Help (Narry Storan)

Chapter 4

Warning: There's mild self-harm in this chapter..

Enjoy xx

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Harry's Pov

As soon as the car parks in front of our shared flat, Niall slides the door open and bolts up to the front door, leaving the rest of us behind. Which is to be expected. The rest of the boys slowly trickle out of the van and inside, while I stay behind, wanting to take a moment to bask in the rare sunlight. 

By the time I come inside, the rest of the boys, excluding Niall, are sitting on the couch in the living room. The tv is on, but nobody is paying attention to it, instead they're typing away on their phones, letting their families know that they'll be gone for a fairly long time. 

I plop down next to Louis and watch as he texts Eleanor, a small smile on his face. I too pull out my phone and text my mum and Gemma, letting them know of my absence. 

"Has anyone told Niall yet?" I'm struck with the thought that Niall had no idea that we were leaving. He had stormed out of the room before Simon had revealed the vacation, and so he was probably clueless.

Nobody answered, they just stared blankly at me. I'll take that as a no. 

With a sigh, I push myself up off of the couch and start walking in the direction of Niall's room. 

When I reach the door however, a sound on the other side makes me freeze in my tracks. It sounds like a muffled sob, and even though I already know who it is, I'm surprised. Niall never cries, I can count on one hand the amount of times I've seen it. 

Slowly, so that he doesn't notice, I open the door a crack, relieved when it doesn't creak. I inch my way into the room, as soundless as possible. 

The sight before me almost makes me want to run back out again. Niall hasn't noticed me there yet, and he's sitting in a corner of his room, shadows darkening his features. Tears are streaking his cheeks, yet a smile is spread across his lips. But it's not a pleasant one. It's a tormented, crazy smile. And it doesn't take me long to find out why it's there.

A blade is pinched in between his fingertips, its silver surface nearly covered in dark red blood. His hand guides the blade to his already mangled wrist, and with a quick twist, he makes another cut, his grin widening even more when blood oozes out of the deep cut. 

I'm frozen in place. All I can do is watch him as he slashes more and more lines across what used to be his forearm, and beams every time it bleeds. 

Then all at once, I realize what I'm doing and quickly move over to Niall, crouching in front of him and taking his hand that's holding the blade away from his wrist. His head snaps up, and two emotions pass his features. Anger and panic. I try to control my breathing, because I have to help him. I have to appear strong, even when he puts up a fight. 

"What the hell Harry? I closed my door for a goddamn reason! Get out!" He struggles under my grip, but I don't yield, instead I grip his hand tighter.

I don't say anything while he struggles, I just wait. Slowly he realizes that I'm not going to be leaving any time soon, and he slumps against the wall, defeated.

"Look, I'm not going to ask questions, yet, but I am going to clean this. Whether you want me to or not." Surprisingly, he doesn't put up a fight. He just stands up with me and follows me to the bathroom.

I clean and dress his wrist quietly, blinking the tears from my eyes. Why had I never realized this before? Had we really been that oblivious? His arm is littered with old scars, so this has been going on for a while. And not once had I ever bothered looking, or wondering why he always covered his arms. 

As soon as the last drop of blood is cleaned, Niall walks out of the bathroom, and into his room, going straight for his bed. I watch in the doorway as he climbs in, pulls the blanket over himself, lays down, and closes his eyes. Dried tears are shining on his face, and fresh ones are falling down mine. 

I make myself a promise right then and there. I will help this broken boy, no matter what.