Take Me Home

Chapter Twenty-Five

It was two nights later when Niall started screaming.

Louis was the first to get to him, since the two of them were sharing a room now, their beds adjacent to each other. The seven year old, fearing that something had hurt the boy he had come to call his brother, quickly ran over to him and, in the dark, he could just about make out the tears streaming down Niall's face as he screamed and tossed in the bed. It didn't take him long to realise that his brother was having a bad dream, so he did the first thing that came to mind.

He reached out to try and wake him up. But the second his hand made contact with Niall's sweat-soaked pajama shirt, the blond boy lashed out and began to thrash his limbs around. Louis was caught off guard when one of Niall's arms whacked him in the chest, and fell backwards off the bed.

"No! Stop!" Niall cried out, still sobbing and screaming in his sleep.

Louis had had the air knocked out of him, and laid in shock on the floor for a moment, trying to catch his breath. Then he heard Niall screaming still, and he started to cry himself - out of shock of being woken to screams, pain from being thrown off the bed, and fear that there was something wrong with Niall and nothing he could do about it.

Then somebody else was in the room, and he felt two arms being wrapped around him. He was relieved to see it was Harry, patting him all over and asking if he was okay.

Louis carried on crying. "N-Ni, there's something wrong with him," he sobbed out, just as Liam and Zayn rushed in.

Liam had woken to the screams and quickly shaken Zayn awake before taking off towards Louis and Niall's room, where the sound was coming from.

He stopped in the doorway for a second when he saw Louis on the floor, wrapped up in Harry's arms and crying. Then he focused on Niall, the blond boy who was still lashing out his limbs on the bed, sobbing and crying out.

"No, no, no! Get away, please!" he begged, in a way that made Liam's stomach flip. He ran straight over to the bed closest to the door, with Zayn hot on his heels. "Stop, please," Niall continued to sob, letting out heartbreaking whimpers.

Liam sat on the side of the bed, Zayn knelt beside him, making sure the other two boys were okay as well.

"Ni, baby," Liam spoke loudly but softly, reaching out for the boy and not even flinching when one of his feet caught him in the side. He reached out, wincing at the tears pouring down the seven-year-old's face and the sobs tearing through him. It made tears come to his own eyes.

He caught hold of the boy, trying to stop him from hurting himself. Liam winced again when the boys nails scrape at his arm but he didn't let go.

"Stop! Get away, please!" He continued to scream.

"Shh, Niall. We're here baby, you're okay, you're safe," Liam began to whisper, running his hands through the blond hair softly. "It's okay, shh," he hummed, feeling the boy calm down in his arms.

Then the boy was sobbing again and pushing away from him, curling up against the headboard. "Please, please, please," he whispered to himself, crying.

Liam knew he was awake now, but not fully aware. Zayn sat up beside him now and spoke in his own soft voice. "Kiddo, you're okay now. It was just a dream," he told him, softly.

Niall lifted his head at that, and began to cry again when his eyes landed on Liam. He climbed onto the man's lap and buried his head into his chest and cried silently now. Liam rocked him, heart still pounding at the horror of what the boy had just been through. That must have been one hell of a nightmare.

"M'sorry, m'sorry," Niall whimpered quietly, one hand clutching gently onto Liam's t-shirt.

"Shh, you're alright," Liam told him, softly. He continued to rock him and felt the boy still in his arms soon enough, his breaths still shuddering from the sobs and his hand still clutching onto him.