Let the Fireflies Soar- Chapter 1

NIALL'S P.O.V.
     I pulled on my sneakers and grabbed my wallet off the counter and put it in my hoodie pocket.  The boys needed some more food in their fridges, but Zayn were too lazy to get it, sitting on the couch on his phone tweeting.  Harry and Louis had to go run some other errands, while Liam was taking a shower, so that pretty much left me to do the dirty work.  I decided to go nonetheless, not letting go of this privilege.  It wasn't common that I was put in the position to the grocery store, being that I'm the food addict, but I promised to control myself
     Actually, I like going to the grocery store.  You know, food land.  
     "Nailler!  Don't forget to buy the eggs!"  Zayn called out, as I opened the door.
     "That's okay.  I'll make sure I get everything and leave you with the eggs."  I snorted.
     "Horan, I swear-" Zayn started.
     "Okay!  Fine!  I'll get the stupid eggs.  Like, ehmagawd!"  I held up my hands defensively and pretended to be a bratty girl.  I scrunched up my face and rolled my eyes.  Zayn laughed and slouched down in his seat.  I closed the door and locked it, and jogged down the concrete steps.
~ ~ ~
     I pulled on my sunglasses and pulled my hoodie over my head as the automatic doors slid shut.  I was thankful that no one recognized me at the store, and that no pap's or fans were out there too.
     I felt the temperature drop a little, accompanied by a chilly breeze.   I blew on my hands, the bags dangling from my arm.  I walked through the back of the buildings and away from the streets, to avoid being noticed.   It was quiet, just the occasional crow squawking near the trash dumps.  
     As I neared an alley, I hear a small sob.  I froze.  It sounded like a girl.  I heard it again.  I didn't know whether or not I should go check it out.  Was it a fan trying to get my attention by faking it?  Or was someone really in distress?
     I slowly walked towards it, taking my sunglasses off to see more clearly under the darkening sky.  There were small sobs and sniffles.  As I stepped around the corner, the figure shot up and pointed a knife at my face.  I nearly screamed. The hand knife quivered just a few inches in front of my nose.  Above, an old street light flickered.  
     I tried to make out the girl's face, but it was too dark.  I gently put my bags down and held my hands up, slowly backing up.
     "Um, it's okay.  I'm not trying to hurt you.  I just heard someone crying and came to see who it was."  I heard my voice shaking.  Sweat rolled down the back of my neck and I felt my shirt starting to soak a bit.
     "Who are you and what the hell do you want?" the girl growled.  Though she sounded very menacing, I could tell that her real voice sounded pretty.  Like a real girl.  Not a semi-crazy one getting ready to slice me to bits.
     "Like I said," I began, lowering my arms.   "I just wanted to see who was crying and if they needed any help."
     The girl lowered her knife, but still gripped it firmly at her side.  She backed up into the light.  My mouth almost dropped open.  Her face was really pale and gray, her cheekbones clearly visible.  She was skinny as hell, almost like a stick.  She looked so pallid and weak.  No wonder she was so defensive.  But underneath it all, she had shocking red hair, and brilliant blue eyes like mine, but I don't think mine are as beautiful as hers.  Her face shone with tears.  She was wearing a black long sleeve shirt, black skinny jeans, and scuffed up black Converse sneakers.
     Her face softened a little.  I could tell that she was once a pretty girl.  
     She smirked a little, putting her empty hand on her hip.  "Well, just so you know, you're intruding my home."
     I laughed quietly.  "You live in a dump?" I joked, thinking she meant the red brick buildings around and above her.
     Her face hardened into a snarl and she sheathed her knife. Her eyes hardened into blue crystals. "I do.  This is my home," waving her hands around this dirty, smelly alleyway.  Behind her was a tall metal gate with a trash dump and boxes behind it.
My face fell.  "Oh, I. . . I. . . I'm really sorry.  I. . . I didn't mean. . . I thought that. . . that. . . sorry."  I mumbled the last word.  My heart sank.  This beautiful girl was living in a trash dump?  I couldn't believe it.
     Her face softened again, revealing the pretty side of her again.  Man, she can fool anybody easily, I thought to myself.  "That's okay."  She said quietly, looking away.
She walked over to the right of me and sat down on a milk crate covered with a ratty old towel.  She looked up at me and gestured towards another milk crate on the other wall, just about five feet away from her.
     I picked up my groceries and sat down across from her.  I peeked at her eyeing my grocery bag.  Seeing her in her hungry state, sympathy washed over me.  I quickly reached inside the plastic bag, rummaged around, and pulled out a bright red apple.  I reached out to her with the apple in my hand.
     She looked at the apple and then to me.  Her eyes softened.  "For me?" she said quietly.  I nodded my head.  Her face spread wide open into a beautiful smile, revealing slightly crooked teeth, but making her all the more cuter, I thought.  She wiped the tears off her face.  Her face looked like an angel's when she smiled.
     "Thank you.  I really mean it." She whispered, gently taking the apple out of my hand.  I blushed slightly.  While she looked at her apple, I looked into her eyes.  They shone with happiness at the sight of the apple.  I smiled.
     Before I knew what I was saying, I blurted, "That apple looks like your hair."  I quickly started turning red.
     The girl looked at me, then to the ground.  She started to blush as well, making me blush even more.  I was thankful that the buzzing street lamp above didn't shine down on us very much.
     "What's your name?"  I asked, leaning my arms on my legs. I watched her as she took a small bite and looked up at me.
     She swallowed.  "Iris Valencia."  Her voice caught a little.  She looked up at me and smiled small, sad one.  She took another bite of her apple and looked away.  She looked a bit dazed.  I stared at her.
     "That's a beautiful name."  I said.  She turned back to me.
She blushed.  "Thank you.  What's yours?"  She asked looking into my eyes.
     I smiled.  "I'm Niall.  Niall Horan."  Somewhere inside, a small part of me, I desperately wanted her to recognize who I was, to realize that I was in a famous band.  But then I figured, she probably couldn't have known about me, being cooped up in this place.
     "Oh.  That's a nice name too!  I don't know anyone with that name.  Well, I mean, being stuck in this crap of a place, I don't see anyone." She laughed, her voice ringing across the valley.  I smiled goofily.  When she saw my face, she doubled over in laughter again.  I started laughing too, because she was laughing.  But mostly, I was secretly laughing at how bizarre this was, casually coming home from a grocery store and then meeting this beautiful girl.
     Iris wiped her eyes.  She sighed. "I haven't felt like this ever since forever.  It feels really nice."  I looked at her, a bit confused.  She saw she saw the confusion on my face.  She giggled.  "I mean, being able to have such a good laugh at pretty much nothing, and actually meeting someone other than a raccoon."  She laughed and looked down at her apple and took another bite.  I laughed too, staring at her eyes.
    If you met the boys, you could laugh like that every single day, I thought to myself, sighing.
     "Why are you living here?"  I asked, curious.
     She stared at her hands for a bit.  "I grew up in a horrible life with horrible people.  My mum had me and my father ran away after that.  Disappeared.  She worked as a stripper at a night club in a run-down city, and barely made any money.  She came home one night with a big, bulky smelly man covered in tattoos with a cigarette dangling out of his mouth."  Her nose scrunched up cutely at the mention of the guy.
     "After that night, he stayed with us ever since.  I hated that man with everything that I've got.  He was mean, and abused both me and my mum.  When he got really drunk and high, he would sexually hurt both of us.  Yet the next morning, we would live on like nothing happened, just brush everything off our shoulders and move on.  But I couldn't.  I was only six.  He started to do this every day, almost like a hobby.  I would go to sleep in our attic, crying, trying to get as far away from him as possible.  When I was nine I tried to run away.  But not even a few blocks away, he found me.  My god.  That night was just-  I can't even explain to you how horrible it was."
     She looked up at me with tears in her eyes.  "He started to cut my arms.  I even have the scars, still. My mum told me that everything was going to be alright, that he was just having a bit of a hard time.  She claimed that she loved me and cared for me so much.  Yet she couldn't even afford to pay the rent for that shabby old apartment, and couldn't even send me to school.   She couldn't even be my mum.   I can carry a conversation with you only because I listened to all the other happy go lucky normal people."  Her eyes hardened.  I cringed slightly at the last notion.
     "When I was fourteen, I ran away for good.  I had nothing but a sack of the few clothes I had and a knife.  I had no food, no money.  I ran for the entire night until my legs finally gave out.  Because I was older, stronger, I had managed to run very far away.  I scavenged for food.  I kept moving my camps night to night to avoid people trying to track me down.  I trained myself to defend myself, how to be stealthy, how to not be seen."  At this, she looked up at me and smirked, remembering about the knife incident.
"I lost track of time.  I don't even know how old I am.  I just know that I was born on April 28th 1994.  I don't even know what day it is today.  What time.  Just that it's getting dark.  I lost everything, which was pretty much losing nothing.  I had nothing."  At this, tears started to slide down her cheeks. She looked up at me with the saddest eyes I have ever seen in my life.
     "Niall, I tried.  I tried.  I tried to make my mum understand that this man was a criminal.  I tried to tell myself that everything was gonna be fine, I would grow up and live in a nice home and wear nice clothes and be with nice people.  But I just couldn't."  
     She broke down.  Her mouth opened but she just started to cry.  My heart fell right through my body.  I stood up and crouched in front of her and wrapped my arms around her.  I was so angry for her.   I didn't even care about anything else.  Who could ever have such a sick mind and torment innocent young people like that?
I felt her tears soak my hoodie.  "All I ever wanted was to be loved." She said into my chest, her shoulders shaking.
     All of a sudden, I had an idea.  I let go of her and gripped her shoulders, staring into her eyes.
     "Iris.  Why don't you come live with me?  I'm part of One Direction, a famous band, and the other lads would never mind.  We always like to have fun and you can laugh every single minute.  You can finally be with people who will keep you safe, people who'll care for you.  I promise you'll never ever have to experience what you did when you were younger if you just come with me."  I said fiercely.
     Iris looked into my eyes.  "Will you really?"  She asked me, her eyes shining with tears.
     "Absolutely.  I know that sounded kind of cheesy, but I mean every word I said."  I replied firmly, never tearing my eyes away from her.
     "But what if I mess up?  What if something goes wrong and all of you are in danger?  If I stay with you all, I can't risk losing you all over again.  I can't let anybody be hurt."  She said, her eyes sad.
     "Iris I promise you, that nothing will ever happen to you or any of us."
Before I knew it, she had lunged into my arms again, squeezing me tightly.  I wrapped my arms around her again, and felt her shaking.
     "Thank you thank you thank you!  I can't even begin to explain how grateful I am to have met such a nice, generous person like you, for being able to talk to someone other than the wall, and hell? For even sticking that knife in your face!"  She exclaimed into my sweatshirt.  I laughed at the last part.
     I jumped as my phone buzzed in my back pocket.  Seeing me jump, Iris pulled her knife out in a flash, trying to find what had scared me.  I laughed.  "Easy, easy.  It's just my phone.  I bet the lads are just wondering where I am."  As I pulled my phone out, I noticed that Iris started to shiver slightly.  It was getting cold.  I wrapped her into my chest to warm her up, before picking up my phone.
     "Hello?"  I spoke.
     "Nialler!  Where the bloody hell are you?  It's been two and a half hours already!  Come home already!  We're all back and starving!" Harry yelled into the phone.  Iris heard it and started giggling.  I laughed too.
     "Alright, alright, I'm coming.  Jesus.  I'm bringing someone home with me, just to let you know."
     Harry hooted on the other end.  "Did you meet a lady at the store?  Did you get her number?  Is she hot?  Were you snogging?" he asked excitedly.
     "Ewwwwww!  No!  Only you would be such a pervert about it.  And it's not like that. " I laughed.  "Listen.  I have the food, alright?  You'd better stop being a retard or else I'm eating it all.  I'll be back in a few, 'kay?  I'll explain everything when we get back."
     "Yeah.  Hurry up though, it might start raining soon."  Harry said.  "And you'd BETTER NOT eat my Doritos!"
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