Never Stop Running

Niall, the blond one, sat down next to Lily. They both sat at the counter, on stools. Lily was staring down miserably at her uneaten peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She had dreamed about her dad, and had therefore woken up feeling like death.

And wishing death would come. Her father thought she was a murderer, her mother was dead, and the killer could be after her - or her father.

Hopefully not her father.

Niall hesitantly pointed at her sandwich. which lay perfect and uneaten on her plate. "Are you going to eat that?" Lily shrugged, pushing the plate towards him. He mumbled his thanks through a mouthful of what used to be Lily's food.

She groaned, feeling hopeless, and started to doodle on a napkin with a pen she had found on the floor. Liam had dropped it earlier, not that he needed to know. She had a pen, and therefore was happy.

Bread crumbs dropped onto her napkin as Niall watched over her shoulder. He swallowed and said, "that's a good peanut." Lily had drawn a cartoon peanut with a face. She blushed; she didn't like people looking at her art.

"Oh. Thanks."

Niall tilted his head. "You seem sad. Be happy!" He used his free hand to squish her face in an attempt to make her smile. He started whistling Don't Worry Be Happy, a song she heard the boys singing so often she could sing along to the tune alone if she wanted to. Lily pushed his hand away, smiling sadly. He seemed so carefree - then again, the most he had to worry about was where to hide from fangirls.

Liam walked in, holding a TV remote. "Harry and Louis are back from grocery shopping, and Zayn's already in the den. You guys want to watch the news with us?"

Lily nodded, standing up. She folded her napkin drawing in half, shoved it into her pocket, and followed him into the den. Niall followed, carrying a glass of milk he had evidently poured at some point when she wasn't looking.

"So, when's the last time you watched the news?" Niall asked her, apparently trying to make idle chitchat on the walk there. He took a sip of his milk.

Lily sighed. She couldn't help of thinking of it as insensitive. "I haven't had a TV since I was ten."

"Oh." He gave up trying to talk to her for the time being, or at least for the moment. They were in the den now, anyways. Lily sat on the long couch in the center with the boys, watching Liam flick through the channels until he found the news channel they watched.

The face on the screen was that of Lily's father's. It was an old photo, taken at his wedding. It even had his name under it: "John Oaks -- MURDERED." in big red letters. Lily sucked in a sharp breath -- Niall looked at her oddly. She just shook her head.

I'm sorry it's short -- suspense and all that stuff. Next chapter will be longer.

Notes

I'm gonna try to get out of the habit of leaving the site for a month, writing a chapter at the last moment, and uploading.

But no promises.

Now have some Karkalicious.