Screaming.
That's all I heard as my eyes shot open from my dead sleep. The first thing my eyes saw was digital clock on the nightstand that displayed 3:37am.
With the sounds of ballistic screams filling our bedroom, I shot upright in urgency. I turned my head to Harry's side to see he wasn't there, the bed was completely empty. But with the sounds of the screaming, I looked around the room to find the source of the noise. My heart was racing and my stomached ached at the awful sound.
My eyes landed on Harry, who was balled up on the floor across the room. His forehead was pressed into the ground and his knees were tucked under his body. His arms were crossed over his stomach beneath him and he was screaming blood murder.
I leaped so fast out of bed and ran over to him on the ground. He was doubled over, screaming like he was is horrible pain.
"Harry!" I placed my hand on his hot back, trying to get him to relax.
I have no clue why he was screaming, but he wouldn't stop. I tried to get him to sit up, grabbing his shoulder and turning him to sit up and face me but he wouldn't budge.
"Harry please!" I tried to get him to stop, feeling my heart race in fear. Was he hurt? If so then it must've been really bad because he never screams like this. He wasn't screaming in cries, he was screaming in fear. He kept himself tucking in a ball on the ground, keeping his forehead pressed into the floor and his arms folded over his stomach tightly like he was protecting himself. His body rocked a bit, and he looked absolutely insane.
The sound of the door busting open made me turn my head to see Louis and Niall running shirtless. Niall held a baseball bat in his hand while Louis held out a gun, both of them half asleep.
"What the fuck is going on!" Louis shouts as they look around the room for anyone that was an intruder. But when their eyes narrow to the floor, they see Harry balled up.
"He won't stop screaming! I don't know what's wrong with him!" I say as tears trickle my eyes.
"Well what did he do!" Niall says in confusion.
"I don't know! But I've never seen him do this." I shake my head and rub his back.
"Harry!" Louis yells over his screaming, crouching down and shaking him, but Harry didn't acknowledge him at all.
"Is he hurt?" Niall asks while crouching down on the other side of him.
"I don't know!" I cup my hand over my mouth and sit back on my knees, feeling the tears roll down my cheeks.
"Lets try and get him out of this position to see if he's hurt." Louis shouts to Niall over the noise.
Niall bent over and grabbed under Harry's arms, going to move him somehow. They turned him over so he laid curled up on his side, screaming even louder at the transition and tightening his body even more.
"Harry please," I couldn't help but cry, sitting on my knees and brushing the hair on the back of his head.
He stayed curled up on his side, his arms over his head like he was protecting himself from something or someone.
"Please don't hurt me!" He screamed in terror, keeping his curled body in a ball on the ground.
"Harry no ones gonna hurt you!" I go to touch him but he flinches and screams louder.
"I'm sorry! Please stop!" He screamed in his arms, his fingers pulling his hair hard at the back of his head as his knees stayed tight to his chest. He looked like a child who was terrified of something in front of him, like something or someone was beating him.
Louis and Niall stood dumbfounded next to him, looking down at Harry laying sideways on the ground- rocking himself and screaming. None of us knew what to do. All I wanted was for him to stop.
"What the fuck is wrong with him?" Louis stood confused.
"Is he dreaming?" Niall ask.
"No he would've woken up by now if we was dreaming." Louis says back.
And like many times before, the realization hit me like a ton of bricks.
His anger medication.
"He's having a night terror!" I say in worry, knowing exactly what is happening now.
The doctor said a night terror is a scary state that the mind is stuck in between dreaming and real life. Harry is trapped in his own dark mind and can't get out. That explains the constant screaming and the fact he's acting like none of us are here. He doesn't notice any of us thee because he's not awake.
I slowly and softly place my hand on his shoulder, causing him to flinch but he slowly relaxed.
"Harry it's me, Amelia. I'm not going to hurt you baby. Please calm down for me." I crouch down to his head and whisper, now even knowing if this will work.
"He's going to hurt me!" He shouted.
"No one is hurting you Harry." I rub his back.
"No!" He screamed, making me flinch a bit.
"Amelia, you need to step away from him if he's having a night terror. He could be dangerous." Louis warned.
"Well I can't just sit here and watch him go through hell." I protest.
"There's nothing you can do. We just have to wait for him to ride it out. He'll stop eventually." Niall sides with Louis, but I don't budge.
No words could describe how awful it was watching someone you love, scream in terror while they in their heads were getting hurt somehow. The worst thing, was I couldn't do anything about it. No matter what I do, he can't hear me- he may not even realize I'm here. He's trapped between real life and a nightmare- his subconscious held captive in his dark mind.
He was shaking on the ground, staying curled up on his side as he screamed. Tears rolled down my cheeks as I watched him become so stressed, so terrified of what he was seeing that I couldn't.
I rubbed his back, not knowing if this possibly made a difference but didn't care. I couldn't see him like this, I needed to stop it somehow.
"Shhh.." I try to comfort over the yelling.
He just wouldn't stop moving somehow. His body was jittering and his muscles kept tensing. He was screaming his voice raw, and it's going to hurt like hell in the morning. He wasn't crying screaming, he was just screaming- and it was so hard to hear because I knew I couldn't stop him.
"Has he ever got a night terror before?" Niall asks while they still stand there, watching him on the ground.
"No but he just got a new medication and the doctor said he could get nightmares and night terrors in the beginning." I inform them while rubbing his sweaty back.
"Fuck Harry.." Louis says to himself, scratching the back of his neck.
I look at Harry in tears, feeling my heart race and my palms sweat because I didn't know what to do. I was completely useless in this situation- but I just wanted him to stop and wake up.
But just like that, he stopped.
And silence filled the room.
We all looked at Harry in observation, seeing how he went silent and his body relaxed. His hands loosened the death grip in his hair while his limbs seemed to just go to noodles.
I immediately turn his head up to look at me, to see that his eyes were closed and he nonetheless looked asleep and peaceful once again.
"I think he's done.." I try to control my emotions as my stress starts to diminish.
"Is he asleep?" Niall asks.
I lean my ear down over his face to hear him calmly breathing, and the sound was pure bliss because I knew he was okay.
"Yeah, he's asleep." I state, my voice still shaky.
"Should we wake him?" Louis says while tucking the gun his his plaid pyjama waist band.
"No, no he needs to rest. Do you think you guys can bring him to the bed?" I ask in a favour. Theirs no way I could lift him myself.
"Yeah for sure." Niall says.
They each talk on end of him, lifting his unconscious body up and bringing him to the bed. The place him down on the bed carefully as I stay sat on the ground- still trying to process everything.
"How did he even get to the other end of the room?" Niall asks.
"I have no clue. They say night terrors can be affiliated with sleep walking. So for some reason he went over there." I tuck my messy hair back behind my ears and cross my arms, standing up to my feet.
"God, that's insane. Okay well he seems to be good now but Amelia you should be careful sleeping next to him if he's like this. You can take my room if you want and I'll take the couch." Niall offers.
"Thank you but I'll be fine. He should be good for tonight hopefully." I whisper so I didn't wake Harry, standing at my side of the bed.
"Okay well if you need anything then just yell." Louis implies, making me nod.
"Thank you." I smile lightly in appreciation, realizing how lucky I was to have them there.
They both turn out of the room, shutting the door behind them to make the room go silent. I look down at Harry who was fast asleep, letting a sigh leave my lips.
"Oh Harry," I huff. "What goes on in that head of yours.." I whisper to myself, taking a moment before slowly crawling back into bed.
I snake under he blankets to lay down next to him. Once I get comfortable, he rolls over and wraps his arm around my waist with nothing but a small grunt leaving his lips.
It was like nothing ever happened. Looking at him now, it was hard to believe that he was just screaming in horror on the floor in a ball.
I curl into his chest and slowly shut my eyes, hoping and playing he'll make it through the night without another terror.
When I blinked, it was suddenly day time and the warm body I fell asleep against was not there yet again. The room was silent and it felt like I didn't even sleep, the last thing I remember was shutting my eyes while being curled up in his chest. But now the windows let light into the room and when I looked at the clock, it now displayed 10:17am.
I blinked my eyes a few times to adjust my sleepy vision, but once I did I didn't waste anytime getting out of bed and attending to where Harry was. I needed to see how he was doing.
I patted my feet down the stairs to hear voice coming from the kitchen. And when I walked through the threshold, the three guys were all stood around the counter island, leaning on surface by their forearms while chatting.
Harry looks at me as I come through, a smile creeping up his lips.
"G'morning sweetheart." His voice was way more scratchy then usual.
I jog over to him and crash into his arms in an embrace, feeling he's been missing for the past few hours and I finally got to see him again. His shirtless body was warm and I never wanted to rid of the feeling.
"I'm sorry if I scared you last night." He murmurs into the hug, making me pull my head back and look up at him.
"You remember?" I ask.
"No, none of it. But the guys told me what happened and my throat hurts like hell." He says with his weak voice.
"Because you were screaming bloody murder." I state.
"I know. So I called the doctor and told him what happened, even though I don't remember any of it. He warned me that this may happen again in the next week and I could get violent with this night terrors. So for the next few days we can't sleep in the same bed because the last thing I want to do is hurt you or the baby without controlling it." He grasps my hips and looks down at me.
"Well Harry I'm sure you won't hurt me." I shake my head, not wanting to spend even more time away from him.
"Amelia he said some night terror cases get really ugly. He told me that one guy tried to break into his kids rooms and rip their hair out." Harry tell me, making me gasp a bit.
"Woah really?" I say in shock.
"Yeah, So that's why we need to stay in separate rooms until we know it's safe. Plus you're gonna have to tie me up." He states, making we widen my eyes.
"To the bed?" I furrow my brows.
"Yes, just my wrists so I don't leave the bed." He says like it's nothing.
"That seems a little extreme Harry.." I murmur. It can't be comfortable to fall asleep with your wrists both tied to the headboard.
"No, I need to be careful. Besides, it might be nice for you to tie me up for a change." He lets that devilish smirk spread up his lips.
"Harry!" I whisper shout, whacking him in the side from his sexual reference when we are not the only ones in this kitchen.
"Fuckin' hell Harry we are standing right here!" Louis tosses his head back with a groan and turns to walk to the refrigerator.
My cheeks burn red and Harry just chuckles, not showing any remorse to his words.
"But anyway, Niall offered to take the couch so you can sleep in his room." Harry looks back down at me in front of him.
"Why can't I just sleep in Liam's room?" I arch my brow in confusion.
"It still smells like paint fumes from when I painted the trim yesterday." He tells me calmly, his voice sounding so hoarse and scratchy.
"Well I can take the couch, I don't want to kick Niall out of his room." I chuckle while looking at Niall whose leaning on the counter.
"Nah I'm good, I like the couch because of the TV." He declines my offer.
"Yeah and that way he can watch The Notebook all night long." Louis makes the snide comment from the fridge, deserving an eye roll from Niall.
"See babe, it all works out." Harry smiles.
"Do you seriously not remember anything?" I raise my hand up to tuck some loose curls behind his ear.
"No, the doctor said sometimes I will, sometimes I won't. Last night I just passed out right after it happened, and other times I could just wake up after it- everything just really uncertain." He shrugs, looking so much more relaxed about this then me.
"Harry you could always stop taking the pills.. we can figure something else out-"
"No." He cuts me off sternly. "I'll get through this if it means I don't trigger blackouts anymore." He says with no tone to negotiate.
I sigh and take a moment before shaking my head.
"Alright, whatever you say."
//