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Niall sighed watching the phone ring and ring. No-one picked up. But what was he to expect. When Louis had first moved away that was all that happened. No response. Niall had thought they had moved past that. Louis had sounded so sincere on the phone. I suppose it is easier to lie to someone when you can't see their face Niall thought.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
'Tell Lou I'm tired of his bullshit'
Lottie stared at the text that had come up on her phone, unsure of what exactly to make of the text that had come through. She thought it over. Tell Lou I'm tired of his bullshit. The words played over in her mind. Did this mean that Lou had contacted Niall? If he had that meant he was alive. That Harry hadn't killed him… yet. The word hung in the back of her mind but she refused to acknowledge it. Hope was the only thing keeping her going. She couldn't lose it.
There was only one way to find out.
She sped dialed Niall, drumming her fingers impatiently on her leg while she waited for him to answer.
He picked up on the fourth ring, "Lottie, was wondering if you were gonna call,"
Niall's voice was light, happy, a major contrast to the voices Lottie had been around. Whither it was the crisp no-nonsense officers, sympathetic strangers or the watery, teary voices of Louis family. It was a change that Lottie relished. it was nice to hear someone who hadn't been effected by Louis and Harry's disappearance.
"Ni, what did Louis say?"
"What no hi?"
"Niall," Lottie whined trying to hide the desperation in her voice. "What did he say that pissed you of so much?"
"Nothing, we made up but now he hasn't called me back all week. I thought we'd moved past that. Obviously he doesn't care," Niall dropped his happy tone and a bitter undertone began to seep through.
The brief glimpse of light Lottie had was swallowed by the darkness. Her shoulders slumped and she collapsed in on herself. Even though Niall couldn't see her she physically deflated. Tears sprung to her eyes and she let out a small sob.
"Lottie, what's wrong?" Niall asks in concern his anger vaporizing when he hears her sob On the other end
"Lou hasn't called anyone all week, Ni," Lottie whispers, "It's not just you,"
Niall frowns. He doesn't understand what she's trying to say.
"Why not? Has something happened?" Now that he thinks about it Lottie hasn't called him all week either and Liam said she had sounded off on the phone. More distance than usual.
"Louis's gone, no-one has heard from him for the past six days, we don't know where he is," She breaks off in tears
"What?" Niall breaths, not believing what he's heard. There is no way that Louis his friend since their first year of school could be missing. So he stands there like a stunned mullet with his phone pressed into his ear listening to Lottie cry. Eventually she stops and it finally sinks in. Louis Tomlinson, one of Niall's best-friends is missing for nearly a week maybe in great pain or dead and here Niall's been angry because Louis didn't call him back when he probably couldn't.
"What happened?" He asked, knowing that Liam and Zayn will want to know too. He doesn't know how they'll react since they're both still mad at Louis for ignoring them.
"We don't know. He went out on a date with Harry and no-ones seen him since,"
"How's Harry holding up? If he truly loves Lou he must be pretty torn up,"
Niall thinks of the last conversation he had with Lou and how Louis wouldn't stop talking about how amazing Harry is. He hopes that Harry does.
"Harry's missing as well,"
"Well shit," Niall swears, "What do they think happened?"
"Everyone thinks Harry killed Louis and buried his body somewhere and is now on the run,"
Niall can't hide the surprise in his voice when he asks, "Why would people think that?" After listening to Louis ramble on for hours about how great, wonderful, brilliant, smart and sweet Harry is he's incapable of believing Harry could harm a spider much less a person.
"Because Harry stabbed his last boyfriend and left him to die,"
"What?! Did Louis know this?"
"Yes, he insisted on researching all about it,"
Niall's blood boils, 'that idiot' he fumes. You don't date criminals. If they've done it once they'll do it again. You DON'T date criminals.
"Is there any evidence that he took Lou?"
"Only Harry's foster brother who claims he was beaten to unconsciousness by Harry because he wouldn't give his Ecstasy to him. The police think Harry may have used it to drug Lou,"
Niall can't listen anymore and he hangs up, collapsing on his bed and crying. He doesn't know if it's because that Louis might possibly be dead or because he didn't give him a chance when he could.
Some how he feels that it's his fault that Louis missing, like he should have known that Harry was a killer when Louis told him or if he had been a better friend and kept in contact with Louis then maybe Louis wouldnt have started dating Harry or he could have convinced him not to date him and things could've been different.
No matter what happened in the past theres nothing you can do about it but move on and live in the present. You can't change the past but you can change the future. Right now though there is nothing Niall wouldn't give if it meant that Louis would be alive and well becuse after talking to Lottie Niall can't help but fear that Louis is just another corps in the ground. He's seen enough police shows to know that after the first 48 hours the chances of the missing being returned alive is as likely as finding a frog with three legs. It's a rigged lottery in a way.
He's not much of an optimist.
"Niall?" Someone asks and theres are soft knocking sound.
Niall doesn't reply but rather focuses on calming so that it doesn't seem like he's spent the entire afternoon crying.
The door creaks quietly as it's opened and Liam and Zayn creep into the room like a pair of burglers.
"Niall are you okay?" Zayn asks
"I'm fine," he responds but he may as put a big flashing neon liar sign on his head. All three of them know that he's lying.
"What happened?" Liam asks and Niall can't hold back the tears any longer. He bursts into tears and Liam and Zayn rush to comfort him.
"Was it James and Nathan again?" Zayn asks his hands curling into fists as he speaks.
Niall takes a shaky breath to try and calm himself down.
"No, it's Louis," is all he manages to get out before the tears begin to fall again no matter how hard he tries to keep them back. It's an army of at least a hundred against one.
Liam pulls away his face hard. "I told you not to listen to him, to be friends with him again. I knew he'd do this."
Niall pulls back from Zayn shaking his head. When the army is defeated he speaks.
"It's not like that Liam. Louis isn't calling anyone,"
Zayn and Liam look at him like he's just spoken in Russian.
"Louis hasn't spoken to anyone for nearly a week,"
"What about his boyfriend?"
Niall shrugged, "Maybe but no-one can find Harry,"
"Is that why Louis not talking, his boyfriend ran off?"
Niall grabs his laptop off the floor on the other side of his bed. He doesn't know how to explain it to them. He doesn't know how to put it into words. He doesn't want to. Saying it would make it real. Instead he lets google do it for him.
"What are you doing, Niall?" Liam asks, him and Zayn peer over his shoulder as he types in 'Harry Styles' to the search bar.
"You're not making much sense, mate," Zayn adds.
Niall doesn't reply instead he clicks the first link that comes up, 'Has the boyfriend killer struck again,'
"Niall, what has this got to do with Louis?" Liam asks. They're both looking at Niall now.
"Just read it," Niall whispers his voice wavering as his eyes skim the artical.
Has the boyfriend killer struck again?
Earlier this week on Tuesday night Louis Tomlinson and his boyfriend Harry Styles were declared missing after neither of them returned home from a date. Harry had been convicted when he was 13 for the murder of Dylan Cole (14) who had been stabbed and left to bleed out and die while Harry watched. Louis and his family were awear of this so when Louis had not returned home his mother immediately contacted the authorities who upon being notified that Harry was Louis boyfriend immediately saught to find the two boys.
Police were sent to Harry's foster home where they found evidence to what may have happened to Louis. Officer White who has been placed in charge of the investigation had this to say "We were all expecting to find Louis bleeding out on the kitchen floor, a repeat of the Dylan Cole murder. It was of course a surprise to find Harry's brother beaten instead."
Bru and Ashton had been at home when the police had arrived inquiring the whereabouts of Harry and Louis. Bru was supporting evidence of a severe beating and had reluctanatly admitted that Harry had beaten him up when he'd refused to give Harry an ecstacy pill an hour before his date with Louis. "We believe he used it to drug Louis, it's not uncommon for killers to drug their victims before taking them off somewhere else and killing them. I believe thats what Harry's done to Louis and now it's just a matter of finding what he did with the body,"...
Niall couldn't read anymore, he didn't want to think about it. He didn't want to think of Louis bloodied and buried somewhere no-one could find him. He didn't want to think of Louis dead full stop.
He sits quietly and stares at his hands so he doesn't have to look at the demons on the screen. He waits patiently for Liam and Zayn to finish, trying not to think about Louis.
Liam and Zayn react differently. While Liam throws his punches the air with a curse of "You fucking idiot," Zayn looks at Niall and asks, "Is this some joke, cause it's not a very nice one."
Niall shakes his head. He still wants to cry but his eyes are too dry.
"N-no, Louis really is missing. Everyone thinks he's dead,"
"Then why did he call me yesterday?"
"What?"
"Yesterday, he left me a voicemail on my phone. I haven't opened it yet cause I don't want to listen to him grovling about how bad a friend he is."
"Open it," Liam demands, a tone of authority in his voice that would make Lions go vegeterian if he told them to.
Zayn opens the message and the air is thick with tension.
"Hey... It's Louis.
Do you remember when I said I didn't love Liam, the game we played?"
There's a pause and a choking sound that Niall thinks is meant to be a laugh. Louis voice is rough and it sounds painful.
"I'm sorry, I'm getting off topic. Harry kidnapped me. He beat up Bru. It wasn't me. He's okay and so am I. Game Over, I beat the wrong person, it's not a good hit anymore. I let my emotions control me. I couldn't let him keep being hurt by him anymore. But now we're both going to die."
The call ends there. Niall can't make any sense of Louis been saying.
"What. The. Fuck," Zayn says, "What the hell's he saying?"
"What did he mean when he said he didn't love Liam?" Niall asked
"It's a riddle.You guy's didn't know this but Louis used to have a crush on me, when I asked him what was wrong he seemed to be struggling to say it so i told him to lie."
"And he told you he didn't love you," Niall finished.
Liam nodded, "Up until he says game over he's lying."
Zyan scrambles over to Niall's desk and grabs a scrap piece of paper and a pen. He scribbles on the paper to make sure the pen's working.
"Okay so what did he say first?"
"He was sorry. He was getting off topic and Harry kidnapped him," Liam, who had the better memory.
"So he's not sorry, he's on topic and it wasn't Harry who kidnapped him," Zayn asked, scratching the words down on the paper. Liam nodded.
"But if Harry didn't kidnap him who did?" Niall asked.
Liam shrugged, "Maybe he tells us further in the message,"
"No, he just says that he beat up Bru not Harry. He also says that him and Harry aren't okay,"
Liam nods his head, but Zayn shakes his.
"Louis beat someone up because they were hurting someone and now he's going to kill Louis and that someone."
"But who did Louis beat up?"
Liam and Zayn look at Niall like he's daft, that the answer is staring him right in the face.
"Bru!" They replied in unison.
"That doesn't make sense, Bru didn't get let out of hospital until yesterday morning. Thats five days after Louis went missing. It takes three days to die of dehydration, how is Louis still alive? Besides Bru said Harry beat him up, why would he lie?"
"So it looks like Harry killed Louis. That way everyone focus's on Harry and not Bru. Bru got let out of hospital the same day Louis called me, I don't believe in coinsidences. Think about this Ni, if Harry had beaten Bru up how did Louis find ouT and why would he say that he did it? And Louis and Harry are missing because Louis beat Bru up for hurting someone. Who would be close enough to Louis that he'd get into a fight for, that was also close to Bru to be able to get hurt by him?" Zayn argued. Niall did admit he had some good points.
"Harry..." Niall grumbled, "But what did Bru do to Harry? And why? They're foster brothers,"
No-one can answer that question. Niall feels a little hopless, they make crap detectives.
"Maybe we could try calling him," Liam suggests.
Niall doesn't tell Liam it's a bad idea even though it is. There's so many things that can go wrong but it's the only shot they've really got at finding Louis.
So when the phone picks up he's more than a little surprised, ever since Lottie's call he's been thinking the worst. But the voice that speaks isn't Louis.
"Zayn? Is this Zayn?" They ask. Niall's not sure but they sound upset, and not the normal 'I lost my favourite pair of sunglasses upset' either. There was a not so faint undertone of terror in it.
"Who is this?" Liam asks, his voice is expressionless but Niall knows him well enough to know that he's disappointed.
"Please don't hang up, I-you, you have to help us,"
"Who is this?"
"I didn't hurt him. I swear to God I didn't. Please, you have to believe me. They say I did but I didn't, I didn't,"
"Is this Harry?"
Theres a chocked sob on the end, "Yes... But please don't hang up. I didn't hurt him. I didn't. I didn't"
"Harry, calm down. I won't hang up. I just want to talk to Louis. Is he there with you?"
"No," Harry sobs, "They took him away. They took him away and I haven't seen him since,"
"How long ago was this?"
"I-I don't know, maybe an hour or two,"
"Was he okay then?"
"I don't know, he never complained but they beat him and we haven't had anything to eat. Please, help,"
Niall covered his mouth to supress a cry, with his emotions already so high the tears cam willingly.
"Alright, Harry, do you know where you are?"
"In an old bomb shelter. It's been modified. It's near a church."
"A town, do you have a town? Are you in Doncaster still?"
"Umm... I don't know, but I think I can find out,"
"Okay,"
"Just... Just don't hang up, please,"
"Okay, Harry. I won't hang up,"
"And… and stay quiet,"
There's shuffling at the other end, then it's all silent. Suddenly theres a muffled banging sort of sound on the other side and Harry begins to yell.
"Help! Can you anyone hear me! Louis!!! Lou-"
Harry cuts off and at the other end of the line someone new begins yelling.
"What the fuck do you think your doing? No-one can hear you,"
"Where's Louis?"
Harry lets out a grunt and there's a crash.
"I asked you a question slut, I wouldn't worry about your pathetic boyfriend-"
Niall didn't hear anymore as Zayn had steered him out of the room.
"What did you do that for?" Niall hissed.
"Your crying,"
"It's just… the call really got to me. He sounded so scared and sad. He was afraid we'd hang up on him when we knew who he was,"
"Thats because people don't generally like talking to murderers,"
"He doesn't sound like a murderer," Niall protested
"Most of them don't,"
Niall didn't have anything to say to that, so they sat outside Nialls room in silence.
"Zayn?"
"Yeah?"
"Do you think Harry really did kidnap Louis?"
"I don't know, Ni. I really don't,"
Niall goes to say more but the sound of someone throwing up stops him short. Both him and Zayn jump up, Niall reaches for the door but Zayn grabs his arm,
"Go get a glass of water,"
Niall nods and sprints downstairs to get the water. He tries to be as quick as he can returning but it's hard running without splashing the water. He knows that Zayn's trying to keep something from him and when he returns to his room and Zayn's standing outside looking green. He know's it's bad.
"Zayn are you okay?"
"I'll be fine in a minute, I'll take the water in to Liam. Just wait downstairs then we're going to find Louis and Harry,"
Niall doesn't argue he follows Zayn's instructions and waits patiently until he returns.
"What happened?"
"Liam threw up,"
"Why?"
"Harry got Bru and Ashton to tell him where they are, but they're... torturing him. You could hear Harry screaming through the phone just begging them to stop,"
Niall looked down, he didn't ask any further questions. He didn't want to know the answer.
A few minutes later Liam joined them clutching his phone in his hand. He was a little on the pale side but otherwise looked fine.
"Did Harry hang up?" Niall asked, looking at the silent phone.
Liam shook his head, Niall didn't miss the way his eyes made contact with Zayn's.
"No, he's just… recovering. I think,"
Niall didn't question it any further 'cause Liam was looking a little green again. He kept his mouth shut and followed Liam and Zayn to Zayn's old silver Volkswagen.
The drive was silent. No-one spoke not even Harry who still hadn't come to the phone. The closer they got to their destination the more constantly Liam would look as if looking at it would make Harry suddenly be on the phone again. Niall could understand his worry, the longer Harry took to come back the more danger he was in.
It wasn't until they arrived outside the old church 20minutes out of town that Harry finally answered.
"Hello? Umm... Louis friend? Are you... still there?" The words were spaced apart and there was something in Harrys voice that made Niall want to give him a hug.
Relief spread like radiation over Liam and Zayn's faces, for a brief second like when you look into a puddle before you mix in sand the emotion was visible.
"I'm here Harry, I'm here. Are you okay?"
Harry burst into tears.
"You.… heard… didn't… you?"
"Yeah, I did. But-"
"I'm… sorry. I'm… sorry,"
"Harry, are you okay?" Liam's voice was calm, whatever had happened to Harry had not only further destroyed the boy on the phone but it had effected Liam and Zayn badly as well. Niall could tell by the way Zayn's face was sympathetic and how Liam's eyes held a cold fury and a deep pain. He didn't know what had happened to Harry and he was beginning to feel glad he didn't.
"We're... Outside… Wolverhampton… please… hurry,"
"Where are you? Do you know?"
"In… cellar… at… back"
"Okay, we're coming. Do you hear me? We'll be there soon,"
Harry didn't reply.
"Harry?"
"I… heard,"
They scrambled out of the car, Liam clutching the phone tightly in his hand, and scrambled over to the old church. It was small and old, parts of it's grey stone had crumpled and fallen to be buried by weeds. They entered quietly, stumbling over fallen pews and rocks. Their shoes would be caught by the weeds as if they were trying to prevent them from walking into the danger. A silent warning. Don't go they whisper as they brush against his legs and feet.
Niall swallowed trying to ignore the fear in his gut and look as brave as Liam and Zayn were. If only he was brave like them. If only...
In front of Niall, Liam and Zayn stopped. He hurried to catch up with them.
They had reached the cellar.
Slowly the three of them descended down the stairs. Niall made extra sure to make sure he didn't make any noise at all. He didn't want to draw attention to them. They had to save Louis first.
If Niall had been first to go down the stairs he might have seen Louis slumped in a puddle of blood, his arms held behind his back by one male while the other carved patterns lightly into his skin. He was naked save for his boxers and the sheen of red that covered him. Neither males noticed Zayn standing in the doorway with his mouth agape or Liam crowding behind. This gave Liam enough time to warn Niall.
All Niall noticed was that in the doorway at the bottom of the stairs Liam had stopped. Liam slowly brought his phone behind his back and thrust his arm awkwardly back for Niall to take.
Niall grabbed the phone and looked at the new message Liam had left on the screen. Lu here fnd Hry.
Without saying a word he quietly retreated. As soon as he was a reasonable distance away he spoke into the receiver.
"Harry? Are you still there?"
"Yeah,"
A pause.
"You're not who… I was talking to,"
"No, um… Liam he's with Louis,"
On the other end of the line Harry let out a huge breath, "Good… thats's good."
He sounded like he couldn't quite believe it. "Is he… good?"
Niall didn't know what to say, he had never actually seen Louis, "I'm sorry… I don't um know,"
There was a long silence at the end. Niall feared that Harry had left.
"Umm, Harry? Where are you?"
"I'm… in the… bomb shelter"
"Okay… um, thank you," Niall muttered not really sure of what he was doing.
He exited the church through a back door and spotted the bomb shelter almost immediately. He sprinted over the ground towards it.
It was pitch black in the shelter. A thick blanket of black encased Niall stealing his sight so that he had to stumble around until his eyes could adjust. His hands slid over the walls feeling for a light switch, when he couldn't find one he settled instead for the light generated from Liam's phone.
He shone the light over the room trying to ignore the patches of blood on the floor. In the far corner by some old boxes was a crumpled naked body. He hoped it wasn't dead.
"Harry?" Niall whispers softly.
The figure moved. It curled even more into it's self.
"Who… who are you?"
Niall took a step forward but stopped when Harry cowered away.
"I'm Niall, Louis friend, we talked on the phone,"
"Louis..." Harry mumbled, "Is… he okay?"
"I don't know," Niall replied, "Liam and Zayn are with him,"
Harry expelled the air in his lungs, "They… they're going-"
He suddenly stopped and his body, which had relaxed a little while he was talking tensed. Niall tried to think of a reason for this when he felt a rough hand on his shoulder and something metal was pressed into his head. He immediately tensed, his hear beating a hundred times faster than normal.
"I see you've found a friend, Harry," A gruff voice said, "Louis, going to have a nice audience ain't he,"
"No," Harry whimpered, "No, no, no, no,"
Niall's captor chuckled, his next words sending shivers down Niall's spine.
"Now, now, Harry. Come along, we don't want to be late. And we wouldn't want this boy here to die because of you too now do we?"
The gun dug further into Niall's head. Niall squeezed his eyes shut trying not to cry.
Harry uncurled himself slowly, "Can I at least put on some pants?"
"No, show them what a slut you are,"
"Pl-please," Harry sounded like he was about to cry. Niall didn't blame him, he was fighting back tears himself.
"Just you boxers,"
As Harry turned and grabbed his boxers behind him, the light of Liam's phone exposed bruises on Harry's back and legs and the blood running down it. Tears escaped his eyes slipping quietly down his cheeks.
Niall couldn't believe that Harry was a killer anymore. All Harry seemed to be was broken, hurt and entirely focused on Louis. It was easy to imagine him as the shy, sweet, wonderful lad Louis described him as.
Harry finished pulling his boxers on and Niall's captor herded them out and into the light. His bruises only seemed to get worse in the daylight and the blood was beginning to stain the seat of his boxers. There were several around his neck that look particularly painful.
They were taken back to cellar. Niall had dreamed of escaping while they had the chance. However he didn't think Harry could handle it, he was limping badly. There was no way he would be able to run.
They were shoved into the the little room and neither Niall nor Harry could take their eyes off of Louis.
"Look what else I found when I went to get the slut," Their captor said. Niall's eyes flickered to the other stranger who looked over Niall as if studying an alien. Maybe he was. Niall certainly didn't go around kidnapping and torturing people.
The other captor was big, he had mussels in his arms and despite the fact they were probably around the same age Niall would never talk to the guy if he'd seen him in the street.
"Nice work Ashton," The big man said grinning, "and he's cute too!"
"Leave him alone," A new voice alerted Niall of Liam and Zayn's presence. They were bound beside Louis. Niall wondered how he had missed them before.
"Do you two know each other?" The big man asked looming over Liam, who went red.
"I… um… uh," Liam muttered, "I… uh… see him round school and… uh… yeah,"
Liam's face got darker in colour as he spoke. Niall didn't quite know why Liam was blushing but it went with the act so who was he to complain. It made it look like Liam had a crush on Niall. Even though Niall knew he didn't.
"Looks like you have a secret admirer, isn't that sweet?"
Both Niall and Liam were red now.
The man stepped away from Liam and walked up to Niall. Niall tried to back up but only ended up crashing into Ashton. There was some sort of vibe that the man was giving off that made Niall want to run and hide. He made him feel weak. He scared him.
Niall stood stock still as the man stretched his his hands out and trapped Niall's face between them. His head was tugged from side to side as the man examined it. He stroked Niall's cheek with his thumb. Niall trembled.
"Bru, no," Harry whispered. That's when it clicked. It explained why Ashton had sounded so familiar. They were Harry's brothers. But he didn't have time to dwell on it because Bru was pulling his face towards him and suddenly they were too close together and Niall was trying to pull away but the grip on his face was too tight. He tried to bring his arms up to push Bru away only to find someone had grabbed his arms and where twisting them painfully behind his back. Then lips were on his own pushing hard.
But they didn't stay there for long. Bru's head jerked back as Liam, who had somehow had managed to bring his bound hands in front of him and made his way over unnoticed, pulled them apart and slipped his hands over Bru's head so that the rope joining them together was digging into his skin.
Everything began to move fast. Ashton rushed to aid Bru to pull him and Liam apart. Harry limped over to Louis untying his limbs and helping him up. Zayn staggering to his feet and charging at Ashton, arms still tied behind his back. Niall helping Zayn pull Ashton away. Bru pulling out the gun and waving it around yelling. Niall's heart raced as he realised only Louis or Harry could get the gun and neither of them were in the shape too.
Then…
A bang. A thump. Blood.
Harry started screaming…