Torches in the Moonlight

Charlotte couldn't wait for the party. Her friend, Cecelia, was very good friends with Niall Horan from the sexy band, One Direction, and she knew he was going to be at this party. She put her nicest dress on, did her hair up and put her cake-face on, looking more gorgeous than ever.

Niall won't be able to help fancying me, Charlotte thought as she gazed at herself in the mirror, puckering up. Cecelia agreed, being perfectly able to read minds.

The two girls set off to the party, which was at Simon Cowell's very fancy house in London. Simon was unknowingly hosting parties every weekend, but was unaware because he was always asleep upstairs in his luxurious bedroom, with his fluffy eye mask on and a DO NOT DISTURB sign hanging from his door. So he never knew what chaos went on downstairs.

Charlotte and Cecelia strutted in casually, immediately catching sight of Niall, Louis and Eleanor. Charlotte opened her mouth to compliment Eleanor on her shoes, but she abruptly realised it was Louis who was wearing the heels, not Eleanor. So she instead complimented Louis.

“Thank you, dear,” Louis said indifferently, who then walked off sassily with Eleanor at his side.

“Niall,” Cecelia began, for Niall was the only one left, “This is my friend, Charlotte.”

“Hello 'dere Charlotte,” Niall replied, very Irsihly, “What'a fine lass you are. Would you like t' come n' have a snog with me later in tha' kitchen over dere?”

Charlotte was struck speechless and could only nod. Niall then turned and Irish danced his way off into the next room, leaving the two girls by the front door. Charlotte had a very hard time getting Niall's attention later as the party progressed though. Just when she thought they had locked eyes across the room, she realised there was a television behind her with the latest football match playing; and the second time she mistook his glance, she discovered she was standing in front of the buffet table, and Niall was only eyeing the chicken wraps.

A little upset, Charlotte went to sit down on the settee, thinking Niall had forgotten all about her. Unknowing to Charlotte, however, she had caught the eye of somebody else, who was confident enough to approach her. He had emerged from the dark side of the party, clambering up the slippery slope of the One Direction fandom; he had not even been invited to the party because One Direction did not like him or his band. They came out of spite though. Tom Parker from The Wanted slithered up next to Charlotte, seeing that she was alone.

“Hello there,” he said in a very seductive, sexy sort of voice, looking at her in a very similar manner, raising his eyebrows up and down.

Charlotte stared at him in fright, but managed to muster out a small, “Hello...”

“What are you doing here all alone?” he asked, sidling up closer.

“I'm not,” Charlotte said quickly, standing up. “I was just about to go get a drink. Goodbye.”

Charlotte rushed into the kitchen, upon which she was caught around the waist by Niall who said, “I thought you'd never show up,” and began to snog her face off. Tom had followed her and saw this scene with envy; he gave Niall a nasty shove and said aggressively, “Oi, she's mine!”

“I asked 'er fer a snog first,” Niall insisted, shoving him back. A very violent fight would have erupted right there and then, but Harry in the next room announced, “Nandos, everyone!” and Niall was gone before either Charlotte or Tom realised.

“Nooooooo, NIALL! KITCHEN TILE! NAIL FILE! BABE.” Charlotte burst in terror.

The music in the room changed to “What Makes you Haha,” and the lights in the kitchen dimmed as Tom looked at her in a very frightening way, with a torch under his chin for the full effect. Charlotte screamed and began to run. She fled to the living room where Niall was collecting chicken wraps by the dozen, and grabbed him by the arm as she ran from Tom, who was chasing her.

“Niall, help me!” she begged desperately, pulling him along with her.

“But deres' anodother two 'dere,” Niall said, more Irish than usual, pointing at the remaining chicken wraps he hadn't yet devoured. He had no choice but to run with her, however, and Charlotte pulled him up the stairs, closely pursued by Tom. They knocked Louis over in the process, who was wobbling down the stairs in his sky-high heels. If Eleanor hadn't caught him, he would have gone over the banister head-first.

“Quick,” Niall said, a little more helpful now that he'd had his Nandos-fix. “In here.”

He pulled her into the first room on hand and locked the door behind them, so that Tom would not be able to get in. They both sighed in relief and slid down against the wall, positively exhausted.

“That wa' a close one,” Niall said.

Charlotte nodded in agreement. “He wasn't even invited!”

“I think dere all here,” Niall said, suddenly in a hushed whisper. “They could be anywhere.”

They were broken from their conversation when they heard a low snoring sound from somewhere in the room. Niall and Charlotte froze. It was too dark in the room to see anything, but they knew somebody else was with them.

“Simon!” Niall whispered urgently. Just as Niall said this, Tom began to pound on the door, attempting to break it down. It sounded as if there were other people with him this time. Niall grabbed Charlotte's hand and stood up quickly. “We have to escape,” he said, pulling her across the room in the quietest way possible.

“How can we get out?” Charlotte asked, looking around desperately. Simon slept on, which they both could see as they stepped into the middle of the large room. The moon lit up his white fluffy eye mask. Niall turned several times, like a spinning top, until a clever idea popped into his head.

“The balcony!” he exclaimed in a whisper. He pulled Charlotte towards the window, which opened out into a balcony. “We can climb down the drain pipe off the balcony.”

Tom, and presumably others by the sound of it, were heaving their weight against the door. It was nearly off its hinges, but Simon slept on, completely unaware. Niall led Charlotte onto the balcony, which looked quite romantic in the moonlight, and so they paused for a dramatic kiss before Niall clambered over the ledge and onto the drain pipe.

“You climb over now too,” he instructed Charlotte once he was a fair way down the wall.

“But you'll see my knickers!” she fretted modestly, aware of how short her dress was.

“Dat's not all I'll be seein',” Niall replied, suddenly sounding quite menacing and seductive. Charlotte peered over the balcony and saw, to her horror, that Niall now had a torch lit up under his chin and was grinning up at her sadistically. He cackled in the normal way he cackles, but it sounded much more frightening with a torch illuminating his face. Charlotte screamed again and ran to the other side of the balcony, searching for an escape. Tom had broken the door down now, however, and nowhere was safe. Behind him was the other members of The Wanted, but more puzzling was the fact that Harry and Zayn were also with them, seemingly on their side of matters.

She had no choice but to climb down the drain pipe Niall was holding on to and let him see up her skirt, which was worse because he had a torch to help with that. Charlotte was forced to throw herself the rest of the way down to the ground because Niall wouldn't budge. Fortunately, she wasn't far off from the ground and so she didn't hurt herself too badly. She even had time to swap her heels for some Fast-Flats from her handbag so that she could run faster.

She ran and ran, with Niall chasing after her closely, along with The Wanted, Harry and Zayn. Zayn was lagging behind slightly, much to Harry's annoyance, because the wind was sweeping Zayn's hair the wrong way and it was just too much for Zayn to deal with all at once. Harry gave him his beanie so they could carry on running, each with a torch under their chins.

Charlotte soon found herself running into Liam, who was by the front gate, with his back turned to her. He was kissing Danielle, but Charlotte wasn't worried about interrupting them right now; She ran up to Liam and grabbed his shoulder, sighing in relief, “Oh, thank goodness! Someone sensible!”

But Liam spun around dramatically with a torch under his chin, not being very sensible at all. Danielle was doing the same, obscuring her naturally pretty face into something demonic and corrupt. Once again, Charlotte screamed in terror and dashed through the gate as Liam and Danielle joined the chase. She had barely made it down the street when she saw Louis clopping along in his heels, swaying his hips side-to-side with a handbag in one hand and Eleanor in the other. Charlotte daren't trust him though, for Louis was already quite mad, and he most definitely would turn on her with a torch. He heard her behind him though and so he turned around, greeting her quite normally.

“Hello, dear,” he said.

“Oh, no! I don't trust you!” Charlotte said in a panic.

“Don't trust me?” Louis replied in bewilderment.

“No!” she exclaimed, “You're going to start chasing me like the rest of them!”

“Who, dear? Me, dear? Chase, dear? No, dear,” Louis shook his head, quite confused. “I can't chase anyone in these shoes. I couldn't even chase Harry in these.” He stretched his leg out to show off his glittery heels.

Charlotte considered for a moment, but didn't have long. The pack was just making their way around the corner. She looked at Louis for help, for he still appeared quite himself with no torch in sight. Eleanor, on the other hand, had whipped out a torch from her fashionable coat and took up the possessive look everybody else was wearing. Both Louis and Charlotte screamed and fled down the street at once.

“That's what I was trying to tell you!” Charlotte said to Louis, who was stumbling and tripping along the pavement.

“Let me put my Fast-Flats on!” he cried, stopping at a lamp post to fish his flats out of his handbag. It took him a long time to fumble around, and the crowd was growing nearer, so Louis had to abandon his lovely heels in the middle of the street as they started to run again, leaving them glittering in the moonlight.

“Where can we hide?!” Charlotte asked breathlessly.

“Let's go to my flat,” Louis said wisely. He turned down the street that took them this way, and within minutes, they were dashing up flights and flights and stairs (because they were too afraid to take the lift in case the pack turned the power off) and up to his flat. As soon as they got in, Louis locked the door and every window, moving heavy furniture in front of every possible entrance to hinder the pack's advances.

He then turned off the lights and pulled Charlotte down behind the kitchen counter. They were both panting for breath.

“That was a close one,” Charlotte said. But Louis didn't reply. A small light clicked on beside her and she turned her head to discover Louis had trapped and betrayed her. He had a torch under his chin, and when Charlotte looked up and around her, she discovered that everybody else had somehow gotten in: Niall, Harry, Zayn, Liam, Danielle, Eleanor, Perrie, Taylor Swift, Tom, Jay, Nathan, Max, Siva, and even Simon (still in his fluffy eye mask), Baby Lux, and Cecelia. Every one of them had a torch under their chin, grinning in a very frightening way that caused Charlotte to faint.

When Charlotte woke up, there were no torches or demonic smiles peering over her, but only Niall's concerned face and a small crowd gathered around her. Niall was holding her hand.

“Are you alright 'dere babe?” he asked.

Charlotte looked around in confusion. “Where...Where are the torches?”

“What torches?” Niall replied.

“You all had torches,” she mumbled out nervously.

Niall shook his head. “'Dere's no torches, babe.”

As Charlotte glanced over Niall's shoulder, however, she saw in one briefly horrific moment, Tom Parker standing in a shadowy corner with a torch under his chin, raising his eyebrows up and down at her. Charlotte screamed and pointed at him.

“Look!” she exclaimed.

Everybody looked over at Tom, but he just stood there in mild puzzlement. “What?” he said.

“He had a torch!” Charlotte insisted.

“I think she needs, like...a glass of water, or something...” Harry said helpfully in his slow way.

“Go and get her one then,” Louis replied, smacking Harry's bottom to get him moving. Harry fetched Charlotte a glass of water and helped her to sit up. As Charlotte sat up though, she caught yet another sight of Tom smirking up at her with a torch under his chin, and she cried out again.

“I think I ought to take'er home,” Niall said.

“She doesn't live in London though,” Eleanor pointed out.

“I'll take'er back to my place then,” he replied.

This was agreed upon and so Niall lifted her up, bride style, and proceeded to carry her out of Louis' tastefully decorated flat. Charlotte noticed a lot of erotic art on the walls with figures looking suspiciously like Harry, but she didn't dwell on this long because she was too fear-struck by Tom Parker in the shadowy corner, who was gleaming at her again from under the light of his torch.

Niall carried Charlotte all the way back to his flat, which was two doors down from Louis'. He set her down on his bed and tucked her in warmly, then dashed off to make her some hot chocolate. As she gradually calmed down, Niall made himself comfortable next to her and told her to try and sleep.

“It was all just a nightmare,” he assured her, cuddling her tight.

“It was so real though,” Charlotte returned.

“Just you try an' sleep,” he replied, giving her a little kiss on the cheek. This made Charlotte blush warmly and snuggle down into bed, at which Niall turned off the light and wrapped his arm around her.

“Niall, you're lovely,” Charlotte said in a low voice, completely content.

There was no response however, and Charlotte heard the familiar click of a torch. She opened her eyes and saw not Niall, but Tom parker beside her in bed. What Makes you Haha came on yet again, just as it had the first time in the kitchen, and Charlotte swooned into a black swirling hole and went mad dreaming about torches and Tom Parker and Louis in high heels and erotic art and fluffy masks and Nandos and the fact there was absolutely no point whatsoever in her suffering or this story. The End.