Claire’s view:
“I can't believe I did it!” I exclaimed as I ran into Justin’s arms.
“That’s all you had to do, you just had to believe.” Jess smiled as I was still hugging Justin.
“Oh, I have one more surprise.” Justin cheekily stopped our hug and patted my head. I was in such shock nothing could add to it. “Someone thought it would be a nice idea to support you…” He said pushing in a wheel chair.
“You did an amazing job! Your father loved that song.” My grandma coughed out.
“Grandma, you’re here!” I screeched and hugged her to the best of my ability.
“I had to see my little girl audition. Justin pulled strings and got me out here so I wouldn’t miss a thing.” I was full on sobbing now. I was this hysterical ball of tears.
“You’re here.” I smiled and cried.
“Yes, but she needs to be getting home. She can’t be outside for too long.” Justin instructed.
“Let’s go home.” I said to him. We walked out and I was grabbed by someone and held back.
“Aren't you staying for the after party?” Harry asked me.
“Well, I want to talk to my grandma. Besides an after party just sounds stupid.” I said wiping some tears.
“Oh, I'm sorry. I didn’t know.” He said looking sympathetic.
“Sorry for what?” I asked with a chuckle.
“I don’t know why. I just felt the need to feel sorry.” He laughed awkwardly.
“How about I come back for the after party later?” I offered that idea.
“Yeah, that sounds good. It will be good for you to meet people since you will be living on the show.” He winked and left fast with a guard walking with him. I caught back up to everyone whom was already in the car.
“Where were you?” Jess asked confused.
“Harry held me up.” I blushed a bit.
“Oh, I had your grandpa read all about that curly lad to me.” She smiled and I knew what she was talking about.
“Grandma it's not like that.” I blushed even more now.
“Okay whatever you say.” She coughed and took my hand in her frail little wad of loose skin and brittle bones.
“So, Claire there is an after party that you should go to. It's for you to make friends that are on your team and talk to your coach a bit more.” Justin said looking to the back seat that had me and my grandma.
“That’s actually what Harry was talking to me about.” I was blushing but the shade in the car was just dark enough to tint my cheeks so no one could tell.
“Oh.” My grandma giggled.
I nudged her as Justin spoke, “Did he ask you to come back?” Justin wiggled his eyebrows.
“Yes.” I said confidently.
“Oh.” Everyone in the car chorused, even our driver.
“So are you going back?” Jess asked looking at Justin then me.
“Yeah, I mean, why not?” I smiled.
“Do you want me to drive you back?” Our driver asked.
“No, no, I'll drive her. You could use this as time to check in on your wife.” Justin waved.
“Thank you Mr. Timberlake.” He nodded in the rearview mirror. We were home and everyone came inside but I stayed back to help my grandma walk. She wasn’t completely helpless but everyone likes to think of her as it. I usually let her run the show. As I sat her on the couch carefully Justin came into the living room with a drink and some pills for her.
“It’s time for meds.” He chuckled.
“I hate these stupid things.” She said. Jess and Justin laughed at her remark and I just couldn’t stop smiling. “Are you going to smile at me or get ready for your date?” She asked.
“You're right!” I said leaving to get ready. I stopped halfway up the stairs. Realizing what she said. I yelled, “Grandma it's not like that!”
“You agreed.” She screeched back.
“Ugh.” I huffed and went to my room. I changed into white skinny jeans and some brown combat boots. I really wasn’t up for a party dress. “I want to wear something simple.” I whispered.
“Try this.” Jess was in my doorway with something in her hand. She threw a pink laced three-quarter sleeve at me, the kind where the sleeves end at your elbow. It was simple and cute, the perfect outfit.
“Thanks!” I said and slipped it over my white tank top.
“Justin bought it for me when he was in Paris, but it doesn’t fit me.” She laughed.
“I like it.” It fit tight and looked great with my boots. I went into the bathroom and looked at my hair, which still was wavy from scrunching it earlier. Once I was happy with my appearance, I went downstairs to see Justin and my Nan laughing.
“Ready?” He looked me up and down.
“Yeah, when I get home you will probably be asleep but I love you and tomorrow we are going to play Scrabble and Yahtzee all day.” I answered Justin and then appointed my attention to Grandma.
“You got it kiddo.” She said and turned back to the TV ever so slowly. Justin escorted me to the garage which was never empty. We had eight cars. Jaguars’, Bugatti’s, Camaro’s, and some old Monte Carlo’s occupied the space. Some were Jess’ others were Justin’s with a few being our driver’s. We have a house in the back for our driver and his family. He is family to us and Justin trusts him with quite a bit. His wife is currently in the hospital because she had a terrible car accident. We are always positive for him and let him take his time off. We never really liked the idea of people working for us. We arrived at the auditions theater and I walked in very confused. Without Justin I wouldn’t have been able to connect with someone to help me. Justin was gone and I was led into a room with tables lining the walls full of fruity drinks and finger foods. The amount of people was nice and small. There were no more than thirty people but not less than twenty, it seemed like a good group.
“Hey.” Someone jumped right in front of me.
“Hi.” I said taking a large step back. Music was playing but it was very soft and easy to talk over.
“So you're on Niall’s team?” It was a blonde brighter than me. Taller than me and wore nerdy glasses. She was cute and seemed likable.
“I guess.” I said shrugging.
“Well I'm Janice.” She stuck out her hand that didn’t have a drink
“Cool, how old are you?” I spoke my mind a lot more than I wished.
“I'm twenty five.” She looked older than me but younger than twenty five.
“I'm seventeen.” I said dropping the handshake.
“What kind of music do you like?” She was either really nice or getting the feel for competition.
“I like any music really, although I prefer Sonata.” I replied.
“I sing country.” She looked country, with her buttoned pink tank-top that tied in the front, her shorty jean shorts that were frilled at the bottom, and her black cowboy boots. She even had a hat. Wow, people really do go all out these days.
“Nice.” I nodded, uninterested.
“Well, I'll let you talk to some more people. It was nice meeting you.” She walked off and I let out a breath. I hate strangers, so I think I handled that well.
“Hi.” Someone else came up to me. People were coming up left and right and I couldn’t get away.
“Oh, sorry, I was just going to get a drink.” I said dipping out. I didn’t want to talk. I came here assuming Harry would be here but he wasn’t.
“You were thinking about me?” I turned around and saw Harry with a dimpled grin.
“No.” A smile slipped from my lips and made me laugh.
“Really, are you sure?” He hugged me. People were watching us and it was annoying.
“Ok, I was a bit sad you weren’t here but then poof here you are.” I did a jazz hand on poof to get the point across.
“So do you like your team?” He asked getting a drink.
“Yeah, Janice is great.” I replied, avoiding eye contact.
“Why didn’t you pick me?” I paused for a second. I knew that was coming but I didn’t know he would seem so hurt.
“I’m… well I’m honestly not sure. Everyone was yelling at me, I crumpled under the pressure…I guess.”
“So you do want to be on my team?” He asked.
“I don’t even know. I was about to say your name, but then my heart lurched and I said Niall. It happened so fast.” I shook my head looking at the ground.
“Hey, hey, it's alright.” He lifted my chin. “It just means we are competing now.” He winked and kissed my cheek.
“Come on Niall’s team!!” Someone said into a microphone. I looked at the stage and then back at Harry to see him getting under one of the tables.
“Harry what are you –?”
“I can't be here.” He said and then let the cloth fall. I felt super awkward standing there but I couldn’t leave Harry under the table, besides, who was I going to talk to?
“Niall is here so get ready to meet your coach.” Everyone cheered and Niall walked on the stage. He took the mic and looked around at everyone, a big smile plastered across his face.
“I'm so glad to have my first round of contestants. Next show we will gather some more talent and then it's going to be down to business. The first part of the competition is going to be pairings. Before you start picking your friends, it's going to be me who chooses your pairings. And to make it even more interesting, I will pick the top contestant in my group to be exclusively working with me as their partner and coach. After that we will have half the amount in this room. Once it starts to get to lower numbers we will get more one on one time to discuss songs and mentoring. Let’s do this!” Everyone cheered and he put the microphone back on a stand. He hopped off stage and everyone bombarded his space. I felt Harry grab my ankle. I slid under the table in a fluent motion.
“So why can't you be here?” I asked him.
“Well, Niall hates me. Also I'm supposed to be at my party talking to my team.” He chuckled.
“Then go. I'll be fine.” I smiled.
“Ok, don’t talk to any boys.” He said with a chuckle. He tried to make it seem like he was kidding but I knew deep down he really didn’t want me near any boys. He went out the back way of the table and under another table cloth so no one saw. As I crawled out from under the table I stood up and hit someone.
“I'm so sorry.” I said brushing myself off.
“It's alright.” I looked up and saw Niall. I actually got a pretty good look at him in this light. He had my blonde color of hair on top of brown. It was whooshed to his right. His eyes were shining with the blue lighting so I couldn’t tell if they were light like the summer sky or darker like the sea. He was taller than me but that wasn’t hard to accomplish. He looked to be dressed comfy and casual for this occasion. He had on regular blue jeans with a white tee shirt. In the middle of the shirt was a heart that had a tiny pair of eyes. I actually owned the shoes he was wearing. Simple white Converse, only mine are trashed from playing soccer and all the walks I go on. “So are you excited for this competition?” He asked knocking my head down from cloud nine.
“Yeah I am, thanks for asking…. Sorry but I was actually just leaving.” I said and walked away. Harry had to go and I really wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone. As I wondered aimlessly around the arena I walked out of a door that put me right in a storm of paparazzi.
“Claire!” Someone yelled and everyone flocked.
“Why are you here?”
“I thought you were a pianist!”
“Are you dating Niall?” That one got me talking.
“No!” I said a bit loud.
“Why are you here? Is it Harry?”
“Are you two ‘official’ yet?”
“No. No.” I said quieter. I don’t know why I didn’t just turn around and go back through the door but I walked through the flashes instead.
“Do you have parents?” That was a completely unrelated question but it did give me some misty eyes. I kept walking and ignored their questions. I wasn’t even as famous as Harry or Niall and I was getting this crap. After they realized I wasn’t going to give them anything they left. I had managed to walk in the wrong direction to my house. I was a good few miles down from a convenient store and dipped in to see the things lining the shelves from top to bottom. I grabbed a bag of starbursts and paid. I peeked out the windows to see if any paps were there and no one had stuck around and followed me. They were most likely walking back to the show studio to possibly get a story out of the boys. I slowly crept out and felt the air brush my face. I opened my bag and started to walk back the way I came.
I wasn’t entirely sure how far I walked but I did speed walk so I knew I had some time to kill. I put my headphones in on my way to the park. It was definitely too late for families and such to be out so I was alone, but it wasn’t completely dark yet, it was only about 5:50. I sat on a bench and ended up lying down to look at the stars. I put on my comfort music, ‘Say Something’ by A Great Big World, and watched as one by one then two by two, stars started to light up the canvas in front of me.
L.A. could be one of the most peaceful places as long as you knew the right way to enjoy it. You had to know the right time to be at the right place with, or without, the right people. For some reason everyone seemed to be gone tonight. I noted the time as 6:10 when it finally got dark. It was early, that’s strange. I closed my eyes and took in a deep breath. This crisp feeling settled in my lungs and then left with a slight puff. I felt so relaxed in that moment everything else seemed to fade away. Then I felt it slip. I let out a small soft sob. I was so relaxed I didn’t notice I was crying. I wiped away a small tear and sat up. I couldn’t explain why I was crying but I was. I missed my dad but I always do, that is something that never goes away. It couldn’t be my mom because I never missed her. At first I did but anymore she is just a face I don’t know, a shadow of my imagination.
“Miss, are you ok?” Someone scared the heck out of me. I stood up and backed away from the person approaching the backside of the bench.
“Yeah, I’m fine.” I whimpered out.
“Do you need someone to talk to?” They asked politely.
“I'm fine really.” It was nice of this person, guy, to want to listen to me but I really wanted to be alone.
“If you need to talk it's fine. I'm a great listener.” He chuckled and stepped back from the bench.
“I don’t even know you.” I wasn’t crying anymore but I did sniffle.
“That’s the beauty of it. Telling your feelings to someone you don’t know, telling them something you wouldn’t tell someone so close to you, it’s how you start to feel free.” He sounded poetic.
“Why are you out here?” I asked avoiding his comment.
“Because I just got a great chance of a lifetime, which is the reason I came to L.A., and I needed a place to think.” He seemed to be adrenaline shot.
“Well, enjoy yourself.” I said about to leave.
“No, stay, I don’t want you to stop doing what you were doing before because of me.” He smiled. It was genuine and warm. I couldn’t see any features but I knew when he was smiling because his face became rounded from his cheeks.
“Crying?” I said ruining the mood he was setting. He chuckled.
“Thinking...” He sat on one end of the bench. I sighed and sat on the other end of the bench. I could tell he was content because he smiled at the ground. We didn’t speak for a while because neither of us felt the need to, at least I didn’t.
“So what is your big break?” I asked him looking at him for a split second.
“There is this new show about to air, ‘One Thing’, I'm on it.” He looked at me and wasn’t afraid to stare. I looked at him and then forward again.
“That’s funny, I am too.” I chuckled.
“No kidding. Whose team are you on?” He asked.
“The Green Team, Niall’s team.” I said racking my brain.
“No kidding.” He smiled wide.
“What?” I asked looking at him and not looking away this time. I couldn’t really see his full appearance, but I could see the whites of his eyes and his teeth when he smiled.
“I am too.” He extended his hand and shook mine.
“Nice to meet you I'm –”
“Claire Chasez.” He interjected.
“Umm…”
“I'm a fan.” He looked at the ground.
“Oh.” I chuckled. “Well, it's nice to meet you.” I saw him look at me and smile.
“Could I ask you something?” I nodded for him to continue. “Why are you on a singing competition?” He asked.
“Well… Justin signed me up without my knowledge.” I laughed.
“Oh, well your piano playing is amazing. I hope you can make it in this competition.” He sounded reassuring.
“What makes you think I won't?” I asked playfully.
“Well, you just seem like you don’t know what to do.” He laughed a bit.
“I don’t.” He didn’t laugh but instead looked at me with an unreadable expression.
“I’m sorry Claire.” He said.
“Sorry for what?” I asked. I looked at him intensely and then he pulled out his phone. The brightness lit up his face and I saw distinct features. This wasn’t any random guy, it was Niall.
“Hey!” I said accusingly, and pushed his arm. He laughed and looked at me, I could see his eyes sparkling in the light and it made me a bit calmer.
“You followed me?” I asked. It was bad enough that he had already kidnapped me, now this? I was thinking back to whether I made a wise decision in picking his team. I didn’t want to second-guess myself. He seemed like a sweet guy, I just needed a chance to get to know him. Then again, if I tried, what would Harry think? Harry had become a dear friend, maybe even more, and I wasn’t about to lie to myself in thinking that I didn’t like him. He’s charming. He must have that effect on a lot of people, except Niall.
“No course not, but people were looking for you to make sure you were okay. And being your new mentor…” He chuckled happily. I could imagine he was happy at that accomplishment.
“…I just wanted to make sure you were doing okay. When you left the house, I saw you looked a bit upset from the paps. They’re annoying as heck, but you have to ignore them. I know how it can be, so I figured I’d try to help you.” He scooted closer to me and I felt his shoulder press against mine. My whole body froze and my heart started beating faster. This was awkward and it felt wrong. His body warmth gave me goose bumps and I shivered, wrapping my arms around myself.
“Oh, take mine.” Niall took off his sweatshirt and wrapped it around me. I could feel my face turning shades of red. This is getting out of hand.
“Thank you.” I didn’t know what to say, everything seemed to want to come out at once. What I really wanted to ask him, if I had the courage to, is why he liked me. I wanted to know why he risked so much to get my attention when he didn’t even know me. I wanted to know why him not being able to talk to me, made him get so mad and get drunk or get in fights with Harry as a result. Harry and I just happened to meet. It was completely by accident, so why did that frustrate Niall? My train of thought rode from one thought bubble to the next until Niall interrupted.
“So, I know that things might be a little awkward for you, I mean, after what I did. I just want to say…” He was trying to apologize for kidnapping me. I felt a pit in my stomach, I feel bad now, and it wasn’t totally his fault. I suddenly got up, I didn’t know why. I stood in front of him and took a deep breath. What was I doing?
“Niall, I think you could be really cool. If you’re going to be my new mentor, things can’t be awkward. I don’t mind being friends, so what’s happened in the past, let it be the past. We all make mistakes, and I’ve already forgiven you. I accept your apology.” I turned around and started walking towards the beach on the other side of the park. I felt weird being so out in the open with him. I never could be so outspoken with Harry. Wait why was I comparing him to Harry? What am I doing? I’m being so disloyal to him. No, no, no, I am not, Niall and I are making peace with the awkwardness that had developed between us. Just because I forgave him and said we could be friends doesn’t mean I’m being disloyal to Harry. I was pulled from my internal thought battle as I heard him get up and start running; I turned around just in time to feel a warm embrace.
“Thank you, so much.” He hugged me tight; I felt an explosion of butterflies in my stomach. I hugged him back, but that felt wrong too. I knew I only felt like this from Harry’s hugs, and I didn’t want to cause any confusion. He finally let go and started running towards the water. I watched him oddly, what was he doing?
“What are you doing?” I made him happy, which was a change. I feel like whenever I would see him in the past, he was angry or sad, mostly because of me and Harry, or I was crying, but now, for some reason, we’re just normal around each other. I owed him this. Out of nowhere I heard a splash and I started running. I made my way from the soft grassy park to the soft sand of the beach. I squinted in the dim lighting to try and see him but I couldn’t. I kept walking; I stepped on something and looked down to find Niall’s t-shirt, jeans, socks, and shoes lying in the sand. I laughed at hearing his scream as he came running out of the water in his briefs. I tried to avert my eyes from his saltwater soaked body, but I have to admit, as a girl, I find him very attractive. That’s coming from a girl’s standpoint, not Harry’s really good friend standpoint. I like making people happy, it makes me happy.
“Wow, that’s a bit nippy!” He shook his head, water flew in a hundred different directions, and he took his fingers and ran a hand through his blonde-brown hair. He gave me a devilish smile. “You wanna try?”
“No! STOP, Niall!” I started running away from him, I was fast, but he was faster. He wrapped his strong arms around me and lifted me up and started running towards the water. I put my arms around his neck as he lugged me over his shoulder, my head bouncing along to each one of his footsteps. I should have felt uncomfortable, especially after all the past and what Harry said. Not to mention how I felt about Harry, but all those feelings and concerns and past impressions disappeared. For that moment it was fine. We clicked so easily, I knew that from that point, we would be friends. But then the moment ended, and it ended too soon. Just as he was about to throw me in the water someone yelled my name.
“Claire, are you okay?” Out of the darkness came a shady figure, but I didn’t need light to know who it was. I unlatched my arms from Niall’s neck and he immediately put me down and ran to put his shirt on. He came up beside me again and I could feel water droplets landing on his sweatshirt. I realized I was still wearing it, I quickly took it off and handed it to him, and he put it back on and shook out his hair again. Both of our breathing had slowed to barely anything as we waited. I decided to make a move.
“Harry?” I stepped forward and I felt Niall step with me. He put his hand on my arm and whispered in my ear.
“I was never here.” He slipped away into the darkness and I suddenly felt cold again. I saw the general direction as to where he walked, but I didn’t specifically see where he disappeared to. I wanted him by my side, I was scared. It was dark and I didn’t want Harry thinking anything wrong. I had to lie to him, something I didn’t like doing and something I was bad at doing. But now as a friend of Niall, it was sort of code to stick up for him. Plus I had to stick up for myself if I didn’t want to cause an “episode” with Harry. This was going to suck.
“What’s going on, who’s with you, are you okay?” He got close and gave me a hug. Two hugs in the same night, from two different members of One Direction. Well, that’s a record, call Ripley’s®
“I’m fine, umm... I just…” I hesitated. What should I say?
“Why was Niall here?” I could hear him getting upset. I had to cover for Niall though, as a friend, it’s just what friends did. How was I supposed to pull this off?
“Um, well, he was just checking to see when I was coming back. He uh, needed to do some paper work with me and stuff. I was just relaxing out here.” I struggled through that, I sounded like a five year old trying to lie. I’ve never been able to lie, I never even should lie, but when situations like this came up and it was sort of inevitable, I had to give it my best.
“But I heard you scream his name, what was going on?” He questioned. I felt horrible, I wanted Harry to wrap me up and take me home. I was so uncomfortable. But then again, I wanted to hang out with Niall, I wanted to keep talking and run around like kids on the beach. I haven’t had that much fun in a long time, being able to act my age and what not. Well, being able to act immature and mess around without getting weird stares from people. I was going to be around Niall regularly for the next month or two. So, getting to know him on a personal level first was going to make things easier for everyone, whether Harry saw that or not. I went back to what Harry questioned and I felt the heat go to my ears at his misconstrued thoughts.
“We weren’t doing anything.” I didn’t know why he would think that. I had to come up with something else. “When he came out here to look at papers and to see if I was okay, some girls were walking and recognized him and so he had to go. That wasn’t me yelling his name, it was them. That’s all. Don’t be so quick to assume the worst. I’ll be back soon, just give me some time alright? I just want to calm down a bit before I go back to the madhouse.” I laughed, but it was true. I was so overwhelmed from all the paparazzi and the people. I just needed some time to myself to sort things out. Well, I wanted some time with Niall to talk and hang out. He was actually really easy to talk to and I felt better talking with him then I did most people, which trust me, it’s quit the accomplishment.
“Yeah, alright, you’re sure that you’re okay?” He was worried about me. I’d already talked it out with Niall. I suddenly saw his shadow vaguely by a tree, listening to me lie for him. I just wanted Harry to go, not because I didn’t want to talk to him, I just didn’t want him to stay here and risk getting Niall in trouble.
“I’ll be fine, okay?” I pecked him on the cheek then turned around and sat down in the sand. He put his hands on my head and kissed it tenderly. I could feel Niall staring, it killed me to have him watch me. I waited until Harry was gone before turning around, double checking he’d left, and I ran towards the tree where Niall was, well his shadow technically. I made my way closer but for some reason he wasn’t there. Shouldn’t he have been waiting for me? That’s weird.
“Niall, where are you?” I whispered. I walked around the trees that were dimly lit by the park lights. Everything was quiet, where was he? I could’ve sworn he was right here. But he wasn’t. I started wondering whose shadow that was when I was talking to Harry. I distinctly remembered seeing a boys shadow by the tree, but did Niall run in this direction? I started to panic and backed away from the area. I turned around and ran right into someone.
“Watch out!” I fell backwards, landing on my butt. I was confused for a few seconds until I felt two hands pick me up and put me on my feet. I looked up to see a stranger, a man, he glared at me. He was tall, probably 6’0” foot. He had a fair complexion, black scruff around his chin and he was wearing a black hoody. My breath was caught in my throat and I didn’t know what to think. His hands were still grabbing my arms. I tried to pull away but he held on tighter. My adrenaline kicked in and I felt my body go crazy.
“Nia..!” I tried yelling for Niall but the man put his big dirty hand over my mouth and grabbed me tighter. The next thing I knew, he started dragging me away. I was tugging and kicking and screaming, I tried ripping his arm off, I tried kicking him but nothing was working. He was like a rock. My last resort, I started crying, this was it. This man was going to take me away to some horrible place where no one would ever find me. He was going to hurt me, do horrible things to me, what if I died? My mind buzzed with commotion and fear, I started thinking of Justin and Jess, my Nan. Harry and Niall, all my friends, everything I’d worked for: my music, my father, the competition, I couldn’t believe this was happening! WHY COULDN’T I BREAK LOOSE?!? He was dragging me through the trees and bushes, twigs snagged the skin on my face. I felt blood trickling down my cheek. Suddenly, I heard my name.
“Claire? Claire, where are you?” It was Niall, but I couldn’t yell. Oh my word, Niall! I had to get his attention. The man was still tightly bounding my mouth with one hand. I bit him as hard as I possibly could, so hard that I felt my teeth sink into his skin. He let go and groaned in agony. I crawled away hopelessly in an attempt to escape. I yelled first, but my escape failed miserably.
“NIALL, HELP, NIA….!” This time, he wrapped his entire arm around my mouth and the other around my waist. I gagged in response to the large gap in my mouth where his arm was. He was squeezing too hard, my insides hurt. He lowered himself to the ground, his arm slipped between my legs, which only made everything worse. His hand squeezed onto my thigh to keep me from squirming. All I could do was just keep waiting. He pulled me up onto his lap, putting a tight grip around my stomach. His thumb stroked my side and I cried harder than before. He was the last man I wanted touching me, especially out of his own want.
“What’s an old man like me gonna do with a pretty girl like you for the night? What a treat.” My tears cascaded down his hand that was around my mouth. He crawled backwards into the trees, farther than before.
“Mmmm!” I tried yelling but it was no use. I had no power over him. I felt him grip onto my shirt and rip off a strip of the pink lace French shirt that was once Jess’s. He quickly slipped it into my mouth and tied it too tightly behind my head. Then I heard Niall running my direction screaming my name. I started kicking at leaves and trees to make noise. Right then, the man crouched down just as Niall ran by. He looked frantic, his eyes wide with fear, his hands shaky, and if I knew any better, I’d say he was crying. Oh my god, he didn’t see me. The man hid us behind a trashcan.
“You’re gonna bring me a lot of money tonight.” His rotten breath slipped into my lungs, making me want to vomit. I licked his filthy hand, when he removed it in disgust I spit at him and he growled quietly but with much anger. He balled his hand into a fist and threw it at my face, pretty much knocking me out just from one punch. I fell backwards onto the ground and felt my whole face turn numb and then my cheek turned hot with blood. He sat over me and leaned his face close to mine, a hand still over my mouth. He brought his mouth to my ear and I felt his staggered breath blow around my hair.
“You seem so shocked, but you shouldn’t be. What’s a young pretty girl like you doing in the park all alone? Tsk tsk, such a shame you’ll be going to waste, although, perhaps I can take a bit out of ya before I hand ya over to the boss.” I shook my head and my eyelids were wide open with fear. He quickly removed his hand and before I could react he forcefully put his lips on my. I bit his lip as hard as I could and turned my head away. I looked around with frantic thoughts and only half of a clear mind, what could I do? I looked at the trashcan, and idea came to mind quickly. The thing that was hiding me could also save me. I shifted my legs and kneed the clunky metal as hard as I could. It made a loud DONG noise. My knee started throbbing and I could feel my leg go numb. Niall turned around in my direction. He saw us! His eyebrows furrowed and he yelled in a rough growl like voice that scared me more than it should have.
“Get off of her!” He ran at the man. The man grabbed a hold of my head just as Niall tackled him. He threw Niall off of him with one arm. Niall landed on the ground with a thud.
“Niall...!” He rolled over quickly, gripping his side. The man stood up and backed away, he held my head in just the position to snap it with one swift movement. My eyes burned with tears, Niall turned in shock. In that moment, it was really life or death. Whatever Niall was about to say could be the last words I ever hear. Oh my god… I can’t believe this is happening!
“I’ll kill her, I swear. Don’t come any closer! She’s too precious for me to lose, if you want her back you’ll have to make an offer, what will it be, the money or the girl??” The man had a roar for a voice, it was raspy and deep. Niall reached his hand out, as if to calm him. His lip was split, blood seeping out, his sweatshirt was coated in mud. Tears began trickling down his face. His lip quivered and he had the most pleading expression, it was genuine fear and care. I was so mad, sad, scared, every emotion a human could feel in this moment was bursting in and out of me, top to bottom, inside and out.
“Don’t, please, don’t hurt her! I’ll do anything, money, you want money? I have money, please! Just let her go.” The man hesitated. He quickly reached into his pants and pulled out a gun. I screamed behind his thick callous covered hand and Niall screamed as well. “OH MY GOD, no, stop please, you don’t have to do this. Please, just put the gun away and I’ll give you anything you want. I swear I’ll give you ANYTING!” He was almost unable to speak from his crying. I heard the man cock the gun and I squirmed in his arms hastily to be let go.
“NO GAMES! I want 5k, take the offer or leave it, either way I get something. If you promise to give me your credit card I’ll let her go, but if you fake it then...” He pressed the gun harder into my temple and I screamed again. My throat ached as I waited for Niall’s reply.
“Okay, okay, I can just give it to you now!” He pulled out his wallet and threw the small plastic card at the man. He threw me to the mud soaked ground and picked up the card. I collapsed into the leaves, spitting blood out of my mouth and gasping for air. My head went dizzy, but I stood up anyway and ran to Niall. He ran faster towards me and I fell in his arms, he held me tightly. His arms squeezing me to the point of pain, but I didn’t care. I felt safe in his arms, away from that man. Why did this happen? My head pounded so loud I could barely hear what Niall was saying, let alone hear my own thoughts.
“You’re okay, I’ve got you now.” He shushed in my ear and rubbed my back. Then I heard the man moving closer and I pushed my feet off the ground so I was in Niall’s lap.
“I swear, if I find out that you’ve played me off and this is some kind of joke...” he pointed the gun at us as he walked closer. I grabbed onto Niall tighter.
“GET AWAY!” I screamed. The two of them jumped and the man scoffed and slowly stepped backwards. His piercing grey blue eyes made you cringe at the sight. He had a light complexion and some skin disorder that didn’t help the already terrifying affect. As the man turned to walk away Niall loosened his grip on me a tad, just so I wasn’t in more pain than necessary.
“I’ve called the police, he can’t hurt you.” We both sighed. A wave of relief hit us as we both heard the most beautiful sound, sirens. Blue and red flashing lights made a round into the park. Three police cars pulled up in a line, one by one, cops stood out of their car and stood behind their car doors, guns loaded and pointed. The man cursed under his breath and started running away. A police woman stood from behind her car door with her gun pointed.
“GET DOWN!” All of a sudden I heard guns load and fire. I began screaming incoherently, unable to imagine how this could get any worse. He stopped, gripped his side, collapsed onto his knees, and then fell to the ground. A crack at the sound of his head landing on the rock hard surface made me scream. I held on tighter to Niall, I was probably hurting him, but I couldn’t stop gripping on for my life, afraid I would be ripped away again. I turned my eyes away from the body, now a corpse, lying on the cold black pavement. I was sobbing. Our lives had just been at stake. I was just about to die, just minutes ago, but Niall saved me. I could feel his whole being start to shake, he was crying too. My body on the other hand had pains that were shooting up and down my torso, my arms, my knee, and my face. And yet, despite that, I tightened every muscle in my body so I could keep holding on to Niall. We sat there for a couple seconds just crying. I couldn’t think straight, my heart was pumping too fast, which made my head dizzy, I was in shock. I was still sobbing when I looked up into his eyes. I grabbed the sides of his face and shook my head in gratitude as I spoke.
“Thank you, thank you so much!” He’d have to really care about me to not only try and hurt the man, but risk his life for me, and then to cry over my safety. I kissed his cheek softly. Tears were pouring from our eyes as he looked at me in shock. He gently took my elbows and lifted me off of him, we stood up together, but I couldn’t let go of him. I was shaking like a scared dog. My knee felt like it was on fire and my right eye was blinded by blood coming from my head. A police officer, the woman that shot the man, ran towards us, she recognized me and Niall from the T.V. show. It took her awhile to begin speaking from her shock but she shook her head quickly as an apology.
“It’s going to be okay now, you guys are alright, we have an ambulance coming and they’re going to take you two to a hospital. You’re going to be okay.” Niall pulled me into his arms as she wrapped her arms around us and helped us to her police car. A crowd of people surrounded the crime scene. People stared, some were fans that were crying too and it wasn’t long before the paps showed up. Flashes from the cameras lit up our eyes as we sat unmoving in view of everyone. I would usually have been bothered but I couldn’t think about it, it wasn’t physically possible at the moment. We sat there, still holding each other. We shook fiercely, Niall just kept rubbing his hand up and down my arm.
Finally, after 5 minutes of waiting, the ambulance came. Still holding on, a paramedic helped us to the back. The nurse had to pry me off of Niall. I wasn’t holding on to him like I wanted him, I was holding onto him like I needed him, because right then, he was the only person that my brain allowed me to trust. I couldn’t let go, I didn’t want them to touch me. Niall tightly held my hands and helped me on to a gurney in the back of the ambulance. They checked to make sure nothing was broken. My knee cap had a big black bruise and was bleeding rather severely. My head had been torn around my eyebrow and I had several scratches on my face. My arms and waist had welts and bruises where the man had grabbed onto me. I was mumbled Niall’s name repeatedly, uncertain as to where he was.
“Claire, it’s going to be okay. You just need to stay with us. I know you’re in shock, you’ve been through a lot, but you’re safe now. Niall’s right here and we’re going to take you to get stitched up and you’ll be home soon.” The nurse was looking at me, a light was shining from above her and my vision started to go blurry. I was fighting to stay awake, but my body was in such pain, it just wanted to shut down. I turned to look at Niall’s face, he was crying and shaking, I realized he was holding my hand and rubbing it with his thumbs. I held on even tighter. He was on a gurney just as I was. They had confirmed that he’d bruised his ribs rather severely and twisted his knee. He scooted closer to me and rubbed my bangs away from my face so he could kiss my forehead.
“I’m here Claire, stay with me please. God, I’m so sorry. This is my entire fault, if I just would’ve been brave enough to stand up to Harry then...” He tried to keep talking but his tears got in the way. He put his head down in the crook of his elbow and cried harder. The nurse was tearing up too. I lifted my hand to his chin with a finger. I wiped away the tears off of his cheek. I tried to sit up but he pushed me back down, the nurses urged me to stay still until we got to the hospital. I rolled my eyes, it’s not that big of a deal to sit up, and goodness I was just walking not even 5 minutes ago. I laughed inside, I’m such a teenager.
“Thank you.” I strained to speak, I sounded shaky and scared. “You were brave enough to stand up to that terrible man. You saved my life and I can never repay you. It wasn’t your fault. Don’t ever, ever blame yourself. I’m just glad you were there to help me.” I held onto his hand. The ambulance pulled to a stop and the nurses took to action. They lifted the gurneys off the ambulance and ran while rolling me to the doors of the hospital. The paparazzi swarmed like ducks, picture after picture was being taken, they even tried asking questions. How could they be so insensitive, they had no idea what we’d just been through? The nurses rolled Niall next to me. I looked to him and took his hand. Suddenly my arm length extended and my grip began to slip from Niall’s hand as they pulled us away from one another after going through the front doors.
“NO!” I screamed and cried as loud as I could, I didn’t care what people thought. I wouldn’t allow anyone to separate us. “Don’t let him leave me, don’t take him away again! PLEASE!” I was making a scene and the Nurse consulted the Doctor next to her, he nodded and brought Niall back towards me. I quickly threw my hand out through the metal bars on the side of the gurney. Niall intertwined our fingers together. I sighed and laid my head back down against my pillow. After watching rows and rows of illuminating lights pass overhead, we rammed through some doors and into a room. They put us side by side and I watched them put an IV in Niall’s arm. That was the last thing I remembered before blacking out.

Notes