"I'm sorry.... for everything," I cry feeling his hand on the back of my head. His touch was soft and gentle and delicate as if I was a china doll in need of fragile care.
I breathe heavily and pick my head up from his hand to see the green pigments swirl in his eyes. The sun catches the brilliance of the various greens that flicker in and out of his eyes. I touch his bruised cheek and feel the roughness of scabs beneath my finger tips.
"Are you feeling okay?" I ask in a whisper once the doctors and nurses give us alone time. The silence of the room rings in my ears as I look at his confused face.
"What happened?" He asks in almost a whisper. The sound of his voice is like music to my ears, a lost song I've missed hearing.
"We were in a car accident, do you remember?" I asked him seeing his frightened and confused face. He looked like a lost puppy frightened behind belief.
"No.... we were in a fight at dinner... you were upset with me," He tries to piece together broken fragments of memories. Pulling together pieces of a timeline that was more like a puzzle to him.
My heart races and skips beats when I hear him tell me about a past memory that happened almost three months ago. Three months ago was the night when I fought with Harry about him being closed off about his mental breaks down, about the fact that he gave me nothing. Liam had planted the idea that he was cheating and for a time I started to believe him.
"Harry?" My hand creeps up to my mouth as my vision is glazed over with tears. "Is it really you?"
"What are you talking about? What's happening Elle," I could see the fear blanketing his eyes. He didn't have any recollection for the past three months.
"Harry it's been three months since we fought that night..." I wasn't sure how to break this to him. It was a lot. Was there a right way to tell someone they blacked out for months that they can't recall?
"What? No... no that's impossible. I've lost time before but never that long-" I cut him off early but hurt when I see him trying to process all of this. He was living in the past from what he last remembered and it was difficult to think you lost a whole three months.
"Harry, I know why you black out and lose track of time..." I tell him grasping his hand and squeezing it as if my life depended on it. I didn't want to let him go because I feared the time I had with him would be short. "I've met him."
"Who?" Harry asks me noticing how tight I wrapped my hand around his. My jaw locks and tears sprinkle from my eyes looking at the sheer confusion that consumed him.
"The time taker," I explain in simple terms at first. "I remember one night you were in the bathroom. I couldn't sleep and I saw you talking to yourself, you were telling something to go away..." I resurface a memory that sparked my curiosity and worry for Harry. Something wasn't right and that night had brought that to the forefront of my worries.
"I feel something inside of me... it's dark.." horror swirls around in Harry's eyes. He's not in control of his body, he has another resident inside his head that at any moment can flip the switch.
"Is that what you were talking to? The darkness?"
"Bad things happen when it's around but I can't remember anything. I'm not in control... but I don't know who is," Harry whispers losing the steadiness in his voice that falters. I see his chest move up and down rapidly before tightening my grip on him again.
"Harry-" My voice fails and my attempt to stay strong for the both of us runs straight into the ground. I couldn't stand to see him so helpless against him own mind. The confusion consumed him with one fatal bite, he was sent into an endless tailspin of questions and fear.
