Big Top

Chapter 42

Louis's pov

I was awoken suddenly by a slamming door. I looked up to see Richard walking over to me, Red standing beside the door. My heart rate accelerated when I saw the knife in Richard's hand. I didn't know what was going on, my head was still fuzzy from sleep and I was not fully awake. I started to pull at my restraints again and Richard growled at me, "Keep still!" He commanded. I was not going to do it but then he grabbed my wrist and cut the rope off.

"What are you doing?" I questioned. This was confusing me. If Richard hated me so much why didn't he just kill me?

"It's time for rehearsal." He stated, releasing my right hand from the rope. The cool air on my sweaty, rope burned wrist felt really good and so did the other when he cut the rope off. He also cut the ropes off my ankles. As good as it felt to have them off, I didn't want to perform.

"No," I protested, "I won't go." I knew Richard's game. I was back at the start, he was going to work me until I broke and then some more.

"We can do this the easy way or the hard way." Richard sneered, "I'll let you choose."

"You're letting me choose? How thoughtful of you." He spat at him and he immediately retaliated by slapping me across the face. But my anger overpowered my fear and I stared him in the eyes.

"You better watch your mouth or you'll get worse than that!" He shouted. My entire body filled with rage.

"What will you do?!" I screamed, standing up from the bed and stepping toward him. He seemed slightly taken back at my boldness as I looked him in the eye but he never looked away. "What will you do to me that you haven't already done?" I growled at him. "You can't get rid of me, you need me."

"I can make you suffer so much, you'll wish you were never born." He made me more angry than I had ever been in my entire life. I finally realized why it frightened Harry so much to be angry. Anger can consume a person very quickly, and I was letting it consume me.

"I'm not afraid of you anymore." Which was not a lie at the time. There would always be a deep down fear of what he could do to people I loved, but I was not afraid of what he would physically do to harm me.

"You should be." He sneered as he grabbed my arm roughly. He shoved me into Red and Red grabbed my arm and led me out of the car and over to Rosie's tent. Richard had gone somewhere else but Red did not leave me. Even after I got to Rosie's tent, he stood beside the door to make sure I did not escape. I was very happy to see Rosie though and she seemed happy to see me as well. I thought she was going to suck the skin off my bones.

I walked Rosie to the big top with Red trailing not far behind us. I did not want to do this, but I was afraid he would hurt someone else if I didn't. I walked inside the tent and saw Richard standing in the center of the stage, but something felt off. Zayn and Liam were nowhere to be seen, they were always there cleaning the extra rubbish and hay from the ground. "Where are Liam and Zayn?" I looked around at everyone else who were performing in the show and I did not see Niall either. "A-and where's Niall?" I questioned.

"Thanks to the little stunt you pulled, I made some cut backs around here." He simply stated, pulling on his gloves.

"What did you do?!" I was fuming, surly he didn't.

"Louis, you know the penalties in this circus." He laughed. He sickened me, he made me want to vomit.

"You bastard!" I screamed and lunged toward him so I could tackle him to the ground. I did and kept punching him so hard that I couldn't even feel my fists, I couldn't tell if the blood was from me or him. I didn't stop hitting him until I was yanked back by Red and thrown to the ground. I felt by back pop in a strange way and it scared me to death, but I did not have much time to think about it because I was being kicked at from what felt like every angle.

I didn't try and fight back though. Richard had taken everything away from me — my friends, my child, my love. I felt like I had nothing left worth fighting for, I wanted him to go ahead and kill me. I wanted to run away from the pain, I didn't want to suffer anymore. I was emotionally tired. It was time to just let go of everything. I thought about all the pain I had caused to everyone around me, to Martha, to Zayn and Liam, to Harry. Harry, my love, my darling, my angel, I loved Harry more than anything. We fit each other like puzzle pieces, everywhere we had something missing the other filled the void. I wish I could have protected him and Matthew, my biggest regret will be failing my job of keeping them safe. My Harry, he was either dead or in prison, and my Matthew was probably in an orphanage. I wanted to fight for them, but all I could think was that they were gone; that I didn't have anyone to fight for. The kicks and punches kept pelting my body and it was getting harder and harder to breath and to keep my eyes open. So, I let my eyes shut and I comforted myself on the memory of Harry in my arms before I stopped feeling and everything became silent.

Harry's pov

"You ok?" I asked Martha, this was the third time she had to stop and rest and it was worrying me.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She breathed, trying to catch the breath. We had been following the rails for nearly three hours. Luckily Matthew was asleep against my chest, but Martha and I were exhausted. We both had been beaten and were half limping. I felt terrible for dragging her into all this mess, Martha did not deserve this. She deserved a life where she could have a chance to be a lady and not just be seen as a whore. Because she wasn't a whore and it killed me to see how depressed she looked after one of her shows.

"Are you sure? I don't want to push you past your limit, ok." I said, rubbing her back as she slowly regulated her breathing.
"I'm sure, besides we're almost there." She said then stopped and furrowed her eyebrows, "Do you hear that?" I stopped and stayed completely silent and listened to the sounds around me. Music. I heard music, music from the circus. We were closer than I thought. I was going to get my Louis back.

***

Hey, guys! I know this chapter is short, I'm sorry. And yes, the non Larry chapters are killing me too!

AND ELOUNOR BROKE UP!

If it were a real relationship, I wouldn't be so happy about it, but as lovely as Eleanor is she was only a beard. And you have to admit, Louis already seems much happier.

And I'm about to ball my eyes out because of Zayn. I couldn't handle it if he left the band. I love him so much!!!!!

Anywho, remember, you're all my favorite peoples! Ily!

~ Jessica