Out of the Sky

It began that day on the playground when Sally Mae had knocked me over and caused me to skin my knees on the pavement. While I cried and screamed about how I hated her, Liam Payne was there to help me up and tell me to just play tag with him instead. He wiped the dirt from my legs and ran off, calling out for me to chase him. Never denying a challenge, I rubbed the snot on my face off on the back of my arm and ran after him until the sun set and our parents told us it was time to leave the park.

The next year it continued, our clanking jack-o-lantern buckets accompanying us as we ran down the sidewalk, stopping at every door on the street. Liam was dressed as some makeshift super hero and I was a frog, but together we were Super L and Sidekick Toad. While we yelled out trick or treat, we hummed our made-up theme song and traded candies. I gave him all the yucky caramels and he gave me chocolate in return.

When year eight of school hit us, we still spoke daily -he about his singing and me about my art. That was the year Mum walked out on Dad and I, taking Old Sparky and leaving us alone in our small flat. Liam sang to me softly as I cried after school that day, his arms wrapped around me tightly. That was when he promised me he'd turn our lives around. That he'd make it big and take me with him, to leave behind my broken family and problems and start fresh.

The next year it continued, Liam making me endless promises and doing his best to keep them while Dad turned to alcohol to mend his broken heart. Most of me felt lost by that point, but Liam kept finding the pieces to hold them together. That was when he kissed me, but later on we both shuddered and admitted how awkward it felt due to the fact that we were practically siblings. But he was still there when things got rough, holding my hand through the dark times that seemed endless.

Four years ago was when Liam went to his second X-Factor audition and hardly ever returned since then, but always called me to ask how I was doing. I would ask him the same, but I never needed to. The television set showed me how seamlessly his life was going, while mine was still being held together by the thinnest of strings. In that season of the show I watched his biggest dreams come true and felt the largest sense of pride to have called him my best friend for my entire life.

The next year it continued, Liam and his new friends were bigger than ever, their faces plastered on practically everything I saw. He still called, but it didn't happen as often as it used to. That was the year that Dad passed away, right after I finished my GCSE exams. It was liver failure, the doctors said, but I always blamed it on Mum. If it weren't for her destroying him, he never would've died so soon. Liam attended the funeral with me, his hand gripping mine as I said goodbye to Dad for the final time.

Yesterday was when I was kicked out of my flat, my roommate leaving my things boxed up in the hallway and leaving a harsh sticky note. That night I slept in a hostel, calling Liam and telling him about what had happened and about the fight that led up to that point. Yesterday was also when Liam gave me the biggest surprise of my life, getting me a spot on the next One Direction tour as a make-up and hair assistant. How he managed to pull those strings, I'd never know because he'd never tell me.

An hour ago I stood in front of him, seeing him for the first time in almost a year, the smile on my face never being so wide.

“I promised you we'd get away, didn't I?”