"Grown ups are complicated creatures, full of quirks and secrets."
~ Rhode Dahl
June 11, 2043
10:30 A.M
Louis really, really, really missed his childhood.
In One Direction he was always viewed as the childish one, the ‘Peter Pan’ who never wanted to grow up. He could admit that it was true too, because something about really growing up was just terrifying to him, as a teenager and even a young adult.
Louis especially missed not having any worries. When he was really young, his biggest troubles would be falling asleep during naptime because he was always so hyperactive – at least he was in his head. Apparently, that wasn’t really the case.
Anyways, now though, falling asleep had different troubles about it.
“Louis, are you up and ready? We’ve got to go in ten or we’ll be late!”
Louis heard his mother calling him up the stairs, sounding far too chipper to be healthy. The thing is, ever since Louis exploded on her when she told him the truth, it was like she was trying to be doubly happier, to make up for it.
It really didn’t, but Louis didn’t have the heart to tell her that. He felt totally and utterly terrible about his outburst before and then showing up in the dead of night later from the hospital, dropped off so kindly by Harry.
Louis was beginning to wonder if he, himself, was beginning to be more trouble than he was worth. He almost began to think that they should have kept him under that stupid drug, though he would have to wake up eventually, so it probably wasn’t much better of an idea.
See, this was yet another reason why growing up had absolutely zero appeal to Louis. Before, he didn’t have all these damn appointments and work and serious issues like almost-murder of one of his best mates.
If there were secrets being kept, he remained oblivious. At this age, if someone was keeping a terrible secret, he knew something was off, but as a kid, there was no telling and no point. He wouldn’t have cared enough to find out at that age.
“Louis, I’m serious! I’m sorry, but we really need to go!”
Louis sighed, knowing he’d prolonged this far more than he should have already. Avoiding one’s own mother so persistently really had to be unhealthy.
“I’m coming, I’m coming!” He called as he slipped on his shoes and walked down the stairs, seeing his mother with her coat already on and her purse over her shoulder, waiting.
Eventually, the pair of them got in the car and took the – as always – silent drive over to the supposedly secret, government testing facility to get his usual tests done.
Everything was nice for the day in Doncaster, comfortable weather, no traffic, and an all around good day, at least, it should’ve been. Louis could see nothing good or nice about the day at all, not since his world really began to crumble, all because of his parents and these damn scientists.
So yeah, one could say he was a bit bitter every time he found himself standing outside this building.
By the time they got inside and began all the usual things, there was literally nothing to do for Louis except routine, which was being accommodating and brooding at the same time.
“Are you alright, Louis?” Jill questioned, giving Louis a smile that almost had a pitying tinge behind it.
Louis tried to ignore that, only thinking about the fact that she also must have known about Zayn and his parents and everything else going to hell in his life, and she obviously didn’t stop it, so she was just as much to blame. “I’m fine,” he snapped instead. “Can we just get on with this?” He held his arm out then, almost as if asking to be prodded for his blood or encased in a sleeve to test his blood pressure.
Jill complied then without much conversation, seeming to understand Louis’ moodiness.
After ten more minutes, Louis was hooked up to what seemed like a hundred different machines in various ways, the usual needles, sleeves, and wires. Everything was going smoothly as it should have, but then something caught his eye, something that made his stomach drop and his blood run so cold he was surprised it didn’t register on one of the many monitors.
Just through the tiny window in the door leading to the hallway, Louis spotted an oddly familiar head of hair walk by. He didn’t know how he identified it by a flash of hair, but something in his gut told him that it was yet another of the many secrets woven in his life about to be revealed.
So Louis did exactly what he probably shouldn’t have done: He bolted.
The few other scientists in the room with Jill didn’t even have time to process Louis ripping himself from the machines, painfully yanking needles out and undoing the Velcro sleeves.
Before any of them could react, Louis was free and running for the door. Luckily, they didn’t lock them, so he was able to race out past his mother, Edward, and a couple other scientists, following the hall towards the front where he saw the person go.
“Wait!” He suddenly shouted, not even caring who heard. He just had to stop this person, because if it was truly who he thought, it could be life changing and disastrous all at once.
Louis burst past the front desk next, surprisingly fast for someone who had been ‘sleeping’ for months prior. Still, he burst out into the mild air, spotting the person he had been targeting walking leisurely down the marble steps, hands in their pockets.
“You-“ He wasn’t able to stop himself. Louis darted out and grabbed the person’s shoulder, twisting them around in an almost aggressive way. And of course, it was them, exactly who he thought.
“Hey Lou,” Niall greeted with a cheery smile, though also mildly confused as well. “What’re you doing here?”
Louis was breathing a bit harshly through his mouth from his running, but the confusion on his face was still obvious. “No, I think the question is: What are you doing here?”
Niall raised his eyebrows a bit, though he almost was beginning to look nervous. “Nothing Louis,” he finally said, shaking his head. “Just meeting a friend.”
“Oh really?” Louis almost sneered. “So where are they then?”
Niall was obviously uncomfortable with that, seeing as it was clearly a lie.
Louis was beginning to really get scared though, truly. If Niall was here, at this building, in that wing, he had to… No. He couldn’t. He wouldn’t be so stupid.
Apparently you were, a voice countered in his head, and Louis began to squeeze his eyes shut and open them repeatedly, as if it would all disappear and he’d wake up on the tour bus with his band mates again.
It didn’t happen.
“Are-“ Louis could barely bring himself to say it, but he swallowed the lump in his throat and continued on anyways, careful to speak barely above a whisper. “Are you a test subject?”
Niall was completely silent for a moment, despite the grip Louis had on his shoulders matched with his frantic expression. Then, suddenly, his mouth split into a wide grin that made Louis want to retch at the moment. “You too?” He questioned in an all too cheery way.
No, no, no, no, no. Niall, no. Please, no, no, no.
“Was. Visionary?” Was all Louis managed to squeak out, feeling like his world was crashing down around him all over again.
Niall nodded enthusiastically then, removing one limb from Louis’ grip and pulling up his sleeve to reveal a band-aid over a small patch of skin… no doubt, covering the puncture wound of an IV needle. “Gee, if I knew you used to be a test subject sooner, we could’ve talked about this! I’m still active, just started, you know, after Zayn’s accident and all…” He trailed off, looking pained at the mention.
He ditched Zayn in his hospital bed to go dream, to be doing this? Drugging himself up with the same thing that ruined Louis’ life?
The worst part was that he looked so damn proud, like a child presenting a crafts project to a parent or teacher. He talked about Visionary like it was his own, personal ambrosia, like it would solve all his problems in the best possible way.
He was wrong.
This explained it all though. It explained his disappearances and his eyes that weren’t hallucinations or signs of Louis going crazy. It explained his weird behavior earlier and the way he seemed so much happier, sickeningly happier, now that the cause was identified.
He felt bad thinking it, but Louis would prefer Niall absolutely miserable than on that drug.
“Niall,” Louis quickly began, retaining his vice-like grip on his friend, looking him firmly in the eyes, blue to blue. “You have to listen to me right now. You can’t-“
Louis didn’t get to finish though, because suddenly, there were two burly men on either side of him grabbing hold of his own shoulders in a way that would almost be protective if Louis didn’t know better.
Security. No, it would be too late if he didn’t say this as soon as possible.
“Sir, why don’t you come back with us now?” One guard suggested in a calm voice that had an obviously dangerous undertone.
“Yes,” the other agreed. “Your mother is terribly worried. You still need to finish your tests.”
“Like hell-“ Louis was trying to wiggle out of their grasp, but it was too late.
Niall was already walking away, giving Louis a small smile like he knew, but he didn’t, not at all.
“Niall! Niall!”
It was easy for the two men to drag Louis back into the building though, creating as little of a scene as possible. There was no one out because everyone was working or doing anything else except witnessing what was going on there.
“Louis,” Edward was there to greet Louis in his normally overly cheery fashion when he got back. His mother was mysteriously gone though, and Louis’ stomach did flips at the prospect of them doing anything to her like they did to Zayn. “You can’t just run away like that you know.”
“Let me go,” was the only response, snarled with as much menace as he could muster. “Leave me, my family, and my friends alone. Don’t drag Niall into this.”
“Mr. Horan,” Edward said calmly, looking a bit more solemn now, but it was more like a charade in Louis’ eyes. “Was distraught with the prospect of his friend not making it through his unfortunate accident. He needed something to get his mind off it all, so when he was recommended Visionary by a chance run-in at work… What else would he do?”
Louis realized that Edward was saying that someone had lured Niall into this. He hadn’t just willingly signed up to be a lab rat, but taking advantage of Zayn’s near-death experience; the bloody scientists dragged him in.
“Keep him out of this!” Louis shouted as he was shoved into one of the side rooms with the men and Edward. “He hasn’t done anything, he didn’t know anything! He was completely harmless!”
“Well he does now,” Edward only said, shaking his head as he sat behind a large, metal desk, creating a barrier between the two of them. “It’s too late to go back, you should know,” Louis bristled at his words. “Besides, he’s happy now. He can dream about a world where Zayn is completely alive and well, where he had all the friends he could need, a girlfriend, and everything in between.”
“Listen-“
“Why live reality when you can live your dream?” Edward ignored Louis completely, much to his irritation. “Do you think that would be a good tagline for Visionary? I’ve been wondering about that.”
Louis was going to pass out, both from anger, exhaustion, and defeat. They were slowly taking everyone and everything close to him, everything that just barely helped him scrape by in a day.
His parents, Zayn, now Niall, who was next? Harry and Liam? Maybe even Eleanor, despite him doing his best to keep her out of it? He couldn’t let that happen.
“I really must be going now,” Edward said when Louis remained silent, understanding that he wasn’t going to get anywhere trying to save the people they’d already taken. “Your mother is fine,” he added, seeming to understand Louis’ paranoia of them hurting another of his loved ones. “She’s waiting out by the receptionist for you. We just led her around a little detour so she wouldn’t have to witness something as… ugly as her son’s breakdown.”
Louis was basically seething at this point. Seriously, he figured that if the brutish guards tried to lay another hand on him at this point, they would be burnt by his pure rage – or something like that.
As ridiculous as it sounded, and childish, Louis wished so badly for it to happen.
As he was released and made his way up towards the front desk again, Louis couldn’t help despairing internally over all this.
Why couldn’t he save anyone? Why was it that every time he thought he had hope to do something right, these scientists were always one step ahead of him and able to screw him over?
Niall wasn’t even involved. Zayn, he told, but Niall, he didn’t even speak one word to. They had to have purely chosen him to just mess with Louis, to ruin him. He didn’t understand why, but he could think of no other explanation.
At this point, it just felt like everyone in the God forsaken world was out to get him.
“Are you alright Lou?” His mother asked by the time he reached the front again, looking concerned. “You-“
“I’m okay Mum, I promise.” He simply lied.
As the two of them silently walked out to the car again, Louis could only bite back his frustration in complete silence. Why was everything so unfair? Why couldn’t he be a child again, or at least a superhero or someone braver and stronger that could get rid of all the bad guys?
_______
[ Dedication: I'm officially starting dedications to readers for comments/reading dedication, etc. because you all deserve it, and I don't recognize that enough. So this one goes to @ItsSue14, because 1) I'm pretty sure she's been reading my stuff for forever (or pretty damn close) and 2) I think pretty frequently she leaves really thoughtful, interesting comments that are also encouraging at the same time, so I love that! So whoo, thank you Sue! :)
Alright, now in terms of the story... now we know what Niall's been up to. For those of you who guessed it before, congrats! Those who didn't, I liked your guesses too, so you're all winners!
Anywho, there's still a crap load of stuff to come, just fyi! More issues and more resolve (maybe) so get pumped! :) Please, as always, leave me your thoughts! I love to hear them, especially to gauge how well I'm messing with you guys. ;) Thank you all!]