you? God knows what he’d do if he woke up.”

“He won’t wake up. I know how to do my job, and I’ve served as an anesthesiologist before.”

The walk from Harry’s house to mine wasn’t too long, but I saw how people’s gazes lingered on Niall’s face before switching to mine. There was always a hint of recognition when they saw him, as if they thought they knew him, like they though they’d met him somewhere at some point in time, but they couldn’t place where. Is this how people looked at Harry? Then they looked at me and there was always surprise. I felt vaguely offended but then I saw the way Niall was walking behind me. His eyes were cold and focused on me, but every time someone would walk by, they would flicker to their face. Niall was so close, so protective.

I shivered, the last time I’d felt this way was with Sam. But something about Sam’s protectiveness was different. Sam made people feel as if they’d intruded on something ruthless and crude, almost like he was hunter and I was his prey. Like Sam was always there, watching, just waiting for the perfect moment to strike. Like a snake, a lion, a killer. Sam made me feel smothered and captive, like I couldn’t ever leave his grasp. Niall wasn’t acting like a predator. Niall was simply being protective. The simple but substantial difference was comforting.

I was so lost in my thoughts that I hadn’t realized I’d stopped right in front of my building.

“Are you okay?” Niall asked, concern painting his features.

“Yeah, I was just kind of lost in my thoughts.” I said as I let us in. “Piper should be at work, so I guess you can just hang out. I shouldn’t take long.”

Niall nodded and sat down, and I turned into my bedroom. I grabbed a pair of jeans and a t-shirt without looking at what exactly I was grabbing. I walked into my bathroom and turned on the shower. I stepped in, letting the hot water and steam envelop my body. I stared at the ceiling for a few moments, tears streaming down my face. How could my life have changed so much in just 24 hours? I became a sexual assault victim, I was uprooted from my job without any choice, and all of a sudden I’ve been thrown into a house with my ex-boyfriend. My ex that either hated me or missed what we had and could switch between both moods with seemingly no reason at all.
I finished showering and getting ready in a daze. I stepped out into the living room where Niall was waiting.
“Are you ready?”

“Yeah, I figured we could come back so I could pack a few bags?”

“That would probably be best.”

As we left and began walking to the tube, Niall squeezed my shoulder. I looked questioningly over at him.
“I know this is probably really hard on you, especially since everything’s happened so fast, but I want you to know that I’m here if you want to talk.” He frowned, “You look surprised.”

“I am. We pretty much just met. I mean we’d obviously met when you guys were put together on the X-Factor, but that was so long ago. We’re both completely different people than we used to be.”

“Well Harry talked about you so much, we all kind of felt that we knew you. Like really knew who you were.”

We’d gotten off of the tube by this point, and normally it was really loud, but we were both so focused on our thoughts and our conversation that the world around us seemed as if it were dulled and muted.

I was completely surprised. “Harry talked about me?” That was the exact opposite of the end for me. Nobody I knew mentioned him and I never said anything. If people asked, I avoided the question. But I couldn’t avoid the stabbing grief and remorse that the very thought of him brought.

“Of course. It was always reminiscing though. He didn’t ever want to know what you were doing or how you were. It was always about what used to be. It was kind of odd, for a little while it was like he was trying to live in the past.”

I nodded, understanding. Trying to live in the past but forget what had happened, that’s exactly what I’d done.

When we got to the police’s office, I gave my statement about what happened, but it wasn’t much help. I could hardly remember what had happened after paying Alex. I described him for the policeman, tall with his dirty blonde hair and navy blue eyes. I dug his number out from my purse, I’d never gotten the chance to put it in my phone. The policeman said that with Niall, Paul, and Alex’s statements on top of the security footage from the bar, it shouldn’t be too hard to identify the man. He assured me that pressing charges was for the best. As if it would truly change things.
Later that night, Harry was awake and sitting with Niall and me, watching TV. We were all focused on something else though, and silence permeated the room. Finally I stood up and announced I was going to bed. When I got to my room, I closed and locked the door behind me. I climbed into bed and quickly fell into a restless sleep.
It wasn’t long before the nightmares started.

I opened the door to the house was surprised to see the lights were on. Sam wasn’t supposed to be home from his business trip for another day.

“Sam?” I called out as I walked into the living room. I noticed the bottle of vodka sitting on the floor before I saw him. He stood a lot faster than I would’ve expected.

He reached out and grabbed me as I walked by him. “Where the hell have you been?”
Startled I dropped my purse, and watched as everything rolled out onto the floor.

“You weren’t supposed to have been home until tomorrow. What happened?”

But Sam wasn’t looking at me. He was looking down at the contents of my purse. I looked down as he bent over, and my breath caught in my throat. The concert ticket was lying there in plain sight. I hadn’t planned on saying that I’d went. I knew how mad he’d get, he hated whenever I used to talk about Harry. He couldn’t understand that that used to be a part of my life, that I moved on. Or had I? I don’t know what came over me when I saw the article in the paper that morning, or what made me go to the O2 and buy a ticket.

I gasped as he stood back up and slapped me across the face.

“This is where you’ve been?”

I backed away into the kitchen. Sam had always had a temper, but he’d never laid a hand on me. He followed me and slammed my back into the counter. Pain radiated down my back and I nearly passed out for a second. “Sam, stop! Please.” I step my hand down on the stove top near me and yelped in pain. The kettle was on and nearly boiling.

“I give you everything and this is how you repay me?”

I could smell the alcohol on his breath as he yelled. I’d never been this afraid of him before. As he turned I turned to see what he was grabbing. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the silver glint. He’d grabbed a knife out of the rack off of the counter. Oh my God, he is crazy. He’d threatened me before, but he’d never done it. I tried to move, to run but he slammed my head back against the cabinet.

“Why did you try to leave me?”

“I didn’t. I never wanted to.”

“You want to know what happens when you leave without permission.” He reached up yanked my hair back, bending my head back and exposing my neck. Fear coursed through my veins as I saw him pick the knife up where he’d lain it on the hot stovetop.

“No, no. Please no! Sam please!” My voice got louder with each word as I felt the tip of the knife under my chin, digging into the skin under my jaw. The kettle next to me began to whistle, its high pitched shriek combined with my pleas.

I shrieked as the knife slid swiftly along my chin, the heat of the glowing tip gliding along my skin. I screamed again as he pressed the hot knife to my neck, where the blood flowed down my throat.

The slamming sound of a door hitting a wall jolted me awake. I shot up, my hands pressed to a long healed wound, the pain but a distant memory. Niall and Harry rushed in, worry on both of their faces. They took in my scared expression, the tears streaming down my face and Harry rushed over and sat on the edge of the bed. Niall moved and sat on the other side so I was kneeling between both of them.

“Anya?” Harry asked the same time Niall asked, “Who is Sam?”

I looked at both of their faces before I shook my head and collapsed forward onto my knees, sobbing.

I could never get away from Sam, no matter how hard I tried.

Notes

I hope you guys enjoyed it! Sad, I know but that's just a part of the story. Sorry, if ti's not written well, I was in a hurry.

I'd loved if you guys subscribed, voted and commented below any thoughts!

HopelessDirectioner