Chapter 4

Harry's POV

I left Tom and Dougie to have some time to themselves, I felt they needed it after the night they'd had. I steered a very confused looking Danny into the spare bedroom and shut the door.

"Harry, what's going on? I don't-" Danny began, but I shushed him and gestured for him to sit on the bed.

"I don't know, mate. But we need to give them some space for now, ok?" I said, looking at him seriously.

"Is Doug alright?" Danny figured he already knew the answer, but he didn't know what else to say. "Should we call dad?" He sounded quite scared.

"No, we don't need to go and worry mum and dad right now. I'm sure Dougie'll be fine in the morning, mate. It was just a shock I think." I didn't know who I was trying more to convince.

I told Danny to get some sleep, and that I'd be back in a few minutes. I wanted to check on Tom and Dougie. I crept along the hallway and hovered by the door to Dougie's room. Looking in I could see that Dougie was sleeping, though there were still tear tracks on his cheeks. Tom looked tired and his face was contorted into a confused and upset expression. He was just staring at the wall opposite the bed.

I stepped further into the doorway, enough so Tom could see me. He looked round and tried to smile at me but I could see the hurt in his eyes and his smile faltered slightly. "How is he?" I asked, gesturing towards the now sleeping Dougie.

"He'll be ok, it was just a shock for him I guess" Tom tried to reassure me.

I nodded and looked at him sympathetically. "And how are you? This can't be easy on you either" I moved further into the room and leant against the chest of drawers.

"I'm fine" Tom began, but his voice cracked slightly and I could see in his eyes he was trying to hold back tears.

"No, you're not. You're not fine at all, mate" I said, slowly moving to sit beside him on the bed. I rested a hand on his arm and looked up at him to see his face crumpled with sadness. It was horrible to witness. He looked away quickly but I could already see the tears falling down his cheeks. I pulled him into a tight hug and rubbed comforting circles on his back as he sobbed quietly into my shoulder.

After a while he seemed to calm down a bit. He pulled away slowly and looked at me, smiling sadly. Something didn't add up here. I know it was traumatic, but I didn't understand why the two seemed so haunted by the evening's events.

"Tom?" I began slowly. He looked at me, waiting, as if he knew what was coming. "There's more to this isn't there? You're not this upset over just what happened with your dad, right?" He nodded slowly and looked down at his sleeping brother, tears stinging his eyes once more.

"It's more than just tonight, yeah," he started, his voice low and wobbling slightly. "Our mum, she... she was an alcoholic, Harry… for ages before she died, and it eventually killed her."

My face must have said it all because before I had time to respond he had started speaking again.

"I know what you're thinking. But she died in a car crash? Yeah, she did, but it was her fault. She had been drinking. Just like she had been for weeks, maybe even months before that. She and dad had been arguing non-stop and she did nothing but shout at me and Doug. Then one day, she had a little too much to drink and she hit Dougie. All he did was forget to take out the trash." He paused for a minute, letting me absorb the information. My mind was reeling. Aunt Jane? She had done that to her own son? Tom continued, still speaking quietly so as not to wake Dougie.

"It got worse, she started drinking more and... hitting us more often..." his voice cracked slightly at the admission, "Even when we hadn't done anything wrong. Dad eventually found out about it, and confronted her and she flipped out." His eyes glazed over as he spoke. "Dougie ended up in the emergency room that night: he needed stitches from where her ring had caught him as she hit him. She left in her car after she saw the blood and the look on his face. That was the night she... died." He finished, fresh tears rolling down his cheeks. There were tears in my eyes now too, I couldn't believe such an awful thing could have happened to my cousins, and nobody had noticed it.

"Tom, I'm so sorry" I began, though I knew only too well that my words could never make it better. I gripped his hand in mine and wiped my eyes with my other: I needed to stay strong for them. He sniffed, wiped his eyes and leant back against the headboard again.

I kept my eyes locked on him, shifting back to lean against the end board of the bed. For what felt like ages we just sat in silence, Tom continually checking on his sleeping brother.

Exhaustion began to wash over me and I could feel my eyelids drooping, as we're Tom's. Just as I was about to fall asleep I felt somebody move suddenly and sharply next to me. My eyes snapped open to see Dougie thrashing about beside Tom, his face screwed up in pain and fear.

"NO, STOP... PLEASE" he shouted, still fast asleep. "DAD, NO! PLEASE! AHHH"

Tom was shaking his shoulders, shouting his name in an attempt to wake him. His eyes were filled with fear too. I just sat there, helpless and unsure what to do.

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