Some things change. | l.s.

3

I let you wait long enough with that cliffhanger 😁 Sorry again.🫶🏻
Comment, vote, go crazy...you know the drill. Enjoy. x

Louis couldn't move.

His body didn't want to listen to him, his brain shut off and he felt like throwing up in a second- yet he still wasn't able to take a single step to rip himself out of his petrification. He faintly felt himself breathing flatly, but an ice cold shiver ran down his spine. It was like he was trapped in a nightmare with no escape, everything around him seemed to be overshadowed by a black veil and blurred, the ground got ripped away under his feet.

It's not real.

He tried to repeat that like a mantra- whenever he had a nightmare he subconsciously told himself that and it calmed him down. He was in a situation like this countless of times in his dreams whenever everything was too much for him and he got swallowed up by his past not only in his awaken state but also when he tried to escape reality, but he knew whenever he woke up screaming or crying Mallory was there to assure him he was fine, but not this time.

Because this was real.

"Louis?" Naomi called for the fifth time, but still with no luck. She didn't understand the world anymore, but she got worried when her boss still didn't react to her at all and simply stared at the two men on the other side of the entrance area. She got up from her chair and reached over the counter grabbing his arm and that made him snap out of his trance and he spun around with a face as white as the wall and big alarmed eyes. "Louis, are you okay?"

"Huh? Oh, y-yeah..I-" He swallowed thickly and forced his breakfast back down his throat. "I, uh...excuse me." He choked out and left her standing there hurrying down the hallway and away from the men still feeling their gazes on his back.

He dashed into the restroom and locked himself in a stall slumping against the door and slid down on the ground. His entire body was shaking, his hands coated in a layer of sweat in fear when flashback after flashback from the times those two insulted him, hit him and laughed at him rained down on him and suddenly he couldn't breathe anymore.

He gasped for air and grabbed his tie hastily ripping it off his neck in hopes to get some oxygen in his lungs, but his throat was tied and tears welled up in his eyes. He lost all orientation when his eyesight blurred out, getting tired from the rapid breaths he sucked in and the sweat his body produced despite him being ice cold.

The ringing of his phone made him jump and he started shaking even harder slapping his hands over his ears at the unbearable sound that was echoing through the room and attacking his eardrums. He cowered in the corner without moving for minutes even after the ringing stopped until he slowly calmed down, but he didn't dare to even shift, scared of the uncertainty on what was going to happen now, listening to every little noise to make out if they would find him in here.

But nothing happened.

Eventually his fear vanished slowly and crawled to the back of his mind ready to come back to light and cause new nightmares for Louis to go through.

He sucked in another shaky breath when he was relatively sure no one would come and hurt him and dropped his head against the cold metal of the door waiting for his heart rate to get back to normal. His phone started ringing once more and he flinched again, but this time he managed to pull it out of his pocket only to see it was Mallory.

He closed his eyes and took a deep intake of air before clearing his throat and accepting the call.

"Hey." He greeted, praying his voice was steady enough so she didn't notice anything.