Try to Scream

The concert was excellent. Niall tried his best not to favor me, he was the one that always pointed to the entire crowed when singing about someone special. He still pointed, but his eyes lingered on me.

We all went out to eat that night and headed to bed early. As much as we missed each other, we were tired. When we woke up the next morning, we were packing out things and headed our of state.

The bus was just as cramped as I remembered. A week away from it was nothing. But at the same time, it was a good thing. I loved the bus. As much as I acted like I didn’t, it was the only peace. We could drive away from the craziness. I liked being away from it. I was lucky to only be associated with the band; the boys had so much more crap to put up with.

The bus ride was pretty short. We found the hotel and gathered in the elevator to our rooms. It was still early, so we all got dressed and headed out to explore the city. I was dressed in a navy polka dot dress, brown wedges and my hair pulled back.

Cora followed my lead and pulled on a dress as well. She picked a peachy tan and white dress, pink heels and a top knot.

Niall held my hand as much as he could. I could feel the wetness of my palm as it began to sweat. We stopped walking around 5 to grab some dinner. We all crammed in a booth at Denny’s and ordered quickly. Louis smiled at us the moment the waitress walked away, “So, I was looking up things to do around here and found out there was a haunted house nearby.”

“No.” I turned my gaze toward the group of bodyguards sitting at a table away talking to each other. “Last time we got in so much trouble.” I glared at him as we claimed our orders from the waitress.

Louis pushed his chicken around his plate for a bit. “Look, it’s not like we are leaving early or anything. We can get back by midnight and get enough sleep for tomorrows activities.” He took a large bit of the chicken.

“Lou, this is a bad idea, you always get us in trouble.” I was the only one that seemed to argue. Everyone else ate and kept to themselves. “I won’t be the one to decide it. Put it to a vote. Everyone must participate.” I looked around the table. “Raise your hand if you want to go.”

Hands went up, Cora, Harry, Liam and Louis. I looked at Zayn and Niall, they shrugged. “4 to 3, looks like we’re going.”

I rolled my eyes and gave up. Niall offered to stay at the hotel with me. It’s not like we all had to go. But I denied his offer and told him that I wasn’t going to wimp out. I could keep up with them, I could handle Louis. He tried to tell me that it wasn’t that I couldn’t keep up, he knew I could. It was the fact that I didn’t have to. But I wanted to. I wanted to show them I could handle being one of them.

When we got back to the hotel, Cora and I changed from our dresses and pulled on tank tops and sweat pants. I took out my contacts and grabbed my glasses.

We snuck out through the kitchen again and got a hold of some keys. Louis already had his phone out and was looking through maps to see which way he needed to go. I sat in the back between Harry and Niall and watched as the hotel slowly disappeared.

Liam sat beside Louis, reading directions. “Turn left here. Left, Louis, are you daft?” I would laugh quietly as Liam scolded Louis for not listening.

To our luck, the drive was only about 10 minutes. Liam and Louis rushed from the car instantly. Harry and Niall both waited for me to go, I stripped off my cardigan before getting out. The nerves of the house making me feel really hot. Cora and Zayn were the last out. Harry grabbed my hand and pulled me into a hug. “You’ll be fine, love. I promise not to scare you again.” I pulled away.

“You better not.” I smiled and turned to Niall who was chatting with Cora and Zayn. “Go be with your ‘boyfriend’ Haz.”

“God, don’t you start that.” I winked at him as he jogged toward the other boys.

Niall, Cora, Zayn and I all walked into the house. “You are really going to trust this place?” I asked as we walked around the abandoned building.

“Eh, we went to Salem, it was fun there. I want to see what we can find here.” Cora said, clinging to Zayn who was looking around the dark rooms.

Niall came up behind me, walking loudly enough not to scare me. “This is crazy, you know?” He said.

“I know, but once something sparks Cora’s interest, she is not going to let up.” I looked around and sighed. “What do you think the others are doing?” I asked, trying to distract myself.

“They are probably walking around the back.” Niall wrapped his arm around me and we moved toward the staircase. “Shall we?” I nodded smiling slightly.

I felt comfortable with his arm around me. It was the first private outing since being back from the week off. I sort of longed for his touch. It was crazy of me, to want something like this so much. To miss a boy I was probably going to lose contact with soon. I was falling more and more for him. I should have held myself back, but I couldn’t.

We slowly made our way up the stairs and found Zayn and Cora making out in one of the rooms. Niall and I looked oddly at each other before continuing to another room. The wallpaper was starting to peel. The only thing in the room was a rusty old chair. I sighed and looked out the window. Niall looked as well. “You are shivering, you okay?” Niall whispered in my ear.

“Just a bit cold.” I turned to face him. I looked in his eyes as he looked back in mine. He leaned closer to me. I closed my eyes, preparing myself for a phenomenal kiss, one that we hadn’t shared since the airport. But Cora’s laughter caught me off guard. I opened my eyes and saw Niall pull away. It was obvious he was as nervous as I was.

“Want me to get your cardigan from the car?” I nodded, “Okay, be right back, no running off.” He smiled as he turned and sprinted out the door.

I faced the window again and gazed out at the woods. I rubbed my hands over my arms to warm myself slightly. I looked down and saw Liam sneaking up behind Harry. Louis was watching with his phone out, ready to capture the moment. Liam’s hand poked at Harry, I watched Harry freak out and turn around, tackling Liam. Louis was nearly on the ground laughing now.

I watched the boys fight on the ground for a moment before I heard footsteps quietly making their way toward me, “You are not that fast.” I said as I turned expecting Niall to be walking my way. When I did, I was shocked, it wasn’t Niall at all. This guy had short dark hair. His eyes were a darker shade of blue than Niall’s. As I opened my mouth to scream, he raised his hand and placed a rag over it, stopping the noise from escaping. I struggled at first, but he managed to get behind me and hold it tighter.

The room started spinning and getting fuzzy. Like when you are watching a TV station on a dark stormy night, the winds threatening to blow the dish off the roof. The snowy screen starting to slowly come in. That’s what it felt like, that’s what I felt like. My limbs were growing heavier and my eyelids started drooping. Here I was a lonely dish on the roof of a house in the middle of a big storm. The wind was taking me out, the wind had me. The world faded.