Stockholm Syndrome ✔

Chapter 23 - Trust Needs To Be Earned

"I thought I told you to stay with Louis", Mihail said, giving Harry a stern look.

Harry shrugged. "You did. But, he fell asleep and I need to talk with Troy." Harry pushed past Mihail. "He'll survive alone twenty minutes."

When Mihail did nothing to stop him, Harry kept walking. He didn't really need to think where he was going, he had learned the path by heart months ago, so his mind had plenty of time to think what to say to Troy.

Or no, Harry knew what he was going to say, the problem was how to say it. He knew that Troy hardly ever yelled or lost his cool but there's a first time for everything. Harry wanted to form his words right so that Troy wouldn't understand them wrong.

Before Harry could make up his mind, he was standing behind the door. He took a deep breath and knocked.

"Yes?"

"It's me."

"Come in, son."

Harry opened the door and stepped in. Troy was sitting behind his desk, reading some papers.

"Close the door, would you?" he asked, not taking his eyes off of the papers. Harry did as he was told and closed the door. He turned around and looked at Troy, who was paying no attention to him.

Louis wasn't his only source, Harry was certain of it. If he wanted to, he could ask Troy and Troy would give him answers. Or better yet, he could go check the facts by himself, Troy trusted him and would let him go out because of course Harry would come back.

Then why haven't you been outside of these walls alone ever before? Harry's subconscious asked. Harry didn't know. He had never asked. He strongly believed that Troy trusted him, he just had never asked permission to go somewhere alone. Surely Troy would allow it if he only dares to ask.

"Did you have a reason to come here?"

Harry snapped back to reality and saw Troy looking at him with popped eyebrow. Harry nodded and stepped closer. "Yes, actually—"

"Well get on with it already, I'm a very busy man." Troy interlaced his fingers and looked at Harry expectantly.

Harry stepped closer and cleared his throat, and then blurted out, "I want to go out."

"Excuse me?"

Now Harry was just nervous. "Out. Like, drive somewhere, look around. Buy ice cream— I don't know."

Troy was silent for a moment and then leaned back, crossing his arms. "Where's this coming from? Why now?"

"I don't know, I— Just figured it would be... good for me to go out a bit."

Harry expected Troy to agree but he had never been more wrong.

"No."

Harry's mouth dropped open. "Wh— No? Why?"

"There's no need for that and you're not ready. You can stay here, you've everything you could possibly need", Troy said matter-of-factly. "Besides, I have hard time believing that you want to go on a day trip just to buy some ice cream."

Sure, Harry didn't want to go out because of ice cream, it had been a bad example, but he wanted to prove a point... to Louis. He knew what Louis was trying to do and Harry wanted to prove to him that it won't work. Prove to Louis that he wasn't Harry's only option and that he can't push Harry's buttons with it anymore.

Besides, lying about Harry's mother? Harry didn't buy it. Not that he even cared about what Louis had said or how was his mother or family but it just annoyed him.

He wanted Louis to stop.

"Harry", Troy said, slowly and gently. "What's changed? Why are you suddenly asking this?"

"I... I..." Harry didn't know what to say. "I'm... I just..."

Troy frowned and placed his hands on the table, leaning closer. "Is it Louis? Did he say something? Speak up, son!"

Harry sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "He said something that I want to prove wrong so that he could stop trying to manipulate me with it."

"What did he say?" Troy asked, his lips pressed into a thin line.

Harry saw that he was playing with fire, so he hesitated but finally said, "Something about my mother. According to him she's not... fine."

Troy raised an eyebrow and Harry quickly added, "Not that I believe him but I just, I thought I should prove to him that he can't manipulate me by saying that he's the only one who can give me the answers— Not that I care or want them but it's just—"

"I don't care whether you believe him or not", Troy interrupted and stood up. "What I care is this: do you want to go check that your mother is alright? Your mother, who lied to you your whole life, who isn't even looking for you? The mother who failed to be honest with you?"

"I— No." Harry exhaled slowly. "No."

"Tell me, Harry. Have I ever lied to you?" Troy asked, walking closer.

Harry shook his head and Troy nodded.

"That's right, I haven't."

"You haven't", Harry repeated like a parrot.

Troy nodded again. "Indeed. You're not going out because you don't need to— There's nothing in there for you. You don't care about your so called mother. She's irrelevant."

"Irrelevant. Right. Yeah." Harry started to back away. "Mihail needs me, so..."

"And one more thing... If Louis is able to manipulate you and affect you with a few simple words, we've obviously failed to train you right." That made Harry clench his fists and bite his tongue but he kept his mouth shut. Troy walked back to his desk and waved his hand dismissively. "Leave."

With no hesitation Harry walked out of the room and once the door was closed, he leaned against the wall and tried to breath slowly but his mind was racing and hurt beating faster than what was considered healthy.

"No, no, no, no...", Harry muttered, holding his head. He felt so lost. Troy was right, he didn't care and he didn't need to go out. Louis' words were irrelevant because Harry doesn't give a single flying fuck.

But then again, he does.

Well, he doesn't necessarily want to talk with his mother but some part of him wanted to see her, see what was going on.

"No", Harry muttered, trying to make his thoughts and feelings disappear. He didn't want this, he couldn't let Louis inside his head.

But in a way, he already was and now Harry knew that Troy didn't trust him, which only made Harry wonder why. Was there really a reason why Troy didn't trust him? Maybe there was a reason but it was too much for Harry's messed up mind to figure.

Louis. There's no point of denying it. Louis was the answer to everything.

Harry pressed his lips in a thin line and headed towards the cellar.