Stockholm Syndrome - A Harry Styles Fic

Harry pushed himself up in to a sitting position against the wall he had woken up against, still tied securely but thankful to be laying down instead of back in that damned chair. He was more than so to wake up with his mouth free and his eyes spared from obstruction.

“Thank you God.” Harry breathed quietly, noticing his hair still slightly damp and – he looked down to find himself in different clothing. A brief thought crossed his mind but anything was better than what he had been wearing. At least these were dry and didn’t reek. A simple button down baby blue shirt and black sweats. The choice of clothing wasn’t his style but at least they weren’t what he was in before.

He noticed a dull throbbing in his lip and remembered what happened with Christian. In remembering his guard went up and he pushed himself tighter against the wall, hoping to just disappear into it. He had no idea what the dude wanted and he sure as hell didn’t play fair in terms of fighting.

“I could have taken him.” Harry muttered, more upset at himself than anything. He hated feeling so powerless-when was he getting out of this hell hole? How long did they plan to keep him exactly?

“Are you sure about that?” The girl-Sorrow questioned lightly as she came into view carrying a tray with a small smile on her face. She had to give the boy credit, he was strong willed.

“He cheated.” Harry complained while shifting to find a comfortable position.

“Did you expect any less? He wouldn’t have let you go. No one is going to help you Harry, no one can help you. The only one you can depend on is yourself and the sooner you come to terms with that, the easier it will be. Trust me, I’ve been doing it for nine years.” Sorrow replied as she knelt down on the ground before sitting next to Harry, setting the tray down in front of her so that he may look at its contents.

The tray itself didn’t have much on it. Some sort of sandwich, an apple, a small bag of chips and a bottle of water with a few white pills lying next to it.

“I thought you could use a decent meal and a few aspirins.” She gestured as he looked over it silently before turning his face away to the opposite side of the hall that was across the room.

“I suppose you expect me to thank you for not starving me?” Harry sneered, his anger getting the better of him as he thought on her words. The hopelessness of them irked him in ways he could not even describe.

“I don’t expect anything. It was just a gesture of kindness, nothing more. You can thank me or tell me to piss off but the situation is as it is Harry. Anger, contempt, rage…nothing will change what has already been done.” Sorrow reasoned calmly trying to keep her own agitation in check.

“They will find me. They will. I refuse to believe different.” Harry glowered, turning back to face his captor-faltering only slightly as he really got a good look at her. Although it was dark, her blue eyes caught the dull light bulb from across the room at just the right angle, causing her pupils to reflect as she stared straight at him.

“There’s nothing I can say that will change your mind I know this; but if I’ve been here for nine years with no interference from the outside world then how will they find you? Especially since your cell phone was destroyed and every other piece of evidence? Your wallet and clothes were burned and you’re tied up in a basement with no hope of seeing the outside – how is it that you can still have hope?” Sorrow questioned, truly amazed he hadn’t grasped the concept of his reality. She had within a few hours.

Harry smiled sarcastically at her.

“You don’t know how determined my friends can be and once my family gets wind of my disappearance-as I’m almost positive they have by now, they’ll never give up searching. Face it, your organization took the wrong pop star.”

Sorrow chuckled and picked the apple up first, putting it to his lips.

“You’re lucky to have such amazing an amazing group of people that care about you. I won’t deny you that thought.”

Harry bit gingerly into the apple, closing his eyes at the flavor. He swallowed before allowing himself to reply.

“You couldn’t if you tried. That’s why I know they’ll find me. They’ll find me because family doesn’t give up on each other.”

Sorrow sighed tiredly.

“I wish I had your optimism but experience has taught me that for every silver lining there’s a dark cloud just ahead. Nothing good ever happens, it’s always rain.”

Harry wondered what she was going on about.

“You’re involved in illegal activity. Exactly how well do you expect your luck to be?” Harry questioned, taking another bite from the apple, grazing her finger by accident with his teeth.

“Sorry.” Harry apologized not meaning to bite her.

She moved her hand away quickly with a frown before adjusting the apple and offering it to him again.

“Sometimes Harry, we aren’t given a choice. I was brought here when I was eleven. My parents had just died from a car accident and my brother knew a friend whose dad worked in business. That’s all he knew at the time of it. Given that my brother was also in debt and was guaranteed that he’d never have to worry about money again, he jumped on it. He was a nineteen year old high school dropout and didn’t have the resources to care for his eleven year old sister. So he talked with his friend, the friend talked with his dad and after a long negotiation, I was brought here. The friend’s father paid my brother five hundred thousand dollars and I’ve been here ever since. Watching hostages come, watching them go - watching them die, watching them break. Watching…” She trailed off, swallowing hard at the memory. “Nine years, Harry. No one’s rescued them, no one’s had any leads. They’ve simply all vanished or if they were found, they weren’t found alive. I guarantee you that.”

Harry swallowed the last bite of the apple, his eyes unreadable. He truly didn’t know what to make of this new information but a small glimmer inside him began to bubble but he would need to word what he needed to say very carefully.

“Have you ever wondered what you would do if you were to ever be free? If someone does find me and you had the chance?” Harry asked, frowning when she threw the apple core down on the tray.

“It’s never going to happen so I don’t know why we’re even discussing this but if I’m entertaining you with a fantasy then, I suppose…if I were ever free, I’d travel. I’d never stop traveling. Denmark one week and Japan the next. Never stopping.”

Harry smiled.

“I could make it happen. If you were to help me-“

Sorrow cut him off with a hand to his mouth.

“If I were to help you Harry, I’d be dead and you not long after. I tried helping someone once and they killed him. I won’t make that mistake again. I won’t allow myself to be used. You can pretend to be friendly-pretend to be my friend but you are a prisoner, a hostage. You’d say anything to be let go and I respect that but you’re choosing the wrong girl. I’m as powerless as you are. The only difference is, instead of being weighed down by chains, I’m weighed down by the memory of my brother turning towards me once he was paid and saying “Later squirt, be good and do what you’re told.” The only satisfaction I have is knowing he never made it from this place alive. They shot him once his back was turned and I got the satisfaction of seeing it,” She smiled slightly at the thought before meeting Harry’s eyes again. “The only lucky break is the father had a younger son, Christian. He was thirteen at the time and-“

“You know Sorrow if you wanted to bore our guest to death, you could have told him how this little girl grew up to fall in love with the father’s son and be perfectly happy where she was. How she wants for nothing-how she needs nothing. How he saved her from a pathetic life her brother would have given her. How she was tied in here to the chair three days before she broke, begging whoever would listen to her heartrending cries.” Christian mocked, entering in sight of the wall where the two sat.

“How his father raped an eleven year old girl while the thirteen year old looked on, cold and emotionless but comforting and warm when his father’s back was turned?” Sorrow continued with the same mocking tone as Christian’s.

“I can do nothing about my father but you are an entirely different story. When you’re done attending to Harry, I wish to speak privately with you. It is apparent you have forgotten who you are addressing,” Christian said, throwing what was in his hand to the ground in front of her. “When he’s done eating, please see to it that he’s gagged and I’ve placed a new blindfold with it as well. Generally I would not care but father is coming tomorrow and with his boss, they need to see this place hasn’t gone to the dogs. Once father is gone we’ll untie him, seeing as how his ankle is chained to the wall I am not worried about escape and it will cut our workload in half if he’s allowed to do some things himself.”

Harry’s eyes went to the bunched up cloth on the floor his stomach dropping- he suddenly wasn’t feeling very hungry anymore.

Sorrow picked it up and set it to the opposite side of her, picking the sandwich up and putting it to his lips.

Harry bite into it but his mind was focused on other things, he made sure Christian had left before speaking again.

“I know you don’t believe me but I am sorry that happened to you. When I’m rescued, if you’d like, I can put in a good word for you with the cops- tell them you were forced to help in my kidnapping, say you didn’t have a choice.”

Sorrow smiled sadly and shook her head.

“Oh Harry, as much as I would love for that to be true; the truth is, I could call someone-I could tell them the exact location. I just won’t…can’t-don’t make me out to be a good guy, Harry. I’m afraid that’s the part you’re sorely mistaken in. I can’t help you so please just stop.”

Harry gave a small sigh but didn’t say anything further-although the wheels in his head were turning. If he could break through her wall…maybe get her to see him as a human being and not just a hostage, then he may have a chance of getting out alive. He knew it would take time though.

“Do you cook?” Harry changed the subject taking another bite of the sandwich. It turned out to be a piece of cheese between two pieces of bread.

“Sometimes. Christian does most of the cooking, I know he’ll be busy tonight preparing for his father so tomorrow we’ll most likely have something big. His father was always one for extravagance so we’ll probably have left overs once they leave. Their visits are normally a few days, which is a few days too long in my book.” Sorrow muttered the last part out, giving Harry the last of the bread.

“I’m not a bad cook.” Harry smiled, trying to lighten up the mood.

“I’m sure you’re not but given the circumstances, you’ll forgive us if we don’t let you near the stove.” Sorrow retorted, chuckling good naturedly, grabbing the bottle of water and opening it.

Harry drank some of the bottle before pulling away, looking down at the two pills still on the tray. One was a white oval and the other was slightly smaller.

“Both of those are aspirins?” Harry questioned, watching her pick them up and hold out for him to receive.

“The white one is an aspirin, the other is to make sure you stay relaxed, a clonazepam. It’s two milligrams and should work relatively quick.”

“Forget that.” Harry shook his head, there was no way in hell he was being tranquilized.

“Do you want to stay awake all night? Blindfolded, gagged? Take the pills, Harry. Just…make it easier on yourself.” Sorrow reasoned, her hand still holding out the drugs.

“How will I call out if I need to go to the bathroom? I don’t want to piss myself again, do you know how embarrassing that is?”

Sorrow ignored him.

“Take the drugs, Harry. Please? I really don’t want to worry about you.” Sorrow tried reasoning.

“If you’re so concerned call my family. Tell them where I am, drive me to said location and let me go. If you’re so bothered by all of this.” Harry challenged, smiling at her in a way to suggest that she could forget about his cooperation.

“Fine, if you won’t listen to me then maybe Christian can persuade you easier.” She made to get off the ground, she wasn’t playing games. She was tired of games and even more so she was tired of losing them.

Harry cursed but called out to her before she reached the door.

“Fine, but will you wait until the drug starts to take effect before you leave? I don’t want to be alone in case I have a reaction.”

Sorrow nodded and walked back, picking up both pills and holding them out.

Harry opened his mouth and leant forward to accept the pills. Once they were put in he took another sip of water to wash them down with.

“Open your mouth, lift your tongue.” Sorrow requested, having been suspicious of Harry when he gave up so easily.

Harry did as she asked, both were clear.

She nodded in satisfaction, grabbing the blindfold and gag.

“Wait!” Harry exclaimed in panic, his eyes going wide. “Please, wait. You said you’re here until the pill take effect, why bother with those? Isn’t it best to wait until there’s no sign of complications?”

“Relax Harry, I was getting them ready, nothing more.” Sorrow promised, settling back against the wall with her prisoner.

“There’s nothing I can say, is there? There’s nothing I could possibly do for you not to?” Harry tried, hoping to find some ounce of humanity left in this girl as his voice cracked with slight emotion.

Sorrow was very quiet for a moment before she switched conversation.

“So, your last name is really Styles? That’s pretty unusual, isn’t it?”

“Not as weird as some surnames. Why? What’s yours?” Harry tried, shifting so his head was back against the wall.

“Heart. Isis Sorrow Heart. I’ve not gone by Isis for a long time.” Sorrow explained, a small weight taken off her shoulders.

“Isis-that’s pretty.” Harry complimented.

“It’s a name.” Sorrow shrugged going for the bag of chips and opening them, taking one from the bag and popping it in her mouth before offering Harry one.

“No thanks.” He declined but decided to take another swig of water when it was put to his lips. “If you could change one thing, what would it be?”

Sorrow shrugged.

“I had someone close to me die, he died because I tried to help him. I got close with him. If I could change the way I handled things-I would. I’d go back to the exact moment I made the mistake and wait. If I had known then what I know now, I’d be in a lot less trouble.” She smiled sadly. “Jude, his name was Jude and he was my earth.”

Harry felt his head start to cloud over but he was going to fight it as long as he could.

“What happened to him?” Harry asked, his intense stare boring into hers.

“He died because of my carelessness, that’s all you need to know. Which is why I’m not going to make the same mistake with you. I’m not going to be careless.”

Harry closed his eyes. The dizziness was making him unfocused and he needed to stay centered. He had to convince her to---to-what?

“Harry, are you ok?” Sorrow asked with concern when the singer started to laugh a little. She never heard of the medication making anyone laugh.

“I don’t know. This whole thing is bullshit.” Harry laughed, his unfocused eyes opening again. “It’s not about wallowing in mistakes and letting them define you. It’s about taking a stand, learning from your mistakes so you can be a better person. If you can’t help me, than open yourself up and love someone that you know you can help. I don’t see a monster when I look at you. I see a lost little girl who’s conflicted. I also see the beauty no one else sees. It’s too bad you don’t see it.”

Sorrow was taken aback, she didn’t know exactly how to respond. The only thing she could really think to do was sit in silence and let him continue.

“I see so much capability, I just think you need to see it. Even if you can’t help me, if there’s ever a child in your situation-be honest with me, would you think about helping her?”

Sorrow thought on his question a moment. She had wondered often if given the chance if she would save a child this misery? Could she save-

“No.” She answered simply, her head looking toward the ground.

Harry sighed in disappointment, his discontentment masked by sparse thoughts that had come unhinged from the rest of his mind. Whatever this drug was, it certainly did well with controlling functional thinking.

“Then I suppose I was wrong. I thought there might have been more there.” Harry replied, opening his eyes to glance at her. “Although there may be hope yet. Just by looking at you I can tell your eyes are lying and your body language is positioned in a defensive stance, which means you’re trying to bullshit a bullshitter. Thanks for playing, come again – you lose.”

Sorrow frowned as his body jerked.

“Are you ok?” She asked, her hand going to his forehead to check.

“I’m tied up from head to foot, I’ve been tied up for the past week to a godforsaken chair and you just drugged me. What do you expect me to say? Fuck, what do you expect me to do? Sing the happy song in hindsight of celebration?” Harry responded agitated, his tired eyes blinking to get clarity.

“I think you’re ready to sleep. I’ll check on you periodically throughout the night to make sure you’re ok. The last thing I need is for something to happen.” Sorrow sighed, untangling the blindfold from the gag.

“Do you know what I see?” Harry asked her as she readied the blindfold, slipping it over his eyes and tying it relatively lose but still not lose enough to get off.

“Not much now I’d imagine.”

Harry ignored her his eyes seeming to penetrate through the material, right into her soul. She faltered a little.

“I see the most beautiful blue eyes. I see so much beauty in them, I see so much you don’t…so much I wish you did.” Harry finished wistfully, knowing she was about to gag him. So with one last chance he made one final request. “Will you stay here until I fall asleep? I don’t want to be alone and you’re better company then myself-even if you are a pessimist.”

Sorrow waited until his mouth opened a little before slipping the new material through and tying it securely at the back.

“Sure Harry but I can’t stay long. I still have to deal with Christian and…I’m not looking forward to it.” Sorrow admitted, moving the tray away from them. “Let’s get you laying down, alright?”

Harry nodded, letting Sorrow help him onto his side, the concrete pressing into his sore body but when he went to put his head down onto the cold floor, Sorrow did something she normally wouldn’t – she put her leg under his head and let his head and neck rest on it.

“Don’t get used to it, Styles. I’m simply…trying to see what you do. I’m just afraid I’m not having that much luck.”

Harry mumbled something unintelligible, letting his mind close down. It made it easier to fade off with the rhythmic hum coming from above him. It was soft, like a feather moving against a harp.

He was so out of it in fact, that by the time thirty minutes passed he didn’t even notice he had fallen asleep. Her lap was the most comfortable thing he had laid in for six days.

“Goodnight Harry.” Sorrow whispered once she knew he was out cold. It took maneuvering but she finally got out from underneath him, making sure he wouldn’t wake up, when he didn’t she left to find Christian. She found them in the bedroom they shared, staring out the window.

“You’re getting attached, I told you not to get attached.” Christian started as she met him by the window, his eyes cold and distant.

“I’m not getting attached.” Sorrow defended but couldn’t react fast enough when the back of his hand met the soft flesh of her eye. She cried out and backed away, his slim figure following her, reaching back to slap her again.

“Don’t lie to me, Sorrow. Don’t fucking lie.” Christian growled, enjoying the fear that crossed her face.

“I’m sorry, I promise. It won’t happen again.” She promised, knowing he wouldn’t believe her if she said anything different.

“You’re right, it won’t. I’m going to make sure you’re undesirable that not even my old man will want to rape you.”

“Chris-please, please. I’m sorry.” Sorrow begged, her hands to the front as she stepped back while Christian advanced.

“It’s too late for sorry, it’s too late for regret. We can only move forward and I chose to move forward by making sure that no one touches you, no one loves you. No one but me.”

Sorrow sobbed, finally coming to a halt at the wall, her eyes wide with fright.

“Please…” Sorrow trailed off, her chest heaving heavily. “Please-I’m pregnant. I’m pregnant! Don’t hurt our child.”

Christian stopped, his fist only a half inch from making contact with her face, he let it fall to his side.

“You’re…you’re really pregnant?” He sounded unsure, wondering if he should believe her.

“Yes! The pregnancy test is in the wastebasket, please-please don’t hurt me.” Sorrow sobbed, her arms reaching to embrace Christian desperately.

Christian was unresponsive to her hug. He seemed to think hard on what his next question would be.

“Are you sure it’s ours? Are you sure you didn’t tramp yourself out and it’s not Jude’s?” Christian accused, pushing her away from him.

“It’s ours. Jude’s been gone over a year. We had sex a month ago-you came home drunk, remember? You forced me against the couch?” Sorrow tried jogging his memory but regretted it as he pushed her again, this time harder.

“I’m not letting you off just because you told me you’re pregnant. I told you not to get attached and you did it anyhow. I don’t like being disobeyed, especially by a good for nothing nobody.” Christian said, pursing his lips and balling his hand into a fist. “If it makes you feel any better, I’ll avoid your stomach. I was only going for your face anyhow, that seems to be what everyone is attracted to.”

With that, the first punch was thrown and all Sorrow saw afterwards were stars and all her world knew was pain.

Notes

Enjoy! 4018 words, wow. Anyone reading, let me know how I'm doing :-) I'd love to hear from you. Thanks so much for reading and hope you enjoyed this chapter! I'm switching back to 1D to cover more on their process next few chapters. Hope you enjoy!