Take the pain away

Chapter 8

Woohoo I'm back. Well I mean, I didn't really go anywhere....
I planned to update earlier but I got Ranger's apprentice for my birthday and I kinda wanted to read all 14 books....
Anyway here's a new chapter. It's kind of all over the place and when I tried editing it everything got worse so...  It's not really long but there is stuff happening so....

Two weeks later and Niall's nightmares are still there every night.
And it's affecting all of them.

Niall himself is tired all the time and Liam is starting to get worried about his health.

Louis feels guilty about everything and he barely speaks to anyone.

Harry can somehow sense that everyone is tired and sad and he is extremely clingy all the time.

So basically, they are all a huge mess.

Originally, they wanted to go out to the park today.
But one, none of them feel up to going out at all today and two, it's raining.

So they just settle on watching Finding Dory (I love Finding Dory, leave me alone)

Niall falls asleep about twenty minutes into the film cuddled close to his big brother.
Harry falls asleep not long after Niall and before the film ends, all three boys are sound asleep.

Liam gets up pulling Zayn with him. He's praying none of the boys wake up for at least another hour because all of them need to catch up on some sleep.

"We need to do something about those nightmares." He finally speaks up.

"You know we can't really do anything unless he tells us what they're about." Zayn says with a sigh.

About five minutes later, Harry is running to the room looking as energetic as ever.

"Daddy! I'm hungryyyy!" The five year old exclaims hugging Liam's legs.

"Alright Hazzaboo, let's get you something to eat, you little monster!" Liam laughs, feeling warm inside because Harry already calls them Daddy and Papa and he'll probably never stop feeling overjoyed whenever he hears him call them that.

But despite the day starting so well, it quickly escalates to the worst day yet.

Louis doesn't talk at all and locks himself in his room, not coming out until dinner.

Harry spends almost an hour crying for his brother before Liam picks him up and calms him down like a baby.

Harry also somehow runs head first into a wall which only adds to the amount of crying.

But the worst thing happens when Zayn tried to get Niall to sleep.

"No! Please don't- don't make me go to sleep! He's- he's always there... And I hate it! I know it's just a dream but- but it feels real and it hurts exactly like when it was real and, and..." The boy is sobbing and gasping for air.

Liam walks into the room then and he looks at Zayn for an explanation. Unfortunately, Zayn is just as confused as him.

"Hey, Nialler, look at me. You need to breathe, bud." Zayn says softly.
It takes five minutes for Niall to get his breathing back to normal. Fat tears are still rolling down his face as he lets Liam hug him.

"Alright. Can you tell me what's wrong buddy?"

"I- he..." Niall starts, his body shaking as he forces himself to speak about it before he gets too scared to do it.
"He would hit me. At the beginning. But then he started... And he said if I told anyone he'd get the knife. And I- I didn't tell anyone. But he still came with the knife and- and..." He is sobbing again at this point. He lifts his shirt up a bit, revealing five long scars.
"Why would- why would he do that?" He sobs out as he clings to Liam.

Liam feels sick. They had no idea. They had no idea what Niall went through.
Who would do this to a child? An innocent boy who already went through enough...

"Oh sweetheart." Zayn breaths out. "You're going to be alright. We'll make it all better.

"I'm sorry! I'm sorry! I ruin everything!" Niall cries more and Liam's heart breaks at the sight.

"Hey. You don't need to apologise. You didn't do anything wrong. And you definitely didn't ruin anything." He whispers. And it's true. Niall never did anything to deserve what happened to him. But now he's here, broken into pieces that they are determined to pick up and hold together until Niall is alright and not broken anymore.

And so the boy lets himself trust them that everything will be alright as he falls asleep.

"Goodnight Dad, goodnight Papa." He whispers so softly that if he wasn't so close to the two adults they wouldn't hear him. But they did and they want to do anything to give him the life he deserves.