These Four Walls

Silence. Silence is something that so many people wish for and dream of. They crave silence and peace from their hectic, stressful lives.

But for Harry, the silence of this dark, cold room is nothing short of a nightmare. It scared Harry more than Louis did. If he had to choose between staying in this room a minute longer or doing whatever the hell Louis wanted him to do, he'd choose Louis in a heartbeat. And that thought scared him immensely.

But what truly terrified him was the voices. The voices, they whisper dark and insane thoughts into the precious boy's innocent mind. Not once in his life had he ever contemplated taking his own life. Never did those horrific thoughts appear when his father first began his addiction and completely tore his family apart. Nor when Des hit him the first time. He never talked to anyone about it and it was only a few times, but he hadn't gotten over the fact that these drugs made him hate him enough to do that to his own child.

However, these four walls made him think of nothing else. He couldn't escape the thoughts of cutting his wrists or swallowing a bottle of pills. The constant thought of pushing Louis to his limit so he would end his misery. He used to fear ever being held at gunpoint, but now he wants nothing more.

But he's still too scared to actually want such a thing. He's always feared the unknown reality of death. He was far too terrified of it ever take risks of things he wanted to do. He had always wanted to go skydiving or climb up a mountain without a rope, but death kept him from doing these things.

But the voices keep pushing him further to the brink of insanity.

'I bet you'll end up killing yourself before Louis even has a chance to do it himself.'

"No, I won't," Harry said, closing his eyes and curling his body in to try and protect himself.

'You should just do it. At least if you do it, it won't be as painful as he'll make it.'

"Stop," Harry quietly pleaded to the voices, wrapping his arms around himself.

'Why are you trying so hard to be brave?'

'Who are you trying to fool?'

"Shut up," Harry whispered to himself, digging his nails into his arms to try and ground himself.

'You're never going to get out of here.'

"Yes, I will!" He snapped loudly, digging his nails into his skin enough to break the skin, but that didn't prevent him from doing it.

'You're pathetic. How could a little weak, insane freak like you get out of this?'

"Shut up!" Harry screamed, biting his lips so hard that he bled.

'You're going to die in here.'

'No one will save you.'

'You're going to rot in here for the rest of your worthless life with us here to keep you company.'

"No, I won't! Just stop! Shut up!"

'We're always going to be here, Queen.'

Harry's eyes shot wide open and suddenly, he couldn't catch his breath. As soon as the word 'Queen' is even muttered now, all he feels like he's going to die. Tears started to flow from his eyes and he struggled to breathe. The boy shot up from his position where he was curled in on himself and hit his head against the ceiling from standing up so fast. He didn't care though, the pain made him feel better.

"Shut up!" He scratched his nails down his arms as hard as he could, creating deep lines of pain that he needed to try and ground himself.

'You can't escape us, Queen.'

"Shut up! Shut up!" Harry screamed, hitting his head against the wall.

Painpainpainpain—

'We'll never leave you, Queen.'

"Leave me alone!" Harry screeched, running to the other wall and throwing himself against it.

'You're stuck with us, Queen.'

He fell on the ground in pain but got back up, hunched over a bit.

'In your fucked up, insane mind.'

He hit the cement wall in anger and fear.

'We'll shut up if you hurt yourself.'

Harry, with tears streaming down his face, bit down on his arm harshly. He let out a scream in agony but he needed the voices to disappear.

"Shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up, shut up—"

'The only way to get rid of us is to kill yourself, Queen.'

Harry wrapped his hands around his throat and started to squeeze.

Getoutgetoutgetoutgetout—

Suddenly, light brightened up the dark room and arms were wrapping themselves around his wrists, prying his hands away from his neck. Harry coughed and his body involuntarily began to breathe as he tried to break away from the voices.

'Can't even kill yourself right, pathetic.'

"G-Get out, get o-out!" Harry cried, feeling someone pick him up and carry him out into the light. And as if the light was the only thing that could help him, the voices disappeared and Harry suddenly calmed down. He was still crying, but he felt like he could actually breathe once again.

"Hush, love, I'm here." Harry recognized Louis' voice, only to look up at him in fear.

"Please, d-don't make me go back in there! T-The voices—"

"It's all in your head, darling," Louis soothed, cradling Harry's head into his neck. Harry didn't fight or try to get away.

He'd let Louis hold him as much as he wanted if that meant that he didn't have to go back down there again.

******

Harry was currently in his room once again, cuddled under a huge blanket and a warm cup of tea beside his bed. Louis had calmed Harry down enough—which now that he's not having a panic attack, Harry can't believe that Louis was the one that calmed him down—he brought him upstairs and tucked him in, stepping outside to have a hushed conversation with Zayn.

Too bad for them, the walls were thin.

"—I'm telling you, as soon as he saw Harry, he called for a cease-fire and they retreated. Do you think they know each other?"

"They better not or I'm going to kill someone." Harry flinched at Louis tone, picking up his tea and sipping it to calm his nerves.

He's exhausted, but he's been unconscious way too much for his liking since he's gotten here. It's either he can't sleep or he can't stay awake it seems and he'd rather be exhausted than asleep at this point.

The door opened, snapping Harry out of his thoughts and turned to see the two men walking in, both faces stone cold. Harry doesn't feel anything at this moment so he imagined that he was giving them an emotionless stare back.

"Why did you leave the house?" Harry looked up with dull, greyish green eyes and a blank stare.

"I smelt smoke and I heard gunshots. Besides, it's not like I want to stay here with you." He said in a monotone. Louis rolled his eye, but Harry paid it no mind. He was too detached at the moment to care.

"Did you see a man—"

"Yeah, I saw him. The one telling everyone to attack? Yeah." Harry interrupted, but Louis didn't get upset or angry. He just kept the same stoic expression.

"Did you recognize him?" Harry shrugged, looking over at Zayn who wore an unwavering cold expression, but it didn't make Harry feel the least bit threatened.

"He looked familiar, but I can't tell you why. I thought I saw him say my name, but I could have just been seeing things." Harry explained, giving up the truth without a fight. He doesn't care what they do to that person, he only cared about being away from that room. He'll give up any information he can if it kept him from there.

Louis untensed slightly, barely enough to notice, yet Harry did. He watched as Louis held his hands out for the boy to take and he did without much thought. The outer corners of Louis' lips twitched up slightly when he didn't fight and Harry couldn't find it in himself to care that it made Louis happy.

'Maybe keeping him happy is the best thing to do for right now,' he thought to himself, relieved that the other voices were nowhere to be heard.

Louis silently nodded at Zayn who walked out of the room before he helped Harry stand up and began to lead Harry out of the room, the blanket still wrapped around him. Harry followed wordlessly and held Louis' hand without a thought.

They walked down the stairs and towards the kitchen where there was a door leading outside. Harry tightened his grip on Louis' hand and felt the first emotion since he calmed down from his panic attack.

Happiness.

He never really thought about it, but he longed to breathe in fresh air now that he sees the dead grass through the window. There were small patches of snow on the ground but Harry didn't care.

He was being greedy, he knew it, but he was desperate to go outside now that the thought has entered his slowly breaking mind.

Louis opened the door and Harry smiled as the cold air hit his face.

"I missed that," Louis muttered softly, rubbing circles into the back of Harry's hand with his thumb.

"Missed what?"

"Your smile." Harry's smile immediately dropped. He hadn't even realized his lips quirked up without his permission. Louis doesn't comment on the frown reappearing, only pulling Harry towards a metal building that Harry assumed was a really big workshop.

But when Louis pulled him inside, he realized that it was a workshop, but not for building things.

This was a workshop of death and torture.