One Direction // One Shots

Lirry :: Ghost of You

"Hi, Harry." Liam said, sitting down in front of the other boy. Harry didn't say anything. Harry didn't even look at him, but how could he? His eyes were closed.

Liam tried to think of something he could say without asking how Harry's day went. Harry had been here all day long, what was there to it? Liam bit his lip and looked away from Harry for a second, but Harry didn't notice.

His eyes were closed.

"We used to have something." Liam blurted. He hadn't meant to, but he didn't stop himself, either. "We were just friends, but I felt a connection with you. I was in love with you, Harry, and our friendship was so good. Then we . . . we just stopped. We stopped hanging out, we stopped being friends, and we just- stopped."

Harry didn't say anything. He didn't open his eyes, he didn't take a breath, and he didn't move a muscle. Not a single one. Liam sighed and wiped away a tear that fell from his eye. Then he began to chuckle a bit.

"You know, I ask you every day what happened to us, but you never answer." Liam said. Harry stayed silent. "B-but that's alright. I already know why."

Liam paused. Harry didn't say a word.

"I-it's because you left me. Do you remember that? You just left me. You slipped right through my fingertips. You moved away to a whole new place that I couldn't reach. You left me here stranded all alone, and now we're . . . this. I talk and you stay silent. It's not fair, Harry. It's not fair at all."

Harry, still, stayed silent.

"Why'd you leave?" Liam asked. "You left me with nothing but a note. A note telling me you couldn't stay with us anymore because you loved me and you didn't think I loved you. Fuck, Harry, why didn't you just tell me?"

Liam looked at Harry desperately, but Harry didn't say anything. He didn't move, he didn't open his eyes, he didn't breath. Nothing. But Liam didn't mind. This happened every day.

"I brought these for you." Liam smiled, laying the flowers in front of Harry. "I figured you'd need them . . . you'd need something living to keep you company while I wasn't here."

Liam reached out and brushed his fingers lightly over the cement rock of the gravestone. It felt odd under his fingers. He was so used to the smooth, soft, alive feel of Harry's curls, but now Harry was just a rocky, rough, dead piece of rock - or so it felt.

"It hurts a lot, Haz." Liam whispered. "That I can't say this to you. You had to die not knowing . . . not knowing I loved you back. You died in pain, Harry. Then you left me in pain, but I-I guess I deserve it. I mean, we're partners. If one of us is in pain, the other has to be, right? Our hearts are connected, and that's why half of mine is just dead - right?"

Harry didn't say anything, not that he could. Liam scrunched up his face in pain and looked down at the dirt. Tears fell rapidly down his face, but he was too numb to wipe them away. He was sure if he tried to move it would feel like there were a few thousand elephants weighing down every inch of his body down.

"I never even got to hold your hand, much less kiss you or make love to you or wake up in the morning with you pressed into my side. We never got to be happy together, and we probably never will. By the time I die, I'll be old and wrinkly and ugly and you won't want me anymore. I'll go to Heaven where you're waiting, and you won't even recognize me. I'll just be an old, ugly man."

Liam brushed his fingers over the rough surface of the rock again, but this time he smiled instead of letting more tears fall. "But I'll recognize you. You with your perfect curly hair, big, emerald green eyes, only slightly crooked teeth that peek through your beautiful, pink, full lips when you smile . . . you'll be gorgeous, Haz - even more than you were on Earth. You were already an angel here, kissed by God himself, I can't imagine what you look like up there."

Liam felt better now, talking to Harry about the good instead of the bad. He felt like, when he had to leave today, he wouldn't have that trillion pounds weighing him down and making it so hard to even think. He'd be able to walk away, looking back a billion times, but he'd be able to do it without any struggle.

Maybe Harry was watching over him.

"I love you, Harry. I just wish I could've told you that." Liam whispered. He placed a kiss on the corner of the gravestone and took off his necklace, draping it over the bottom of the rough rock.

"Remember me, Harry." Liam said. He brushed his thumb over the gravestone once more before he got up and walked away. He looked back once and, he must've been imagining it, but he saw Harry there, standing next to the gravestone. Most people would be horribly frightened and run away, but Liam didn't. He just shoved his hands in his pockets and smiled. Harry was just like he pictured - ten times more gorgeous than he already was on earth.

Harry bent down and picked up the necklace Liam had lay there. He studied it for a minute, smiling, before he put in on. He grabbed one of the many roses and sniffed it gently. Liam already knew Harry was thinking that it smelled like him.

Harry, taking the rose, walked out of the graveyard and soon disappeared into the thicket of trees and bushes that lay far behind.

Liam walked home with his hands still in his pockets. It was getting dark. He decided, when he got home, he'd make a cup of tea and go to bed.

He'd be back to visit Harry tomorrow.

-•-

Liam was positive he had imagined it that day- Harry taking the necklace and a rose. Of course he thought that. Things like that don't just happen.

Liam sat in front of Harry's grave again. He opened his mouth to say something, but shut it quickly as his eyes went wide.

His necklace was gone. Surely nobody could have taken it. He counted out the roses and- oh. There were only eleven.

Liam had seen Harry. He hadn't imagined it at all! Harry was still here, with him, and he took that necklace and that rose. Liam had seen Harry.

Liam smiled at the gravestone. He wasn't alone, after all.