Safe Haven ↠ h.s

Chapter Forty Four

I put one foot out in front of the other and stepped softly on the thin layer of snow coating the ground. My hand, intertwined with Harry's, swung back and forth as we walked down the icy gravel path.

"This is nice, isn't it?" I ask, smiling.

"Yea, it is," Harry replies.

"I love snow so much. It's beautiful, especially here in the big city since it's so rare."

"We had a little bit of snow in England but not much. We were cursed by months of rain," he sighs.

"Ha!" I laugh loudly. "You should live here. You'll see the sixth months of ice-cold hell we go through. Of course, not in the city like this, but yea," I say with a smile. Harry chuckles.

"Ice-cold hell?" he ponders. "That sounds nice."

"It is," I giggle. Harry raises my hand, still entwined with his, up to his mouth and kisses it gently. I blush and look to my snow-covered boots.

"You're so beautiful," Harry coos. My cheeks spread with warmth again.

But, the heat doesn't stop at my cheeks.

It spreads down my neck, slightly uncomfortable. I pull my hand from Harry's and take a step back.

"Baby?" he asks, a confused look taking over his emotions. I simply shake my head as the heat spreads through my shoulders and my arms.

It stops at my forearms. The heat starts burning hotter and hotter, no longer just uncomfortable, but painful. Pulses of pain target the inside of my arms and I bring my hand to caress it, but there's nothing there.

"My... my arms..." I whisper.

"Pardon, love?"

"My arms... they... they're burning..." I cry out, dropping to my knees and pressing my arms into the cold snow. It doesn't do anything though; if anything, the snow makes my skin cold. The heat in my wrists only continues to increase. I shiver from the snow but internally, hell is taking over my bloodstream.

"Harry, something's wrong, help me!" I cry.

I look up from the snow only to see that everyone from the park has vanished into thin air. The burning in my arm pulses and I scream out into the air, my pained voice echoing in the wind.

---

My arms pulse, as if in continuation from the dream I just awoke from.

A gasp breaks the silence in the room as my eyelids flutter open, taking in the surrounding hospital room.

"Aubrey," Harry sighs in relief. I give a small smile.

"Harry," I whisper, voice harsh from sleep.

"You scared me," he whispers. "Jesus, you frightened me so badly, Aubrey. Don't ever do that again," he scolds, striding towards my bed and getting down on his knees. He kisses my knuckles and looks up to my eyes.

"What do you mean, don't do that? What the fuck did I do?"

I don't know where this attitude came from.

"What even happened?" I ask cluelessly.

The last thing I remember was watching the game at Harry's apartment... and then a few flickers of the times after that. I see a shot glass, hot metal, blood, and a towel... duct tape, too?

What?

"We're still trying to figure that out," he mumbles. "Neither you or Josh remember anything."