After The End: Book 1

34. What about Naomi?

Louis POV

"What's happening?" I asked sharply. I was already running down the hallway and towards the exit. I could hear Lux's heavy breathing on the line and the panic in her voice was evident. Even without an explanation, I knew I'd need to get to them.

"We saw someone. I'm not exactly sure who but Harry's freaked out and I think it might be—"

"Tell him they're back!" Harry's voice snapped audible over Lux's. He never spoke to her that harshly. Even when they fought he maintained a level of composure better than that of what he offered others. His tone was high and ragged and twice as panicked as hers.

"Who's back?" I asked confused. I was approaching my car and I started fumbling in my pocket for the keys. "Where are you?"

"Harry who did you see?" Lux pressed again. "Was it the people that put the hole in the wall?"

I dropped my keys as she said those words. They clattered into the wet gravel lot noisily. "Excuse me?"

"He's nodding, Louis." She said it in a calm voice but I could hear the tense edge. She knew exactly who he was describing although she'd not been present for the event.

"Where are you?" I asked scrambling to pick the keys back up. I basically flew into the drivers seat. They couldn't be back? The police said we didn't have to worry about them.

I heard her ask Harry but she seemed to be having a hard time getting words out of him. I could hear her telling him to breath. I wondered what was going through his head. The knowledge that these people were out there made my blood run cold. I wanted to stop and panic but at least in my case, I had been mostly physically unharmed. I'd definitely been roughed up but Harry had been pistol whipped and then temporarily removed from life on earth. His trauma was deep. I needed to get to him. I needed to find out the truth and then get to the police! I needed to make sure everyone was safe!

"Lux," I pressed after settling into the drivers seat. "Where are you guys?"

"He says it's the alley behind Eleanors apartment," Lux said sheepishly.

If I wasn't so panicked I would have scowled. Instead I whipped out of the parking spot and peeled out of Melvins  lot. They were only a few minutes away, but I still dreaded driving down those familiar streets. I didn't even know if Eleanor still lived there but it wasn't like it mattered. How did they even end up there?

I discarded my phone on speaker in the passenger seat and while I drove, I could hear Lux and Harry conversing. Lux was trying to speak in a soothing voice and Harry was mumbling back something inaudible. I caught the word "die" twice.

"Lux, are you guys safe?" I inquired trying to keep the wavering out of my voice.

"I think so," she said. I couldn't tell if she even believed that. Outside, rain drops started pattering on my windshield. I turned onto a busier road and then to the last side street and pulled over at the mouth of the familiar alley. I did my best to avoid looking at the big brick building. I heard Lux's voice before I saw the two of them but once my eyes adjusted to the darkness I realized Harry was on the ground with his head down and his knees to his chest. His shoulders were trembling. Lux crouched over him in the darkness holding one of his hands and speaking quicker than she normally reserved for him. "Louis here. Listen Harry, we're going to go home okay? We're going to be okay."

He whipped his head up and planted his panicked eyes on me. His face was pale and his eyes burned red. "Louis they're back and they saw me. They fucking saw me!" His voice sounded raw and terrified and unlike anything I'd ever heard from him before. I believed him wholeheartedly. I had wanted to believe that maybe he'd imagined them but looking at his face, I could see the ghosts haunting behind his eyes. He'd seen them, and it had terrified him. Harry was experiencing the same fear he'd had that night all over again.