The Monster [H.S.]

Chapter 42

"I always kinda thought sweet corn was a myth." I admit adjust my hair on the grass and stare at the clear blue sky, the suns beams like flames on my skin but the sky too beautiful to go to the shade.

"You've never had sweet corn? Are you joking?" Harry asks, disgusted.

"Well, no. We can't grow stuff, you would destroy it." I smile and he pushes me.

"Here, try a bit." He says and passes me the bowl of sweet corn he's been eating from.

I sit up and take a bit from the bowl, holding the small yellow vegetable in my fingers.

"What does it taste like?" I ask.

"I don't know, it's like, sweet. Try it!" He exclaims.

"I'm scared." I laugh, and watch Harry dimples form in his cheeks.

"Here," he says and takes it from my hand. "Close your eyes and open your mouth." He orders and I look him up and down before he bursts into laughter and realises what he just said, my laughter joining his. "Fuck, do you want the corn or not?" He asks.

"Yes."

"Okay, so do what I say." He smiles, and I roll my eyes before closing them and narrowly opening my mouth.

"Okay, on 3. 1, 2, 3..." He counts but I don't feel anything happening.

Confused, I open my eyes and he's inches from my face with the biggest smile I've ever seen him wear, before suddenly he tips the bowl onto my face and what feels like thousands of bits of corn overflow my mouth and I almost choke between the corn and laughing. Harry's back hits the grass as he rolls back with laughter while I choke, temporarily tasting a few but deciding it's not worth it, before spitting the whole thing out.

"Dick!" I scream but I can hardly say it I'm laughing so much.

"Well that's corn." Harry states after we calm down and lie back down on the grass.

"Pleasant." I compliment and hear Harry snigger beside me.

"How long have I got?" I ask, the mood darkening.

"About two hours." He says, void of any emotion.

There's a silence. It's not awkward, it's just there, waiting to be broken.

"Am I going to die?" I ask.

Well that's 'ought to break it.

He sits up and his face twists in anger, his body turned towards me.

"Why the fuck would you say that? Of course not. You're not going to die. No." He rambles, his words coming out faster than I think he meant them to.

"Why are you getting all defensive? Do you think I will or something?" I almost panic, sitting up and looking him in the eye. "Tell me the truth Harry, am I going to die?" I ask, my voice becoming less audible the more I speak.

His hand reaches up to my face and I lean my cheek into his warm hand, his fingers tucking my hair behind my ears like he did back when we first met.

"I don't know." He answers truthfully.

I feel a heaviness in my chest I've never felt before. I didn't care if I died before because there was nothing to stay for. I don't care about leaving the camp, or Nathan, or the intrinsicus or the war. So what is it?

And then I look into his green eyes and the thought of never seeing them again sends a shooting pain through my chest. I imagine never lying on the grass with him again, or running with him each morning. I imagine not seeing his bedroom that before I couldn't wait to escape. I imagine never running down the path with him, or playing 20 questions with him again and it hurts. It hurts.

"I don't want to die." I whisper, and his forehead falls against mine.

"I don't want you to either." He says and I watch his eyes close. "I'm sorry."

"Why?"

"It was me that suggested you do this. It's my fault, and now you're going to die and that will be mine as well." He says.

"Okay stop. I wanted to do this. I suggested this. It was my choice. You think I would do something I didn't want to or cause I was told to? Because if you do then you really don't know me at all." I say firmly but everything I said was meant to reassure him.

"You're right. You are rather disobedient." He smiles and I laugh.

"Exactly." I smile before he surprisingly pulls me by the back of the neck to his lips and crashes ours together.

I can't lose this feeling of him touching me. It's electric. It shakes my whole body. I will not lose it.

"Run away with me." I say breathlessly between kisses and he moves down to my neck, leaving a path of kisses down to my collarbones.

"Where?"

Shit. Was that too obvious? Shit, shit, shit. He must think I'm crazy. He must think I'm a maniac. I just asked for him to run away with me, basically confessing my feelings. I don't even know what they are though. Fuck, why is this so difficult? Why does he have to be the enemy and I his prophecy? Why can't it just be simple because I'm tired of wondering why it's so complex.

"It doesn't matter. We should probably go." I say, standing up and dusting myself off before realising my mistake in saying 'we'. I am independent. "I mean me. You can do whatever." I shrug, but inside my heart is racing.

"I hear it, you know. The beating inside your chest. It's practically thumping." He says as he stands and walks towards me, my feet taking me backward.

"That's just my heart." I lie.

"There it is again. Your heart rate picks up when you lie Annabelle."

"Harry, stop. What do you want from me?"

"What?"

"Whatever this is? We're chasing our tails. You were right all along. Nothing can happen between us. I was stupid to think there could be. You're Terrebit and I'm...whatever I am. We can't be together."

He looks at me blanks for a while, his lips parted by my words and his eyes soft before suddenly his features harden and his green eyes that I love disappear and fade to darkness, his demeanour suddenly cold.

"When did I say I wanted to be together? Not once. Just because you have some little crush on me doesn't mean I want to be with you. I just wanted into your pants. We all wanted to see who could get into the alien first. You're the prophecy and my superior but that's it. Sorry if you wanted more." He spits.

His words hit me like venom seeping through my veins and poisoning my blood. The worst part is I know he doesn't mean any of it, he's just saying it. The things he's said to me and done to me isn't something you do just for a fuck.

He's lying. I know that, but it still affects me. I know it dies. I know because I can hear my heart pounding.

My eyes widen a million times their size and my body grows a million times taller. I'm floating. I've turned. Shit.

"Fuck!" I scream, squeezing my eyes shut and covering them with my hands.

Pain haunts my mind but anger consumes it and I open my eyes to look at Harry and he looks back in...fear? They feel a deep red colour, burning hot. But I won't give him anything. The hurt is heavy in my heart and holds me back from saying hurtful things. Don't radiate your pain.

"Goodbye Harry." I say, my voice and face absent of emotion as I turn my back on him and walk down the hill towards headquarters.

He was right. Loving him kills me.