courage // larry au // COMPLETED

18

Two years ago

Harry and Liam were supposed to meet up two hours ago. It wasn't urgent, so Liam didn't worry too much. Harry was just supposed to be home, that's all.

He knew where to look for him, though. He had been spending a lot of time at his girlfriend's house lately. She was almost four years older than him but he was more mature than sixteen because he had been forced to grow up faster than anyone ever should, so that evened things out a little.

Liam still wasn't too excited about their relationship but Harry loved her and he seemed happy, so Liam was too.

When Liam arrived at the house he knocked on the door and waited impatiently, tapping his foot. No one answered. He tried again and then just tried to open it. It wasn't locked.

"Hello?" Liam asked, his voice echoing in the empty corridor. He will admit this much: he was scared of her. Not because she was particularly scary, she was affectionate and kind actually. Just because she was really intimidating and he couldn't handle it. If Harry wasn't there, he didn't want to be alone with her.

He heard glass shattering somewhere in the house and a dull sound like something big and heavy falling to the floor.

He followed the noises. They lead him to the living room where he again heard something shatter and then a faint cry.

Harry!

Instinctively, he ran into the room, prepared to protect his friend.

"Liam, no!" Harry shouted when his best friend came in eyesight. "Go away. Run!"

Liam looked around, his heart racing like crazy. His mind went completely blank. There were little droplets of blood all over the wooden floor, some even covering the shards of glass spread widely over the room, an especially big bloody piece of glass peaking out from under the sofa.

Harry was cowering in a corner with no shirt on, shielding his head with his arms. The blood on the floor lead in his direction.

Liam ran to him, tripping over a piece of wood and slamming against the wall but not acknowledging the pain. "Harry, what happened? Are you okay?" No, of course he isn't okay dumbass! He's bleeding!

"You shouldn't be here," Harry whimpered, his voice barely louder than a whisper. "You have to go."

"Not without you, I won't," Liam assured him, trying to sound as confident as possible. "Fuck.." He took in a sharp breath when he noticed where exactly the blood came from.

He had fresh cuts on his lower back, crisscrossed with already healed wounds that had to be at least a week old. How long had this been going on? Whenever he was with Liam, he seemed fine.

"Please.. Liam.. Leave." he said, choking back tears.

"No!" Liam exclaimed. "What is going on here?"

"You should have listened to him, darling." an Australian tinted voice behind him muttered.

Liam spun around, every limb of his body shaking. Harry's girlfriend stood next to the sofa, no expression on her face whatsoever, staring at the both of them, her icy blue eyes burning like fire.

"She has got a fork." Harry whispered behind him, his eyes dull when Liam turned towards him.

"A fork?" he repeated, confused. Harry must have hit his head while falling. What was he talking about?

"This fork." she said, raising her tan hand so that Liam could see the fork she was holding.

"What are you doing?" Liam couldn't move. He was frozen. In shock. In fear.

"Liam.." Behind him, Harry tried to get up. "She's going to hurt you. Run!"

Now that Liam saw him standing up, he felt even more like crying. His body was covered in bruises, spots of blood on his trousers, coming from the wounds on his back.

She smiled a disgustingly wicked smile. "He's right. You should have left when he told you to, darling." She came towards them, fork in hand, fury in her eyes.

"Why are you doing this?" Liam cried out, tears filling in his eyes. This was so extreme and violent that he had a hard time picturing it to be really happening. Tears started to fill his eyes. Out of fear for his life, out of terror, out of hatred for this woman. Out of hatred for the woman his best friend supposedly loved.

"Because he is not who he was before." she growled, her voice full of anger with a tint of sadness.

She was completely mental! What the hell was she going on about?!

Liam heard his best friend's steps behind him before hearing a thud. He turned around to see that Harry sank down to the floor again, sobbing. The woman came even closer and Liam started to realise the importance of the situation. Harry's safety was his priority. He turned his back towards her, shielding Harry the best he could.

He threw his arms around the taller boy, holding on tight. "I'm here," Liam whispered. "I will protect you. Like we always do."

Liam heard the footsteps still for a second before they were audible again. Suddenly he felt a rough pain in his shoulder. He heard himself scream, louder than he even knew he could.

He held onto Harry the best he could with a throbbing pain in his arm, but he was pulled off. He watched her grab Harry's curls, making him look up before slapping him in the face, dropping the fork that was now stained with blood. "You can't even stand up to your own girlfriend anymore, huh? Hiding behind your pathetic little friend?"

The glass!, a voice in Liam's head shouted.

He crawled towards the sofa, trying to be as quiet as possible. When his hand clutched the piece of glass, a feeling of power washed over him.

"Get away from him." he said, his voice trembling as he got back onto his feet and held the piece of glass in front of him, the shoulder where she had hit him with the fork pounding.

She took her hands off him, Harry falling to the floor in exhaustion, and turned around. "Come on, darling. Drop the glass. Don't pretend to be a hero."

Liam shook his head, gasping for breath. "Leave us alone."

Her wicked grin faded, looking between the two of us and around the room. "I'm not doing this out of bad intentions. I just want Harry to mine again," she walked towards Liam, eyes filling with tears. "You must understand. I love him!"

She grabbed Liam's wrist, screaming 'I love him!' over and over again before looking at Harry crying. "I love you." she whispered before grabbing Liam's wrist tightly with both hands and piercing the glass through her chest. She smiled at Liam, her smile calm and terrifying, before she sank to the floor.

Liam dropped the piece of glass, not able to move. What had he done?

He stared at her lifeless body, a part of him praying she was still alive, the other part hoping she never opened her cold eyes again. When he heard Harry moan somewhere in the back of his mind, he came to his senses. He ran towards the weak boy, pulling him into his chest before grabbing his phone from his back pocket.

"911, what's your emergency?"