Day 18      Charlotte POV            (January 3rd 2014)

I woke up to someone’s soft singing in my ear. Not just anyone’s singing, might I add, it was Niall’s singing. I rolled over in his arms and smiled up into his face. My eyes slowly opened to see his own watching me intently.

“Good morning,” He interrupted his singing of the More Than This chorus to say.

“Good morning,” I said back to him. I snuggled into his chest again and took a deep breath of his manly scent. His cologne still lingered on his clothes.

“No nightmares?” He asked.

“None,” I replied with a sigh. Thank god. I didn’t know if I woulda been able to handle much else. It had been a tiring few days, already.

“Good,” Niall said. His hands found my back and he pressed me closer to him. We stayed there on the ground for a minute or two more before Louis came over and kicked my bum. I turned my head to stare up at his face. His head was blocking the sun. I noticed how thick his facial hair had grown.

“Rise and shine, you nasty love birds,” He laughed, “Wait until we get home to get all handsy, would ya?”

“Save it for the bedroom, you guys!” We heard Harry shouting from somewhere nearby.

I giggled, sitting up onto the ground. The little woods were were in looked entirely different in the light of day. It was our second day on the road, by the way. We had walked for miles since our escape on day 16.

“Water?” Liam asked from beside the fire. He held out an old soda can that had been converted into a pot for boiling down snow. I took it from him and had myself a few sips before rinsing my fingernail beds with the rest. A shudder went through me. I had missed some of David’s blood when I cleaned up the night before. I passed the cup back to Li. He got some more water to wash his face and then gave the cup to Harry, who used some water to clean his cuts. The boys were all pretty banged up. It was important to keep up on the gashes before any of them got worse.

“Everyone needs a good shave,” I randomly noted.

“Except for Niall,” Zayn laughed, who himself was in need of a razor. “The poor lad can’t grow a single facial hair.”

“Not true!” Niall yelped. “I have great facial hair!”

I patted his arm. “Sorry, hun,” I said.

He pouted.

“I don’t know,” Liam said with a shrug, “Thinking about keeping the beard.”

“No way,” I laughed, “You look like Grizzly Adams.”

“Or Cousin It,” Harry said.

“Chewbacca!” Louis cackled.

“Can it, Bushy Face,” Liam shot back; “You’re hairier than I am!”

Both were equally overgrown, I thought. But I wasn’t about to say anything.

“We need to find something to eat today,” Niall said. He was walking around the camp and staring up into the tops of trees. “I’m starting to wonder how long we’ll be walking around.”

“We can’t walk forever,” Harry said, “There’s got to be a house or something here soon.”

“Maybe,” I said, “Or maybe not. It might be a few days before we find someone who can help us.”

“All we need is a phone booth.”

“We need money for a phone booth, Zayn,” Harry sighed, “And we have none.”

“Who said that?” I asked, “I have a few coins in my back pocket.”

“Ay,” Louis said, “So do I.”

Liam kicked snow over the fire and watched it die down. Harry helped me up onto my feet and then lifted me up onto his shoulders. I laughed, grabbing onto his head of curls. “Ouch- not so hard!” He laughed.

“Then don’t move around so much!” I laughed right back.

For the first time, in what felt like forever, things were starting to feel normal. Even if we were walking in feet of snow with no food or water- that was okay. We had each other.

My bare feet dangled against Harry’s chest as he started walking off out of our little patch of trees. This one was bigger than the night’s before, and much nicer, I thought. Liam took up the front and Zayn the back as we played a sort of follow the leader game farther east.

“We should sing a song,” Louis suggested.

I rolled my eyes.

“You’re an idiot, do you know that?” Harry asked.

“There’s nothing wrong with singing a song,” Louis defended himself with a humph.

I laughed, “Nice rhyming, Doctor Seuss.”

“Oh I could do better than that,” Louis said. I had the feeling I knew where this was going. Harry and I both groaned in sync as Lou started his verse:

“Spike was a beach bum from Spain,

 Loving Pepsi, even more than champagne.

Spike left Spain to visit France,

 Seeing a dog, he was craving romance.

When she smiled, batting her eyes,

 Spike fell in love, so he fed her French fries.

At dawn, his girl saw a ghost;

 It made her cry, so he fed her French toast.

The girl dog gave Spike pure bliss,

 Holding his paw, while giving him a kiss.

Spike never returned to Spain,

 Staying with her, even out in the rain.”

I glanced to the right, looking down at the top of Lou’s golden head from my spot on Harry’s shoulders. I didn’t know if I should clap or laugh.

“That was… that was by far the strangest poem I’ve ever hear, Lou,” I finally said.

“Thank you,” He replied.

“I’m not so sure that was a compliment,” Liam added from the front of the herd. Everyone laughed.

“Alright- let’s see someone else do better!” Louis huffed.

Liam cleared his throat than began:

“My friend Louis is rather lame,

 He doesn't have the biggest brain.

 He's long and heavy, wide and tall,

 but has a brain that's extra small.”

A laugh bubbled out of my lips. Everyone thought it was utterly hysterical, even Lou, the target of the joke.

“Okay, okay, that was pretty good,” Louis admitted.

“Oh! I’ve got one!” Niall chuckled. He thought to himself for a moment then coughed and recited;

“Cows called Daisy

 Are often lazy.

 But cows called Brian

 They be flyin'

 Up in the air

 And out into space

 Because of the grass

 And the gasses it makes!”

I looked down at my stupid boyfriend with a sideways glance. He giggled- holding onto his stomach with his hands.

“That was far worse than mine,” Louis yapped. He kept shaking his head left and right.

I clasped my hands together under Harry’s sharp chin and rested my cheek on top his curly head. With every trudge he took through the snow my whole body jostled from up on his shoulders. I felt like a little kid standing on her brother’s back whilst trying to get a good look at some Disneyland parade.

“Your turn, Charlie Brown,” Louis said and clapped my back.

“I don’t have any rhymes,” I said. All the boys huffed. “Fine,” I laughed, “Fine. Just give me a minute.”

“It doesn’t have to be anything good,” Harry told me, “We aren’t expecting another hit.”

“But a hit would be nice,” Zayn smirked, “Something to top Through the Dark, even.”

I pursed my lips. I stared around at the light snow as it began to fall from the sky like sifted flakes of sugar. The wind whirled it up from the ground and into the air in pretty patterns.

“A flake of snow in flurry through the air

Had landed as a whisper upon my cheek:

A secret message, just for me to share;

To take to heart but never dare to speak.”

After I spoke it was quiet, until Lou started with the obnoxious clapping. Niall reached up to pat me in the shoulder. “Nice one,” Harry said with a curt nod.

“Thanks,” I mumbled. “It was nothing.”

As the others started talking amongst themselves I could feel Harry wiggle and writhe underneath me. I glanced down at his knotted brows where snow had tangled into his thick, dark eyelashes.

“Am I getting too heavy?” I asked. I continued without waiting for a reply, “Because I can walk.”

“No,” Harry quickly said, “It’s not you. You’re light as a feather.”

“What is it, then?”

Harry shook his head. His ruffled locks of brown hair flew out in all directions. I tucked my legs closer to his chest. His hands gripped my knees a bit firmer. “It’s, well it’s just… It’s been a really long time since any of us have eaten…” He trailed off to prevent himself from sounding whiny.

“Don’t worry,” Liam’s voice could be heard booming above the rest. Everyone went silent. “We’ll find something soon. Whether it be a house or a business or a lonely guy walking his dog- we’ll be done with this part before you know it.”

He only said that to make us feel better. To give us some more pep in our step.

He had no way of knowing.

In fact, he almost knew that we WOULDN’T find anyone soon. Liam had a feeling this whole walking aimlessly thing was going to go on for quite some time. But we were all in good spirits and he didn’t want to bring us all down. It had been a long while since any of us were happy, as we were then, and he wanted us all to savor the moment before we had to come to terms with the seriousness of our new situation.

We were lost.

Harry hoisted me from his shoulders with his strong arms. I giggled the moment his hands met my sides and he merely rolled his eyes. I was thrown into Niall’s arms where he took his turn carrying me around like a sack of potatoes. I felt like such a diva, having to be lugged around like a princess, but unless I wanted all my toes to fall off- I really hadn’t much of a choice.

“Louis,” I said suddenly. The boy turned around to give me a sort of goofy sideways grin. I frowned. “We missed your birthday,” I said.

Lou blinked his two blue eyes. “Oh,” He sighed, “I guess I just… well I guess it just slipped my mind,” he said with a light shrug. “It must’ve been quite a few nights ago.”

“Shit,” Zayn breathed, “Sorry mate- I didn’t even have the time to remember.”

“No,” Louis argued, “We all had bigger things to worry about. I’m not concerned. It’s only a birthday.”

I still felt a bit upset. The poor lad was robbed! We were supposed to spend 22nd in Paris- at the Louvre. But no one remembered, or probably bothered, to bring it up when we were kidnapped. It bothered me so much that I promised myself to make it up to him the moment we got home.

It was as if my best friend had been reading my mind. “Tell you what,” Louis said with a loose grin, “You and your boyfriend here can visit me and El sometime this month and bake me the best bloody birthday pie I’ve ever had. You’re good at that stuff- ay?”

I shrugged.

“Don’t look so upset,” Louis told me with a bit of sternness to his tone, “Really, Charlie Chaplin, it’s just a birthday.”

“I was thinking about Eleanor. I was thinking about her thinking about you on your birthday,” I said softly. I avoided looking at Lou’s face.

“Oh,” He breathed. “Well that’s something proper to be upset about, I guess.”

“I’m sure the girls are fine,” Harry said in his rumbly voice. His basil eyes flickered over piles of fresh, white snow and then to Zayn’s tattooed arms peeking out from his leather jacket sleeves. “I bet they’re doing just fine.”

“I’m just glad the girlfriends didn’t go with us that night,” Zayn said. He took one look at me and then sighed, “Well- most of them, anyway.”

“There was no stopping me from coming to that damned interview,” I replied, “I was going to come whether you liked it or not. So don’t try and make yourself feel guilty about dragging me along, Malik.”

Zayn smiled sadly.

From up on Niall’s shoulders I could see so much of the vast whiteness around us. It was like an endless forest of snow painted trees. I wondered what country we were in. Then I wondered how much longer we could last out here. The cold was slowly stripping us of our sanity. Each one shivered violently, fresh snow on his head and thawed icicles in his feet. I caught a glimpse of Niall’s pink ears from under his slowly darkening blonde hair. I breathed hot air onto my hands and then covered the sides of his head like earmuffs. His cheeks raised in a smile.

“Let’s keep walking till its dark,” Liam announced, “Then we’ll find a place to rest and start with night shifts. Tomorrow- tomorrow… we’ll think of what to do when the time comes. But for now let’s keep with East and only come to rest when we can’t make out the difference between the trees and the sky. Clear?”

Everyone mumbled some type of agreement. “Aye, aye captain,” Louis saluted. He could be such a smart ass.

Liam glanced behind his shoulder, rolling his chocolate eyes with a small smirk on his thinly drawn lips. I noticed how tired he was. How tired all of us were, really.

“Like I said,” Liam cleared his throat, “Let’s keep going. We’ll be home in no time.”