lifedance.

three.

Harry Edward Styles.

Louis had no idea why his eyes lingered over the name. It was the one fragment of this file that he knew for certain. Included with a bent paperclip was a recent photo that couldn't have been any other than the one that they had taken when they initially arrested him. Louis' eyes fell to the next line, skimming over the basic information that either did not matter at all or simply had no reason to be considered.

Originally from Holmes Chapel. He knew that already; it was something that had been mentioned multiple times throughout the parts of the trial he had gotten to see. People from Holmes Chapel weren't used to hearing about the unspeakable atrocities committed by one of their own.

He was eighteen. Barely an adult. He had moved to London to attend university, where he studied both psychology and sociology for the two years that he was there. Louis' eyebrows furrowed as he removed papers sticking out from the file that stated not only Harry's perfect grades and attendance his first year, but comments that teachers had made in his favor, each one praising him for being such a hardworking student and a lovely person to have in class. Those comments were a direct contrast to statements from his second-year professors, who described him as "unfocused" and "lazy." There was no possible explanation for the drastic change. After reading them over again, Louis replaced the pages in the file and continued reading, determined to have the whole thing thoroughly scanned through at least once before he needed to leave for the day. He flipped the page.

A brief description of Harry's symptoms were at the top of the page, followed by handwritten notes that a doctor had made about him upon his arrival to jail. A sheet with a copy of his fingerprints was neatly printed on the page after that. Louis turned back to the symptoms, which simply mentioned "severe psychosis, homicidal tendencies, and aggression." For someone of Harry's infamy, Louis expected there to be more. Instead, there were only three bullet points with no descriptions below them to justify them. It put up a red flag in Louis' mind.

After the fingerprints was a list of allergies followed by Harry's emergency contacts. His mum and sister were at the top of the list, which Louis would have guessed already. They were family after all. However, the third name was unfamiliar and had no significance compared to what he had already read. Liam Payne? There was a phone number but no description of who that person might be.

The following pages consisted of a lengthy report that had been taken the morning of Harry's arrest. He had been turned in with a phone call to the police just a little after seven on the morning of October third. Liam Payne was recorded as the person who had turned him in, which only confused Louis more. If he was an emergency contact, did that mean that they were close? He couldn't fathom that being the case.

Regardless of who this Liam person was, he had been smart enough to call after Harry woke up and left for class, so when he returned, it was to a house full of police officers with loaded guns. He had gone easily into the station where he was intensely questioned about each of the murders for a period of six hours, in which Harry had cooperated well enough to describe each of his ten murders in detail, starting with the first stranger and ending with the most recent that had occurred days before. The report described his tone as "unmerciful with a hint of gloating," implying that Harry was proud of what he had done despite having a thorough idea of what was right and wrong.

At this point, Louis had to pause. He wasn't sure if he was ready to read about the murders. He gave himself a few moments to collect himself before turning back and letting out a deep breath. If he wanted to understand then he had no choice but to continue.

"Murder One:

On or around December 6th, 2016, Styles was returning home to his flat after a shift at work. The full distance was less than a kilometer, and Styles had made it a little less than half that when he was approached by an unknown man who asked for money. When Styles replied that he had no money on him, the man became violent and pushed him into an alley, where he presented him with a knife and demanded money. Styles told him again that he had no money on him. After the unknown man pressed the knife to Styles' throat, Styles proceeded to grab it and stab the man with it blindly. He stabbed him in the chest approximately three times, the neck two times, and the abdomen six times. When Styles stopped he realized that the man was dead. He left him in the alley on Keller Road but took the knife. It was dark and Styles was not noticed by any passersby. The man was found around three in the afternoon the following day.