Game Theory × NH

030 | zinc

× Mercury

Odds are your knowledge with the idiom "fight fire with fire" had more to do with revenge than they did with actual flames. It's not typically an encouragement to purchase a flamethrower.

So as I stepped into the building, I didn't hesitate to go down the hall to room 110. I knew Niall wouldn't be there since he and James weren't on speaking terms after what happened with him and Abby, I just hoped his stuff was still in there.

It had been two days since the dinner and when I found my essay on the floor mat of Niall's car. I had to do something before I saw him tomorrow at practice and made a scene because God only knows how long I can keep my cool.

When I got to the right door, I started knocking repeatedly.

"I'm coming! Bloody fuck!" someone shouted from the other side. A second later James' face appeared, his short blonde hair was pushed away from his forehead. His blue eyes had a striking resemblance to his sister's. "What the hell do you want? Horan's not here."

"Good," I told him and pushed myself inside the room.

"Whoa," James said and grabbed my arm before I could get any farther. From the looks of it, Niall hadn't come to get his things yet, which was a good thing. For me, not necessarily for him. "What are you doing?"

"Sabotaging Niall," I told him truthfully.

James gave me a look, like he was trying to see if I was being serious or not. Then he started laughing and gave me a wicked grin. "Then by all means, be my guest." His phone that was in his hand started ringing right then and he lifted it up to look at the caller ID. "I have to go, but if you touch anything of mine, you're dead."

I just nodded at him as he grabbed his keys and jacket and left the room.

Everything was the same since the last couple of times I had been there. Still no photo on the walls or his desk, the calendar on the corkboard was on the month of September and some of the Saturdays were circled for the days we had games. His snapback collection was still hanging on the wall. His laptop was sitting on his desk along with some textbooks.

I bent down by the bed and lifted the duvet so I could look under the wooden frame. I remember going to his place in the beginning of the month to get answers to why he kissed me. Before Niall had entered the room, I snooped around and found something I didn't have a chance to explore.

My hands landed on something cold and plastic and I took it out from under the bed. The black guitar case lay in front of me, whether it held my answers to revenge or not, the feeling I had was haunting. I roughly unclasped the case and glided my hands along the instrument. I took it out and was left with notebooks and loose papers.

I grabbed the first notebook and opened it. Page after page was filled with words and little doodles. I stopped at a random one and read the title. Ghost of You. It didn't take me long to realize that the notebook was filled with lyrics.

Was this Niall's dirty little secret? Song writing and guitar playing?

That wasn't good enough for me. There had to be more somewhere. Across the room, I saw the nightlight plugged into the wall. There had to be a reason why he was afraid of the dark.

I looked back inside the guitar case and peeking under the loose pages of notebook paper was a manila envelope. Carefully, I flipped the tabs open and peered inside. More paper.