☣ alien ☣ || h.s. au

xii. i think i like you

hello! so sorry for the wait i haven't had any access to internet for awhile... but i have written like 3 chapters while i was gone. when i come back permanently i will post them. for now enjoy this chappy and gorgeous willa holland. this chapter is dedicated to @Girl_Almighty_18 for being an amazingly active reader and for commenting something that was made me laugh (: okieeeeee enjoy i love you all and i apologize for falling off the face of the earth!

- a n n e t t a -

I was awoken to the strident and continuous ring of our landline telephone (which had been in our home since god knows when). In a sleepy stupor, I stumbled out of bed and around to the kitchen to answer it. After bumping into multiple walls that I'd forgotten were there, I find myself clutching the phone with apprehensive, shaky hands. Who would be calling at this ungodly hour of night unless it was important news, or a murderer/stalker who has been watching this family for 6 years?

"Is this the Stein household?" the person on the other line said in a monotone voice, yet it held the perfect amount of professional expressionlessness. I felt Harry and my father approach me from behind, listening gravely, even through their sleepy state.

"Yes, it is," I answered, immediately thinking of my mother, "Is it Mrs. Stein? What's happened?"

"This is Noble's Hospital. I am calling to tell you that Mrs. Stein is in critical condition and is not expected to make it through the night."

My father immediately snatched the phone from my hand and began speaking at a ridiculously fast pace to the nurse on the other line. I stared blankly at nothing in particular as I stumbled into Harry's chest. He impulsively wrapped his arms around me tightly. A wave of tears overwhelmed my body and fell from my face in a steady stream, yet all I felt inside was emptiness, as if the place that my mother held in my heart had already been ripped out. My body quivered and quaked, and I felt as if I couldn't breathe in enough air to suffice my greedy lungs. Harry ran his hand up and down my back and attempted to soothe me with the sporadic sentences he spoke in my ear. I still felt nothing.

My father placed the telephone back in its cradle and said solemnly, "We have to go. I trust that you will get Annetta there safely, Harry. I will drive myself; you can follow after my car."

I bunched Harry's shirt in my hands, pulling him desperately closer. He wrapped his arms more tightly around me, and told my father, "I will, sir."

"Annetta," my father said, placing his hand softly on my back, "we have to go now. Please, let Harry take you to the car."

I felt like I was completely paralyzed. My legs were glued to the floor, and my body was motionless. Yet somehow I managed to take steps toward the car, when Harry directed me. Harry let one of his arms remain loosely wrapped around my shoulder, keeping me close to him. He told me that it was going to be okay. He told me that he was going to help me. He told me lies. Lies, lies, and more lies. I couldn't feel more alone in those moments.

The drive to the hospital was filled with Harry speaking what I believed to be lies about how he would help me through every moment. How he wouldn't desert me. How when I went home, if I needed anything at all, that he would be right next door. He said the same things Everett had, so how were Harry's words any truer than Everett's?

-

When I was allowed to finally see my mother, I recognized her as a corpse, rather than the beautiful woman that I had once known her as. Her face was sunken, and her eyes were bulging out of her face. Her bones stuck out drastically, making her seem even more so as a corpse. Her skin was ghostly, even more so than before. Her lips were cracked and almost as white as her skin. I could only look for a couple seconds before turning away. How could my mother regress so quickly within only a couple days?