*LOUIS' POV*

I'm bothered and dragged out of my wonderful slumber by an alarm clock that should be quarantined or chucked off a cliff. I stretch my arms, careful not to bump Phoebe and rile her from her sleep as well. Harry's nowhere to be seen.

I glance around the room, eyes searching for the curly-haired and dark-eyed boy I've been seeing more and more of. I hear footsteps coming from above in the attic and immediately conclude that he would be the source of the sound. Did he sleep at all? Or did he just spend the night up there amongst the aged ruin and dust?

I have a quick shower, my mind clattered with thoughts of immense injustice and all the happenings of the past.....week? It hasn't been a very great amount of time yet the doings were just so capable of capsizing my life. I was made many a time to question my sanity before I realized I was surrounded by individuals who shared the same deficit.

I get out of the cascading hot water that smelt more like metal than purified municipal water. Hastily I slip on jeans and my employment T-shirt with shoes I don't care to recognise before jogging to the kitchen where Harry chats calmy to my baby sister while she munches on Cornflakes on the opposite side of the breakfast/lunch/dinner counter.

"Goodmorning." I greet them and mess up Phoebe's hair as part of our ritual on every ordinary morning.

"Morning." Harry mumbles, looking cross.

"Can we call the police now?" Phoebe cuts me off when I'm about to ask Harry what's nagging him.

"Sure." I take my phone and dial the familiar number. I'd dialled it up many a time back in the days of revolutionary thieving and rule-breaking.

Harry straightens his back before bending over the counter when I let the call rest on speaker phone. It's ringing loud and clear.

"Middleston PD." The receiver answers.

"Hi, we're calling to speak to someone. Ed Tomlinson." I answer. "He was....he was listed on the website as one of the survivors."

"What is your relation to Ed?"

Why the fuck is that important? "I'm his son."

"Hold on please."

I wait for a few moments of shuffling, we all do, with held breath and dead silence. The phone is picked up again and a restless but tired voice comes through. "Louis? Louis, is that you?"

I let out the longest breath of relief. "Yeah, Dad. It's me, and Phoebe."

"Oh thank God." He exhales. "I was worried sick. I thought something happened when I got back and she wasn't in her room and-"

"Dad, we're okay. Phoebe's here in Dynasville with me."

"Oh good. How did she get there?" His voice picks up its edge all over again.

"I came and got here when I heard the news."

"Hi, Daddy." Phoebe greets with a chirpy voice. "I'm with Louis."

"Hi, baby girl. Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, Dad. It's fun here."

"Glad to hear it, sweet pea. Can I speak to your brother for a bit?"

"Okay."

I take him off speaker phone and leave the kitchen to Harry and Phoebe while I go into the bedroom that was sans the focal feature, a bed.

"Dad?" I say.

"Louis, your aunt from Atlanta called in yesterday. She wants us to come live with her for......a
while." He closes a door and there's no background noise.

"Aunt? I didn't know we had family in Atlanta."

"We do, son. And I think that until Middleston has it's shit sorted out that going for a prolonged stay won't be lethal."

"Fine. We're driving down this weekend again anyway."

"This weekend? Can't you be here sooner?"

I think about it and despite me having just started at my new job, I'm certain that this reason serves to a valid enough one that will get me a day off.

"I'll be there in a few hours." I exhale decisively.

"Thank you, Louis." He's utilising a tone I've never heard on him before, a very low but
apologetic manner of speaking. "Will you.......consider coming with us to Atlanta?"

I suck in my gut and a deep breath. "No, Dad. I can't come."

I have way too many bothersome features and occurances popping up here alone now for me to just drop it all and move to Atlanta. What would happen to my job? The supposed new life I was suppose to start here in a new hopeful town? To Harry, I couldn't leave him alone here?

"That's okay. I understand. A couple hours, you say?"

"Yeah. Maybe by....." I glance at my watch to confirm time. "Maybe by twelve or eleven earliest."

"It's fine. It'll take us that long to salvage what we can anyway."

"Dad is......is Hanayen okay?"

"Yeah." His smile can be heard. "Yeah he's perfect."

I smile too. The faithful dog has belonged in our family for all these years, and never once has he failed to protect a member of it.

"Alright. I should go and speak to my boss." I say, not really wanting to hang up. "I'll be there real
soon."

"Yeah of course. Bye, son."

"Bye, Dad." I hang up.

My phone slings between my fingers, otherwise and conventionally clumsy though they are now skilled enough to keep my only means of currently communicating with anyone who isn't in the same room, from falling and breaking into irretrievable pieces.

I return to Phoebe and Harry in the kitchen, finding a blossoming gratitute in my chest upon finding that the latter individual had not left my baby sister to her own devices while I was occupied by my father's call.

"Louis!" She squeals. "Did Harry really live so close to us?"

I don't know whether to shoot him a frosty glare or just answer her. I do both. "Yeah."

My sister did not need to be any further involved in this pot of Hell than she already is. I know one could see no harm is just confirming the present question, but I had a nagging gut that assured me it would rest after this.

"So why didn't we ever visit him?"

And Harry gets another scowl from me when I stand next to Phoebe's rocking stool so I can steady her. "Because he wasn't sociable and didn't like visitors."

I catch the corner of his crooked mouth turn up into a vague smile of humored arrogance. A scoff of insolence.

"Why not, Harry?" She turns her inquisition towards her new victim.

"I liked being alone." He shrugs his shoulders innocently.

"Do you still like being alone?"

"A lot less, love."

"Oh. That's better then."

I offer them a wounded expression, knowing that if I were to be in Harry's position this interrogation will be far from close to over. No fair.

She giggles, covering her mouth with her small hand.

"Well, we're going home after I call my boss." I inform them.

Harry is straight and attentive, though unhappy by this revelation. "Today?"

"Today. Dad needs us and I can't wait for this weekend."

"Will your boss agree?"

"Has to."

Harry's eyebrows scrunch up, he doesn't understand my reassurance and confidence. Damn.
Neither do I.

"Paul. Hi man, I'm sorry to call in this late but-" I start as soon as my boss answers his phone
and introduces himself.

"Louis, I heard about Middleston. I know you've just started but take some time off to go down there. Be with the family." He cuts me off much to my relief.

"Thanks, Boss."

"No problem, man. No extra time needed either."

"Oh man. I really appreciate it."

"Of course. Now go."

I hang up and shove my phone under the fold of my T-shirt into my jeans pocket.

"Go get dressed, Phoebe." I help her off the stool. "We're leaving in ten minutes. You too."
Harry is frozen, unblinking and staring at the counter. He's biting his lip so hard that from here I can see it's turning redder and redder from the force.

"Harry?" I call in the hopes of pulling him back here. "Harry!"

I slip around the counter and jerk his arm to get him back. He blinks a couple times to restore
moisture to his eyelids before looking at me puzzled.

"Today?" He asks again and I exhale in shock and relief.

"Today. We're leaving in ten minutes."

He frowns. "It's too early."

"Can't help it."

"I know but she won't talk to me now."

"She? Harry, can your mother leave that house?"

"Yes. She got me out of the asylum. She followed me everywhere except here. If I find her now she'll know I live here. She'll come here."

"Look." I punch his arm with enough force to get him to pay attention to me. "Do you realise how fucked up this is? For me? You can handle this. I know you can, Harry. Let me get my sister out of this then we'll figure it out."

"I can't let you be in the middle of this."

"I already am, Harold. Let me help you get us out."

Phoebe had to be given a small and simple briefing about not bringing Harry up. She was a little more than skeptical.

"Why not? I like Harry." She states innocently from her seat in the back.

Harry is ashen and expressionless, staring out the window. I sigh. "Do you trust me?"

"Yes."

"Then don't say anything please."

"Okay."

"I can't come to the station, Louis." Harry speaks his first words since we left my flat. "Leave me at the house."

His tone isn't correlating to the one I'm so used to hearing, an example would be last night when he was almost completely..........well, normal. It seems the facade, a mask of unwielding faulsities has been drawn back. He sits brooding in the passenger seat, his eyes fixed on every object we fly past as if each one held a story he was trying to read in the few moments he was awarded.

The town hadn't changed since I'd last been here. It stood alone, amongst a vast thicket of forest trees that hid it, almost like a gateway to some forbidden gravesite. Now it is gravesite, ripped to shreds by vicious individuals who were either locked up or still on the prowl.

"Louis, where are we going?" Phoebe asks me from the back seat when I turn into a dirt road.

"Gonna drop Harry off first, love. Keep that on." I say when I see her unbuckling her seat belt, her hands fall away to her sides and she observes all the houses.

Harry's house is - as much as I'd love to say otherwise - just as the others are. I keep the car's engine running though it is idle. I hadn't noticed that Harry did not remove his seat belt yet.
I notice his eyes in the rear view mirror, they're so dark and the whites are almost completely red from blood. He glances around at things hastily, letting out a small cough or running his fingers through his lifeless hair. The unfriendly vein that's always made appearance when he was angry makes a show again on his neck when his jaw clenches.

"You'll come back for me, right?" He turns to me, yanking me away from my swaying thoughts.

"Uh....do you want me to?"

He nods. "In an hour."

He gets out of the car, slamming the heavy black door like he hated it. His shoes tramp the dry leaves and create heavy noises with each step. I turn forward and drive off towards Middleston County PD.

Dozens of people are milling around the station, all giving me foul stares as I hoist Phoebe onto my hip to make getting in hastier. She tucks her face when the wind blows and a horrid stench arrives with it.

"What is that?" She asks with her nose scrunched up.

"People are cleaning up, Phoebe. It has to smell." I say as I open the glass door to the station and the dim light jabs painfully at my vision.

"Louis!" The voice is female and hopeful. Marie hugs me with a bright smile, ignoring my stiff exterior. "Where have you been? We thought the worst-"

"Was in Dynasville. Glad you're okay, Marie."

She smiles. "Hi, Phoebe."

"Hi." Phoebe uses the baby voice she only used when uncomfortable or tired. I knew she didn't like being here.

"Let's find Dad." I say squeezing past several bruised and shouting individuals.
It could be likened to a bee hive with hundreds of idle bees just going about doing nothing and taking up space. Some frantically searched for relatives, while others weep for the ones that are lost. I feel bad for both kinds of people.

"Louis?" That familiar, aged voice croaks.

"Dad." I give him a small smile before Phoebe struggles to get off me and go to him.

"How are you?" He kisses all over Phoebe's face and she giggles.

"Fine." She answers him.

I give my father an awkward side hug. "How long has it been?"

"About two days. You guys got here really fast."

"Yeah. There was no traffic."

"Your aunt's here."

"What?" Phoebe asks before I can snap my attention away from a hysterical woman and ask the same thing.

"She's here to take us to live with her in Atlanta, honey."

"Atlanta? Why there?"

I watch a small family, a child with her parents, sobbing and hugging like they've only just found each other. How bad was it here? It seems as though a storm too great to recover from has hit this tiny population.

It sounds like somebody said my name to re-attract my wavered attention but I ignore it. The lights overhead seem to carry little energy and are slowly fading into nothing. The doors swing open, and nobody notices as they go about their impossibly difficult mission of keeping a straight face.

My eyes dart to the opened entrance, my focus screwing on the small object standing outside. My vision's blurred with all that surrounds me fading into background noises and soft murmurs of nothing.

My eyes narrow and my heart leaps into my throat. The black rag.....only, it isn't a rag. I tilt my head and try to step forward oddly intrigued by this. I can't see what it is. But I'm frozen here in this spot, taken up and aback by what I'm seeing.
It's the silhouette of a human. A woman judging by the bump of her waist; her face is hidden by
the black cloth but her pale hands are in the open, popping out of the end of her sleeves. The wind whistles past my ears, rustling my hair like it carries her communication.

Leave.

It does carry her voice. Soft and feminine like a teenage girl. Can nobody see her? I step forward with immense effort and a curious eye.

No. He is ours.

I stop moving under her will, frozen here in the middle of the room. I listen to her hoping to catch something.

We will take care of him without you.

I frown at the ominosity of that request slash statement. I open my mouth as if to say something from this distance away, but when an officer crosses the door she is gone. The doorway is empty even when I run to it and inspect the space on my own.

"Louis!" Someone calls to me from back where I once stood.
I glance back at the spot beholden to my father and sister, my head snapping to the beat of my heart back at the door with uncertainty.

"Yeah-" I cut myself off when I see Phoebe on the hip of an unfamiliar woman.
I frown at my her before turning quizzically to my father for an explanation.

"Louis. This is Aunt Catherine from Atlanta." My father's eyes skate from me across the tiles to her.

She smiles fakely at me, big lip-sticked grin with white teeth and dagger eyes. She rocks Phoebe a little into a gentle rhythm and I glare at them. I never liked any of our family that didn't call every Christmas or send presents for Phoebe on her birthday. Most chose to shun any connection to us after my mother's death.

"Louis. Lovely to see you, my dear." She makes no attempt to shake my hand.

I almost send her a vicious remark but decide against it. "Likewise, Aunt Catherine."

"Louis, Aunt Cathy says we can stay with her!" Phoebe shouts excitedly, a childish grin upon her innocent face.

"Yeah. I know."

"Louis is not coming with us, sweetheart." My father takes her from our aunt.

"Aw, but Daddy-"

"He has to stay here and work, honey."

"Louis?" She looks at me with worried eyes, wide and accusing.

I shrug. "Sorry, bub."

"Okay." She looks down at her chubby white hands and I notice a flicker of silver on her finger. I
tilt my head and squint to try and get a clearer visual.

"There is more than enough space for you as well, Louis." Aunt Catherine interjects.
I respond before she can furthen her nauseating case. "That's fine. I won't be coming."
She gives me a fleating and weak smile before looking down. My father decides to speak up and shatter the ice tension.

"Louis, take Phoebe to get some tea while Catherine and I talk." He says, clearly leaving no space for argument.

I nod and take my sister from the woman who is taller than I am with nails longer than my fingers. She made my insides cringe everytime.

***
I pull up in front of Harry's fucked up residence. No offense, I telepathically send him the remark in the increasingly unlikely event that he heard what I said. I don't know if I should hooter and alert him of my arrival. I decide that it won't be wise and sit back in my seat, waiting.
The leaves float in informal circles around my - stolen - car. The windows receieve little streaks of moisture from the slime of living leaves and dust from the dried ones.

The wind wasn't half as strong when I left the station as it is now. The front gate of the house that I have nothing but unpleasant memories with, flicks back and forth with the force creating noises that would irritate anybody. The latch and hinges work as a single, fluid mechanism to emit screeches. I sigh loudly and begin to fidget with the radio when I remember that Harry has a cellphone now.

I scavenge through the details of my phone until I come across his number, a product of him entering it in while I was asleep most likely. I hit 'Call' and wait as it rings once, twice, thrice. The line goes dead as if he hit decline or ignore. I frown and dial again. Same result after the same amount of rings.

I get frustrated and move to unlock my door.

"Fuck!" I curse when the handle snaps back on me and gives me a thin red line on my fingertip.

At the moment that I slip my finger into the warmth of my mouth and the healing utilities of my saliva, the passenger door opens and Harry slips in before slamming it shut angrily.

He doesn't look at me and I wait for the blood flow to cease before speaking. "Hello."

"An hour. I told you to come for me in a fucking hour, Lou." He spits.

"It has been an hour, Harry."

"No. It's been an hour and a half."

It couldn't be. I glance at the time set on the radio and indeed, it has been more than an hour. I let out a gust of apologetic air from my tight lungs. "I'm sorry, Harry. What happened?"

"Can we go, please?" He ignores me.

I key in the car's ignition and head onto the abandoned street into Middleston traffic. What traffic? Everywhere was desserted and idle, like the remnants of a museum.

"What's that?" I ask, eyeing the case in his hand.

"Some of my things and Hamster."

"Jesus, Harry! You put the creature in a bag!"

His brows meet up above the bridge of his nose, the tip that has turned red from the cold outside. Carefully so, his fingers unzip the corner compartment and out comes a white fluffy rodent with brown spots. He scampers onto Harry's lap, the guy just huffs and tickles its ear with detached affection.

I think about whether I should tell Harry about my 'incident' at the station. Maybe I will when we're in the safety of my rundown flat in Dynasville again.

"I said sorry." I say when we come to a robot just outside town.

"I know."

"Then why are you still thinking of ways to kill me." As soon as it's out, I realise that it wasn't the most ideal thing to add to that communication. I grimace and look at the street.

He unexpectedly chuckles before going into a mode of utter seriousness again. "Rupert's gone. For good now."

The light turns green and I speed into an empty highway. "How does that work?"

"Mother promised me."

"Why would she promise you that?"

"Because she asked for one last favour and I said I'd do it."

My grip on the wheel tightens. I hated where this was going. "What was the favour?"

"To come back after a week. We're going to be a family again."

Notes

[A/N: Okay, I know this chapter was boring, I'm sorry :( The song I listened to while writing it is Strong by none other than One Direction. By the by, Harry is 20 and Louis is 23. Honestly though, do you guys know how much I love you all? Opinions on this chapter.........please?]