Angels and Demons (larry stylinson)

XIX

Harry holed himself up in his room for days after that incident. Niall tried to coax him out with anything possible, food, video games, threats. Nothing worked. Harry honestly couldn't care whether or not he ate, or slept, or lived. Though he'd lived a relatively long life, in comparison to most, he couldn't ever remember being more miserable than he was now. He sat in bed for hours, only getting up to pee, sometimes he'd sit in the shower until it ran cold, and even then he'd stay sitting for a few more minutes. He was numb.

Harry didn't know whether he was more upset about Nick, or Louis. Except he did know, and that's what was making it worse. Because as much as he knew he should be mourning the loss of his good friend Nick, all he could mourn was the loss of Louis, the betrayal of Louis. Who he had though he loved so much, and believed had loved him back. He had been stupid and foolish and he knew it and now his friend was dead and he was more upset over losing his killer. The guilt that sat upon Harry's chest was enough to make him never want to speak, or eat, or live again.

It was on the sixth or seventh day of Harry quarantining himself that he heard a knock on the door, followed by Niall's voice.

"Hello? Harry? Are you awake or like, alive in there?" Niall's voice was laced with concern. Harry supposed he probably should've considered Niall in all of this, because he didn't want to punish Niall and make him worry, he just couldn't bring himself to care enough about everyone surrounding him. Sure it was selfish, but Harry had spent the past 100 years being anything but, so he figured Niall could live with five days of Harry's greed. Still Harry decided to put for the effort and answer Niall this time.

"Yes I'm alive." Harry all but whispered. He hadn't meant it to be so soft, but his throat was hoarse and cracked from days of nothing but water and a few hours of sleep. Harry almost felt like he was decaying. Like if he stayed in this bed long enough, he'd just disappear and no one would be the wiser.

"Did you say something?" Niall said louder than before. "Harry? Please just let me in for a second." Niall asked kindly. Harry considered it for a moment before heaving himself off the bed and moving towards the door. He slowly unlocked the door and backed away, moving back over to his bed. He watched as Niall slowly twisted the knob and swung the door open. His eyes peered all around the room, as if expecting some sort of natural disaster to have occurred. When he saw Harry's room exactly as it always was, neat and tidy, he seemed to breathe a sigh of relief.

There was still the concern of Harry though. Just by looking at Niall's face, Harry could tell he was panicking. Harry figured he must look like shit. Last time he'd seen a mirror, his eyes had been a bit hollow, face a bit paler than usual, but that was two or three days ago. Now he supposed he must look a bit like Sweeney Todd, or some other Tim Burton character.

Niall made no motion to move closer to Harry, only softened his face as they finally made eye contact.

"Right so, uh, I've got to go speak with the higher ups today. I've got a few things to work out with them. I think I might see if I can get us transferred to another town, city, whatever. I think a new location might serve us well, I mean we've been here for quite a while, and I know there are some store owners starting to get suspicious so it was just about time to pick up and move anyways, but I think yeah. Now would probably suit us best. So I'll see if I can get that done. I've also got to see if I can get us a bit more time off, cause I think that'd be good too. Have you ever been to America? We should go. I heard New York is really something special. So yeah. I'm just gonna go and sort some stuff out, so it'll be just you here tonight. Is that okay?" Niall finished. Harry blinked slowly, processing all Niall had just said.

Harry wasn't sure that he agreed with Niall. As much as Harry wanted to pick up and run away, it just seemed like the wrong thing to do. Even so, Harry knew it wasn't really up for debate. After all he'd put Niall through lately, he didn't feel arguing was in his best interest. He at least owed Niall that much.