My fault - His fault

Changes

Niall sat at the picnic table, it was the only place outside that he could see all of the other prisoners. The only place that gave him warning of an attack.

Over the months he learnt that looking the other prisoners in the eyes lead to trouble. Dylan was the only exception to the rule.

He had learnt to always keep his head up, making sure he could see all around him, without meeting any prisoners eye. This is when he wished he didn't need glasses.

Somedays he was lucky and nobody bothered him. Today he wasn't so lucky.

"Well look here," one of the criminals, Carl said as he and his friend Zack made their way over to Niall's table, "Blondie here is in his favourite spot,"

Niall's shiver at the choice of words went un-noticed by the two burly men.

"It's so strange to hear him so quiet," Zack replied to his friend, "The Niall I know was screaming his fuckin' head off a few days ago,"

Carl grinned, "I miss the old screaming Niall. I can't wait until we the loud Niall again, shouldn't be to long from now,"

Zack walked closer to Niall, "What, you go nothin' to say? Did all that screamin' hurt your throat?"

Niall remained silent, literally shaking in his shoes, but not enough for Carl and Zack to notice. He tried to ignore the two extremely large men who were standing right in front of him.

Niall looked over at the guards, a few glanced at him, Carl and Zack but none came over. Niall didn't expect them to either. He had learnt they don't do anything until someone had already been physically hurt. That 'someone' ninety-nine percent of the time was, unfortunately, Niall.

"Carl, I think he's gone mute,"

"Nah, blondie thinks he's smarter then us. He thinks if he stays silent we will just go away,"

"Oh, but we're not going anywhere are we Carl?" Zack says, tearing his eyes off Niall and looking over at Carl.

Carl grinned "Nope, what do you think we'll get for beatin' the shit outta him?"

"A week in solitary, give or take a few,"

"So, we knock him around and get a week of peace and quiet. That sounds good to me... What about you Zack,"

"Sound's good,"

Niall's heart started racing, he took a couple of deep breaths to try and calm himself down. This wasn't the first time this had happened. It never got any easier though. The only good thing about this time though, was that they didn't have enough time to do what the other men did before.

"Please don't" Niall whispered quietly, as Carl and Zack came closer.

"Look at that, he can speak," Carl exclaimed in false delight, "Let's change that,"

Carl's fist connects with Niall's jaw, while Niall's scream of pain travels up his throat Zack's fiction connects with Niall's stomach, causing a gasp to come out instead. Zack then grabs Niall's arms, forcing them behind his back while Carl attacks.

Face, Stomach, Face, Stomach.

Carl's punches fall in a pattern until Niall is to weak and in to much pain to fight back. Zack releases Niall and he crumples on the ground. The pain doesn't stop there though, Carl and Zack kick him repeatedly, in the face and stomach. Those few seconds feel like hours in Niall's mind.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"That's good Louis! You've made extraordinary progress," Louis doctor, Dr Marshall, said after Louis just walked around the hospitals garden, he had walked a good mile and a half before he needed to rest.

"Thank you," Louis replied, but he didn't seem like his usual cheery self. He and Dr Marshall sat down at a bench.

"What's wrong Louis? Aren't you pleased with how far you've come in such a short amount of time?"

"It's not that," Louis began as he admired the garden in front of them, "I am glad I can walk again, wow that's weird to say!"

"Then, what's the problem?"

Louis turned his head, "There's not just one,"

"We've got time,"

Louis sighed, "I want to remember what happened, it's the most annoying, thing in the world. A whole chunk of my memory is black, and it's an important chunk too. It's so frustrating, I hate it!

"I know it's hard Louis, but truthfully, you'll never remember what happened"

"I know... I've been told"

"And the other problems?"

"I miss Harry. I want to go home, I want to see Eleanor, I want to see Niall... They won't even talk about him, every time I ask how he is Liam gets all mad and Zayn looks like he wants to cry and then they change the subject. I just want to know if he's okay, he's one of our best mates, but it's like they don't care. The only time they ever talked about him was when I woke up and they told me what happened,"

"You have to remember that it's hard on them to. They just lost their best friend on account of another best friend. On top of that, they have to worry about you learning to walk again. It's probably very emotional times for them,"

"I know it is," Louis said, "But it's hard on me to. I just want to know how Niall is. He's in a freakin' prison! Our little Nialler, the one we all protected, baby Nandos. In prison. It's not right,"

"Unfortunately, I can't help with all your problems, but I can help with one,"

"Hurry up woman and tell me," Louis said sassily, making the doctor smile.

"Since you've been making such good progress, I think your ready to go home,"

Louis eyes widened, "Serious! I get to go home?"

"If you want to, but I want you to stay in physical therapy. I know a specialist who will stay you, so you can avoid the public eye. I've already gone over it with Liam,"

"Thank you, Dr Marshall. When do I get to leave?"

"No problem, you get to leave in two days,"

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Six days later a badly bruised and broken Niall lay on his bed. He had two cracked ribs and two broken ones, he torso was a mess and his jaw had be bruised so bad that it was hard for him to eat food, even the soft ones like yoghurt, this made him skinnier then before, especially since he didn't have the apatite he once used to since he was violated. He had lost almost all of the blonde in his hair. He didn't look like Niall anymore. Even he couldn't recognise himself in the mirror.

"Niall Horan, you have a visitor," a guard said as he walked towards Niall's cell.

"Me? Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure. Come with me,"

Niall stood up slowly, wincing in pain. Gritting he teeth so he wouldn't yell out, that would make the other prisoners want to hurt him more.

Niall followed the guard down the hallway, ignoring the taunts from the other prisoners. They reached the visitors room and the guard pointed to the table at the other end of the room. Niall hobbled slowly across, not being able to tell who was there because of the wall that blocked his view. When he turned the corner, he froze in shock. A small smile graced his features, it wasn't a very big one since his jaw was still sore.

When Louis looked up and saw Niall, he tried his hardest to hold back the tears. However, he couldn't hold back the small gasp that escaped his lips. This person could not be Niall. Louis pushed the thoughts from his mind, there could be worse things. At least Niall was still alive.

He tried, and failed, to seem normal, in front of his speechless friend, "Hey, Niall!"