Voodoo Doll (boyXboy)

Chapter Fourteen, Death; The Great Equalizer

A/N TAKING YOUR MIND OFF THINGS! Loads of you didn't want Louis to die, but, he had to so the plot of the story could play out. Not giving anything away but... Louis is certainly a character that you can't forget about so easily... With that in mind, please don't be mad at me and continue reading! Trust me, you'll wanna see the outcome.

Chapter Fourteen, Death; The Great Equalizer

(Calum's POV)

Louis had been dead for a day, and at school, things have changed hugely. But the biggest change was at lunch, where Niall had come up to us. Instead of taunting and teasing, he sat down in front of us at our spot on the window and cleared his throat.

"Louis, though full of rage and just wanting to inflict pain on you guys, never wanted to hurt anyone as bad as he did. Louis really did have problems, and, when he hurt you guys it was just a complication. Louis hurt me as well, same with Harry, Liam... Mostly everyone he was close to." Niall apologized for Louis, and he looked very upset. Like he had been crying all night.

Luke left as Niall sat down with us, he probably couldn't take it. Ashton seemed emotionless, Michael looked worried and me... Well I just sort of listened to what Niall had to say. At times like this, he wasn't better then me, and I wasn't nicer then him. Death was a great equalizer.

"Calum, Louis was really sorry, you know that right?" Niall said, I nodded and decided to be a big man. I slid over to Niall an hugged him, awkward at first, but in reality, he probably just needed one. It was partly my fault Louis had died, and now Niall came to tell us that Louis didn't mean to hurt us. The least I could do was try and pick up the broken pieces.

"You know, I never got to tell Louis something... I think I'm going to share it with you guys... I have a feeling you won't beat me up" Niall said, Niall addressed the message to 'you guys' but I was really the only one listening. Ashton was crossing his arms and tapping his foot, looking down the hallway as Michael sat with his head in his hands. Niall took a shaky breath, then said,

"I loved Louis. I loved him. And now, he will never know and we can never be together... I'm not sure if you will understand but... I noticed Luke and Ashton were going out now, I thought maybe you would be ok with it. I have no one to talk to, the rest of my friends because well... It's complicated. Listen, I know I was such an ass before but love can make you do stupid things. I'm really just so sorry" Niall said, he was tearing up and I tried to pay him on the back but he turned away, tears streaming down his face.

"I'm just so sorry for everything. For treating you guys like shit, for the episode at the park, even for this right now, this display of pity. I should just go-"

"No!" I protested, attracting not only niall's attention, but Michael's and Ashton's as well. I cleared my throat, feeling like my no was to direct and loud.

"I mean, you don't have to go. It's ok Niall, we're all upset. I'm here for you. We're here for you, right guys?" I said gesturing to Michael and Ashton, Michael took his face out of his hands and pulled down the sleeves of his sweater so that his hands were covered, then he sat down beside me and Niall.

"Right. I'm here for you" he said, and then Ashton stood up, grabbed his backpack and stormed off down the hall. I didn't expect Ashton to be to cheery and go out of his way to support Niall, but he didn't have to storm off. I knew what Niall was going through, loving someone you couldn't have... It more then exactly fit what I was going through right now with Michael, but in a different sense that I could possibly get Michael unlike Niall who couldn't get Louis now.

And I felt like I owed Niall something, because I had as much to do with Louis' death as Luke, Ashton and Michael. I never wanted it to come down to this. Sure Niall was a douche, sure Louis was too, but at this moment Niall seemed like a decent person. Also, the scene at the park had nothing to do with him, he even stopped Louis from coming after us. That's what I had to ask him about.

"Niall, when you stopped Louis at the park, did he beat you up?" I asked, Niall stared at the floor then took a shaky breath.

"He did, for a while. Then he started shaking, his head mostly. Blood came out of his nose.. It was awful. Me and Harry rushed him home, but by the time we got there he was ok. Said he wanted to lay down. So he went inside and laid down. The next day I came over to his house..." Niall started to cry, the tears over flowing his eyes and pouring out like little water falls.

"And the police were there and they said Louis was dead. Louis was murdered or something. His arms were gone and his eyes were a bloody mess... I didn't even see him, all I saw was a white sheet over his body" Niall said, I gulped. I didn't want to hear that. If the police thought Louis was murdered, they would look for the murderer, or in this case, murderers. I looked at Michael who looked back at me, the same gilt and worried look our faces.

"Do the police have any leads?" I asked, it wasn't a very appropriate time to ask but I really needed too. Niall shook his head and I let out a deep breath I didn't even know I was holding in. Niall wrapped his arms around his upper body and started to tear up again.

"If Louis was murdered, I would never forgive the person who did it. I'd probably murder them" Niall spat, anger now getting to him. I gulped, I was ok with keeping Niall company while he dealt with this but I was certainly not going to keep him around long enough for him to find out about what me and the rest of my friends had done to Louis.

Suddenly, the door beside our spot opened and I saw golden surpas come stomping into the hallway. I raised my vision and saw Justin standing there, catching his breath from rushing up the three flights of stars. Justin looked at me, then Michael, then kept his eyes on Niall as he sat down beside him. He put his arm around Niall's back.

"Louis still? The rest of the boys told you not to get attached. Remember our thing? Don't get stuck, it creates bad luck?" Justin said to Niall, making me and Michael both very confused.

"Shut up Justin! Like you don't have an attachment to me! Like the rest of the boys don't have attachments to one another! I know we said its all fun and games but seriously Justin you're not the one to talk!" Niall yelled, I was really confused now. What did Niall mean by we said 'it's all fun and games'? and what did Justin mean by 'the rest of the boys told you not to get attached'? My question now was why would they get attached to each other on a love relationship level?

"What are you guys talking about?" Michael asked beating me to the question. Justin and Niall remained still for a moment, and then Niall whispered something to Justin, I assumed it wasn't really our business and Niall was telling Justin they were going to leave in three, but to my surprise, Niall cleared his throat and began explaining.

"The boys and I, like, Harry, Liam, Zayn, Louis and Justin, we had this thing going on..." Niall started, Justin then continued on that thought.

"Since none of us wanted to go through the hassle of having a girlfriend but we all craved affection, we started... For better use of words, fooling around. This eliminates our need for girlfriends and also drama." Justin explained, Niall nodded. My eyes widened slightly, they had to have been joking about this. These guys, these guys could get any girl in the whole school, but they choose to fuck around with each other because girlfriends were a hassle? I was very confused at this point, and thinking about all of them... Messing about with one and other, I just don't know if I could picture it. Why was I picturing it?! I shook my head getting very graphic pictures out of it, I had no idea where my mind was going.

"We did this on the terms that no matter how much you thought someone in the group loved you, you couldn't get attached to them... But it's really hard having like five friends with benefits and not falling for at least one of them" Niall spoke after, me and Michael exchanged glances. I had now realized there was so much about those other boys that I didn't know, so much I would have never thought of. But, if I was in Niall or Justin's position, and I got asked if I wanted to be friends with benefits with all my friends, the sad truth is I might have said yes.

Even though I would have never guessed these things with Niall and the rest of those boys, it didn't mean I thought they were wrong or thought they were fucking weird, if anything I actually respected them more now. They weren't as perfect and tough as people made them out to be.

And I would have never found this out if Niall never came and talked to me, because right now we were equal, because death was a great equalizer.

"I don't wanna stay, wanna run away but I'm trapped under your spell."