Lifeline (Harry Styles Fan Fiction)

Chapter 40

{Chapter 40}

The second the big doors opened before her, a flood of memories rushed back into her mind. Even in the dim light of the empty house, she could make out every detail in the trim work, every crease in the leather couches and the familiar smell of ocean air, mixed with the distinct smell of the beach house.

It was all the same, except empty.

Katie's bags dropped onto the hardwood as she stood frozen to take in the view before her, as the big bay windows casted a dim glow of the moon over the living room and kitchen.

"It's the exact same." She felt her lips turn upward, as Harry walked up behind her with the rest of her luggage. He gently shut the door closed behind him, leaving the two standing alone in the quiet room as he smiled.

Katie kicked off her flip-flops and padded with her bare feet across the room and towards the kitchen, where she could stare out the sliding doors at the ocean.

It was a view that did nothing but take her breath away. The moon hung high in the sky as it illuminated the black ocean that crashed onto the shore just outside the window. Katie's heart pounded in her chest.

No words could be found to thank the boy who had dropped the luggage and began to walk slowly towards her. She wanted to take him in her arms and kiss him forever, and repeat the words like a mantra, over and over and over again until he got sick of her.

Thank you, she wanted to say. Thank you. It was then that she realized that nothing could sum it up. No 'Thank You' was good enough, no matter how the words left her lips. She didn't believe there were any words that could possibly thank the boy for everything he had done for her.

"Harry-" She whimpered but as she turned around to look at him, the corner of her eye caught the stainless steal refrigerator that sat against the wall of the kitchen.

Her eyes opened a little wider, and her jaw dropped a little lower as she stared in awe at the fridge.

Her feet dragged her towards the appliance, as her mind remained frozen and no words could form on her tongue.

With finger tips, she reached out to trace the 9 smiling faces in the photograph that hung in the middle of the picture collage that rested on the fridge.

Katie bit her lip, hard enough to dry blood as she stared with watering eyes at the collage Danielle and Eleanor had put together before they had left the beach house.

Each picture was scattered onto the fridge, hung up with flimsy magnets or scotch tape. There were pictures of Danielle and Liam on the beach, Eleanor and Katie standing with Andrea and Danielle, all smiling into the camera as someone took their picture. There were other pictures too, pictures that made a painful chuckle escape her lips as she smiled at them. There was one of someone's left foot, and one of Louis asleep on the couch. Another picture was of Andrea and Katie standing beside Harry and Zayn.

And one of the last pictures Katie's eyes were drawn to, was a picture of herself and the curly haired boy. She had forgotten about this picture, and as she smiled at it she felt a pair of familiar arms encircle around her small waist from behind her.

The picture was of her sitting on Harry's lap, but she wasn't paying attention to the camera. Instead she was smiling at something just outside the frame, as Harry was captured mid-laugh with his hand reaching out towards the camera, as though he was trying to grab it from whoever was taking the picture.

"I love that picture." Harry whispered as he rested his chin on her shoulder, and a few stray tears fell from her eyes. She mentally kicked herself, knowing that it wasn't the time to cry. She had cried enough.