Stuck Here (Ziall)

Chapter 22

(Zayn's POV)

"Yeah. I think so." Niall spoke softly, so much so that I could barely hear him. I frowned as I let my head fall, looking down at the necklace in my grip. I was holding it so tightly that I knew the little facets in the chain would leave prints on the skin of my palm.

Talking with his mother was possibly the hardest thing I ever had to do in my short seventeen years of life. Letting my own father pass through me when he left was less painful then the words I spoke to Maura. Niall and his mother were both ready to face the end of it all. I, on the other hand, was not. I knew it needed to happen and I knew I had to push myself to finally let go, but every time we stepped closer, I found myself clutching tighter to that necklace.

"Zayn, where do we go now?" Niall asked, standing with me on the corner of the street, not far from where my car was run into. I held my side, still feeling the heeling wound in my side.

"We should head to my house so I can grab some things. I read up on some stuff while you were gone this past week." I looked across the street, both ways, before walking across and heading towards my house, which was a good fifteen-minute walk from where we were. Niall was silent at my side and I knew he was thinking about what happened. He had disappeared right after his energy and emotions got the best of him and he freaked out, causing me to have a nosebleed and for my stitches to pull. He also broke my windows, but I guess those are the consequences of having a ghost for an emotional (boy?)friend.

"What did you read about?" Niall asked, breaking that awkward silence.

"Some things about helping spirits move on. I've never dealt with things this far ahead in the game. I just talked with some spirits and sometimes led them to where they needed to be. I never actually helped anyone move on." I shrugged and grabbed his hand as we got closer to my neighborhood. "We have to go to the park. You know, the place where you fell."

"I was pushed." Niall reminded me. Of course I knew that, but he had told me to let it go and I was going to, at least for his sake. I would figure out how to put Mr. Tanner in jail after Niall had moved on. "-anyways, we have to go back there?"

"Yeah. Sorry, but it needs to happen." I didn't want to have to take Niall back to the place where he was murdered, but from what I had read, it seemed like the only way to finish off everything. I remember the first time I had visited the ravine where Niall's body was found. I had lied then as well to the police about being a college student doing research. Over time, the lies got less and less effective when finding out the truth. I wasn't looking for some complete stranger that was just going through town, picking off teenagers in the night. No, it was Mr. Tanner, a substitute teacher who wanted to be close to Niall and then when he couldn't, he killed him.

"Hey, you're going to walk past your own house." Niall grabbed my arm and stopped me from walking past my driveway. I cleared my head and thanked him while walking up to my front door. I checked the front door, thinking that it would be locked since my mother, nor my sisters were home, but it opened right away.

"They must have forgotten to lock the door." I muttered, swinging the door open and taking a step inside. Before I got another step in, something came flying at my head and I was soon blinded by pain as I feel to the floor.

"ZAYN!" I heard Niall yell behind me. I felt a tug on my arm and then Niall yelled again. "Zayn, you need to get up!" I guess it was Niall tugging my arm. "Zayn! Please, get up!" There was another tug on my arm and I groaned out, trying to push myself up from the ground. I felt a kick to my side and I rolled over, coughing profusely and clutching my side. The kick was right to my healing incision. I cringed and yelled out in pain. Niall was still screaming my name, and when I opened my eyes, I knew why that was.