Flashlight (You're Getting Me Through The Night)

Chapter 20

A/N: Just like I promised, third chapter of the day! Sorry it's kinda short... All the love, as always xx

~L

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Louis' POV:

There was something different about my dreams this time. I kept seeing Harry, his face illuminated by a small light as he held me, watching as he dove at Mark and not being able to do anything, seeing his look of absolute terror as Mark pointed a gun at me, and then...nothing. It just kept replaying in my head, and I didn't know why. It wasn't like Harry was actually there...it was just me hoping. Maybe I was dead...maybe Harry had been there but hadn't been able to save me...that would explain why I felt so floaty.

I felt something pressing up against my shoulder and the floaty feeling jolted a bit. I felt extremely sick to my stomach all of a sudden, but I couldn't move, and when I tried to speak, only the smallest of whimpers came out, sounding distant to my own ears. All I wanted was to fall back into the darkness that I had been in for god knows how long, because there, I couldn't feel pain or fear. It was just nothing. But at this moment, I could feel every hit, every slap, every injury, and the pain in my heart from missing Harry and the fear that had embedded itself in my chest since the minute I had been taken away from Harry. Was this what death was supposed to feel like?

There was another nudge to my shoulder as I shifted, and the cloudiness in my head faded a little. I blinked weakly, trying to open my eyes, but I was just so tired...I wanted to sleep.

"Lou...Louis, love, can you hear me?"

Someone was calling my name...sounded like Harry...was Harry dead too? Was I actually just dreaming and he wasn't there at all? Was it Mark and I was so delusional that I heard him as Harry? At that thought, my stomach rolled and I hunched over, groaning and trying to throw up, but there was nothing in my stomach. I simply dry-heaved for a bit and then tried to calm myself down. I was still relatively out of it and I didn't know where I was. But it was obvious from one blurry look around the room that I wasn't in my old bedroom, nor was I in Heaven, so that meant I was alive. I wasn't sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but I was taking it...as long as Harry was okay.

I tried to move my hands to wipe my eyes, but they were tied together in front of me by some very tight rope. I bit my lip, trying not to cry in pain as the ropes rubbed at my already sore wrists as I lifted both hands to my face, rubbing carefully at my eyes. I lifted my head off of the concrete wall and looked around. I was in my basement, I was almost sure of it. There was only one light bulb in the very center of the room, and the light was dim, but I could hear someone breathing...someone was in there with me. I turned a little to look over my shoulder and my heart almost exploded out of my chest. Harry was leaning against the wall a bit away, his gaze trained on me through puffy eyes. There was a long scratch on the side of his face and a splint on one of his ankles, and his wrists, from what I could see, were red and on the point of bleeding from tugging at the ropes.

"H-Harry..." I croaked, and a small smile turned up the corners of his mouth.

"Lou...you're awake...c'mere...wanna hold you..." Harry responded in a cracked voice, and I scooted over on my bum, trying not to wince at how the rough stone floor grated at my bum and the backs of my legs as I moved over to him. I didn't stop, however, until I was leaning right up against him, and I could feel how he was trembling slightly with cold. Up until now, I hadn't noticed how cold it really was, but now that I could feel Harry's warmth seeping into my skin, I shivered and curled up against him. He nuzzled into my neck, unable to place his arms around me because of the ropes, and we just sat there, not speaking. I kept swallowing, trying not to cry. I had cried enough in the past couple days, and I didn't need Harry seeing me like I had been yesterday...it had probably taken a huge toll on him and he didn't need that.