Taken For Granted

~The Guilt Of A Mother~

"Oi, Harry!" hollered a very anxious Stan Lucas as he finally spotted his longtime friend in the school halls.

"Oh hey, mate" said Harry once his attention was caught.

"Where's Louis?" asked Stan.

"Urm...I don't know. that's actually what I wanted to ask you" replied a very confused Harry.

"Huh...do you suppose he's sick?"

"I don't know but I was planning on stopping by his house after school. wanna come?"

"Sure" answered Stan.

~Later On That Day~

"Are you serious, Mate?!" exclaimed Harry, as he and Stan walked to Louis' house.

"Dead serious. she was totally coming on to me!" Stan stated proudly.

"Are you...sure?" Harry laughed as Stan gave him a playful glare.

"What?! look, we are only talking about Candice Ally, the hottest girl in school!" Harry said exasperatedly.

"Whatever man. you can believe what you want." Stan and Harry walked in silence for the next five minutes, Stan glancing over at Harry as if he held the secrets to the universe. this didn't go unnoticed by Harry of course.

"You were lying weren't you" Harry said carefully.

"I..uh...FINE!!..yes, I was lying!! gosh!" Stan exclaimed exasperatedly. Harry burst into a fit of laughter as Stan cracked a smirk and laughed also while shaking his head.

as Stan and Harry finally made it to their best friends house, both boys suddenly had an odd feeling in the pit of their stomach, as if something was off.

making their way up the driveway and now standing in front of the Austin's door, they exchanged looks of confusion as they heard a cry.

"What was that?" asked Harry.

I don't know..." replied an unsure Stan.

after a few minutes of decision making, Harry finally brought his fist to the wood of the front door and knocked.

rustling and frantic footsteps could be heard from the inside of the house.

everything went quiet for a second before the sound of locks clicking out of place was heard and then the door was open, revealing a very pale and quite tragic looking Mrs. Austin.

"Oh...hi boys" Johannah greeted with a very soft yet raspy voice. she looked very tired.

"Hello, Mrs. Austin. is Louis home?" Stan asked formally and politely.

Johannah looked very scared at this question but quickly regained composure.

"Um yes..but he is still sleeping" she answered.

"Oh okay. is he sick or something?" asked Harry.

"We just wanted to stop by and see if he was okay because he wasn't at school today" Stan explained.

"Oh. well, he is sick and doesn't want visitors right now but thank you for your concern boys" Johannah says and quickly closes the front door on two very confused and slightly offended boys.

~Flashback~

After waiting an hour after Troy stomped into his office, Johannah slowly got up off the ground and tip toed down the hall to Louis' room. tears sprang to her eyes as she clutched the door knob in her hand. opening the door, Johannah step into the room and the minute she did, the smell of blood hit her senses.