True Lies (Larry Stylinson)

Chapter 2

LIAM:

     I was taking a morning run when I felt my phone buzz in my pocket. I weaved to the side of the trail in the park and breathed a hello when I heard a frantic voice on the other end. It was harrying. I tried to calm his frantic screams over the phone, but there was no consoling him. I hung up and turned around, running towards Louis' apartment.

     When I got there, I found Harry in the hallway outside his door sobbing and the door locked. I knocked loudly on the door.

"Lou?" I asked. "Lou, its Liam." I said calmly, trying to mask the fear that bled through my voice.

"He won't open the door." Harry whispered. I began to knock louder.

"Louis! Open this door you've got Harry and I worried sick! C'mon and we'll talk about this calmly." still no answer. "Louis Tomlinson! If you don't open this door I'm going to break it down!" I shouted and was met with silence and the sound of Harry's cries from behind me on the floor.  I sighed heavily and backed up, then threw my shoulder into the door. I grunted in pain as I slammed into the hard wood and backed up again. I repeated this until I heard the sound of wood cracking, and finally, the door broke into pieces, allowing Harry and I to get in.

      The condition of Louis' apartment was a disaster. I stumbled over clothes and other junk as I made my way into bedroom at the end of the hall. Harry ran past me, looking in the kitchen and then the bathroom. I looked in his room and found nothing but a large mountain of dirty laundry and Louis' bed unmade. Papers and books and other things cluttered his desk and tables and I went to find Harry. My heart pounded and I felt faint went a heard a scream from an all too familiar voice. I ran in the direction of the shouts and found harry in the bathroom, standing over a lifeless Louis as he sobbed and knelt down to the still body next to him.

     After I recovered from the shock of finding my friend on the floor, I quickly knelt down and checked for a pulse. Harry had placed his head in his lap and I felt a small, slow pulse through the artery in his neck. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Harry, go call for help." I said. He gave me a pleading look, obviously not wanting to leave Louis. I gave him a reassuring pat on the back.

"Go on, it'll be okay. Call an ambulance and then we'll call Zayn and Niall." I said. He slowly rose from his place on the floor and walked out to the hallway to make the call. I got up as well, going to the cabinets. I found an empty bottle of sleeping pills laying in the sink and I groaned, feeling tears sting in my eyes.

"Why Louis, why did you do this?" I whispered.

     The wait for the paramedics was the longest fifteen minutes of my life. Time seemed to stand still as I shifted my vision from Louis cold and limp body to Harry, who paced the apartment, his body shaking with sobs. He turned in the hallway and began making his way back towards the living room when I stopped him, putting my hands firmly on his shoulders.

"Harry, Calm down. Did you get a hold of Niall and Zayn?" I asked. He nodded.

"They'll meet us to the hospital." it was my turn to nod and he turned to pace again.

"Oh no you don't. Sit down. I'll get you a glass of water." he sighed heavily, but went to the couch and flopped down miserably, tears still flowing freely.

     I looked through Louis' cabinets for a glass, but found nothing. I searched the dishwasher, sink and even the pantry, only finding rotten or stale food. I grimaced at the sight of the moldy bread that looked like it had been there for months. I found a package of paper cups in the back of one of the cabinets and filled it with water for Harry. I took it to the couch where he sat with his head in his hands, still sobbing. My gaze shifted towards the bathroom, where my friend lay, still and lifeless. I debated what I should do before deciding to stay with Harry; there wasn’t anything I could do for Louis now anyway.

"It's alright. He'll be alright." I soothed, putting and hand on his shoulder and giving it a reassuring squeeze. He looked up at me with red rimmed eyes and sniffled.

"You don’t know that." he whispered shakily. "He's gonna die and it’s all my fault!" he cried, throwing his head in his hands again.

"What are you talking about? Harry, Louis did that to himself. There wasn’t anything any of us could do." I said. He shook his head vigorously.

"You don’t understand Liam. All of this is my fault, the food, the mess, the depression. It’s all because of me." he said.

"No, no. You aren’t going to sit there and blame yourself. I don’t know why Louis is so depressed but it can’t be because of you. You haven’t done anything Harry." I said firmly.

"No, Liam. Before any of this happened, Louis told me some things... and that’s why this is happening.”

"What did he tell you?" I asked anxiously. He shook his head again.

"I... I don’t think I should say. I don’t think Lou would want me to tell." he said.

"Harry," I started sternly. "Our friend is in there getting cold; he just tried to kill himself. What did he say?" I asked again. He started to cry even harder when I said 'tried to kill himself’ and immediately regretted it. Harry sucked in a deep breath and leaned forward, cupping his hands saver his mouth.

"He, he told me that he was gay." he said.

"Is that it? He was worried we wouldn’t like him anymore because he was gay?" I asked

"No, he said he was gay... and that he was in love with Me." he said. I was little taken back at this. I knew Harry and Louis were close, but I never thought either of them had feelings for open another that weren’t platonic.

"So, that’s why this is all my fault. He wants to die because I can’t love him." he cried again.

My breath hitched in my throat and my palms started to sweat at the new information. I opened my mouth to say something, but I was at a loss for words. I was broken out of daze though, when the paramedics started rushing through Louis’ tiny apartment and heading straight for us.

“We got a call about an attempted suicide.” One of them said. I nodded and pointed to the bathroom, unable to speak again. I pulled Harry into a tight hug, and he buried his face in my chest, unable to look at Louis as he was taken away. The man nodded and the rest of them proceeded to take Louis away on the gurney.