The Night It All Went Down
Chapter 20
A/N- Since this was set just at the end of the Where We Are Tour, Zayn’s departure hasn’t happened yet so he’ll continue to be in the story. Also, Louis and Eleanor haven’t broken up yet either. Sorry for any confusion! :)
Niall and I glanced at one another in confusion-what was up with the noise? Clearly nobody else knew the answer because everybody, including El, was standing there unable to form a coherent sentence.
From the high pitched wail, I determined the person screaming was a girl- but something seemed off about the situation. Other than the obvious that somebody was randomly screaming in the middle of the street. I was hesitant about dashing out into the cold, especially since we didn’t know what was going on. But, for some reason, Niall decided it was time to play hero and ran from the room before I could grab him and stop him from being so stupid.
“NIALL!” Louis hollered, trying to convince him to return. He turned to me and shrugged helplessly, unable to make Niall come back.
“Twat.” I murmured beneath my breath. “I’m going after him. Any other volunteers?” Everybody rolled their eyes but followed me through the door and upstairs. When we reached the living room, I saw Niall carrying a body through the front door, panting and sweating.
Immediately acting upon my instincts, I glanced through the window and outside, just in time to spot a distant figure running down the road. Without leaving an explanation, I shot outside to give chase, knowing exactly who they were. They were Paul’s killer. And I would be damned if I let them get away when I could have stopped them.
The scenery around me was a blur as I raced down the road towards the rapidly disappearing body. I knew I had to reach them before they had a chance to escape into a car or other vehicle because then I was sure I would have no chance.
It suddenly occurred to me why I was struggling to run, glancing down and seeing the heels that were giving me blisters. With no other option, I kicked them off and continued along in my bare feet, hoping I wouldn’t run into broken glass and shred my skin. Another trip to a hospital was all I frigging needed right now- especially since this was pretty much all my fault. Niall would go mental and probably wouldn’t talk to me for another few days. Maybe weeks. Maybe months.
I carried on running even though I was panting with dehydration and lack of food. I hadn’t eaten since my trip with El and believe me – hospital food really isn’t that nice. I was running flat out now, not closing in but not losing the figure in front of me either. They had to be aware I was tailing them by now and, by the looks of the long, black hair flowing out from behind, they was a girl. So it couldn’t be Tessa. Whoops- looked like I had a bit of grovelling to do when I saw her again next week.
I kept chasing, not wanting to give up and lose whoever I was after. It would be a massive blow and I highly doubted the police would be happy that I let someone who had just done GBH to somebody else get away. Even I with my tiny brain wasn’t that stupid. My breathing was coming in quicker spurts now, alerting me my body was nearly about to give up.
Something told me, though, that I couldn’t stop. Because if I stopped, I would let the most important person in the case go. I couldn’t do that. I would be letting everybody down – not to mention Niall. Niall was somebody I hated letting down and that was one of the reasons I was so scared of jumping into a relationship with him. What if I let him down?
But I couldn’t contemplate that right now. I had to think about the future. I had to consider what would happened if I let this go. And so I carried on, making sure I kept the figure outlined in my sights the whole time. If I let her go, I’d never forgive myself. And that was indicative of a failure in life, something my dad used to tell me. Before they gave me up, that was. He would say if you never forgave yourself for the things you’d done, then you were definitely going to fail in the crazy thing that was termed life.
I couldn’t think about how long I’d been running- maybe fifteen minutes? I’d certainly covered a couple of miles already. My legs were numb and I thought maybe if I slowed down a little I might give myself a better chance of catching her. So I stopped. Just for a second. But when I looked back up…………
“Shit! Fuck! Crap!” I cursed, hitting the ground as I fell backwards. I used my palm to hit my knee over and over again until a hand gripped my wrist tightly.
“STOP!” They cried, pulling my arm away. “Kayleigh stop it! It’s okay! Don’t worry, we’ll find them.” I glanced up when they said my name and saw Niall, softly holding my arm and cradling it like he was scared I would really hurt myself. Quite honestly, I had no idea if I would or not.
“I lost her.” I stated, unable to comprehend what had just happened completely.
“Yes.” Niall replied simply, trying to get me to stop blaming myself. “But you didn’t lose me. Even though you’re a pretty good runner.” He cracked a small smile.
“You were following me?”
“Well duh! I wasn’t about to let you run off without some muscle to back you up!”
“I didn’t know the guy who played the hulk was here!”
“Haha. So funny. I meant me!” Niall pouted slightly.
“What, your noodle arms?” I replied, jokingly.
“YES! You really think they’re noodles?” He asked suddenly, looking towards his arms. I simply replied with an eye roll.
“Niall James Horan, I love you just the way you are. You are perfect in my eyes- stop judging yourself so much!” I smiled and shook my head but he was staring at me, unable to take something in. What it was baffled me though.
“You just said you loved me.” Niall stuttered as he helped me up. Oh. Shit. Had I really said that? Guess I did.
“Yeah. I did.” I whispered quietly, nibbling my lip and looking into his eyes like we were in some cheesy, romantic movie.
Niall smiled at me and slowly leant inwards, placing a soft kiss on my lips. Like the one we had shared only a few minutes earlier.
“So……..” I shuffled my foot against the ground as we broke apart. "I guess that means that……”
“We are official?” Niall finished for me, a little hope present in his voice.
“Guess so.”
But Niall didn’t say anything back, simply picking me up and spinning me around. I laughed like mad into the wind he created around us. I looked out as I span at all the rows of houses that were miles away from the small alleyway we were stood in. I saw the fields and the playground opposite us, and the cars lined against the kerb, waiting to pick up their children, presumably anyway. I spotted the small people in the distance and a black van parking on the opposite side of the road. And suddenly something clicked. And I panicked.
“Niall, something bad is going to happen.” I told him as he slowly set me down and looked at me, confused.
“Huh? What do you mean?” He asked.
“The girl I was following was to get me out here. Anni knew I would follow her- and that you would follow me. We were played. So we’re in a bit of a sticky situation.”
“Are you implying what I think you’re implying?”
“Yes.”
“But we can fight them, right?”
“Niall, there’s probably about fifteen fricking guys in the back of that van. Tell me exactly how well two of us are going to do against them.”
“So let’s run.”
“Good idea.”
But before we could get a metre out of the alley, I knew they had us. Because I could smell the sickly sweet smell of chloroform around us. And I felt my body hit the ground faster than I could say ‘roger that’.
Shit.
Niall and I glanced at one another in confusion-what was up with the noise? Clearly nobody else knew the answer because everybody, including El, was standing there unable to form a coherent sentence.
From the high pitched wail, I determined the person screaming was a girl- but something seemed off about the situation. Other than the obvious that somebody was randomly screaming in the middle of the street. I was hesitant about dashing out into the cold, especially since we didn’t know what was going on. But, for some reason, Niall decided it was time to play hero and ran from the room before I could grab him and stop him from being so stupid.
“NIALL!” Louis hollered, trying to convince him to return. He turned to me and shrugged helplessly, unable to make Niall come back.
“Twat.” I murmured beneath my breath. “I’m going after him. Any other volunteers?” Everybody rolled their eyes but followed me through the door and upstairs. When we reached the living room, I saw Niall carrying a body through the front door, panting and sweating.
Immediately acting upon my instincts, I glanced through the window and outside, just in time to spot a distant figure running down the road. Without leaving an explanation, I shot outside to give chase, knowing exactly who they were. They were Paul’s killer. And I would be damned if I let them get away when I could have stopped them.
The scenery around me was a blur as I raced down the road towards the rapidly disappearing body. I knew I had to reach them before they had a chance to escape into a car or other vehicle because then I was sure I would have no chance.
It suddenly occurred to me why I was struggling to run, glancing down and seeing the heels that were giving me blisters. With no other option, I kicked them off and continued along in my bare feet, hoping I wouldn’t run into broken glass and shred my skin. Another trip to a hospital was all I frigging needed right now- especially since this was pretty much all my fault. Niall would go mental and probably wouldn’t talk to me for another few days. Maybe weeks. Maybe months.
I carried on running even though I was panting with dehydration and lack of food. I hadn’t eaten since my trip with El and believe me – hospital food really isn’t that nice. I was running flat out now, not closing in but not losing the figure in front of me either. They had to be aware I was tailing them by now and, by the looks of the long, black hair flowing out from behind, they was a girl. So it couldn’t be Tessa. Whoops- looked like I had a bit of grovelling to do when I saw her again next week.
I kept chasing, not wanting to give up and lose whoever I was after. It would be a massive blow and I highly doubted the police would be happy that I let someone who had just done GBH to somebody else get away. Even I with my tiny brain wasn’t that stupid. My breathing was coming in quicker spurts now, alerting me my body was nearly about to give up.
Something told me, though, that I couldn’t stop. Because if I stopped, I would let the most important person in the case go. I couldn’t do that. I would be letting everybody down – not to mention Niall. Niall was somebody I hated letting down and that was one of the reasons I was so scared of jumping into a relationship with him. What if I let him down?
But I couldn’t contemplate that right now. I had to think about the future. I had to consider what would happened if I let this go. And so I carried on, making sure I kept the figure outlined in my sights the whole time. If I let her go, I’d never forgive myself. And that was indicative of a failure in life, something my dad used to tell me. Before they gave me up, that was. He would say if you never forgave yourself for the things you’d done, then you were definitely going to fail in the crazy thing that was termed life.
I couldn’t think about how long I’d been running- maybe fifteen minutes? I’d certainly covered a couple of miles already. My legs were numb and I thought maybe if I slowed down a little I might give myself a better chance of catching her. So I stopped. Just for a second. But when I looked back up…………
“Shit! Fuck! Crap!” I cursed, hitting the ground as I fell backwards. I used my palm to hit my knee over and over again until a hand gripped my wrist tightly.
“STOP!” They cried, pulling my arm away. “Kayleigh stop it! It’s okay! Don’t worry, we’ll find them.” I glanced up when they said my name and saw Niall, softly holding my arm and cradling it like he was scared I would really hurt myself. Quite honestly, I had no idea if I would or not.
“I lost her.” I stated, unable to comprehend what had just happened completely.
“Yes.” Niall replied simply, trying to get me to stop blaming myself. “But you didn’t lose me. Even though you’re a pretty good runner.” He cracked a small smile.
“You were following me?”
“Well duh! I wasn’t about to let you run off without some muscle to back you up!”
“I didn’t know the guy who played the hulk was here!”
“Haha. So funny. I meant me!” Niall pouted slightly.
“What, your noodle arms?” I replied, jokingly.
“YES! You really think they’re noodles?” He asked suddenly, looking towards his arms. I simply replied with an eye roll.
“Niall James Horan, I love you just the way you are. You are perfect in my eyes- stop judging yourself so much!” I smiled and shook my head but he was staring at me, unable to take something in. What it was baffled me though.
“You just said you loved me.” Niall stuttered as he helped me up. Oh. Shit. Had I really said that? Guess I did.
“Yeah. I did.” I whispered quietly, nibbling my lip and looking into his eyes like we were in some cheesy, romantic movie.
Niall smiled at me and slowly leant inwards, placing a soft kiss on my lips. Like the one we had shared only a few minutes earlier.
“So……..” I shuffled my foot against the ground as we broke apart. "I guess that means that……”
“We are official?” Niall finished for me, a little hope present in his voice.
“Guess so.”
But Niall didn’t say anything back, simply picking me up and spinning me around. I laughed like mad into the wind he created around us. I looked out as I span at all the rows of houses that were miles away from the small alleyway we were stood in. I saw the fields and the playground opposite us, and the cars lined against the kerb, waiting to pick up their children, presumably anyway. I spotted the small people in the distance and a black van parking on the opposite side of the road. And suddenly something clicked. And I panicked.
“Niall, something bad is going to happen.” I told him as he slowly set me down and looked at me, confused.
“Huh? What do you mean?” He asked.
“The girl I was following was to get me out here. Anni knew I would follow her- and that you would follow me. We were played. So we’re in a bit of a sticky situation.”
“Are you implying what I think you’re implying?”
“Yes.”
“But we can fight them, right?”
“Niall, there’s probably about fifteen fricking guys in the back of that van. Tell me exactly how well two of us are going to do against them.”
“So let’s run.”
“Good idea.”
But before we could get a metre out of the alley, I knew they had us. Because I could smell the sickly sweet smell of chloroform around us. And I felt my body hit the ground faster than I could say ‘roger that’.
Shit.
Notes
Told you some shit was about to go down :)
If anybody spotted that note I put up about putting this on hold, you can officially ignore that. I had some inspiration.
I am SO SO SO SO SO sorry I have been inactive for, like, a month. You all probably hate me.
Well let me know if you liked it- I kind of feel like I'm dong crap because nobody comments and I would love to know what you all think! So leave me a note, comment, rate, subscribe! Love y'all!
P.S. From now on, updates are going to be a lot shorter, about three pages. This is because I haven't got time to write seven pages all the time. I will try but I make no promises. You may get a random, seven pager sometimes but it will probably mostly be three pagers now. Sorry guys :) But I have A-levels coming up xxxxxx I will get as much done as possible though! x
@Niallmylove6oh my goodness! That means so so so much to me xxx Thank you so much for sticking with me and enjoying the updates - your comment means the world!
10/27/16