Never Again
Harry Styles aged 19, straight a student and a fairly popular boy in school. Many would consider him a kind, happy boy and he never gave them a reason to think otherwise. He was on good terms with pretty much everyone in school, even though he was a fairly quiet person.
His mum died when he was seven years old. She was very ill and at the time and sadly he didn't understand what was going on but now he does. He understands that his dad is amazing and very kind and very helpful. He works at the hospital. He is a doctor and he saves people's lives every day. He also understands and knows all too well that the world is very, very unfair.
It was raining outside. Harry woke up to the sound of the alarm blaring in his ears. He rolled over in bed, stuck his hand out and hit his alarm in hope that it would stop. But there was no joy. In the end he knew he would just have to get up and turn it off properly.
It took him a full hour to get dressed and ready for school unlike every other morning where it only takes him 15 minutes. He then grabbed his bag and phone and descended down the stairs to greet his dad.
"Morning" he said with little excitement in his voice. His dad replied with a grunt before saying "where do you think you're going?"
Harry replied by saying that he was going to be late for school but his dad was having none of it. As Harry went towards the door his dad got up went up behind him and hit him across the head.
Harry jerked forward and hit his head on the door. "That'll teach you not to answer back!" yelled his dad.
"Dad you're drunk!" Harry yelled only angering his dad further. His dad showed this by roughly turning him and grabbing his neck. He kicked Harry in the stomach multiple times before leaving an oxygen deprived; in pain Harry leaning against the front door.
After that display of morning drunkenness from his dad Harry gathered the courage to slowly open the front door and walk out like nothing had happened remembering to close it softly behind him.
When he arrived at school he quickly checked his face in his car mirror to make sure he had on the right persona. He entered the building and went straight to the sixth form common room. He entered, throwing his bag onto a chair before slumping down next to it. He harshly rubbed his forehead to try and ease his headache just as the bell rang. Signalling the start of first period.
First period he had English, which he personally found easy as heck and he was done with the work in a matter of minutes but he had to stay there for the entire lesson. So he sat there talking to his friend Niall about his celeb crush and random things like that, all the while trying to pretend that he didn't feel his broken ribs sticking out slightly through his shirt. On one occasion Niall gave him a concerned look when he let out a pained hiss after laughing but Harry was quick to shut it down by saying he'd been working out too hard.
When English ended Harry was about to leave before the teacher stopped him.
"Harry!" The teacher called, "Stay behind, we need to talk."
"Of course sir" Harry replied politely,
Harry gathered his folder into a neat pile and went to sit down in front of the class to wait for everyone to leave. After a few minutes the room was empty and the teacher closed the door to the room.
"Harry, is everything okay?" The teacher asked with a concerned look on his face.
Harry so badly wanted to crack. He'd waited so long for someone to ask him that question, so long that he just wanted to break down into sobs and tell him everything but he knew he couldn't do that.
"Yes sir... Everything's fine." Harry replied as smoothly as he could.
"Are you sure? It's just I've noticed you haven't quite been yourself recently. You've been more closed off than usual."
Harry wanted to tell him. He wished he could tell him but he couldn't and he only knew one way to get the teacher to stop asking questions.
"What do you know about me!?" Harry almost yelled, "How would you know if I'd changed? You never talk to me in lessons so I'm sorry if you want to win that teacher of the year award but I'm not going to pretend to have a problem just so you can fix me!" And with that Harry walked out of the room leaving the teacher silent and stunned.
Once he got into the corridor he made a run for the common room knowing that everyone would be in lessons. He let himself slide down the door after it closed and he let his tears fall. He just sat there with his legs pulled up to his chest crying for what felt like an eternity.
Harry returned home later than usual that day to find his dad drunk and passed out. He took this as an opportunity to get changed and go to the local cafe before his dad woke up, but sadly for Harry it wasn't that easy. It was NEVER that easy.
He headed upstairs and went into his bedroom. He was turning around to look in the mirror when his elbow caught a vase on the bookshelf. Harry thought that the smash wasn't too loud and that he would be okay, what he didn't realise is that the vase had hit a book, that had hit another ornament causing a domino effect that sent a wall of books and ornaments cascading down to the floor.
It wasn't long before he was being dragged by the back of his shirt to the cellar. He screamed to his dad, he begged, but alas nothing worked.
Time Skip
The next morning Harry woke up with a massive headache; the rest of his body felt strangely numb. It took him a few minutes before he realised he was lying in the front garden with all of his belongings scattered senselessly around him. He couldn't remember what had happened but he had a feeling something bad had happened that night. As he got up he felt an intense pain but he chose to ignore it. He slowly gathered everything, put it in his car and drove off to school in hope of remembering what had happened along the way.
It wasn’t until he was halfway to the school he realised it was eight o’clock in the evening. Why the hell he was going to school he didn’t know, he just needed somewhere to lay low for a while. He then decided rather than to make it a wasted trip he'd go and visit some of his friends who are boarding.
He entered the main hall to see Niall walking towards him.
"Harry!" Niall called,
"H...hey..." Harry replied with a tight smile as pain shot through his chest.
"Is everything okay?" Asked Niall concerned,
"Y... ye.. y.. yeah" he replied as pain once again struck him, this time causing his heart to race.
Niall could tell that Harry wasn't quite telling the truth but chose to walk with him and ignore it for now. When they got so far they bumped into Liam.
"Hey Liam" greeted Niall,
"Hey Niall, Harry" waved Liam.
Harry said nothing; instead, he took to biting his lip in hopes of his pain going away.
"Why don't we go and hang out in my room since I have a little studying to do?" Niall suggested whilst continuing down the corridor.
"Sounds good!" Liam replied,
Harry didn't reply; he just nodded slightly and continued following Niall. Liam and Niall weren't quite sure what was going on with Harry but they decided to wait until they got to Niall' room to ask him about it.
Liam and Niall made some small talk as they walked and both made a few attempts at casual conversation with Harry but didn't get much of an answer until they heard a large thud come from behind them. Liam spun on his heel to see Harry leaning against the wall completely dazed.
"Shit, Haz, you okay?!" Niall asked running back to help Harry stand up straight.
When Niall touched Harry, Harry jerked away from his touch. He stumbled a few feet before grabbing back onto the wall letting out a yelp of pain.
" Harry... What's wrong?" Liam walked to where Harry was now leaning.
Harry didn't answer and once again when anyone went to touch him he jerked away violently letting out another groan of pain.
"I'm... I... I'm tired" Harry stuttered slowly, his eyelids fluttered furiously as he did so. He slid further down the wall he was leaning on.
This time Niall did catch him and Harry didn't shake him off.
"It's okay..." Niall soothed putting an arm around Harry to try and help him. He carefully took most of Harry's weight and started to help him down the corridor.
"It's okay..." Niall soothed once again. He told himself he was saying it for Harry but he knew in the back of his mind that he was really saying it to himself and Liam.
Liam noticed that Harry's eyes were closing slowly. Niall stopped concerned.
"Harry. Haz..." Liam called trying to keep his eyes open. "We're almost there. Just wait a minute".
Harry didn't respond. He just stood there looking pained, dazed and confused.
"Harry..? Haz…? can you hear me?" Liam called,
After no response for a few minutes, Liam decided to take Harry to his room as it was closer. They hauled him the last few feet when Liam handed Harry off to Niall so he could get out his room key. He had just unlocked the door when he heard a thud from behind him. When he turned he saw Harry lying on the floor with Niall holding his arm slightly.
"He's unconscious..." Niall stated lamely, concerned for his friend.
"It's okay..." Liam opened the door to his room, "Let's get him in and on the bed then I'll call the school nurse."
Liam and Niall carefully carried Harry to the bed. Once he was lying on the bed Niall undid Harry's tie and removed it before undoing the top two buttons of his shirt. Once the buttons were undone Niall could see angry bruising all over the exposed skin on his chest.
"Liam, get the nurse now!" Niall half yelled terrified about what had happened to his friend.
When Liam saw what Niall was looking at he felt sick.
“How are we going to tell Louis…” Muttered Niall Liam as he got out his phone to call the nurse.
***
Harry opened his eyes to a blinding light. He shot up into a sitting position.
“Harry!” Cried a boy from next to him.
He looked over to see Louis, his boyfriend sat next to him, tears in his eyes.
“Harry, baby.” He cried lightly, “Why didn’t you tell me?”
Harry looked away ashamed.
“I’m sorry…” He murmured.
“Don’t apologize. I just… You should have told me H, I could have helped.” Tears were freely flowing down Louis' cheeks.
Matching the tears falling from Harry’s own eyes.
“It’s okay, it’s okay…” Soothed Louis, “He can never hurt you again.”
Louis wrapped his arms around the younger boy. Holding him close while he cried out all of the pain he’d bottled up over the years of abuse.
“He will never hurt you again.”