The Photographer

Chapter 6: Escalating Quickly

Louis ate three bowls of tomato soup, four packs of mini soup crackers and had three glasses of Ginger Ale. And somehow, he felt even worse than before! It felt like a monster with razor sharp claws held his stomach and was squeezing it like it was Play-Doh. He wrapped his arms around his middle and curled into a fetal position on the couch. "I really thought the food would help me feel better, but now my stomach feels even worse than it did before I ate." Louis groaned as he buried his face in the sofa cushions.

Harry, standing in the kitchen, smiled a little. "Really?" He asked, his voice dripping with fake concern. "Maybe you got a stomach bug or something. I mean, you're always around thousands of people, you're bound to get sick sometime." But, Harry knew that he was the reason for Louis' stomach ache. Harry had poured more Zodaxil in Louis tomato soup and into his Ginger Ale. Harry wondered if he'd put to much, he didn't want to kill him too fast, he wanted to see how the drug affected Louis over time.

Louis turned onto his back and sighed. "Yeah, I think your right. I just really hope it's one of those 24-hour stomach bugs, so it can be gone by tomorrow." Louis grabbed the remote and turned on the television. "Hey Harry, let's watch a movie." Harry walked out of the kitchen, with another glass of Ginger Ale for Louis, and sat by him. "Ok Lou, what do you want to see?"

Louis smiled and got up. By the T.V was a shelf that held many DVD's, at the bottom was a large box marked, "Halloween Films", Louis grinned as he sat the box by Harry. "Let's start with The Craft and then we can watch the Pet Cemetary movies, and then all of the Saw films!" Louis was so excited that he almost forgot about his stomach ache, almost.

Harry shook his head and smiled. "Louis, it's just September 21st." Louis looked at Harry and out his hand on his chest in mock offense. "Harold, how dare you. It is never, ever, to early for Halloween movies. I start celebrating November 1st and stop October 31st, just to repeat the same process every year. It's the only holiday that matters."

Harry couldn't help but laugh. This boy was crazy. This guy was the best friend Harry has ever had. No, absolutely not. You cannot like him, you have to kill him. Harry thought. "Well, ok. In that case., we need to start decorating soon, yeah?" Harry smiled. Louis returned the smile. "Abso-freaking-lutely Styles." Louis put in the movie and they had a night of watching Horror movies.

-

The Next Morning

"Stop it Niall. Gosh you're such a child!!"  Liam held up his plate in front of his face because Niall was throwing sausages at him. But then, Niall would get up and try to retrieve the sausages. "Why throw them if you're just going to get them back?" Niall looked at an exasperated Liam and laughed. Liam sighed. "See, this is why I don't live with you."

Harry turned around and pointed the spatula at Niall. "Niall throw one more thing and I swear I'll never cook for you again." Nialls eyes went wide and he sat in his chair. "Sorry Harry, I'll be good." Harry smiled. "Ok." He grabbed the pan and scraped eggs onto everyone's plate. Niall had already eaten all the sausages that he'd set out earlier.

As everyone ate their eggs, Louis came down the stairs slowly. "Morning....guys." Louis looked like crap. He was pale, he looked pasty, sweat beads glistened on his forehead. He constantly had a case of the shivers. Niall, and Liam immediately stood up. "My god Lou, you look...terrible." Liam said as they both grabbed Louis arm and guided him to the table.

Harry stood up. Darn, the Zodaxil is really killing him. Harry internally smiled. A fake look of concern washed over his face. "Louis, oh my god. How do you feel?" He asked. Louis looked up a Harry. "I feel, I feel," Louis couldn't finish because he had to rush to the sink to vomit. Liam jumped up immediately. "Ok, we are definitely taking you to the hospital.

Shoot, I can't let them take him to the hospital, they might find the drug in his system. God, I didn't think of this. I can't just say, "don't take him to the hospital" , they'll get suspicious." Harry stood up. "Yeah definitely, Lou is just getting worse." After Louis rinsed out his mouth, they all got into Harry's van and drove the the hospital.

-

They'd been here for hours now and hadn't heard a word about Louis. Niall nervously paced back and forth, Liam's head was in his hands, and Harry stared at the wall with a blank expression. A male doctor came out. "Are you guys with Louis Tomlinson?" He asked. The trio nodded. "How is he?" Liam asked. "Well, we found something in his bloodstream. It's something, foreign, even to us. But, we are sure that it's poisoning him slowly." Liam and Niall looked at each other in shock. "From what you've told me, about how he was days prior to today, it seems as if he's been poisoned."

The world stopped for Harry. Stupid, doctor. Stupid piece of crap. Harry thought. Liam and Niall were freaked out. "Poisoned ? How?!" Niall exclaimed. "He's always with us, and our food his always checked out before we eat." The doctor looked at Niall. "When he's not with you, does he go anywhere else?" Liam shook his head. "When we're not doing an interview or other things, he's just living with Harry." The doctor looked over at Harry.

There was something in his eyes that Harry didn't like. Curiosity? Skepticism? Whatever it was he'd wish the man would look away. "Well, we order pizza a lot. Maybe someone found out who he is and poisoned his pizza, I mean, he is a celebrity." Harry said the the man. The doctor looked at him for a moment long before nodding his head. "Whatever the case, he'll need to stay here for a week at the least. We need to do test to find out whatever this substance is." He nodded and walked away. Liam spoke. "God, what are we going to tell our Manager?"

For the love of Satan what in the hell am I gonna do? I need to be more careful. Harry though and stood up. "Let's go get Lou a present, he'll feel better." The other two nodded and they all left. But, as usual. Harry had something up his sleeve.