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Diana

Chapter 11

11
Diana’s P.O.V.
I must have fallen asleep after Niall put me on the bed. When I woke I was still there with Niall holding me. He was propped up awkwardly against the headboard as if he hadn’t meant to fall asleep there. I remembered the night before with a sharp intake of breath. My parents were dead. My sudden breath must have woken Niall. He hugged me tighter as I sat up. I started shaking again and leaned into him. “It’s okay, Diana,” He lied. It was not okay. I was orphan. I still didn’t remember much of my parents, or anything. And on top of all that, the fans of the one person in the world who I felt I could go to, hated me …Well, some of them. Niall let me sob into his shirt as he rubbed my back. “The funeral is next week,” He murmured. “I don’t have any gigs then. I could go with you…?” I nodded in acceptance of his idea. I didn’t trust myself to speak yet without bursting into fresh tears.

One week later the day I’d been dreading came. Niall and I were flying to my home town to go to the funeral. We flew into the airport and everything was just a whirlwind of people and colors. Niall and I had agreed to a load of stuff so we could go with no security. Now I wished we’d let security come. We made it into a cab to go to my cousins’ house, the only living family I had.
When we got there they were all very nice and welcoming. There was my aunt Jackie who was my father’s sister, Uncle Kegan, and their kids, Dan, Maddie, and Sara. Dan and Maddie were twins a few years younger than me. Niall and I were going to stay the night and the funeral was the next day. Then we would stay over one more night and then fly back to join the rest of the boys on tour.
That night I quietly talked with my cousins. They’d been pretty close to my family and were almost as upset about losing them as I was. I found out our ancestors were from Ireland. Hence, my Irish name. Maddie told me that everyone had been really worried when I’d left. My parents had been coming home from a new grocery store and were on the highway when they’d been hit. The person who’d hit them was coming home from a party with friends, all dunk. Everyone in both cars had died.
We all went to bed early as there was nothing else to talk about. It got super awkward when Aunt Jackie cautiously asked if Niall and I wanted to sleep together or if he would sleep in Dan’s room and me in Sara and Maddie’s. Since Niall and I had never purposefully slept together before, we both uncomfortably jumbled out that we’d sleep apart. So they gave me a sleeping bag and some pillows in the girls’ room and Niall would sleep in the extra bed in Dan’s room.
That night as soon as my head touched the pillow I didn’t fall asleep. Instead I started having all kinds of crazy thoughts. I was practically torturing myself with all the stuff running through my head. I rolled over and tried to get some sleep. When I finally did it was plagued with nightmares. I kept waking up every half hour or so in a cold sweat.

I swear I don’t know what happened. I must have sleepwalked. Somehow I woke up in Niall’s bed. I think it happened sometime after three am because that’s the last time I remember waking up because of bad dreams. Anyway, I woke up to two giggling girls outside the room. Maddie and Sara had woken up before us and realized I wasn’t there. I blushed and Niall faked sleeping but his head was turned to me so I could see his thin smile and blush. I lightly slapped him on the cheek and scolded him. He fake snored and rolled over to playfully push me off the bed. I grabbed the first thing I could to keep myself from falling. It was Niall’s arm. I fell hard onto the, luckily, carpeted floor. Niall slid off and on top of me. We were behind the bed where the girls couldn’t see us. Niall started imitating kissing noises but had to stop because he was laughing. He clumsily stood up and helped me up. I giggled as Niall shamelessly stood shirtless and asked Sara and Maddie, “What are you looking at? Never seen anyone in love before?” It took me a good five minutes to convince them that I hadn’t meant to be in Niall’s room and that we weren’t really kissing. I’d get Niall back for that later but as the morning turned into afternoon things became more and more somber.
We all changed into black clothes for the funeral and started toward the church in the family’s minivan. In typical One Direction fashion, as we got closer to the church we started seeing fans. Niall groaned as we stopped at an intersection just outside the church, “I’ll get out and make a run for the front door. You guys go around the back and slip in quietly.” Without waiting for a response, he clambered out of the car and jogged towards the church. He was instantly mobbed my fans asking for autographs and selfies.Aunt Jackie, Uncle Kegan, Dan, Maddie, Sara, and I sat on the edge of our seats as my Aunt gripped the steering wheel and we neared the back entrance. There were only a few confused looking fans back there so I ducked down and we had no problems. Until we parked and got out, that is. The back door was actually around the side. As we made our way there a few fans spotted us. They screamed and ran over. “Diana?!” One of them squealed. I realized we’d never told them my real name. But I didn’t feel like explaining. “Yeah, sure…” I mumbled trying to indicate I didn’t want to chat. “OMG!” She cried right in my face, “I love you!” I gave her a weak smile and continued towards the door. Another fan grabbed my arm and held out her phone for a selfie. I motioned to my cousins, aunt, and uncle to go ahead in without me. I’d follow as soon as the fans got pictures. But soon I was surrounded as fans pushed and shoved to get in front. I started breathing harder as claustrophobic panic set in. But there was no way these fans were giving up anytime soon. I spun wildly as I searched for an opening in the mob. There were none. And, just my luck, there were people that hated me there too. They hurled insults and abuse at me, “You deserve to die with your parents!”, “Go kill yourself!”, “Niall can do better than you!”, “Quit using Niall!” I felt my eyes fill with hot tears. I tried to push my way out, but it was hopeless. Then, through my panic and watery eyes I saw someone running towards me. Great, I thought, another fan coming to mob me. She looks big. She’s probably going to punch the daylights out of me. I sat down in the middle of the mob. Maybe I’ll get knocked out again and be able to forget everything. I’d only been down for a second when a strong pair of hands hooked under my arms and pulled me back up. I stiffened and was about to retaliate when I realized I recognized the way the hands felt. They’d comforted me, stroked my hair, tickled me, and hugged me. They were Niall’s. He scooped me onto his back so I was above everyone else. A cool breeze swept my face, cooling me down and calming me down. “Okay?” He asked me. I leaned into Niall’s back and hugged him, “I’m fine. Thanks Ni.” He took selfies and signed various items, all the while making his way towards the church.
Who knew wooden boxes could make your blood run cold? Well they can. Two long wooden boxes can. Especially when you know your parents are in them, dead. I felt a lump in my throat. Even though I didn’t remember these people, I still was upset that they had to die. This was the first time it really hit me. I’d never get to meet them. Any memories of them relied on me remembering them! Despair took ever as we entered the sanctuary. I leaned into Niall for comfort. We took our seats as music began to play. The whole thing happened in a blur to me. The priest said some nice words and some other folks I didn’t remember went up and spoke about what nice people my parents had been. Then we got in some cars to go to the burial. It was a comfort to see that some fans had formed a barrier so we could leave in peace.
The cemetery was a pretty average sized one, triangle, with a corn field on one side, and a road on the other two. Across one of the roads was a small dwelling. Who would want to live there? I wondered.
During yet another short speech about what great people my blood relation had been, I saw someone slip into the back of the small crowd out of the corner of my eye, but didn’t think much of it.
We made it all the way to the end with no interruptions from fans! Unfortunately that’s as long as they held off. As my cousins, aunt, uncle, Niall, and I made our way to the car a few fans started running towards us. Niall and I had to hang back so everyone else could go.
You might think scribbling your name on a few things is easy. And it is. But combine that with posing for selfies and it becomes nearly impossible. Especially when all you want to do is curl up in a ball and sleep for the rest of your life. But I did my best. Mostly, people we’re trying to get to Niall so I was able to slip into the corn field to hide and wait for Niall. I sat down on the damp ground between the stalks. There was a small, tattered American flag splattered with mud on the ground at me feet. As I bent over to pick it up, I felt someone tap my shoulder. I jumped about three feet. I spun around to face the tapper. It was a boy about my age. He was wearing a black leather jacket and a pair of ratty skinny jeans with combat boots. He laughed at my skittishness and ran his hand through his dark hair. I tensed “Who are you?” He extended his arm to put it around my waist but I backed farther into to stalks of corn, out of reach, and waited for a response. He answered with a question, “You really did lose your memory then?” He smirked. “Yes,” I replied slowly. He advanced and made to put his arm around my waist again. This time I wasn’t so quick. He pulled me to his side. With another smirk he rumbled, “I’m Marcus, your boyfriend.”