17BLACK

Chapter 76

Louis' POV:

"Hey Louis do you want me to make you a sandwich?" Will's voice echoes into the bedroom from the living room. I curl into the duvet further and ignore his question.

It's cold in the room, and I have Aaron to blame for that. Ever since he moved in to live with Will the air conditioning has been cranked down past humanly comfortable. I swear he's like a fireplace, he's burning up all the time. Unluckily for me, I'm normally cold all of the time.

I hear footsteps just as Will enters the room. He's followed by Aaron.

I give a weak attempt to close my eyes and pretend that I'm sleeping. It's too late though, my act falls through.

"Louis I asked if you wanted a sandwich," Will says in that awful voice he uses when he thinks that I need to be comforted. It's like he expects me to break into pieces and scream at the top of my lungs all at the same time.

I stay quiet. I don't even know if my voice will work if I try using it. I haven't used it at all since Will forced me to stay at his place for a while.

"Louis..." It's Aaron this time. I actually perk my ears up to his voice. Will has tried constantly to get me out of this unresponsive state but he's to the point of being on my bad side too. I just want to lay here and feel Death seep into my veins as life drains out, is that so bad?

I shuffle my feet to let him know that I'm not ignoring him.

"You haven't eaten in days, I'm worried about you." I haven't heard Aaron so serious in... ever. He sounds so sincere that I cringe in disgust in myself. I'm wrecking everyone around me. If they were smart they'd be running for the hills by now.

"If I'm being a burden then you should have left me at my apartment," I snap. I remember clearly how Will tossed me over his shoulder and carried me to the car kicking and screaming. My attempts were weak, though, as the world was spinning around me. I was high as fuck.

"You're not a burden and you aren't going to push us away just because you're sad," Will barks back, his voice sending me back into my protective state again. I won't be yelled at. I didn't ask to be here. I didn't ask to be taken care of.

I sit up, my hair messier and longer than it's ever been in my entire life. I probably smell bad and look even worse but I don't care.

I just don't care anymore.

"Just because I'm sad?" I shout back, shocking both of them into cowering into the corner.

"I'm not sad. And you're stupid if you think so." I look at the ground to get the image of Harry protecting me from Will's outburst in that very same corner. I can't fucking escape him.

"You haven't eaten anything in a week other than a bite of Aaron's muffin, you've been in that bed for seventy-two hours straight, we found you at your apartment in filth and your drugs which we will talk about later, and this is the first time you've uttered a word in days. You're sad. Denial isn't going to help you. I can see right through it."

Will is talking but I'm looking at Aaron. At his arms. He's wearing a long sleeve shirt, but there's a deep blue stain peeking out on his wrist. This is the first time he's worn a sweater since I've been here.

I refuse to look at his eyes. His body may take the damage but I know that the real pain is in his eyes. It always is.

"Will can I speak to Aaron alone please?" My tone holds no room for question.

But of course Will pushes it.

"No. Not until we talk about thi-"

"Talk about it? What do you want me to say? Want me to write down my feelings in a damn diary and cry into your shoulder? No, of course not, you want me to tell you that I'm okay and guess what? I'm not!"