Prisoner

Nine

"I'm just saying, Niall. It's not like that."

"It's exactly like that. You have a crush on him."

"I don't."

"You held his hand for an hour straight."

"So? I could hold yours too, that doesn't mean I have a crush on you."

"I'm not judging you. From what you've told me, he sounds like a nice guy, but he's going to be dead in six months. Less now, five. You've been seeing him for awhile."

"I know. I'm not going to lie, I definitely could see myself starting to like him, but I'm not going to. Even if I wanted to. It'd be too hard to get over him."

"That's what I'm saying. Like sometimes you just have to accept that something can't work out," Niall says, taking a drink of his soda as they eat lunch together at a local sub shop.

"Yeah, I guess. I just, I feel for him. I get this like knot in my stomach and I can physically feel my heart aching when I think about his situation."

"I mean yeah, it's a tough situation to be in. I'm sure he's scared as hell."

Louis nods, not really having much of an appetite anymore. "He is. I know he is. Like you can accept it but I don't think you can ever not be scared of death. You may think you aren't but I'm sure when the time comes anyone would be."

"The unknown is scary as shit and what comes after death is the ultimate unknown."

Louis nods. "It's crazy to think him and and I are pretty much the same age and I feel like my life is just starting and yet his is ending."

Niall shakes his head and crumples up his sandwich wrapper. "It's a heavy thing man. A lot of weight to be carrying around."

"At least he'll be free."

———

Once Louis gets to the prison, him and his father do what they have to do and then head into the break room. Despite the gloomy atmosphere, Louis' actually started to really enjoy coming here. He gets to talk to other guards sometimes and some of their stories are really interesting.

Three hours pass and it's finally time for Harry and his appointment. He brought Harry a book, it's one he really likes and hopes Harry will too. It's not one of the classics so Louis thinks that the odds of him already reading it are slim.

Once Harry's brought into the room and the guards leave, Louis pulls the book out and slides it across the table to Harry.

"The void?" Harry asks, eyeing the dark covered book with small white letters in the middle.

"Yeah, it's really good."

"What's it about?"

"Well, I'll be honest it's not your typical book with a story line and all that. It's like a bunch of little pieces that on their own, make sense, but together it also creates something that makes sense as a whole?"

"Oh okay, but like what does it talk about."

"I'm not telling you that. Just read it. I really think you'll like it if you read it all the way through."

"Well, thank you," Harry says, a small smile on his face as he continues to look at the cover, flipping through a few pages.