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Chapter Thirteen

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Louis' POV

The only sound around us is the sound of gravel crunching beneath our shoes. I feel the sun burn my back and my feet start to hurt. We've been walking for three hours I think. And there's still no sign of life.

"Hazz," I breathe. "Can we stop for a moment? I can't walk anymore"

I pull Harry back by his wrist. He stops in his tracks and spins around. I bend forwards and rest my hands on my knees. I'm breathing heavily.

"You okay?" Harry asks before he sits himself down on the road. I join him.

"I'm fine, you?"

"Yeah, I'm good." Harry wipes some sweat from his forehead. "But we've been walking for ages! We'll never get to a city. We'll probably die out here!"

"Stop being so dramatic" I laugh and give Harry a little push. Harry giggles and pushed me back. I laugh a little more before I tell him he's right. And it scared me too. We're miles away. We're the only ones here and it's incredibly silent. Though, the silence calms me down too. It's very peaceful and beautiful. I feel like nothing can harm us here. We're miles away from Jack. And that feels kind of safe.

"You think we'll find a village or something if we keep walking?" Harry questions. Little droplets of sweat drip down the sides of his head. A soft breeze makes most of Harry's hair blow around his face. Only a few locks stick to his sweaty forehead. The sun makes the green in Harry's eyes even brighter and he looks absolutely beautiful.

"Yeah," I shrug. "Eventually"

Harry lets out a deep sigh and lets himself fall backwards, resting his head and shoulders on some grass at the side of the road. Harry's hand moves to my shoulder and he slowly pulls me down as well. I lay besides him on the road as we watch the sky.

"The sky is beautiful, don't you think?" Harry asks and I turn my head to look at him. "Looks quite similar to your eyes, Lou" he whispers. "Only yours are way more beautiful" I lift my hand and trace Harry's lips with my index finger. Harry just smiles as I remain speechless. He moves his face closer to me and not even a second later, he wraps his plump lips around mine. My entire body starts to tingle.

Our kissing turns into a hot snog session and as much as I like it, we both decide it might be better if we just keep walking. So we just lay down a little longer to get our breathing to a normal pace. We both left our phones at the house and neither of us wears a watch. I have no idea what time it is and when it will be dark again. Sleeping under the stars with Harry sounds very tempting, but it's better if we find an actual place to stay.

I help Harry to his feet and we start to walk again.

Harry told me that the pain in his abdomen still feels horrific, but it's bearable. I don't believe him for shit, but I just go with it. Both our faces look pretty damaged still, but it'll heal. We will be alright. We have to be. We can't let Jack bring us down anymore. It has to stop.

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Another two hours have passed and it's slowly getting dark again. I don't really know what it is with Portugal, but it gets dark pretty soon over here.

We are so tired and Harry is still in pain. I can't do this any longer. Harry is almost crawling next to me, his head down and his shoulders low. I sigh and look up. Something gets my attention.

"Harry, do you see that?!" I ask and shake his arm.

Harry looks to where I'm pointing. Little lights are spread out over the horizon. And if you listen closely, you can even hear bells from some church.

I assume it's the sound of a clock. It strikes ten times.

"There's a village!" I say and start to jump. I pull Harry's arm to have him jump with me, but Harry winces in pain. "Oh shit. I'm sorry, love" I caress my hand through Harry's hair. "I forgot"

A soft smile spreads on Harry's lips. "It's okay, babe. I'm fine." He kisses me, but before I can even kiss him back, he pulls away. "Let's go, babe! I'm so hungry!"

I laugh and follow him. Soon we can hear the sound of music and the lights get brighter. I can even see some houses. We're so close.

There's a sign places at the side of the road. 'Cascais' is written on it in colourful letters.

"That must be the name of this town" Harry whispers.

"No really?" I say sarcastically. Harry gives me a little punch with his elbow.

The sound of music and people laughing lures us closer. We reach a building where we see people dancing and having fun. A big smile spreads on my face. We're at a cafe I think. There's a pendulum with all different kind of colours above the door.

"Lets have a look inside" Harry says happily and pulls me along with him. To my surprise, it's quieter inside than outside. We make our way to the bar in the back of the room. A very energetic woman walks over to us the minute we sit down.

"You guys are not from Portugal, I can tell" She says. "I can speak English" she smiles. "Do you guys want something to drink? To eat? Do you need the bathroom?"

The woman talk rather loud and a big smile is spread on her face, showing her white teeth.

Her hair is tugged into a side bread and her brown eyes are highlighted with blue eyeliner and a bit mascara. She's wearing a blue beach dress. I can not see her shoes because she is standing next to the bar. She's wearing some bracelets around her tanned wrists and she's got a henna tattoo I think.

The woman is in her mid-thirties, maybe. She's got some wrinkles on her face and it makes her look even cuter. She's quite big as well. Like big mama from that movie, but slimmer.

I laugh a little uncomfortably before I turn to Harry. "You hungry?" I ask. "Because I am"

"Very" Harry laughs. "Do we have money though?"

My happy face drops. "No..."

"Same" Harry says as he sighs and looks at the woman. "Could we still use your restroom, though?"

"Sure you can! But you know what?" She motions for us to come closer. "You can get the food from me. From the house. That's okay"

"Oh no! You don't ha-" Harry begins, but I cut him off.

"That's very nice of you" I correct and look at Harry. Harry turns back to the woman and gives her some sort of apologizing, but thankful smile.

"I like you two" she sniggers. "I'm gonna make a special dinner for you"

Harry and I go to the toilet and sit back at the bar once we're done. Not very much later the woman comes up to is with two plates of food. I must admit, it smells amazing. There's some fish, pineapples and bread with cheese. The woman keeps staring at us as if she's waiting for us to try it. I don't really trust her, though. Free food? My eyes meet with her's as I stop in my tracks. I think Harry notices because he bursts into laughter.

"She hasn't poisoned you!" he jokes and shoves my shoulder lightly. The lady just stands there with her arms crossed and a smirk on her face. Harry rolls his eyes at me and takes a bite of his food. Harry moans and I choke on my spit. Why did he moan?

"You like it?" the lady asks, smiling.

"This is amazing!" Harry says with a mouth full and takes another bite. "Louis, you should try this!"

"So your name is Louis?" she raises her eyebrows and waits for me to answer.

"Yeah it is. And this is my boyfriend Harry" I say proudly.

"Nice to meet you, Louis" she smiles. "I'm Gloria" She shakes my hand before she turns to Harry. "Hi"

Harry smiles and shakes her hand, but than continues eating. I sigh and start to eat as well. Harry was right. The food is amazing!

"Well, I will leave you two. Bon appetite!" We both thank her and watch her walk away.

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"Well, I was always secretly watching him at school and this one day he spilled his milk on the floor. When he wanted to walk away, he slipped and slammed to the ground. Everybody was laughing at him, but I walked over to him, got him back on his feet and walked him to class. That was the first time we properly met and I was immediately in love with him," Harry's smiling brightly once he's finished telling his story. Loads of 'Ahw's' and 'Ooh's' sound from people around us. I feel myself blush, but the memory makes my heart skip a beat as well. I will never forget the day we met. Even though I humiliated myself, it was the best day of my high school years.

We're currently standing at the bar with a bunch of people, having some drinks and a laugh. This is nice.

Suddenly, I feel someone pull my wrist.

I turn around in confusion and I am met with two frowning eyes.

"Hello," I say.

There's an old lady standing in front of me. She doesn't say a thing and just keep staring at me.

I feel a tall figure appear behind me.

It's Harry. He leans in and kissed my cheek. "Hello, babe" he smiles and puts an arm around me. "Who's this?"

"I don't know..." I speak slowly.

The old lady looks from me to Harry and then back to me. "I know you" she almost whispers.

We remain silent. What is she talking about?

"I've seen you before. On the news"

"What?" Harry asks in confusion.

"The news?" I add.

"Yeah, on the television. Yes" she scratches her chin. "You are those missing boys"

"I'm sorry, what are you talking about?" I ask a bit annoyed now. She's crazy or something. What to hell she means by missing?

"You were on the news this morning" she says slowly and as if she's just witnessed a miracle. "There are two boys your age missing and you look exactly like them. I'm going to call the police-"

"No, no, no, no, no, wait a second" I say and guide Harry and the lady out of the cafe. "You can't call the police. How can you be so sure that we are those boys?"

The woman doesn't say anything for a while and then starts to search for something in her bag. For a moment I'm scared she's getting her phone anyway, but she takes out a paper. She hands it to me.

Both Harry and I look at the poster with our mouths open. Our faces are printed on the paper and our names are written underneath. There's a police number on it as well and the title says; 'Missing'.

"Jack must've done this" I whisper to Harry. "He must have called the police. No one else could have"

Harry nods slowly. "Ma'am, you really can not call the police. Please. You need to trust us. We aren't missing, we're just..."

"Euh.. On a little trip" I finish for Harry.

"I don't believe you" she hisses.

"Well, you have to!" Harry bites back.

"A lot has happened to us and the last thing we want is police taking us back to the place it all began" I feel tears sting in my eyes as the words leave my lips. The woman stays silent again. "Please" I add. "It's a very long story, but you need to believe me. Please, promise us that you won't call the police. It'll make our lives miserable"

"Who beat you up?" she asks rather than answering me. Neither Harry or I start to talk. "If you answer the question, I won't call the police"

I hear Harry sigh deeply besides me. "I-It was my stepdad. He's a big homophobe and he's made both our lives miserable," Harry points to me as he's teling the story. I grab Harry's hand once I see tears fall down his cheeks. "This man is the love of my life, but I can barely be with him or be myself because my stepdad doesn't accept it and now he's haunting us down,"

I kiss Harry's cheek briefly and look down afterwards. The old lady doesn't answer but she smiles understandingly.

"Do you need a place to stay?" A voice suddenly speaks from behind us.

Harry and I spin around. Gloria is standing in the doorway of the cafe.

"I'm sorry, I heard everything" she confesses. "But it sounds like you need a place to stay. So if you want to, you can stay with me"

I feel a massive smile creep onto my face. I look at Harry but he seems to be progressing it all. I don't blame him. Is it safe? And doesn't she mind? She's really sweet and a very good cook, though. It seems like a good thing to do.

Also, Jack will never find us here.

"That would be great"