crack the shutters. | larry & niam.

Chapter 7 - Worries.

His room was dark when Louis woke up. He opened his eyes a crack, and slowly sat up, and stretched, letting out a yawn. 

He blinked, and grabbed his phone, and unlocked it. 5:30 pm. He locked the screen again, shoving it into his pocket, and walked downstairs.

Jay was sitting in the living room, watching tv. She looked up as she heard Louis' footsteps, and smiled. "Look who finally woke up." Louis yawned again, and let himself fall on the couch. 

"Are you okay, Boo?", Jay asked, now slightly concerned. Louis looked up, and shook his head. "Just not fully awake, wait for it.", he answered, burying his face into a sofa cushion.

Jay nodded, and turned her head to the tv where the show was about to go on. 

~

Niall walked down the street, the grocerys in the bag he was carrying, rummaging around in his pocket.

He got out his key, and walked up a drive way, and unlocked the front door, slipped through the door, kicking his shoes off his feet, and closed the door behind him.

He hung his coat on the hall-stand and walked into the kitchen, and placed the bag on the counter.

His aunt wasn't back from Ireland yet. She called Niall on Sunday morning, telling him that she would be back by tuesday because the things she had to do in Ireland would take longer than expected. 

Niall sighed, and started unpacking the bag, and walked into his room afterwards, throwing himself on his bed, his eyes wandering to the night stand.

There stood a glass with pills, untouched since his aunt went away, counting up to four days now.

Niall took the glass, causing the pills to rattle inside. He turned it to all sides, looking at the little, pink pills he was supposed to take. His doctor had prescribed them to him back at the age of nine, the time when he was diagnosed with depression and anxiety.

He didn't liked the pills, that's why he avoided swallowing them since his aunt was gone, causing his mental illness to become noticable.

Everyone thought he was dealing well with everything, that his therapist was helping him, when in reality he couldn't be worse. He was trained in making everyone, including his aunt, believe he was okay, and he was okay as long as the pills were effecting. But Niall hated the pills, hated the therapist, hated his life. No wonder why his dad never wanted to see Niall again, no wonder why Greg stayed in Ireland, not calling Niall once. Niall wasn't worth it. Sometimes he wished he died instead of his mother.

He sighed, and opened the drawer, placing the glass in it and closed it again. 

He layed down on his bed again, and stared at the ceiling. Louis got suspicious about his well-being today. He sighed and locked at his arms.

Now that he wasn't wearing his hoodie, his arms were showing, both of his wrists were scarred, some scars were new, and some were fading. He had not always the urge to cut, only when he refused to take his pills. 

He turned to the side, and closed his eyes, slowly drifting away into a restless sleep.

~

Louis sat by his window, staring out on the street. He listened to music on his iPod, and was lost in his thoughts, mentally racking his brain about what could be wrong with Harry and Niall. Sure, Niall lost his mother, but everyone, including Niall, told him he was doing fine, and it's been almost ten years, could it still bother Niall this much?

He would go to Nialls house if he wasn't grounded. He could sneak out, but his mum had good ears, and every attempt Louis started to sneak out was always discovered and punished with one more week of being grounded.

And then there was Harry, who seemed to open up, but then he distanced himself just as fast as he opened up. It was nerve-wracking.

 ~

Louis was resting his head on his head on his hand, and sighed lethardgically. "Are you sure everything is okay? You're up early and you're unusually pale.", my mum asked. Louis nodded, and stood up. "I'm walking to school today." He grabbed his bag. "Are you sure? I could give you a ride to school, Lotties and Fizzys school isn't far away from yours." Louis smiled weakly, overtired. He hasen't gotten much sleep this night.

He grabbed his keys, slipped into his toms and walked out of the door, shivering as the november wind hit his skin.

He sighed, and started walking, and stopped when he saw Harrys house, mentally discussing with himsel whether he should ring the doorbell or not. 

Before Louis was able to realize what he was doing, he was standing in front of his house. Louis pressed the doorbell, and waited for someone to open the door.

A middle-aged woman with black hair opened the door, giving Louis a halfhearted smile. "Hello, love, how can I help you?" He eyed her, she had bags under her eyes telling him she didn't get much sleep, her eyes looked dull, making the smile look faker than it already was. "I.. uhm.." Before Louis could say anything, Harry appeared behind her. "Louis, what are you doing here?", he asked, confused.

"I.. left home earlier toay and I was wondering if we could walk to school toge-" Harry shrugged. "Why not?" Louis raised his eyebrows, what happened with the Harry he knew? Louis watched how he put on his coat and shoes, grabbed his bag and left the house with without saying a word to his mum.

Tge both boys walked a while, before Louis sighed. "Aren't you close to your mother?" He looked up, and raised his eyebrows. "What made you think of my relationship to my mother?" Louis shrugged. "I don't know, you didn't talk to her, or even look at her, and-" Harry stopped, and turned to Louis. "I don't know why you care, but keep your ass out of things that don't involve you!" Louis sighed, there was the Harry he knew again. Louis opened my mouth to say something. "Save it, I don't want to hear anything.", Harry snapped and quickly walked away. Louis looked where he walked away, making a note to himself to find out why his mother is a sensitive subject.