Mute [A One Direction Fanfic] -Amy's Adventures Book 2-

Chapter 23

~Louis' POV~

I look out the window, my thoughts clouded like the sky. Outside, it's drizzling, the dark clouds adding to the dreary mood. I know I should be happy, but honestly with everything going on, I'm not sure if I'll ever smile again. My life isn't looking too good at this point.

We're on our way to our first concert, but that's not my concern. We couldn't find Harry when we were getting ready to leave, and when I found him on the balcony of our hotel room my heart broke. He was just sitting in one of the chairs, crying his eyes out. I know how much he wants to sing, and I just wish we could find a way to help him. At this point, it's been eight months since the last time Harry spoke a word, and everyone is giving up. A lot of our fans have started to agree that he'll never talk, or sing, again. I don't want that to be true, but I guess it's time that I accepted that it's very possible. Harry may never say anything again.

"Louis, we're here." Liam says. I nod stiffly, opening my door and following the others, my arm wrapped tightly around Harry. It doesn't matter what happens, I want him to be safe. So we make our way through the paparazzi together, entering the stadium. Liam, Zayn, Niall, and I start sound check with Harry sitting and watching us, but it just isn't the same. Nothing is the same anymore.

~Harry's POV~

As the rehearsal goes on, my friends get more and more tired. Liam's voice cracks, Zayn can't hit his high notes, Louis forgets the words, and Niall constantly looks like he's on the verge of tears. They can't sing, not now, maybe not ever. And it's all because of me.

I've seen how Louis has been acting lately. He's shutting down, hiding from the world, much like I did all those months ago. He's getting depressed because I won't talk. I haven't seen him smile for real in days, weeks, even months. Ever since I stopped talking, he hasn't been the same.

Liam, Zayn, and Niall haven't, either. The happy, childish boy I used to know in Niall is gone, replaced by a shy boy who rarely talks, instead watching as everything gets worse and worse. I can see the fear in his eyes, fear that Louis will break like I did, that I'll break again. Liam is guilt-ridden, and he has a steel determination to destroy Trent, so urgent that it's scary. It's nothing like who he was, nothing like the caring person he was. This Liam is bent on revenge. Zayn is like Niall, even quieter, more serious. He's almost never around, disappearing every chance he can get, trying to clear his head and maybe convince himself that this is all just some twisted dream. That's another piece of the fear in Niall's eyes. That Liam will do something he regrets. That Zayn will disappear one day, and he won't come back. Niall is the one we always protected, always treated as the little kid because that's how he acted. He was the innocent one, the one who had to be saved from the harshness of the real world. Now he's the only thing keeping us together.

"Harry?" I hear Liam ask, his voice penetrating my thoughts. I look around, realizing that we're alone in the practice room. I look back at Liam and he sighs, sitting down next to me. "We're breaking." He says, looking at his hands. "Our band, our friendship, it's splitting apart." I nod, and Liam looks back at me, his eyes filled with tears. "I was supposed to be the one who held us together, kept us all out of trouble, settled all of our problems. Now we're all getting worse, and I can't do anything to stop it. If something doesn't change, we might not make it to our second concert." I nod again, looking at the tattoo on Liam's forearm. The four arrows, symbolizing something he never told us, but I think I know now. The arrows are us, our band, how we all go in One Direction. But not anymore.

"Harry, I'm scared." Liam admits, a few tears escaping. "I heard something yesterday that I never want to hear again. Zayn and Niall were fighting. Full on fighting, yelling and screaming and cussing, and both of them were in tears. They were fighting about the band, about us. Zayn was on the edge of his temper, and he just acted without thinking. He punched Niall, knocked him over. Niall hit his head on the tile, and I swear you could hear it anywhere. Zayn just froze, staring at his hand like he couldn't believe it would actually do that. Then he just broke, he fell to his knees and just started sobbing." Liam stops, tears flowing down his face. "The expressions on both of their faces, it makes me want to go back in time and fix all of this. I wanted to buy Niall the world at that moment, and give Zayn the moon. They both looked so... broken." Liam takes a deep breath, but his last words come out as a whisper anyway. "It's only a matter of time before all of us shatter."

Liam looks down again, tears falling onto his hands as he cries silently. I reach out, hugging him, and his arms automatically hug me as well. We sit there for a while, both crying, both ready to give up but keeping each other strong.

"Liam..." I say, shocking myself. My voice is hoarse from not using it, but it's still there. Liam looks up, his eyes wide.

"Harry?" He asks, his voice cracking.

"Liam." I say again, making sure I'm not hearing things.

"Harry." Liam replies, hugging me tighter. I bury my face in his neck, still crying, but for a different reason. Fear clouds my mind, but I push it away, for now. I want to talk. I want to talk to Louis and Niall and Zayn and the 5 Seconds of Summer boys and the fans and Simon and my mum and everyone else. I want to talk, and I'm going to. Liam knows it, I know it, and soon, everyone else will.

It may take time, it may take a lot of tears, but everything can be fixed eventually.