the treehouse | larry stylinson

one

sometimes when you lose someone, everything stops. the world stops around you and you're all on your own, all alone.

it's kind of like diving into a bottomless ocean, you're just there, surrounded by it.

my mum used to tell me to always look on the bright side of things, to see the deeper meaning behind everything. she was always good with words, good with comforting me.

when i was little, i had this special hiding place behind my house. it was an old, large, hollowed out tree, where i would climb inside and spend hours in. it was the perfect place to be alone, the perfect spot to think.

seeing as i spent most of my days there before i met him, my dad had decided to build a treehouse for me to play in. i was beaming, i hugged him as tight as i possibly could and thanked him numerous of times. it was a really happy day for me.

i spent most of my days pretending to be a superhero living in that treehouse. i was invincible and nothing could ever hurt me, not when i was in my safe space, my treehouse.
i would go on trips all over the world to save damsels in distress, to help the world become a better place. and it was all possible, because everything was possible in my treehouse. i was happy there.

perhaps i was too distracted by my own imaginary world, that i didn't notice what was really going on inside my house. i never heard the screaming, the fighting or the crying, so you could say i was surprised when my dad just packed his bags and left one day.

he never even said goodbye.

it's not exactly easy for a seven year old to understand why his dad would leave him, without as much as a goodbye. it wasn't easy, it never got easier.

my mum stayed strong though, she really did. sure, she was a wreck for months after he left, but at least she didn't leave me. she turned to drinking for a while, i think. i don't really know, i was busy pretending to still have my picture perfect family with me in my treehouse.

that's how i went about most of my days for years. i would like to think my mum was worried about me, but she had enough to do taking care of herself, finding a job and what not.

i never really had any friends either. people saw me as "the weird kid", which was partly true. i was weird. i sat by myself in the classroom, in the cafeteria, at recess. it was easier that way for me.

social interaction wasn't exactly my thing, and i had learned from an early age to not let people in too close, because it just hurts so much more when they leave. take my dad for an example, we were probably closer than your average father and son relationship, i thought. but seeing as he, the person i loved the most in the world, left me, why would i ever let someone in again?

i was 16 when i met niall horan. he had moved in a couple of blocks away, and he was quick to introduce himself to every house in the neighborhood. i don't really know why he felt so adamant to be my friend, but i'm glad.

he was my first friend.

and it was just us for a while. we would spend every weekend together, sometimes at his house, sometimes at my house. he had some crazy obsession with playing mario kart, so that's what we did most of the time. it was fun.

during summer break, we had decided to go for ice cream and a light stroll around the park. well, he had decided to. i mostly just tagged along. he was in the middle of talking about how much it mattered to him to have just the right amount of sprinkles on his ice cream, when he bumped into someone, causing him to drop his beloved ice cream cone.

"watch where you're going blondie!" the boy said with a furious tone. another boy, his friend it seemed, placed a calming hand on his shoulder and stepped forward. the two boys made eye contact as the other one spoke.

"zayn, calm down. nothing happened, you're fine, it was an accident." he said with bright brown eyes. this caused the other boy, zayn, to calm down immensely, to our relief.

niall and i had been standing there like two idiots, because none of us had the balls to speak up, so when the boy spoke again we both sighed in relief.

"sorry about that, are you two okay?" he looked genuinely concerned, which felt nice. that meant he probably cared, just a bit at least.

"we're fine. i dropped my ice cream though..." niall sighed in a joking matter. this caused the other boy, who had yet to introduce himself, to smile. i just kind of stood there, feeling out of place.

"well, we'll just have to go and buy you a new one, right zayn?" zayn just nodded, and the boy continued.

"i'm liam by the way, and this," he lightly patted zayn's shoulder, "is zayn, my best friend." he nodded and put on a small smile. i could tell he was still mad about bumping into niall earlier.

"well, i'm niall, and this is louis." niall smiled, and i forced a small smile. i was glad niall had introduced me to them, he knew i wasn't very good with talking to new people.

"nice to meet you both. now, we should get going to that ice cream parlor before it closes!" liam exclaimed. niall agreed cheerily and zayn just hummed in response, he was definitely more of an angsty type.

and the rest of the evening went splendidly, until zayn decided to question my lack of speaking. bad move.

liam and niall where full on talking about some new game that just came out, they bonded rather quickly. zayn had been a part of the conversation for a while, until he realized how quiet and awkward i was.

"i'm sorry, but are you like mute or something?" he asked me, which caused niall and liam both to stare at him in absolute horror. i could feel their eyes on me, and my cheeks getting warmer and warmer.

"zayn! you can't just ask someone that!" liam said quietly, but still loud enough for me to hear. zayn just frowned and continued.

"what? he hasn't said a word all night, i can't be the only one wondering!?" he responded and liam looked at me with a worried expression. liam didn't know why i was the way i was, but it felt really nice having someone that worried about me still. niall opened his mouth to talk but zayn got to it first.

"is this some kind of a joke? look at me! tell me, can you-"

"y-yes." was all i managed to get out. zayn scowled at me before shooting up out of his chair and walked away. i could feel the warmth of the salty tears streaming down my face, the whole situation was just overwhelming.

"i'll go after him." liam said as he got up from his chair, and continued. "i'm really sorry, he uh... has his problems... i'm sorry louis." he said and walked away in the same direction as zayn.

i didn't know how to think, how to react. i was just so overwhelmed by everything that had just happened, so i did what i always do in these kinds of situations.

i had a mental breakdown.