Waiting Room // hiatus

Chapter One: Harry

It wasn't fair. Nothing had ever been fair for Harry. Not now, and not before. He would never know what the hell he did to deserve any of the shit he went through that year. Everything and everyone he loved left. They left him with his worst enemy to become a boy afraid of his own shadow, who wouldn't speak a word, a boy who couldn't keep a smile on his face.

That's what brought him there, and what had brought him there for the past six months. He was there to see his therapist, Dr. Bennett.

He squeezed his arms tighter around his legs which were pulled close to his chest. His eyes scanned the empty room quickly. A bug on the ground caught his attention, an ant. He followed it with his eyes as it crawled around aimlessly holding a small piece food. He always thought that was neat, how they could do that; carry little bits of food to back to their families. He thought it was really cute, actually.

The ant was now out of sight. Harry sighed and looked at the clock, then to the carpeted floor. He needed whoever was in there with Dr. Bennett to be done soon, he wanted to go home. The sound of a door opening caught his attention. He darted his eyes to the door across the room to see a boy about his age walk in. He shut the door quietly behind him and hesitantly took a few strides to the front desk.

"Hello, what's your name and when is your appointment?" Carol, the receptionist asked.

"Uh, hi, My name is Louis Tomlinson and I have an appointment at 2:30," Harry was listening intently, but he could barely hear the boy.

"Okay love, you're all checked in, go ahead and take a seat."

When Louis turned around from the front desk Harry took his eyes from him and directed them back to the floor. As he walked past Harry noticed that he was wearing long sleeves; a very obvious hint as to why he might be there, considering it was the middle of July. Being Harry had never seen him before, he assumed he was new. That made Harry wonder why such a beautiful boy would ever have to feel any sort of pain. Then again, we all feel pain. Some have it worse, and some don't.

Louis took a seat two chairs away from Harry and he watched him out of the corner of his eye. He took out his phone and texted someone, at least that's what it looked like to Harry.

His legs began to hurt, a lot actually. He removed his arms from where they held his legs tightly to his chest, and let them fall to the floor again. The movement made Louis look his way, he refused to look back though; Louis would try to talk to him, and that wouldn't end well. Louis stared for a few seconds longer before looking back to his phone.

The door to the therapy room opened and Niall walked out, he waved at Harry and he smiled, waving back. Dr. Bennett walked out, holding her clipboard. She looked at Harry.

"Okay Harry are you ready?" She asked giving a friendly smile.

Harry nodded and stood up, he could feel Louis' eyes on him. It made him slightly uncomfortable, he assumed Louis was thinking bad thoughts about him. He walked quickly to the room and followed Dr. Bennett in, shutting the door behind him.

Harry took a seat on the middle cushion of the couch, while Dr. Bennett sat in a chair across from him, a coffee table separating them. She already had his notebook and pencil out. He used a notebook to answer the questions that couldn't be answered with a nod of his head.

"Are you feeling okay today, Harry?" She asked as her brown eyes searched him, trying to see if she could identify his true feelings.

He held up a thumbs up, not being very truthful. She looked like she was indecisive with his answer.

"Truthfully?" She asked again.

He shrugged his shoulders in reply, messing with his fingernails, not making eye contact. He could feel her gaze on him. He looked up to see the worried look on her caring face. Truthfully? He was hurting, still. He acted like he was okay now, he was getting better, and maybe he would talk again soon. Those were all lies. It's not easy to recover from all the things he'd been through.