Blackbird

[contains mature content]

5:30 a.m.
Mullingar, Ireland

Mallory is standing outside of flat 4B, fingers gingerly gripping the door handle as she presses an ear to the door. The other tenants are still asleep so she’s able to hear perfectly into the flat she shares with her boyfriend of almost two years. Unlike most early mornings, the telly isn’t blaring. She can’t hear anything and she finds it a bit suspicious because when she left at ten p.m. last night, Grady was passed out in front of it. He gets mad at her when she turns it off so she leaves it alone now.

Despite the sick feeling in her stomach, Mallory slips inside as quietly as a cat burglar.

“And where the fuck have you been?”

Mallory jumps out of her skin and turns around in haste. Grady leans against the wall, completely smashed and reeking of scotch and stale nicotine.

“I’ve been out, taking care of things.” She replies in a shy voice, looking away from him. Mallory knows it’s better to play the submissive role than to challenge Grady. Especially when he’s this drunk.

“Why the fuck weren’t ya here, taking care of little ol’ me?”

“I… I … I’m sorry.” She murmurs deciding that he’s better off not knowing whom she picked up from the airport. Grady hates One Direction.

“Who did you fuck?” He slurs and takes a step forward. Mallory steps back, shrinking into the door and turning her nose away from Grady as he closes the gap between them.

“No one.” She whispers, cringing at the smell of booze wafting off of his lips.

“You fucking filthy slag,” Grady grunts and raises his arm, slapping Mallory’s cheek hard. He hits her one more time before his hands roughly start groping her, tearing opening her jacket and shirt. He’s not even attempting to make her feel special or wanted like how they first made love.

Grady drops his hands down to her pants and pries them down, forcing her trembling thighs apart. Mallory keeps her eyes shut tightly, wishing that she had stayed with Niall. His father wouldn’t have given it a second thought about them sharing a bed. It was once a common occurrence to find them cat napping together.

He turns Mallory around, slamming her face against the door as he grips her hips and attempts to put his flaccid penis inside of her unwilling body. The next ten minutes are spent pinned beneath Grady as he grunts and swears, getting mad at her because of his whiskey dick. Finally, he stops and stumbles away like nothing happened.

Mallory stays, pressing her body against the door, wishing to disappear. Her cheeks are wet from crying and her fists are white from being clenched for so long. It feels like forever before she is finally able to gather herself and move the mess into the bathroom. She passes by Grady who’s sleeping soundly on the bed and Mallory is wishing he’d choke on his own vomit.

She locks the bathroom door behind her and turns on the hot water faucet. She strips down to her birthday suit as the bathtub fills with water. Mallory can’t help but stop to stare at the faded, and fresh bruises littering her frail body. Her fingers ghost over them and she thinks about how she got herself into this situation. She was never this weak… she never took shit from boys. She was headstrong… she was going to go places…

To stop herself from thinking about what her life could have been, Mallory lowers her disgusting and empty self into the scolding water. Her skin tingles and burns as she tries to scrub another day away.



Niall feels like he’s just performed for a thousand fans but he hasn’t sang a song in the last twelve hours. It’s all because of her… Mallory… he made her laugh at something and her entire face lit up even her tired hazel eyes glittered. He wanted to kiss her at that very moment because it was perfect but he suppressed it, thinking it'd ruin their friendship... losing her is a very scary thought.

I should have kissed her! Why didn't I kiss those perfect lips! Niall curses himself while trying to distract himself by concentrating on Dudley. He can’t help but smile at the simplicity of being a dog and enjoying a good, thorough belly rub - of course looking at Dudley makes Niall think about Mallory all over again. It took him nearly an hour to convince her to let them have a sleepover (and a promise to take her to a One Direction concert) It’s all worth it because in a few hours, he’ll see her face again. He also can’t believe that she’s never seen him perform live...

“What are you smiling about?” His father teases him and flips the bacon and sausage in the pan. It’s almost six o’clock in the morning but he doesn’t care. If his son wants a traditional Irish breakfast so be it. Niall deserves it after all.

“Or should I say who?” He pokes fun fully aware about his son’s little crush on Mallory. She's also the reason why he stayed in Ireland instead of moving to England with his mother after the divorce and Bobby's thankful for that. He doesn't know what he'd do without his son.

Niall’s cheeks flush a soft pink and he grumbles, “Dad!”

Bobby smiles at his flustered son. He feels bad about breaking the news to him but it’s now or never. “You know lad…”

“Things have changed ‘round here….” Bobby shuts off the stove and begins dishing out the food for the two of them. Niall peers at his father. This is exactly how he started the sex talk and Niall is desperate not to go there for a second time.

“Dad, please. Not another sex talk.” Niall mutters which causes Bobby’s eyes to go comically wide.

“I wasn’t about to – unless should I go over it again? You do have a lot of girls hanging around…” Bobby says, talking mostly to himself. Both men are blushing and avoiding eye contact as they dig into their breakfast in awkward silence. Dudley is now sitting perfectly on his hind legs and staring pleadingly up at Niall for some scraps.

“Dudley is not allowed human food! Not even one, tiny piece of any morsel – got it, Niall?” Mallory’s voice rang inside of his ear but how can he resist that fat, ugly face peering up at him? Niall sneaks Dudley a piece of bacon and presses his finger to his lips as he telepathically transmits a signal to him not to tell Mallory.

“Do you remember Grady O’Brien?” Bobby finally asks, breaking the silence. Niall thinks about the name. It’s familiar but within the last few years, he’s gotten really bad at remembering people. Even the ones he went to school primary school with. He blames it on the hundreds of people he meets on a weekly basis.

“Not really…” Niall answers, voice trailing as he takes a sip of the cuppa tea. He’s thinking about Justin Bieber and what he does for fun on his holiday -

Bobby drops the bomb. “Well...he and Mallory are together.”

Tea spits out of Niall’s mouth, spraying everywhere. Bobby can see the heartbreak etching itself upon his sons face as his entire world shatters. When Niall is finally able to speak, his voice is hollow and distant.

“My… my Marshmallow? My Mallory Knox…”