𝐰𝐡𝐲 𝐢 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐲𝐨𝐮 | steve harrington

chapter twenty-eight

Before George could collide the blade with the cobalt of her uniform, there was a deafening shatter. Dustin had grabbed the nearest vase, throwing it through the air and smashing it against the side of his dads head. Everyone stood in shock for a moment before George collapsed to the side, crumbling on the floor like a broken puppet. Dustin stared at his hands in surprise for a moment before his sister fell before his eyes, hitting the floor like a corpse.

"Rory!" Steve sprinted forwards from where he'd been stood horrified at the back of the scene as though he was watching a movie. That's what it had felt like, as though he'd pushed into a doorway of unexpected life that didn't correspond with his own story but there he was hitting the floor and grabbing Rory to see her eyes had fallen closed while blood stained the white stripes of her uniform.

"Did I kill him?" Dustin asked faintly.

"You need to call the ambulance!" Steve yelled desperately, "it's gonna be okay Dustin just call an ambulance"

Dustin ran across the floor with a haggard breath and a sob as Steve pulled Rory's shoulders onto his lap and found himself crying as he watched the colour slowly drain from her face. He cursed as he pulled off the shirt of his uniform leaving the white tank underneath before he balled up the material and pressed it against her stained side. He pressed forcefully but could still feel the beginning of dampness as it touched his palm with its deathly touches.

"The lines are dead!" Dustin sobbed.

"What do you mean?" Steve snapped his head around "that can't be right... why would the lines be dead?"

"I don't know" Dustin panicked, "they're cut... he must've thought she'd call the cops"

"No" Steve cursed, "no, no"

"Is she gonna die?" Dustin cried, "I don't want her to die"

"She's not gonna die" Steve lifted the limp body of Rory into the air and ignored the way her head lolled back with no life, the way that her hair fell from the pathetic tie and scraped in curls against the world. He ignored the way her veins desired more life and her eyelashes touched her skin, her freckles.

"We have to drive" Steve hurried across the room.

"There's not enough time!" Dustin cried out.

"It's a twenty minute drive" Steve stated, "I can make it ten but I need you to hold this against the wound no matter what, okay?"

"Yeah okay" Dustin nodded as they ran outside, slamming the door. Steve was still crying as he opened the car doors because he didn't know what was happening. George Henderson had tried to kill his daughter and he'd stood with as much use as a floor lamp and he loved her, he loved her so much that he only thought of her and it killed him to ever believe he could regret kissing her, holding her, longing for her.

Dustin climbed into the backseat, holding the uniform against her front as Steve jumped in the drivers seat with blood stained hands and pulled the car away with as much force as he'd raced for Dustin. He thought that at least if they got pulled over, they could help her. Dustin was sobbing in the back but Steve couldn't do anything but examine the road he tore up and replay the image of her falling in his mind. He imagined everything he could've done different, he wished that he'd acted and he longed for a second chance to prove he deserved her because in that moment Steve was overwhelmingly sure that he didn't.

Steve raced around corners while memories stabbed him in the sides. He saw her laugh and her smile, listing reasons why he'd fallen for her. The way she napped like a cat, she snorted when she found something amusing and she liked to hide her smile behind her hand. She drank black coffee and loved pancakes, banana milkshakes and grapefruit perfume. Rory liked tying her laces like bunny ears and she pressed flowers in books. She ate honey on toast and thought too hard about presents. She was sweet in the mornings and loved his glasses. She liked whispering stories and walking in the woods. She liked the feeling of holding hands, of being told that she was cared for because sometimes she didn't believe it. Rory loved music in headphones rather than playing things out loud and she would smile with children and ask the names of their toys. She served ice cream with a smile and she swore with bitter distaste for the world. Steve could see her when she rolled her eyes, when she hid her face in the pillow, when she cheered about winning an argument, when she smiled with her teeth and when she danced in the break room when she believed no one was watching.