Chapter 27

6.3K 111 9
                                    

Maedbh’s POV

“You’re the music man”

His words echo through my ears. You have got to be kidding me. How could he possibly be the music man? Caellum had never even met Harry. How could he know him but not me?

“Maedbh?” Harry asks hesitantly “Are you alright?” His hand falls on my shoulder and I flinch away. A hurt look flashes through his eyes but I don’t care. I turn and walk out of the room. “Maedbh wait” he calls. The thought of talking to him repels me though and my flight instinct kicks in as I run out the door straight into the rain. Of course, I think bitterly as I’m quickly soaked. I hear footsteps following me out so I pick up speed, sprinting down the street. A hand grabs my arm spinning me around. “I’m not letting you do this again” he shouts over the rain hitting the pavement.

“Let go of me Harry,” I cry trying to pull my arm out of his grip.

“No, I’m not letting you just run away from your problems again.”

“Let me go” I cry feeling the tears start to slip down my cheeks. It actually made me thankful for the rain as it masked the tears.

“No” he shouts again gripping my other arm so I couldn’t shake him off me. “Just talk to me. Please” he begs.

“How could he know you? You’ve never even met him? I’m his sister! I’ve been there, through everything.” I choke out slamming my fists against his chest trying to get him to let go. He pulls my closer so the punches can’t cause any pain. A sob racks my body as I let my head fall onto his wet shirt, my hands still clenched in fists between us. “Shhhh it’s ok, everything will be ok,” he croons his hands running down my hair.

“He doesn’t remember me,” I cry, my voice cracking “He doesn’t remember his own sister.”

“The mind is a strange thing,” the doctor explains. “It appears Caellum was able to hear the music played while in the coma which is how he was able to identify your friend as the music man.”

“But why can’t he remember me? I was there. I talked to him almost every day” I interject.

“Well that’s the really fascinating part. It brings a whole new light to all the theories about the power of music. People have always claimed that it had healing properties or that it helped people who had trouble connecting with others such as autistic kids. It would appear that it also helps with connecting through the coma where normal speaking couldn’t.”

It made sense and I hated it. I hated how something I’d done, as simple as playing a YouTube video, had allowed Harry to form a connection with Caellum that I couldn’t.

“It is a good sign though” the doctor says, interrupting my musings.  “It shows that his brain is making the connections which suggests he will fully regain his memories at some point.” I let out a sigh and nod my head. It was the best I could hope for. That maybe eventually he’d remember me.  “Well I guess that’s it for now then. Unless you two have any questions?” The doctor asks looking between Uncle Simon and I. I shake my head no before glancing up at Uncle Simon to see him do the same thing. “Well then we’ll see you again next week for another update,” he says signaling our dismissal. We walk out of the room to where Harry and Caellum were saying goodbye to the physical therapist. Caellum had insisted Harry come along and since he was the only one that Caellum felt truly comfortable around, Uncle Simon had agreed.

“Hey” I say awkwardly to Harry. I felt awkward after last night when I’d flipped out on him. It wasn’t his fault Caellum recognized him, if anything it was mine for playing those videos so many times in his room.

“Hey” he responds equally as awkward, carefully watching my reaction, to see if I was going to have another breakdown like last night.

“How was therapy today?” I ask trying to appear as normal as possible. I didn’t want to talk about last night. I hated breaking down like that and frankly I was embarrassed that he’d seen me that way.

“Caellum did good,” he says with a nod, looking down at him. “We worked on balance today didn’t we?” he asks Caellum who quickly nods, flashing Harry a wide smile.

“I stood on one foot for 2 whole minutes” he pipes up.

“That’s great!” I say excitedly and Caellum gives me a hesitant smile. “Ready to go home?” I ask and he nods enthusiastically.

“Piggy back ride!” he shouts jumping up onto Harry’s back. Harry lets out a laugh, just managing to catch him before he slides back up. He shifts Caellum up higher on his back as Caellum wraps his arms around his neck and Harry falls into step beside me. 

“So what do you want for lunch Cae? I ask.

“McDonalds!” he yells with a grin. It was nice to see him start to loosen up, be the cheerful little boy that he’d been before the accident. I let out a laugh and nod at his choice. Whenever we’d gone there back at home, he’d loved the play area and would spend hours there until we finally dragged him out.

“Ok” I agree, glancing at Uncle Simon to get his intake.

“I actually have to get back to the bakery,” he says. “Do you think you could watch Caellum for the day?” I nod my head and flashes me a thankful smile before heading to the car.  Harry, Caellum, and I get to McDonalds and order our meal. Caellum immediately pulls the toy out of his Happy Meal examining it closely before setting it down and pulling out his meal. I take a bite of my burger before glancing over at Harry to see him studying me closely.

“What? Do I have something on my face?” I ask rubbing the corner of my mouth in case I had ketchup or mustard there. He shakes his head.

“No, I was just thinking” he explains.

“About what?” I ask but he just shakes his head again.

“It’s nothing” he says.

“Can I go play please?” Caellum pipes up and I look over at him in shock realizing he was already done. I’d forgotten how fast he could eat if he wanted to do something.

“Yea sure” I say “Just be careful” I call after him as he raced towards the jungle gym. I watched him take off his shoes and stick them in the cubby before disappearing into the play set.

“He’ll be fine” Harry says and I glance back at him, still feeling slightly awkward about the whole thing yesterday. He however, seemed quite relaxed, which helped still my nerves. “So what are you doing this Thursday?” he asks. I shrug slightly.

“Nothing I don’t think” I say “Why?”

“White Eskimo has a gig and I was wondering if you’d want to go? After we could get some food or something?” he asks, leaning against the table, looking at me. I let out  a small laugh.

“Are you sure that’s the best idea? We don’t exactly have the best track record for dates” I say only half jokingly.

“Well Caellums fine, and there’s no more secrets. Nothing can go wrong now” he says. “Please?” I nod, consenting, watching the dimpled smile break out onto his face. “Great, the gig starts at 7 but I have to be there at 6 to start setting up, you can either come early with me or meet me there. It’s up to you.”

“I’ll come early” I say with a shrug. More time with Harry wasn’t a bad thing. As much as I tried to deny it, I was falling for the him, and despite everything that was thrown at us, I was glad the Cheshire lad was part of my life.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 

Sorry for taking so long to update! I moved back onto campus so it took a while to get everything unpacked and to get internet service set up. That combined with laziness does not make a good thing. But yea, this is kind of just a filler unfortunately. The story is beginning to wrap itself up though. I can't imagine there will be a whole lot more chapters left. I'm guessing it'll be done by around 35 if that late. Let me know what you think so far by voting and commenting! :-)

The Baker Boy (Harry Styles) Book 1Where stories live. Discover now