Swapping Spit (Nouis) [under editing]

Chp 33-Found

Louis' POV

The self loath comes shortly after Richard and Fred leave. It feels as if millions of tiny bugs are crawling over my skin, plaguing it with dirt and disease. I can feel Richard's hands haunting my body, gripping and clawing.

I lie in a heap on the floor, shaking and cold and desperately trying to scratch off his grime. I only succeed in making myself bleed.

Colby approaches me apprehensively, a concerned look on his young face. "Um, Mr...?" he starts.

I angle my head off the ground and prop it up with a hand. Colby looks down at me, tears brimming his eyes.

"Hey, Colby." My voice comes out hoarse and it dips at the end with sadness.

"Are you okay?" His big blue eyes open up and I feel myself catching a glimpse of his soul. This young boy has been through too much. He doesn't deserve any of this pain. Despite this all, his soul is beautiful.

I hesitate. Should I shake my head yes I'm fine in attempt to shelter this boy from further trauma? Or has he been through enough to know I'm not okay?

"No, Colby. I'm not," I say.

Colby scootches closer to me and his little hand weaves into mine.

"It'll be okay, Mr."

"You can call me Louis," I correct him with an attempted smile.

"It'll be okay, Louis," he corrects.

"Thank you, Colby," I whisper. "Thank you."

Then the pain in my head intensifies to the point where I feel my head is exploding. My eyes see red, and I shut them but still see it. The red bubbles over and fills my head. The pain pulses from my head through my body in waves until I'm drowning in it. My head swims underneath the sea of red and then sinks to the bottom.

---

Niall's POV

As the car bumps along the highway, I stare out the window with my forehead pressed to the glass, leaving a smudged mark. The sun is slowly sinking lower in the sky, but will hold for a couple more hours.

My eyes skip over objects in the distance. Trees, a McDonald's billboard, a sign showing which way is east, a shack that looks like the one from my nightmare....

Wait. A SHACK THAT LOOKS LIKE THE ONE FROM MY NIGHTMARE.

"There!" I point to it, a good hundred meters in the distance. "That's where Louis is!"

"What? How do you know?"

"Just PULL OFF!" I scream.

The car jeers off the highway and onto the pebbled side, bouncing violently over divots and tuffs of grass. I throw open the car door and jump out before the car stops completely; every second counts.

"Niall, what's going on?" Liam's frantic voice calls after me as he sprints to catch up.

"The nightmare I had earlier. That shack," I point to it off in the distance growing closer, "is the same one! Louis is in it!"

"H-How do you know?"

"I just do! Trust me on this, Liam."

"I trust you, Niall. I trust you," he says as we sprint through the field.

I feel my heart beating faster and faster as we approach the shack. My breathing matches my heart's pace and I struggle to slow it down.

We reach the shack quickly, not quick enough, and I circle it cautiously. Liam goes in the opposite direction.