Chapter 21 ― Zayn

I was barely awakening when two bodies jumped over me screaming and holding onto me for dear life. I didn’t understand what was going on, I just knew I couldn’t sleep anymore.

It took me a couple of seconds to collect all the details. The curly hair all over my face, the little and feminine body grabbing my waist, and all the screams.

“We’re gonna die! The Woman is gonna take us all! And I’m the youngest! Oh fuck! I’m gonna die first!” Those were Harry’s screams.

I looked down at the little body and saw Mila holding onto me with her eyes shut close and trembling with fear. I pushed Harry aside ignoring his yelling and grabbed Mila to pull her closer to me. I sat her on my lap and wrapped my arms around her. I didn’t know what was going on, but if she needed me, I was going to be there, because evidently she was scared.

“What’s going on?” I asked to no one in particular, just hoping someone would answer.

“Moni doesn’t wake up and I heard scratches and the wind and I don’t wanna die! Zayn!” Mila cried out hugging me tighter. “There’re no kids in this house. She’s gonna take us all instead!”

“Zayn!” Harry cried too and I got surprised that he was scared, too. “I heard the scratches on the walls, too! I’m the youngest! She’s gonna take me first!”

I didn’t know if I had to laugh or try to calm them down, but then I heard the scratches on the walls, too and I jumped up with Mila still holding on to me. “Fuck!” I screamed. Those scratches weren’t something you could explain easily, they really sounded like someone was running their nails on the wall.

“Told you! We’re all gonna die!” Mila cried and I hugged her tighter.

“I got you. You’ll be fine,” I promised her although I was getting scared, too. Then we heard this sick laugh and Harry climbed onto me like I was a fucking mountain, and the three of us were screaming.

“Okay, if we all gonna die, I have some things to say. Harry, I love you like a brother! You’re great, I’m sorry we couldn’t hang out more,” Mila said close to tears. Maybe she was exaggerating, maybe nothing was going to kill us, although in that moment it seemed like those were our last moments. “Zayn, I don’t hate you. I quite like you in fact, I just hate that you can’t see me. I’m not Alex and I hate that you only see a reflection of her in me,” she continued surprising me right before a loud and abnormal knock made us all jump and forget everything.

“I love you all!” Harry cried out. The three of us were hugging for dear life and I wanted to say something too, but the curly-haired boy was almost choking me.

The scratches stopped and so did the knocks and laughter. The whole house was silent again but Mila was still trembling in my arms and my heart was beating like crazy. None of us moved, I kept my eyes on the door expecting for someone to storm in ready to kill us all. Harry let me go and decided to hug a pillow, he also kept looking at the door, waiting and dreading for someone to come in. Mila was still with her face buried in my chest and shaking like a little bird that fell out the nest.

I was scared, too, those noises were damn weird and it all seemed like a real horror movie, but so fast that I didn’t have time to react to anything, nor to think; but I never let go of her. I kept her close to me and if something weird was indeed going on, and someone was going to attack us —it could be a burglar—, I was going to protect her.

I didn’t know why she was here, but I was damn happy that she was looking for help in my arms. Even if Harry was there, she was holding on to me, trusting me to keep her, somehow, safe.

As we waited for something to happen, I thought of what she said. She said she liked me —in a friendly way, I got that and I wasn’t letting my hopes up— but she hated that I couldn’t see her. That meant that she thought I could only see her as a shadow of Alex; that I wasn’t noticing her, but that was a lie. Yes, at the beginning I was impressed by how similar they were but I quickly realised how different they were, how special and unique Mila was. Plus, she made me feel like no one else had made me feel.

I could see her, really see her and I never wanted her to be Alex, I never wished her to be more like Alex. I still had feelings for Niall’s girlfriend, but Mila was slowly taking place in my heart and was pushing away all those feelings, replacing them for new ones.

I wanted her to know that. I hated the fact that she thought I didn’t want to know her, to see her. I wanted her to know that I liked her. Her, Camila Green, not Alex’s friend who had a lot of things in common with her.

I realised something as I hugged her tighter with my eyes still on the door. I needed to prove her that she was wrong and that I was interested in her because she was Mila, not because she was somehow similar to Alex in some aspects. I needed to show her what I was starting to feel for her if I really wanted something to happen between us, and I did want that. I wanted Mila and I to get together.

“Harry, you should go check what’s going on,” I suggested and Harry jumped looking at me with big eyes.

“Are you mental? I’m no fucking moving till the sun rises,” he spat and Mila whined.

“Nor do I, and you’re not moving either!” She screamed looking up to meet my eyes. “We’re only gonna be safe once the sun is up, so stay here and protect us, Zayn! You’re the only one who’s not about to shit himself!” I chuckled and hugged her tightly. I was indeed scared; I was just more focused on keeping her safe.

“Okay, let’s wait till sunrise,” I agreed, Mila and Harry nodded and we stayed there, waiting and hoping nothing was outside ready to kill us.

The sun finally came out and no one died, we didn’t hear anything else again and no one moved, even though Harry was in such a hurry to use the loo, but he didn’t move. He won the title of Master of his Bladder. I was going to give him a t-shirt with that as a reward for surviving.

“Are we still alive?” Mila asked trying to pull away but I still had my arms firmly wrapped around her. In all those hours we were all together in the room, I never let her go. None of us slept and we barely talked, so I was very tensed yet not ready to let her go.

“Yes, we survived!” Harry cheered and jumped off the bed to run to the toilet. I chuckled softly and let loose of my grab on Mila.

“I’m dead on my feet. I wanna sleep,” she mumbled finally pulling away and avoiding my eyes.

“You can sleep here, I’ll go for something to eat if you wanna,” I offered with a smile but she still didn’t look at me.

“I think I’ll skip sleeping today. It wouldn’t be the first time,” she said offhandedly and I wondered what she meant. I was about to ask when she jumped off the bed and just then she looked at me. “Thanks for tonight, Zayn. Sorry for being a pussy,” she smiled at me and so did I. “And I’m sorry for what I said… just forget about it, okay?”

It took me a couple of seconds to realise what she meant and when I did, she had already turned on her heels and walked away. I was slow that morning due to the lack of sleep and I didn’t move, I kept looking at the door like an idiot. I wasn’t going to forget that, I was going to change her mind and make her realise her mistake. Those words she said to me only gave me determination.

I liked to fight for what I wanted; I liked a good challenge and she was definitely one.

“Where did Mila go?” Harry asked once he came back from the toilet.

“She—” I started to say but I was cut off by a loud scream.

“HOW COULD YOU? You insensitive bitch, I hate you!” I recognised that voice immediately as Mila’s, and right after, I heard Moni’s laughter and I saw her running down the hall with Mila chasing her.

What?

Harry and I looked at each other confused before running out the room and down the stairs to the living room where Mila was trying to catch Moni and it seemed like she was going to kill her. The brunette couldn’t stop laughing and soon Alex, Phebs, Eleanor, Louis, Liam and Niall joined us as we watched the chase.

“You bitch, I’m gonna kill you so painfully that all your gothic dreams will come true!” Mila threated so seriously I really thought she was going to kill her best friend. Why was Moni laughing? I would be scared, Mila was scaring in that moment.

“I couldn’t help it! It was necessary! Alex helped me!” Moni defended herself and everyone turned around to see Alex who just shrugged.

“Did you hear something weird last night?” Alex asked and even Mila stopped practically fuming with anger. “Well, Moni and I thought it’d be fun to scare you all, so we…”

“It was you two!” Phebs screamed and I knew in that moment that we weren’t the only one who didn’t sleep in the whole night because Alex and Moni decided to scare us all to death.

“I’ll hold Moni, you will stab her,” I told Mila walking towards the brunette and left the others to take care of Alex. Those two had to pay for what they did.

Moni started laughing again, hysterically this time as she ran away and Alex tried to do the same, but Niall caught her and started punishing her with the thing she hated the most: tickles. In the meantime, Mila and I went after Moni who was surprisingly fast when she was running for her life. Moni was dead woman.

+ + + + +

Moni didn’t die, but Mila hit her a couple of times though the brunette was laughing all the time. I wondered if Mila was really trying to hurt her friend or not. At the end Moni and Alex begged for forgiveness and they were slaves during that day. We were in the kitchen having a huge breakfast that Moni and Alex made for all of us.

“Oh, c’mon! Stop doing that face, you love me!” Moni said taking a seat next to Mila and hugging her.

“No, I hate you, you evil person!” Mila spat but her friend didn’t let her go and at the end she gave in, hugging Moni back.

So Alex and the brunette had set up a whole plan to scare us all. Phebs spent the night with Louis and Eleanor when she woke up for all the noises in the middle of the night and Alex wasn’t there but there were signs of someone struggling to stay in bed. Niall and Liam went to Louis and Eleanor’s room, too, and Mila came to Harry’s and mine, obviously, and only after Moni and Alex were done laughing at us, they went to sleep whilst the rest of us remained awake the whole night.

We were never again going to watch a horror movie with those two.

Never ever.

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Dedication for a very, very special friend who wrote me a one shot the other day and it was perfect, so you should read it. Thanks, @CaramelLova.

Bel, xx