Faking

4

Chapter Four

Louis' POV

I have been told that things get better with time. That there wouldn't always be this indescribable pain in my chest, this ball gagging my throat preventing me from swallowing. My eyes wouldn't sting at the thoygh of it, but in all honest I thought it was a load of shit.

Whether something reminds you of it, or someone brings it up, you still feel the same crushing feeling on your chest that you did when you first knew. Your smile still drops, and the tears still pool in your eyes, you still wish that you could go back in time and undo it. Time doesn't actually heal anything. It just teaches you how to live with it.

People lie all the time, this is just another common lie. Something that a lot of people believe. However, I was not one of them. I knew the reality of the cruel, dark, and meanless ball that we, unfortunately, have to live on. I know that we all die eventually, nobody gets to escape death. But I also knew that Liam was not dead. He was not lying in the corners office, waiting for some acquaintance to identify the shell of the human that once had life in it.

Therefore, as Curly walked me through the long corridor in the corner, I had no foul mood in me, besides from guilt for the poor boy who died-well, his family I suppose. I couldn't exactly say the same for Curly, his expression was screaming anything negative, though that was just from my perception.

After a long walk and a couple of pity glances from by-passers, we arrived at a door where Curly stopped, halting my movements in the process. He looked at me with a serious expression, as he knelt to my height. "Look, Louis, we're going to go in there and there is going to be a body. I need you to tell us if it's Liam. I know this is going to be so hard for you-"

I cut him off with a sigh. "It's not going to be Liam. I know it."

His forest green eyes looked at me wistfully. "You haven't seen Liam in five years, so he probably looks different tha-"

I rolled my eyes opening the door while saying, "I know it's not him, and I'd know if it was. I know what my brother looks like Harry." I walked up to the big glass window that looked in on a dim room, a steel table with a whit cloth covering a body.

A covered man stood at the table and Harry nodded for him to start. The clothed man reeled back the towel and my eyes widened considerably. I looked at the impossibly pale face, his freckles blending well with the dark tone of his hair. I swallowed thickly, my throat closing up and my chest tight. My heart sank, and my eyes clotted with tears. I felt a presence behind me, and a deep voice softly spoke, "Lou....is it, Liam?"

I breathed deeply, and my throat seemed to clear enough for me to mutter, "No. It's n-not Liam." The boy on the table had resemblances to Liam, but I knew it wasn't him.

I knew because- "Are you sure bud?" I breathed in deeply.

"Me and Li were in an ally one time, he had just stolen a sandwich so we could eat that week...A man, homeless I guess, saw the sandwich and tried taking it. Li is so stubborn." I looked to Harry as I spoke.

"The man tried to h-hit me, but Liam threw me back and punched him. The guy pulled a blade, cut Liam's jawline. Then...he knocked Liam out and went to me. I-I thought I was gonna die. I th-thought the guy was going to kill me and then leave. But he just slashed my shoulder as a warning. Me and Liam both have the scars, that boy doesn't have one. It's small but noticeable."

Although it wasn't Liam, I couldn't help but drown in sorrow for this poor poor boy. This was someone's family, and now he was cold and dead.

Harry's eyes spoke paragraphs as I walked by him and out the door, exiting the long corridor into the main waiting room. I went out of the door, hearing footsteps behind me confirming Curly was following me. We walked to the black car, and I got in the passenger seat since Niall and Zayn didn't care to come along. I didn't blame them; after all, who would want to see a dead body?