Lydia White
Harry and I froze the second we heard his name being yelled. We stayed completely silent for a moment. All that could be heard was the music downstairs suddenly stopping and our breathing.
"Where is Harry Styles!" the voice yells again, louder this time. My eyes widen in fear. I watch as his eyes narrow and he clenches his jaw.
"H-Harry.." I whisper from under him. He looks down at me.
"Stay here. Do not come out." he says firmly. I slowly nod as my breath quickens and I begin to panic. Harry gets off of me and walks out of the room, shutting the door behind him and disappearing.
Anything could be happening down there right now and I couldn't do anything. I sit up in my bed, trying to catch my breath. I felt completely clueless as to what was going on and I hated it. I wanted to leave the room so badly, but I was too scared to move.
Slowly, I got up and walked towards the door, leaning my head in so that my ear was pressed up against it. I took deep breaths and waited for something.
Anything.
A sudden cracking sound boomed throughout the house, making me jolt away from the door and slap my hands over my ears. It was a gunshot. I felt the panic rise in my chest and all the way up into my throat.
I felt sick.
A million thoughts were running through my head. Where was Harry? Did he get shot? Were there people here looking for me?
I heard screaming and yelling. Another gunshot rang in my ears.
I sank to the floor, holding my head in my hands as tears streamed down my face. I felt so scared.
I felt so helpless.
Suddenly, I heard a commotion outside. I rushed to my window to look at what was happening.
I saw a crowd of people running to their cars parked outside. I also saw Liam, rushing everyone into the vehicles as if he was trying to get them out.
As I turned my focus away from the window, I noticed that it had gone silent inside.
I crept over to the door, breathing slowly. I grabbed the handle and hesitantly turned it, causing the door to open.
I had no idea what I was about to see. The anticipation was eating me alive.
I tiptoed outside my room and towards the stairs. As I was going to go down them, I was met by Liam who was coming through the front door. His eyes widened as we made eye contact.
"Lydia, you need to go back in your room." he says.
"What's going on?" I ask him with a shaky voice. His jaw clenches as he shakes his head, making my anxiety spike.
"Harry!" I yell, in hopes that he'll answer.
"Lydia don't!" Liam exclaims. I ignore him and rush down the stairs and run past him before he tries to stop me.
I run through the house until I reach the living room.
And there he was, right in front of my eyes.
Harry was layed on the couch surrounded by Louis and Niall. There was blood everywhere.
"Harry!" I panic as I run over to him. He was clutching his shoulder and letting out shaky breaths. I feel dread wash over me as I look at him. Louis presses his hand firmly over Harry's shoulder where the blood was coming from. Niall was grasping Harry's hand until his knuckles were white.
"What h-happened. Was he shot?" I ask with pure urgency coating my voice.
"No. He was stabbed." Louis says in a panicked tone. I gasp and bend down so that my head and Harry's head were at the same level.
"But what about the gunshots? I heard gunshots!" I say.
"They were a distraction." Niall answers. My heart sank in fear as it was confirmed that someone was trying to hurt Harry.
Harry slowly turned his head to look at me as he let out pained breaths.
"You're okay." I tell him with tears in my eyes.
"I told," he grunts as he tries to speak. "I told you to stay in the room." he says. Our eyes flick back forth between eachothers. I felt hot tears falling down my cheeks. I see Harry let go of Niall's hand in my peripheral vision. He then brings his hand to my face and wipes my tears.
"Don't cry, Lydia." he says. He was grunting and panting a lot. I could see that he was in a lot of pain, and it hurt me.
"Okay, the bleeding's stopped." Louis says while slowly moving his blood-covered hand off of Harry's shoulder. The blood didn't seem to phase him at all. Harry looks up at him as Louis looks down. "We have to clean the wound now."
I shift my eyes back and forth from Louis and Harry. I watch Harry as he takes a deep breath in.
"This is going to hurt like a bitch." Louis says.
-
It was 3 in the morning now. Harry's wound was cleaned and bandaged. I've never seen him in pain before. It was something I never wanted to see again.
Louis, Liam, Niall and I went into out rooms after we knew that Harry would be okay. Harry, however, stayed in the living room, deciding to sleep on the couch in case he needed anything.
I couldn't sleep.
I couldn't even shut my eyes without seeing Harry bleeding or hearing the deafening gunshots. It made my stomach sick to know that someone wanted to hurt Harry and I didn't know the reason why. Were they the same people who were after me? There were so many unanswered questions. This whole night only proved that I didn't know Harry. There had to be something bigger going on.
Harry wouldn't have been attacked unless someone had a reason to do it.
I went through everything in my head.
People broke into my apartment, looking for me.
These people almost had me.
A mysterious man asked me about Harry and also mentioned my brother.
And now, Harry was laying on the couch with a stab wound because someone targeted him.
Nothing made sense, but I felt like it had to be connected somehow. It was driving me insane.
I haven't been in contact with anyone. Not Eliza, not James, not my family. I didn't exactly know how to tell them what was going on.
My life has been flipped on its head and it was all thanks to Harry Styles.
I knew that I had to talk to him. I couldn't be in the dark anymore.
-
I quietly walked downstairs and towards the living room where Harry was sleeping. The kitchen light was on, and it leaked into the living room which allowed me to see Harry without turning the main lights on. His body took up the couch as he layed there with no shirt on and only grey track pants.
When I stepped into the room, Harry immediately flicked his head over to where I was, blinking a few times.
"Hi. Did I wake you?" I say softly, tucking my hair behind my ears as I walk over to the end of the couch he was laying on.
"No, I've been awake for a while." he says, running a hand through his curls.
"Oh." I respond, looking at the floor.
"What's up?" he says, moving his body so that he was sitting up. He keeps a hand on his shoulder for support as he shifts.
"I don't know. I just couldn't sleep. There's a lot on my mind." I say, twiddling my thumbs. He nods and shoots me a soft smile. I sigh as I turn my whole body around to face him. "How's your shoulder." I ask him softly.
"It hurts, if I'm being honest." he huffs out. I pout my lip slightly, trying to show sympathy.
"Well at least you're okay. I mean, you could've died." I tell him. He fakes a smile and nods again in response. He started taking deep breaths, very slowly. His head hung low so that his curls fell over his forehead. I watched him as he shook his head at the ground.
"Are you okay?" I ask him, dipping my head down to try and find his eyes.
He shakes his head and sighs. "I'm just.." he pauses, "I'm just sorry that you have to deal with this bullshit." he says very quietly, but sternly.
My lips form into a line as inhale. "Harry-"
"And I'm sorry that it's all my fault." he whispers, still looking down.
"It's not all your fault." I breathe out, shaking my head while resting my hand on his leg that was stretched out.
He lets out a breathy chuckle as he raises his head to look at me. "Trust me, Lydia. It is. You don't get it."
I furrow my brows and break eye contact with him. "What do you mean it's all your fault? What do you mean by that?" I ask.
"You wouldn't understand." he says, shaking his head. He was closing himself off again but I needed him to tell me what was going on.
"You can't just say that and then shut down and not explain, Harry." I tell him as I become more irritated and confused by the second.
"Lydia. I don't want to talk about any of this. I shouldn't have said anything." he says, his voice low.
"But you did." I push. "You did say something."
He rolls his eyes and throws his head back. "Just go try and get some sleep." he exhales.
"How the hell am I supposed to get any rest after what you just said?" I scoff. He shakes his head, avoiding eye contact with me and not responding.
I cross my arms and look at him as he ignores me.
"Screw this." I exclaim as I stand from the couch, giving up on the conversation. Harry stays silent as he watches me forfeit.
I begin to walk away, but my eyes fall to something on the coffee table. It looked like an envelope with a stamp or logo in the corner.
But as I squint to look at this logo, my heart drops.
In the corner of the envelope was a red circle with five black dots embedded within it.
"Did the police ask you about a red circle?" I ask Wendy as her and Tina look at eachother.
"With the black dots?"
"I researched it and it said it had something to do with a gang around here..."
"Why would a gang shoot up a small diner on the corner of a street?"
Wendy's words replayed in my head.
It was the same 'logo' that the officer showed me on the night of James' shooting. The same one left at the crime scene.
I feel sick to my stomach. I can feel my hands become sweaty and my body become shaky in worry. Why was I seeing this again? In Harry's house?
Harry's eyes widen as he notices my eyes land on the envelope sitting between us. He reaches forward and snatches it off of the table.
I bring my glossy eyes to look at him, letting out anxious, unsteady breaths.
"What the fuck is that." I say through clenched teeth.
I watch Harry swallow and shake his head. "What the fuck is what?" he says, exhaling sharply.
"The circle. The red circle." I respond. My voice was low and distressed but I didn't care. I couldn't focus.
He looks up at me with his lips parted, not knowing what to say.
It was at this moment when everything hit me like a bus. I felt a huge weight in my chest, as if it was crushing my airways. I felt a burning in my throat that reached its way to my head as I stood there in realization and pure panic.
It all came together like a puzzle from my nightmares. I stare into Harry's eyes as he watches me nervously.
"One of them, he must have been the leader..."
"His eyes were green. Bright green."
Harry's green eyes burn back into mine. I start trembling as a wave of sickness washes over me.
"One of them, he had an Irish accent..."
"he told us to put our hands up."
Every memory of Niall speaking to me flooded my mind.
How did I not realize this. The people who I have been terrified of for what felt like forever were right here. They were under the same roof as I was. I was living with the people from my nightmares.
My breathing becomes so unsteady. I let out short, shaken breaths as my eyes water. I feel completely dizzy and disoriented as my entire body breaks down.
"Lydia.." Harry says as he slowly gets up from the couch and comes towards me.
As he comes closer, my instincts kick in as I burst out into a full on sprint towards the door. I threw it open and ran for my life into the pouring rain, with tears uncontrollably streaming down my face. I had no shoes on, I was just in my pajamas...but I didn't care.
"Lydia!" Harry shouts. I knew he was running close behind me but I didn't look back. I continued to race down the long driveway as my adrenaline carried me.
I made a snap decision to turn from the driveway and into the wooded area which surrounded the house, in hopes that Harry would lose sight of me.
He was the leader of the gang that invaded the diner. He shot James.
He was the green eyed monster that was sitting menacingly under my nose the entire time.
I kissed him. I let him touch me.
I stopped running when I felt my stomach twist in knots and my mouth begin to water. I stopped behind a large tree and immediately hunched over and vomited all over the dirt and grass.
I wiped my mouth and stood back up, taking deep, but shaky breaths. I had ran pretty deep into the woods so I decided to crouch behind a tree to regroup for a moment.
I could barely comprehend the fact that I had been living with these people. I let them fool me completely. Harry told me he wanted to protect me. He told me he cared about me.
It was all part of his plan to pull me into a false sense of security. He just wanted to keep me from discovering the truth.
I sat with my head against the large tree as I began to sob again. I couldn't believe this was happening to me. I've never felt so betrayed and absolutely terrified in my life.
Harry Styles was the reason my friend got shot. Harry was the reason I was hiding terrified in a bathroom. Harry was the reason I was traumatized for weeks.
"Lydia!" I hear his voice getting dangerously close. I gasp and stand up, immediately running straight. My sense of direction was completely screwed up, so I didn't know exactly where I was going.
I sprinted until I crashed into another body, causing me to collapse to the ground. My head was spinning as I look up to be met with Harry standing above me.
"N-no!" I scream. I begin to push myself across the ground as I look up at him.
"Lydia, please." he says, reaching his hand out for me to grab. I instantly smack it away.
"Get away from me!" I shout at the green-eyed monster.
"Lydia." he says, his voice filled with concern.
"I said get away!" I was still desperately crawling away from him while in shock.
He eventually bends down and grabs me roughly by my forearms and pulls me up. I try with everything to push him away. I scream, kick and pound my hands on his chest.
"No! Let me go!" I scream at the top of my lungs, my voice coated with pain and terror. The fact that he had his hands on me made me want to throw up again. He begins to pull me closer to his chest.
"Lydia calm down!" he says aggressively. I ignore him and continue screaming as if my life depended on it.
"Put me down!" I keep screaming as I struggle against his firm hold on me.
"Where are you going to go! Look around you!" he barks, looking into my eyes as I scream and hit him.
My screams slow down into sharp breaths. Tears stain my cheeks and continue flowing as I look around me. I was surrounded by trees and if I chose to ran down the driveway, I'd only be met with a quiet highway.
I slowly turn my head to look at him. He still had a tight grip on my arms. I inhale and exhale sharply as I quiver in his grasp.
He was right. I didn't have anywhere to run to.
I was stuck.
I tell myself to calm down. I try so hard to regain control of my breath. I can hear Harry taking deep breaths as well.
The adrenaline coursing through me had faded at this point and now, I was back in reality.
"Please come back inside." Harry says calmly. He softens his hold on my arms. I pinch my eyes together as I feel tears flowing back into their ducts.
Don't cry in front of him.
"I don't want to." I shake.
"Please. You're going to get sick." he continues.
I sigh in defeat. He won. He had me right where he wanted me.
Without another word, his arm snakes around my shoulder and he begins to walk me back to the house.
-
that was a hard one to write lmao.
how did you guys like it?
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love you sooooo much.
(also happy 9 years to One Direction holy shiiiii i miss them.)