Call Louis biased, but he prefers his Psychology class over his Theatre one.

Don't get him wrong though, he adores Theatre, but there's such a big difference that he feels when he's teaching Psychology compared to teaching Theatre. He just prefers to be part of the Theatrical experience.

Nevertheless, he treats both classes the same: tests, interactions, assignments etc. His enthusiasm never falters and that's why teachers in the lounges can never guess which class he likes best, or which class he'd rather not be stuck with for the rest of the year.

He's a skilled actor you know.

The Thursday bell sounded through the University and the usual groans sounded through his class. Louis laughed and dismissed his Theatre class, which was his last class of the day.

He was ready to go spend the evening at his favorite place.

Speaking of 'place', Eleanor had been gone for almost an entire week now. Not surprising it didn't bother Louis one bit. It gave him ample time to think about a whole lot of things. The house was more relaxed with Louis not always looking over his shoulder and trying to stay on her good side.

When Clement stayed over, Eleanor didn't let him rest about it until she left in the middle of the night. The positive thing was Clement came to his room and wanted to cuddle with Louis, and they ended up staying up till 1am as Louis told the younger boy about all his favorite childhood memories.

Louis watched the students slowly shuffle out of the lecture hall, some wishing him a great evening and others handing in early assignments. Once everyone was out, Louis packed up his stuff and made his way out of the building to his car.

He sat in the driver's seat and let out a loud sigh. He removed his blazer and tie, setting them in the backseat before starting the car and driving down the busy streets of London to Fort Montegry.

Once he'd parked and hung his pass around his neck, he walked in, not sparing a glance to the two security guards at the door. He made his way to the playroom where, as if on instinct, Ava looked up from where she was coloring and raced out of her seat into Louis' awaiting arms.

"Hi baby. Are you ok?"

Ava hesitated then slightly nodded against his neck, but it turned to shaking and a quiet sniffle. Louis hugged her tighter and lifted her into his arms, going to the reception.

He asked the bored looking nurse to get him Jennifer, who was the nurse who gave out medicine to all the kids.

Jennifer was a short woman, straight black hair falling just past her shoulders. She rarely smiled, more so towards the children who needed to at least feel normal. You'd expect better from people who had to see most of them twice or thrice a day.

"Mr. Tomlinson?"

"Jennifer. Just a few questions. What did the doctor say about Ava?"

"I'm sorry sir, you know that's classified information."

"I just want to know what she's suffering from."

"You'll have to speak to Mr. Cowell himself."

"Ok. Fine. Can you at least tell me what you're giving her?"

The nurse looked conflicted, turned behind her and then sighed, looking back up at Louis.

"She's currently suffering from Insomnia, anxiety and possible anorexia. That's all I can say."

And she walked away. Louis closed his eyes and hugged the little girl in his arms tight, feeling her tiny arms tighten around his neck.

"I'm s-sorry p-papa."

"No baby. It's not your fault. You know what happened before is the problem. But we will get through it ok?"

Ava nodded, leaving her head rested in the crook of Louis' neck.

"Are you having any nightmares?"

"Yeah."

She whispered so lowly that Louis almost missed it. He placed a kiss on her forehead, not willing to divulge into that right now. He walked away from the reception and headed to Ava's room. He laid down on the bed, not loosening his grip on the girl.

Ava curled into Louis' chest, gripping his dress shirt tightly as her body trembled with sobs. Louis held her and pressed kisses to her head and whispered how much he loved her until she calmed down and fell asleep.

He knew it wouldn't be for long.

Once her breathing evened out, he slowly moved away from her and sat up, standing and walking out of the room, quietly shutting the door behind him. He walked down the familiar halls and past the courtyard to Harry's isolated room.

The guards looked at him and then opened the door, letting him pass. Louis' lips immediately quirked up in a smile, seeing the curly haired teenager sitting cross-legged with a book on his laps.

It should have been strange to see him in a different position, but whenever Louis visited the younger boy, he forgot everything he ever learnt and taught. Harry did that to him.

He pulled his usual chair, setting it in front of Harry, waiting for him to look up and acknowledge him. When Harry eventually did, Louis noticed how dim his eyes were. They were almost grey.

"Hey Harry. You feeling alright?"

"Don't call me that."

Now, Louis has had many big shockers in his life. Moments that made his heart literally drop to the pit of his stomach and vibrate uncontrollably. But this? This was hands down the biggest shocker of his life.

Harry... spoke?

He had a deep voice. A strong British accent detectable. Hold on... what?

"I'm sorry what?"

"That's not my name."

"It is. Harry Styles right?"

"No!"

Harry slammed his book shut and placed it on the bed besides him. He scooted closer to Louis, getting eye level with the older man. His breathe fanned over Louis' face and for some godforsaken reason, that calmed Louis' racing heart a little. Just a little.

"My name is Liam. Liam Payne. And if none of you professionals can remember that, how the fuck am I supposed to get better?!"

Louis was taken aback. His name is Liam? Since when?

"Ok. I'm-I'm sorry Liam."

"Whatever. Are you here to take my weekly diagnosis or what?"

Louis shook his head, putting out his right hand.

"I'm Louis Tomlinson. I don't work here. I'm just here to observe and assist where I can. Not here to harm anyone."

Louis watched the instant regret in the younger's eyes and he quietly shook Louis' hand. Harry's-erm Liam's?-hand was soft, smooth and did not belong in a mental asylum.

"I'm sorry I snapped at you. It's just... hard."

"I can't pretend to understand just yet, but I will ok?"

Liam wasn't able to reply as the guards walked in signaling his time was up.

"Did I do something wrong?"

"No. Of course not Liam. I just- I'm only allowed to see you for 10 Minutes each day."

"What kind of a rule is that?"

"A shitty one."

Liam let out a small laugh and then looked down at his lap, immediately shutting Louis out without so much as a goodbye. Louis could not think as he walked out of the room, leaving Harry or Liam or whoever to their thoughts.

He made it back to Ava's room and smiled seeing Maria cuddle Ava, and Ava allowing Maria cuddle her. The good thing about Maria's ailment, with Louis' help, she was learning the when. Meaning, she could feel when her emotions were starting to shift. That way she could warn whoever she was with. It was one way to cope with it until she got better medicine.

Oh yeah. Louis knew all the medicine the kids were given were placebos.

Unfortunately, he didn't have actual proof of it. Once he gets a hold of a single pill, mark his words, he will shut this damn institution down. He didn't care whether he'd have to house all the kids until each and every one of them got adopted.

He walked over to the bed, squatting besides it and running his hand through Ava's brown hair. This caused her to stir and open her eyes slowly. Her eyes locked with Louis' and she smiled so wide.

"P-papa? Are we going home?"

Louis' heart broke. Ava had been coming home with him almost every weekend it became a routine. He was still working with the judge to agree to the adoption but Eleanor was in the way.

He just needs things to fall into place first.

"No baby. But I'll come get you tomorrow afternoon ok? Stay with Maria till then."

At the mention of her name, Maria slowly let go of Ava and sat up straight.

"You ok love?"

"Just a little tired I guess. They're- um...."

She cut herself off, making glances to the cameras in the room. Louis nodded, immediately knowing they were probably making them do manual labor. He sighed and placed a kiss on each of their foreheads then left them in the room, walking out and going to the play room. Some kids came up to him, blabbering about how they've started getting a new Pink pill in the mornings that makes them really drowsy and how some of the nurses keep taking away their crayons.

To say Louis left the asylum angry and confused would be a pure understatement.

* * *

"...and in the contextual valu- Mr. Tomlinson?"

Louis' eyes snapped up towards his students who were all staring at him with pitiful expressions. His eyebrows were furrowed and his lips were pressed together in a thin line.

Louis was stressed.

He couldn't sleep the previous night knowing two things. One, his kids were being abused and manipulated. They were forcing them to do things that didn't help their conditions and then proceeded to give them fake medicine, making these kids believe that they're getting better. But they're not. They're fucking not.

Two, Harry. The thing that Louis couldn't believe was that one of this lessons was actually coming true. He's met schizophrenics and people with bipolar disorder but someone with Multiple Personalities? Louis was astounded. Never in his life had he thought it was possible. And to make it worse, it was a child.

Well, a soon to be adult but still!

"Sir, are you having an off day?"

"How'd you know?"

He asked rhetorically with a small side smile. He sighed and pushed of from his position leaning against his desk. He walked all the way to the back, mentally scolding himself for shutting down right in the middle of his Psychology class. He turned around, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall.

"I'm sorry guys. I can't think today and it's quite a shitty feeling."

A few chuckles sounded through the room.

"Mr. Tomlinson, you work tirelessly, 24/7, with no will for a break. I think we can understand."

Alex said, emitting nods from his classmates. Louis let out a huff, still feeling like he's failing because his oh-so-intelligent mind can't grasp this new information.

Get your shit together Tomlinson!

"I'm going to try to get through this lesson for you guys."

A few people nodded but a large portion shook their heads in protest. Alex was the first on his feet.

"I'm sorry. I'm not going to let you work in this state."

"Alex-"

"No! Listen to me. Listen to us! You're going to get sick. Worse, you could end up with a mental disorder. I, for one, don't mind foregoing a single class, just so I know my teacher is ok."

Louis blushed slightly, looking down at his feet. He could hear the sound of books being put in backpacks and then it was silent. He looked up and all eyes were on him, but not filled with thirst for knowledge.

"What do you wanna do for the last 20 Minutes?"

Hands shot up and Louis picked Simône to speak.

"I think we should play truth or dare."

"Ugh. Save it for the party tonight Simône."

Luke protested.

"I think we should play 20 questions."

"What are you? 5? Jeez Luke. Let's play, I spy."

There was a looming silence as everyone stared at Chantelle with absolute confusion because what?

"O-k? Let's play subjects."

Louis said. He made his way down to the front of the class and looked up at the rows of students. There were many of them but he could make this work.

"How do you play that?"

"Simple. First, because there are so many of you, I'm will divide you into eight groups."

And he separated them to form eight distinct groups.

"The objective of the game is to simply out-word the other groups. So I will give you a subject and each team, through their team captain, has to give me an example. Like, if the subject is cars, staring with team A, you have five seconds to give me a car brand or type. You get disqualified if someone who's not your captain answers. And you get knocked out if you take longer than five seconds. Got it?"

Nods were seen through the room. Luke shouted 'esketit' which caused applause and excitement.

"Alright! First subject is... fruits! Team A."

"Um... apples."

"Team B."

"Pears."

"Team C."

"Oh that's us. Bananas."

"Team D."

"Oranges."

"Team E."

"Fuck uh... grapes!"

"Ha! Team F."

"Banana-oh wait!"

"Whoops! Repetition! Team F... you're out!"

Boos sounded through the class, mixed with laughter. The losing team scolded their team captain, because teenagers are competitive little shits and Louis understands.

They played the game until the bell rang and Alex's team won. A good number of them walked up to him to give him a hug or an invitation to a party Louis probably won't attend because Ava's coming over.

Speaking of Ava, it was pick up time and Louis could not be more excited.

•~•~•

Thank you thank you thank you!

This book hit 1K reads and I thinks that's insane! I didn't know you guys liked the story that much. I'm so grateful and I will continue to update to the best of my ability.

Q: Did you expect Harry to have MPD? Do you think Liam is his only other identity? What do you think happened to Ava for her to experience Insomnia, anxiety and possible anorexia?

You guys should comment more just so I can understand what you're understating. Leave a vote if you're enjoying the story too. It's only just starting to pick up because I like to make you wait for drama heheheh :)))

Till next my loves!

Vote. Comment. Share

-Linda✌️