Let You Go (Larry Stylinson)

Broken Bird

Louis rings on the doorbell, hand shaking. Jack opens it, and his eyes are dark. 

"In," he orders. Louis does what he says without comment. 

Once the door is shut, Jack slaps him across the face. Louis gasps in pain, even though it's not the first time.

"What the fuck is wrong with you," Jack spits. "I've given you everything. You live under my fucking roof. You begged me to be your boyfriend. And all you do is spend your days at that fucking Irish kid's house?" he grabs Louis by the arm and drags him into the kitchen.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," Louis whimpers. He can smell alcohol on the other man's breath and knows that Jack always becomes violent when he's been drinking. He just needs to get through this episode, he tells himself.

"DON'T FUCKING STAND THERE JUST SAYING YOU'RE SORRY," Jack yells, bringing his fist to Louis' face again. Louis drops to the floor, his nose bleeding. He curls into a ball on the floor and tries not to cry. It's always worse if he cries.

"If you go to that Irish guy's house one more time," Jack threatens, "then I-- will-- kill-- him," he says, punctuating each word with a kick to Louis' ribs. 

"I won't," Louis sniffles, trying to shield himself. "I promise."

"WELL DON'T JUST SIT THERE WHIMPERING LIKE A FUCKING LOSER!" Jack shouts, dragging Louis across the kitchen tiles as if he's lifeless. "WHAT THE FUCK IS WRONG WITH YOU!" 

He carries on kicking Louis, punching him and hitting him until he's drifting in and out of consciousness and is too numb to feel the pain, lying on the floor like a broken bird. 

Louis is vaguely aware of a voice saying he's going out and will be back in the morning. He's vaguely aware of the pain that floods his entire body. He's vaguely aware of the door slamming shut.

Louis musters the energy to get his phone out from his pocket and calls Niall's number. There's no reply and so he tries Liam, but there's no reply there either. Losing hope, he calls Zayn. No reply. Louis can feel himself starting to black out, and too tired to be ashamed, he calls Harry.

It rings a few times but finally he picks up.

"Hello?" Harry asks. He sounds confused, but not annoyed or angry. 

"I need help," Louis croaks out, his voice cracking. "Please."

"Ok," Harry says, still sounding confused. "Ok, uh, are you ok? Where are you?"

Louis rattles off the address to him, his eyes heavy and his body aching. 

"Please come," Louis says, and he lets the phone fall to the floor. All he can do now is pray that Harry comes to find him. He manages to drag himself along the floor to the front door, where he unlocks it so that Harry can come in by himself. 

Louis' eyes are so heavy. His body aches. He's somewhat aware that he's bleeding somewhere. He's really really tired. The darkness swallows him up, and Louis allows it.