The stressed boy rolled over in what appeared to be a hotel bed. The sheets were barely over his body, but mostly covering someone who was curled up beside him as if they were trying to make their body take up the least amount of space possible.

Their arms were thin but toned, skin a nicely tanned shade, and it would seem that the person had somewhat long and dark hair, which was currently knotted up around their head. From the position of the body Liam was almost positive it was a girl, and he also thought she looked familiar (though he couldn’t connect who it was).

She sniffled a bit, a light groan escaping her lips before a sharp cry. “Li…” she mumbled into the pillow, voice laced with pain.

It was certainly someone Liam knew, and someone he knew well. There were only a select number of people who comfortably called him Li and not Liam. Could this be who he imagined it was?

“Danielle?” he whispered cautiously.

The body froze and he was afraid the girl had stopped breathing, but she began to pant and her hands flew to her eyes, rubbing them furiously.

“I’m hearing things,” she sobbed. “I’ve really gone crazy now. I’m hearing his voice again. God, Liam, why did you have to be on that stupid flight?”

He could tell this time, now that he’d heard the voice more clearly, that his assumptions had been correct. Liam was overjoyed but concerned for his girlfriend, who appeared to be in pure misery.

“Come on, Dani, open those eyes. It’s just me,” he soothed.

She froze once again. “No, it can’t be. I’m imagining it. Liam’s not here. Get over yourself, Danielle, Liam is gone and he just couldn’t be here. You’ve got to get over this sometime,” her ranting continued.

The boy didn’t know what to do. Here his beloved girlfriend was lying right in front of him. He had somehow been fortunate enough to transport back into the world of the living right to the side of the one he loved, and he wasn’t about to let the opportunity slip away.

“It’s me! Just open your eyes and turn over; I swear it’s me. I can prove it!”

Finally, her eyes fluttered and their gazes locked. Liam could feel himself sweating a bit, nervous as to how he could explain his current situation to the girl. He knew it sounded impossible and insane and it was going to be complicated and probably not easy, but he was willing to do anything for her. Danielle was wondering how it was possible for him to be there in front of her, arms open for her to jump into. But she wasn’t about to question it when she wanted him so badly.

The two bundled together happily with the long-forgotten sheets. She was thinking how amazing it was that he was in fact not on that plane and wondering why everyone believed it was so. He was pondering what words he could use to describe his not entirely human state of being.

After a good while of just sitting in each other’s arms, Liam was the first to pull away. Danielle looked up at him with gorgeous but confused eyes. “What happened? Why does everybody think you died in a plane crash?”

He sighed, leaning back against the headboard of what he realized was quite an uncomfortable bed, very unlike his back home in London and Wolverhampton. “This is going to take a bit to explain, Dani, and it’s going to sound unbelievable and crazy and you’re going to think I’m a total nutter. But I want you to know that I love you and I never meant for this to happen, not to any of us. And I hope you’ll accept me as I am now.”

The girl gazed at him, incredibly disturbed. She had never heard her boyfriend speak in such a serious manner, even though he was known to be the most mature of his group. She could tell something was off about the fact that he was here.

“Go ahead,” Danielle urged.

Liam drew in a shaky breath. “I haven’t a clue how you’re going to take this, but here we go. The boys and I were on that plane. The one that you heard crashed and sunk and had no survivors. Except, we kind of aren’t dead, as you can tell.”

Her mouth opened, but he quieted her words and continued. “We were saved by a guy who calls himself the Master of Fate, and he said we had died too young and he was willing to give us what is basically a second chance to prove that we deserve to live.”

“And how exactly do you propose to do that?” she scoffed. “You’ve already gone and gotten yourself and your best friends killed, Liam. That’s not exactly the greatest way to prove your value in life.”

He had to admit that Danielle had a point, but he wasn’t going to give in. “I’m supposed to find someone to ‘anchor me to the world of the living’, as he put it.”

Dani frowned. She knew the Wolverhampton boy well after years of being together, and she could tell there was something more he was still holding back. “Out with it,” she ordered.

“W-w-what are you talking about? I’m not h-holding anything back,” Liam responded nervously.

“That stutter just proved it. What is it you’re not telling me?” she questioned suspiciously.

“Well, I may or may not have asked why I needed to find someone if I already had you, and he may or may not have said that you aren’t a strong enough anchor,” he mumbled, refusing to meet her eyes.

“And what is that supposed to mean?’ Danielle fumed, feeling the anger rise in her gut. “I’ve been here to support you and love you for the past few years, even when it seems impossible to continue because we’re so far apart. I’ve been your shoulder to cry on and your rock to brace yourself on, and I’ve put up with so much pure hate from you supposed fans, it’s actually ridiculous. And you have the nerve to tell me that I’m not anchoring you to life?”

Liam shrunk away; he was becoming scared of the girl he loved so much. “I never said anything of the sort! It was the fate guy who said it, not me. I’m just telling you what I was told! If it were my choice, I would choose you any day,” he tried to placate her, but the girl had enough of her confusion and pain.

“I don’t want to hear it. I’m done putting up with this nonsense for someone who obviously doesn’t care anyway. I’m not going to put my heart on the line for someone who claims to have partially died and become inhuman. Let Fate get what he wants, or whoever it is you’re on about. We’re through, Liam,” she shook her finger in his face, shoving her things in a couple bags he had failed to notice standing beside the door to the room. Throwing a rectangular card to the ground, she pulled the bags out and slammed the door shut behind her with a sense of finality.

We’re through. The words played repeatedly through Liam’s mind as if he was unable to comprehend the phrase. She had given up a lot for him, it was true, and he knew the current situation was a bit odd, but if she loved him she would also see what he had given up for her.

Liam had just as much trouble communicating with her while they were apart. He had just as many nights on which he lay in his bed, staring at the ceiling and wishing Danielle would fall from it and into his arms. He felt all the same pain, and how did she think he felt when he was told that she couldn’t be his anchor? The pain was indescribable.

He felt his body slumping to the ground. He hadn’t even noticed that he had stood as if to follow her vanishing form. Liam had just confessed everything to the girl he loved with all his soul, and she had left him to deal with it alone and hope that he could cling to life with his dying breaths.

For that was what it felt like, as if he was dying all over again. It felt like she had torn out his heart, ripped it to shreds, and stomped it into tiny bits of nothing. Without Danielle to look forward to, without her to be there for him and to love him when he needed it most, Liam wasn’t sure he could take it.

The boy lay there for a good while, thinking over their argument and wondering what he had done wrong. He tried desperately to think of what he could have done to stop this from happening, but he found nothing. It was as if it was meant to occur, as if they were meant to split up and find themselves drifting apart. This thought made him terribly upset, and he felt more tears begin to trail down his stained cheeks.

He couldn’t call any of the other boys, because he knew they would each be having some difficulties of their own. He couldn’t call his family or friends, because they all believed he was dead and it was too hard to explain the truth over the phone, let alone just after it had been the reason Danielle had left him.

It was then that the loneliness hit Liam. At least for the moment, he was honestly, truly alone, and that thought scared him. As much as Niall was claustrophobic, Liam was monophobic. He despised the empty feeling he had, but knew there was no way to release it when there was nobody to be comforted by.

There Liam lay, in the dark hotel room of who knows what hotel somewhere in Florida. He was across the room from any information about his location, which was likely in the little book he spotted on the desk beside the phone. He was thousands of miles away from home, and from the only other people who had any idea what he was going through. He had lost the one he loved and almost lost his life, all in such a short time.

Liam was Daddy Direction. He was the one the others always looked to for guidance and comfort, and he was always there to provide it for them. He was everything for them that Danielle had been to him. He had gotten so used to hiding his emotions, to protect his friends and make them believe he was stronger than he really was.

But deep inside, Liam was breaking. He always had to be the strong, mature, motivational, and organized one. When was it his turn to break? If he were the one torn apart, who would be there to help him? It was a question left unanswered, because Liam never allowed himself to be hurt badly enough to need comforting love.

Right then, he was almost positive the answer was nobody.