Stuck Here (Ziall)

Chapter 2

(Zayn’s POV)

 

 School was boring. Every class was boring. Why was school so boring, you ask? Well, because those numb, zombie-like students that trudged from class to class surrounded me, going about their routines. I hated routines. I did everything and anything to screw up mine. Sometimes I didn’t even have to try. I often found myself day dreaming about a lot of things. My dreams took me away from my nightmare of a life.

I called them my nightmares, but my mother told me they were a gift. The truth is- I can see them. I can see spirits, ghosts, whatever you want to call them. I was very aware of my “gift” when I was young, about five or so. I had imaginary friends. I found out later that those imaginary friends were actually the old couple from down the street. Their house burnt down. My imaginary friends were dead people. I was a messed up kid.

I hadn’t had any encounter for years after that until I had this small moment after my father had passed away. I saw him wandering the house the week after his funeral. He went around to each bedroom and kissed my sisters on their foreheads. He kissed my mother last, and then he looked straight at me before running through me.

I was sick for a week straight. That was about four years ago and I hadn’t had any close encounters since then. It was strange. I could always tell if someone close had died recently, but over the years there was nothing. There was nothing at all to warn me of anyone’s passing or residual hauntings in the area. I was glad, really. I was finally at peace with my surroundings.

So now that I confessed about my special “gift,” I figured that it would be good for me to talk about what had happened recently. Someone died. A student at my school had died. His name was Niall Horan. They found him down in the ravine in the park. Apparently he had been there for a few days. It had been raining for the past week. They said that it was an accident; that he had slipped and fell. He was young. It wasn’t right, but then nothing ever was.

When the school found out that Niall had gone missing, no one really said anything. But when they found out that he had passes, they reacted like every student body would. They were sad. They were moping around, but they didn’t even know. Hell, I didn’t know Niall. I felt horrible about my reaction to his death, though…

“Who?” I asked Louis, my friend, who had told me the news about out dead classmate.

“You know, Niall Horan. That quiet bloke. He sat in the back of class.” Louis pointed towards the back where Niall’s empty seat was. “He was friends with that Chad kid.” Louis hushed his voice as he spoke.

I vaguely knew of the two of them. They kept to themselves. Chad was in the same class as us. He sat next to Niall in the back. Chad was sitting there in his normal seat. He had a blank expression on his face. His eyes were beyond red and his nose was running down his face. He lost his best friend.

“Sucks, man.” I said softly. I looked around the rest of the classroom and there were people sniffling and some were crying. I bet they never even spoke to Niall. They were all fakes. Goddamn fakes.

“Yeah, it does.” Louis said, a sad tone in his voice. He was a fake too. He didn’t know Niall. I knew that for a fact. “But hey, shit like that happens.” He shrugged. That was more like him. He was a happy-go-lucky kind of guy. I wouldn’t be surprised if the death of some kid that he barely knew didn’t faze him. “Hey, can I see your homework?” He asked, reaching over my desk and grabbing my papers. I sighed loudly and he just smiled. “What, man. You know I won’t graduate if I don’t do my homework.”