Whispers

Cages. Something about the idea of a cage was absolutely disgusting. Whether it was a cage holding a wild animal, or a cage that was protecting a human from something else. Bars, and restraints were just something so terrifying and it made Rae’s skin itch to think about cages. It was one of the reason’s she never went to zoos.

Perhaps it was because Rae was artistic and a free spirit, that she hated cages. But for a majority of her life, she had felt like her father had tried to stick her in cages. When that happened, she would lash out, baring her teeth like an animal and fighting tooth and nail until he gave up.

And yet there she sat, gritting her teeth together as she sat in Harry’s living room, looking out of the window as the rain poured from the grey sky, washing everything in it’s path from above to below. Rae felt caged, and it was making her muscles coil, her teeth clench.

Four days. Four days she had only been to work and back to Harry’s home. At first, it was fine. She was too afraid to want to be anywhere else. But that fear was beginning to erase itself from her software, and annoyance and severe agitation was starting to take root.

Harry, seemed to revert to one of his old habits: possession. Rae could hardly walk up the steps for more than five minutes without hearing his heavy footfalls trail up behind her if she didn’t return for a while.

At first, she knew he was just antsy. He did not like the situation any more than she did. But then it turned into something that was literally driving Harry insane. She could see it in the way he looked at her and the way that he moved, that he was having some sort of possession issue. He wanted her no where else but in the room with him.

It was hard to be too mad about it. Ever since Harry had woken Rae up from her night terror, he panicked when she wasn’t near him. She knew that he was just worried and concerned for her. But that concern seemed to turn into something else that verged on aggression.

Footfalls made Rae turn away from the rain. She rarely broke the habit of turning from the window. It was a particularly boring skill she had picked up front four days of being locked away in Harry’s home. She wondered if this is what Rapunzel felt like. Except Rae had less hair.

“Is Niall here?” Harry asked, pulling a black t-shirt over his toned body. Any other day, Rae would have stared at the way his tanned skin pulled over his toned stomach, the way his v-lines carved on his lower half before hiding behind dark wash jeans. She was too annoyed with him to do so now. “Or is he late again?”

As if his ears were ringing, there was a knock at the door, Niall drumming an obnoxious and annoying beat on the door until Harry stormed over to the door, unbolting it and staring at his blonde friend who grinned at him, peering around the blockade that was Harry and showing Rae a pizza box. “I brought your favorite.”

Though in a bad mood, Rae couldn’t help but force a smile. Niall knew she hated being caged like this, and he avidly tried to make it better. Especially when he pushed around Harry without skipping a beat, ignoring the frown on Harry’s face. “You’re late again,” Harry muttered, closing the door. The lock clicked. It was an infernal sound. “Remind me why I asked you to come over here, again?”

“You didn’t ask.” Niall skipped into the living room, throwing his wet shoes to the side, Harry glaring at them like a creature had just entered his house. Sitting on the couch and putting the box on the table, he patted the couch next to him for Rae, who stood and walked over. “You demanded me too. And surprise here, I have a job too.”

“Niall, you work at Apple and pretend to fix things.”

“Still a job,” Rae agreed, flicking the lid of the box open. Deciding better of it, she stood and trailed towards the kitchen, pausing to give a still angry Harry a kiss on the cheek, even though she was annoyed. “And you have a job too. So go work the night shift already. Yeah?”

Nostrils flared, he nodded, leaning down and placing a kiss on her lips. “I’ll be home right after. Call me-"

“If I need anything. I know.”

For a few moments longer, he hesitated. Rae stood there for a minute, her brows raised before she finally continued to the kitchen. She heard him sigh before walking down the hall and unlocking the door. Once it was closed behind him, she heard the locks click again. She was starting to think that was Harry’s favorite song.

Grabbing plates and napkins, she grabbed soda as well, kicking the fridge shut with her foot as she walked to the living room, Niall way ahead of her and leaning back with the beginning of Skyfall rolling on the TV, biting into pizza.

Shoving a plate in his direction, Rae glared. Harry would murder Niall if he ruined his white couches. White couches that he some how had kept clean after the years of partying and having messy friends like Louis and Niall trapeze all over them.

“So you haven’t killed him yet,” Niall observed, wiping a hand on his already stained work shirt. I gave him a look, waving napkins in his face. He glanced at them without interest. “I have to admit I’m impressed.”

“Why?”

“Because I know you, and you like to see that thing called ‘the sun’.”

“Funny,” she deadpanned, glancing at the weather outside. It was still a torrential downpour. “I don’t see the sun.”

“You know what I mean.”

Yes, she knew what Niall meant. Besides the fact that Niall was always smiling and often said things that were not categorized as the most intelligent, he was smart. And he saw things. He didn’t always comment on what he saw, but he watched people more than most realized. Niall Horan knew almost everything.

It had taken a while for Rae to notice that. She had always thought he was the goofy and kind boy who was a bit messy and who never stopped smiling. But she realized that though he was all of those things, he was also the boy who did things with purpose because he watched, because he knew. Which is why he brought Rae’s favorite food; because he knew she was feeling down.

Together, the two of them drank their sodas, watching Daniel Craig do an amazing performance as James Bond. The box of pizza was empty, both of them eating fair amounts of it and leaning back, too full to do anything but sit.

Having Niall as company was different than having Harry as company. When Rae stood to take the garbage to the kitchen, Niall barely glanced at her. He did not panic when she spent ten minutes in the kitchen making tea, and he didn’t bother to move when she spent another ten minutes scrolling through the internet with the laptop on the counter.

If it had been Harry, he would have been in there after five minutes of her not returning. It seemed that Harry was sure Leon or Sean could slip in through the cracks in the floor or through the window.

Somehow through his over protection, Harry had lessoned Rae’s fear. Whether it was because all she could feel was smothered, she didn’t know. All she knew was that she was not as scared as she had been before, and she almost dared them to attempt to come near her. They obviously had no idea the kind of boyfriend they were dealing with.

Back in the living room, Niall was still sitting on the couch. It was like he had forgotten that Rae was there, and it was nice. Glancing out the window, Rae wished the rain would just stop. Looking at it made her cold and walk up stairs, begging for a hot shower.

A hot shower and a few hours later, Rae snapped her book shut, glancing up at Niall. He was passed out asleep, slouching on the couch with his mouth slack, small, barely audible snores leaving his mouth. If it was anyone but Niall, it wouldn’t have been adorable.

Glancing at the night that had taken over the atmosphere, she noted it stopped raining. Rae’s green eyes flicked between the window and Niall then, rapidly. Standing quietly, she set down her book, her eyes repeating the same pattern of glancing at Niall to see if she disturbed him.

Rae laughed at herself then. Niall could sleep through anything. Without being obnoxiously loud, but not attempting to be sneaky, she slipped on her shoes, and down the hall, quietly clicking open the locks, glancing at her watch. It would be thirty minutes before her own personal jailer came home. She only needed five.

Closing the door quietly behind her, Rae hopped down the steps. Everything was quiet and the air smelled like fresh rain, the chill making her pulled her jacket closer as she stepped through the gate, closing it behind her.

The pavement was stained dark with the rain and the streets were filled with puddles. But even though it was absolutely freezing, and it was moist in the air, she took deep breathes, filling her lungs with the icy air.

A simple walk around the block did wonders. Rae felt ten times better, sticking her hands in her raincoat and smiling to herself. Her anger towards Harry lessoned, and she rationalized that she knew he just loved her, he wanted to make sure nothing happened to her.

Back at the house, she walked in the door, locking it behind her and hanging the dripping coat on the rack, the trees having rained their left over water on her slightly. Taking off her shoes, she floated back to the living room, joining a still sleeping Niall on the couch.

Thirty minutes later on the dot, the sound of the locks clicking hit her ears. And apparently that was the magic sound for Niall, who snapped up instantly, blinking his tired eyes and looking around, bewildered before he could figure out where he was, Rae grinning at him.

“You can go, Niall,” Harry called from down the hall. Rae glanced in that direction, hearing something in his voice that struck her as odd. She couldn’t see him, but she could hear the anger. “Finish your nap at home.”

Niall gave Rae a questioning look. She just shrugged her shoulders, having no idea how Harry knew either. Not bothering to argue, Niall grabbed his shoes, walking out the door. No words were exchanged between he and Harry. For Niall not to say something on the way out, she knew that something was wrong.

Patiently, she waited on the couch until Harry came into the living room. He stood at the edge of it, and she could see the fury in his posture, in the way he licked his lips and clenched then unclenched his fists. “Do you know,” he began, voice gravely and dark, “how irritating it is, that you probably went outside alone while Niall was on the couch?”

She stared at him. “I don’t-"

“Your shoes are soaked, and so is your raincoat,” he said, voice going up in volume. He was glaring at her then, his eyes a very dark shade of green, vein beginning to show in his neck from clenching his teeth. It was then, that Rae realized how angry Harry was. “I’m not stupid.”

Just like that, Rae was angry again. “What are you? Inch Eye Private Eye?”

“I’m just someone who fucking knows when their girlfriend is sneaking out of the house.”

Rae stood, giving him a very patronizing look. “Sneaking out? Is that what that was? I was not under the impression that I had to sneak anywhere, since I’m on my own free will to leave. Or has that been taken away? I don’t have any free will?”

Licking her lips, she shook her head. Her brown hair fell around her face as she snatched her phone from the table, walking towards the exit of the living room. She wanted to go upstairs and just be away from him, so she shoved past him.

“Don’t,” Harry growled through his teeth, hand snatching Rae’s wrist. “Don’t fucking start. DON’T.”

“Start what?” she asked loudly, looking at him with a pleading expression. She ignored the tight grip on her wrist, throwing up the other hand in a sign of frustration. “Don’t be rational? Don’t be annoyed that you’re treating me like an animal and keeping me inside? What am I supposed to do? You’re being insane!”

“Insane? Insane is what’s out there!” he bellowed, throwing her wrist and making her snatch it into her chest. He was pointing outside now, his hand trembling. He shouldn’t have been that angry. “Insane, is knowing that there is someone out there who wants to hurt you, but you go outside anyways. That’s what insane is. But no, you think insane is wanting to keep you safe.”

“You’re not keeping me safe! You’re keeping me chained, and smothered, and fucking bottled up like someone who doesn’t have any rights! It’s always the same, go to work with Harry, come home with Harry, Harry goes to work so Niall, Liam or Zayn comes over, but never Louis because he’s with Trystan being equally as psycho!”

Harry turned around then, storming away from Rae. She felt like she was on the edge of having a mental breakdown between upset and angry. She wasn’t sure if she felt like crying or screaming anymore. She was stressed and as she watched him knock over a lamp in fury, she knew it wasn’t going to get better.

With a pained expression, she watched the anger take over Harry. She watched it contort and twist into him, anger he had been hiding exploding forth like a tornado as he let out a livid scream, hitting the wall and crunching it, burying his fist in the dry wall.

Rae flinched and covered her face then, feeling tears spring to her eyes. She was so mad, but she felt even worse that she was making him do this, that she was making him so angry that he was roiling with rage.

So she cried. She just started crying, covering her face with her hands. It was such an odd thing for her to do, to hunch her shoulders and sob right into her palms. She was tired, and she felt thin, worn out from being trapped, and scared because Harry was in an angry, mental breakdown.

“I’m sorry!” she shouted through her hands, not bothering to look up at him. She could hear his angry breathing from across the room as she cried, muting it with her hands. Her shoulder shook with it. She felt so stupid for crying, but she wasn’t sure what else to do. “But I’m suffocating you, and you’re suffocating me! I’m sorry!”

“You can’t do that!” he yelled again, though his voice was softer than before. It was still yelling, and still colored red. “You cannot just put yourself in danger and expect me to be okay about it! For once in your life, stop thinking tiny actions don’t have effect, Rae! The tiniest pebble dropping into the water has ripples, too!”

They never knew how right he was.