"What hurts, Harry?" She asked me, reaching out her hand to touch my arm, and even though I couldn't see her face I just knew she was looking at me.
"Everything. My mind." I whispered. "Not my head, but inside... I'm scared. I wanna go home."
"I wanna go home too." She said, pulling me closer for a hug.
Nothing smelled good around us, but even so, I could still think of home when she hugged me because her scent was still the same. I felt safe now.
"We didn't talk to strangers. Why did they take us?" I asked her as she ran her fingers through my hair, and I could hear more children crying around us and I was too scared to ask them if they knew why we were here.
I didn't understand what they were speaking, but I could feel they were scared too.
"I don't know," Gemma said. "We have to stay together. If we're together then we're gonna be okay. Remember what mum said? We're like a superheroes duo."
"I don't have any powers." I reminded her, it felt like I wasn't strong at all.
I had no idea how long had passed and we were just in the dark. I was never scared of the dark before, but now I didn't like it.
"We can pretend we have powers." Gem said. "Hmm... I want to be super strong and fly. So I can carry you out of here and we can go back home. Knock out the bad guys and help these other children too."
My sister was only a few years older than me but I had no idea how she made me feel so safe, her words made me wish it could be real. I just wanted to leave. I wanted to go home.
It hurt.
It was always dark.
//
"I wanna go home. I wanna go home. I wanna go home." I only realized I kept whispering the same sentence over and over again when warm hands cupped my face, snapping me back to reality.
I didn't open my eyes, though.
I could feel the floor under me and I was sitting, hugging my knees against my chest as that same pressure made it so fucking painful for me to breathe.
I couldn't handle this pain.
"Harry. Baby, please. You're home. You're safe." The familiar voice whispered in my ear and then I felt soft lips pressing on my cheek.
I was crying too much, my sobs became strangled as I tried to breathe again but it was so fucking hard.
"It hurts." I couldn't stop myself from crying even more when I dared to open my eyes. I felt so fucking frustrated that I couldn't put the pieces together and understand what I was feeling, it was like my mind was detached from myself entirely. "Make it stop, Cleo. Please, baby."
Her blue eyes were wide as she looked at me, and she kept her hands on my cheeks as she leaned closer to rest her forehead against mine.
I was finally able to take a deep breath, biting my trembling lower lip as I reached out my arms to wrap them around her, just having to feel her closer to me.
I was okay.
I was safe.
But who the fuck was Gemma?
Flashes of this episode I had just been through were much more realistic than any I had before and also so fucking intense. I could remember more things... I could remember her voice. She was the one whistling.
But where were we?
"You're safe, baby," Cleo whispered, hugging me back just as tightly as she got on her knees. "I love you. You're safe."
