17BLACK

Chapter 61

Louis' POV:

Harry finally convinces me to go to sleep, since I'll need to be awake when Will gets back from his X-rays. Sleep doesn't come easy and when it does it's filled with images of the past few haunting hours.

I stand on the hard concrete of the 17Black lot, my feet frozen in fear. I can't move, can't feel anything but the flash of heat from the terror arising in the pit of my stomach. I'm in the exact place I was yesterday, but now it's eerily silent. I'm alone. There's no police officers to struggle against this time, no one blocking me from running into the building after two of the three people that matter most to me.

17Black is on fire just as it was yesterday, though. The flames lick up the sides greedily, threatening to bring the building to its end and collapse on top of Will and Harry.

I'm screaming at the top of my lungs, begging them to get the hell out before the building falls and so will everything around me.

I turn to see a firefighter standing beside me, his hat tilted down to keep the heat off of his face and his arms crossed lazily around his chest. Why isn't he helping?

Pushing doesn't help me escape this invisible confinement, but I try anyways. I have to get out. Have to go help them.

This is all my fault. I've always been good for Nick, always did what he said. Now that I have a sudden strong urge to leave the drug ring, bad things happen in result. I knew they would yet I still pissed Nick off.

Aaron is suddenly next to me, appearing just as the firefighter did. He's sitting at my feet and drawing circles in the ashes on the ground.

"The building is going to collapse." I try covering my ears. I don't want to hear this. My hands are glued to my side, though, and I'm forced to listen to his words. "They are going to die."

No. No, no, no, this can't happen. I can't lose them. I'm weak as it is, I can't stand on my own. I need their reassurance. I need their support.

The invisible ropes still bind me in place. The air is filled with the smell of smoke and fire and sweat and death. I can feel the filthy air filling my lungs and it's so different from the normal smoke I consume. That kind is comforting, sending a warmth to my toes and blurring the pain in the corners of my mind. This smoke taunts me with the threat of burning my loved ones to a crisp.

It's scary how fragile life is. All it takes is a match and a purpose and then you're being erased from existence piece by piece as your flesh is kissed by the flames.

I'm crying from the thought of Will and Harry being taken from me and from the cloud of black pouring from the doors and windows of the club. The place Harry and I met, the place we danced for the first time and shared a few drinks is being taken away from me and I can't loose the people that made the club memorable.

I watch as Harry and Will suddenly break free from the dying building, a man tossed over Harry's shoulder. Harry and Will are linked by their hands. Even from here I can see the pressure of their fingers creating a white ghost in their skin. It clashes with the soot clinging to their faces and clothes. They look like Death itself emerging from Hell in a black cloak and a victim in its hands.

To me, though, they are much more than that. The serve as life, forgiveness, redemption. I'm able to move now, by sheer will or by my own mind I don't know, and I run as fast as I can to them.

Harry and Will make a few steps outside of the building, and then Harry is falling and so is Will. I'm pushed away as the professionals pick them up and move them to safety. I'm screaming, shouting at them to stay with me and it might be selfish but they can't die and leave me here alone. I'd have Aaron, but he would be just as broken as I would and life isn't like math problems, two negatives don't make a positive.