Chained (Short Version)

Story

I sit here, awaiting orders from our manager and producers. I am in a dark room, covering which are photos and posters of our faces. Liam, Louis, Zayn, Niall and myself, Harry. The boys are all in this small room with me. There is 1D merchandise everywhere. I move my hand to scratch my neck and feel pain at my wrist. I cannot wait until I can take off this chain, it’s really hurting now but each of the guys are suffering the same way as I am. We have the same chain around each of our wrists. The same chain restraining us from being our own person.

The door bursts open, letting in a sea of light, causing each of us to look at the door expectantly. We’re waiting for the day our 15 minutes of fame are up, we want our own life! The producers walk in, I try to shrink back into the corner but I know they see me, they always do.

“Boys, It’s time to make the video for ‘The Best Song Ever,’ come on!” The balding producer says as he is unlocking the chain. There is still a chain keeping us together, it’s just not restraining us to the floor anymore. The only time the chain comes fully off is in sight of the public eye, when we are on camera.

The other producer, the tall one, leads us to the studio. I shudder when I see the director holding The Whip. I am still healing from last time. “You WILL be whipped if you misbehave, don’t know your lines,” The director smiles an evil grin at that one, “Try to resist or if I just want to inflict pain on one of you!” He cracks the whip, almost hitting me. The director is cruel to say the least. We haven’t been given the opportunity to study the script, according to them. So if we mess up first time, we will still be whipped. We smuggled a script into our cell to study for minimal whippings. They are playing a song of ours over the radio and I have to stop from laughing bitterly when I hear the lyric, ‘If we could only turn back time!’ In the song Moments. I remember how many whippings I got then. I wish we had never wanted to be a boy band. I see the director come towards me. I stand tall with my chin high, imagining he doesn’t intimidate me but he does. He gets a key from his pocket and unlocks my chain. I sigh with relief. I walk towards make-up and begin to dress as Marcel. ‘Geeky’ they described it as. After I have been transformed into a geek, I turn and see Leroy practicing some bad dance move, to avoid whipping is my guess. I hear a high, shrill whistle that means for us to assemble. We sit at a table and are fed the only meal we will eat today, a slice of bread. I scoff it down as I haven’t eaten in two days, the reason being, I tripped and lost lunch as a consequence and the band didn’t get lunch yesterday. I see the bread above the fridge. Going into the fridge would lead to a bashing after the filming but getting the bread would lead to a whipping and loss of lunch for a couple of days. If I was caught, that is.

I quietly tiptoe over in an attempt not to get caught. I grab the bag and grab five slices of bread. I put down the bag of bread and I quietly walk back to the boys, all of whom are watching with disbelief, shock and hunger in their eyes. I throw a piece to all of them. Liam eats the bread so fast he gets the hiccups. I see Louis looking at the bread bag. He quickly looks around and gets up. He rushes over to the bread bag and opens it. Liam hiccups.

“OI!” I hear the director screech. I hear a whip crack, “GET HERE NOW BOY!” I don’t look at anything but a fly that’s landed on the wall. I am afraid to draw attention to myself. I hear the whip cracking and Louis’ screams.

I close my eyes and try to ignore the sound of my best mate being whipped. I wish I could help him but I can’t, there’s nothing I can do. Louis’ screams have stopped so I open my eyes. It’s never good when one of us gets whipped. There used to be another member of our band when we first went into the X-Factor, Kyle. Kyle was whipped to death while we were practicing for our first performance as a band. Kyle was probably the best singer and dancer out of all of us; we were really upset when he died, even if we only knew him for a short amount of time. X-Factor and the 1D producer’s basally made Kyle non-existent, which I find even worse than killing him, erasing him from the world. I look behind me and see Louis’ blood all over the floor and Louis laying on the floor motionless. My first thought is Kyle. I found him abandoned in the dance room, covered in blood. “Oh God!” mutter under my breath. “Not again, please, please, please not again!” I run up and kneel next to Louis and try to find a pulse. I am getting blood all over my Marcel costume but I don’t care if I get whipped. I can’t find a pulse.

“LOUIS! LOUIS!” I scream, shaking the still body of my best mate. I look up for help from anyone, a camera man, microphone guy, even the director, he couldn’t let Louis die. So many upset fans. Everybody’s gone except the boys who are looking at me like I’m crazy. Screaming as loud as I did and helping Louis both deserve a good whipping. I get up and rush to the fridge to get some ice which leads to another round of looks, another broken rule. I put the ice on Louis’ bleeding back. I take it as a good thing he’s bleeding – that means blood is circulating the body therefor his hearts still beating, but by the way he’s bleeding, blood loss will be a problem. I get up and turn around to find a first aid box I remember seeing when we were filming another video but I come face to face to the terrified faces of Zayn, Liam and Niall. “What are you guys doing? Find some bandages or something, it could be you on the ground, inches away from… “I don’t even what to think about Louis ‘not waking up’, “Uhh, having the same future as Kyle! “

Yeah, no future! With that the boys scatter. We did have a pact that we wouldn’t do anything drastic enough to get whipped for each other. What I did for the boys with the bread was big and helping Louis is HUGE

I kneel next to Louis and whisper, "Louis, you’re going to be okay!" I feel tears spring to my eyes. I am surprised at this as after all the beatings, I am normally excellent at hiding my feelings. I don't get a response from Louis. The boys come back with bandages. I take them from the boys and wrap it around Louis chest where the bleeding whip marks are. I hold back a shudder. I was never able to stand blood, neither can the others. I vaguely hear heaving in the background but I am too concentrated on the task at hand.

"BOY! GET HERE NOW!" I hear the director screech and the whip crack. I hear the boys whimper behind me.

"W-w-which one?"

"HENRY!" The director always gets my name wrong purposely.

"Coming sir!" I shout and march to him. Being strong even though i just want to punch him in the jaw, BAM. The satisfactory crunch of his jaw breaking. I wish i could hear that sound!

The director grabs my hands and chains them to my back. I wince as it touched my raw skin. I should've bandaged it while i had the chance.

I see the director go around to all the boys, chaining them in a similar fashion as I. All our chains are connected to each other so when the director pushes me forward they have no choice but follow. We are lead into our cell.

The gates shut with a loud crash. We are left alone in our dark cell. I scan the walls and notice that all the posters of Louis have been taken down already. Destroying the evidence like they destroyed the film of Kyle. I put my head in my hands. We could've run. Far, far away. Taken Louis to a hospital, but the coward i am didn't. I am ashamed of myself.

I hear the heavy gates slam open and two men walk in holding a barely conscious Louis roughly between them. Louis' dropped on the floor. A man clears his throat and says, "Say goodbye, he hasn’t got much longer." I watch Louis while they walk away.

I walk up to him and say, "I'm so, so sorry Louis, we could've run."

He grabs my hand, "No" He croaks, "We would've got caught"

"Maybe not..." I mumble.

"Hey Louis..." I hear Zayn say but i don't pay attention.

The first thing I notice is the lack of thumps that indicate Louis’ blood being pumped through his body, after I notice the silence.

“H-he’s gone” I am breaking out in tears, “He’s gone, l-like Kyle.” I swallow hard. The other boys are crying… I think all I can see is black. I hear a loud scream. I wonder who that high pitched noise is coming from. It still hasn’t stopped. I feel lack of air in my lungs.

“Shut up H-Harry” I hear a voice say. Could that noise possibly be coming from me?

I hear a boom and a feeling of pain in my stomach. I clutch it and when I pull my hand away I see red. Why is there red on my hand?

“He’s been shot!” I hear a voice say from what sounds like a million miles away, “Harry's been shot!”

Its blood. My vision blurs. Everything’s gone………….