Take Me Home • h. styles ✔

6 | A Promise to Keep

     Our drive back to Crawford Street was surprisingly fast and smooth. It was still early in the afternoon during our ten-minute spree on the empty streets of London. Just as expected, the crowd of the Creatures from the Tesco store was part of their strategy, and as ridiculous as it may sound, my mind was having thoughts that all of them seemed to have followed my strenuous walk. The whole trip back was uninterrupted, and we did not see at least a single Infected dragging their feet across the busted roads or even just a vague hint of their moans of affliction.

     As complicated as it looked, I was right about one thing: they would do anything to take my life and be a part of Them.

     "Just park right there," I told Niall, pointing to the white-painted building a few meters away. After he parked our newfound Land Cruiser at the front of my house, we took out all of our bags and quickly made our way inside, anxiously closing the door at once.

     "I have to admit, I missed this place," he said ecstatically, and I couldn't agree more.

     Our house had always been the venue of choice for One Direction to hang out. Immediately after performing for our concert tours around London, this place had always been our haven. Mum would even be the one to ask for their parent's permission if they could spend the nights in the upcoming days of the tour, and they would eventually agree. That's the pro of having four best friends, I suppose. Our families had been quite close as well, and they had utmost reliance and trust with each other. It was as if we were brothers born from different mothers, and I was very grateful for it.

     "Remember when Liam dropped one of your mum's mugs, and he didn't talk for the rest of the day?" Niall asked as he arranged and sorted out the canned goods in the kitchen.

     "Yeah, and my mum just laughed at him. He hugged my mum so tight and kissed her cheeks nonstop when she said it was okay. It's so hilarious!"

     "And that couch right there? That's where Lou puked out all the vodka he swigged. He's a mess!"

     Both of us shared laughs uncontrollably as we harked back to those funny things we had in the past. It seemed like it was just yesterday: those times when we were in the living room, playing all sorts of video games, watching late-night horror movies as soon as we would arrive from a gig, eating popcorn, and unwittingly holding on to each other's hands whenever a psycho killer would appear from nowhere. I missed those days. I missed everything we did in the past, and the silence that instantly enveloped the room indicated that Niall was feeling the same thing. This place was where all of us became closer than ever before. Our friendship grew tighter whenever we did our crazy antics. I missed Louis' pranks. I missed Zayn's drooling over the couch. I missed Liam's constant pleas for us to stop fooling around. Now, there were only two of us, and the thought was almost too unbearable to imagine.

     "Harry, are you okay?"

     "Yeah. Yeah, I'm good."

     "You miss them too, right?"

     "Of course I do. I wonder if they're okay," I said dejectedly.

     For some reason, only fragments of memories were left about that night. I would have these dreams about it, but they were always curtailed. There would also be instances when I would just instantaneously get up from bed, knowing that I had a dream about the lads during that night, but I would immediately forget the details. It had been unsettling for five months, my mind still searching and yearning for answers.

     "Harry, I'm hungry."

     A broad smile formed on my lips when I heard my Irish friend's famous protest.