Bruised (a Harry Styles fan fiction)

Chapter 4

Chapter 4

I could barely get through the day thinking about meeting up with Harry. It gave me this anxious feeling, and I didn’t know what to expect. I was almost…frightened. I didn’t know if I wanted to know what he was going to say to me, but he did owe it to me. I’ve had unanswered questions for so long, and this was my chance to find out what really happened. I knew he had an explanation for everything that happened, I just wasn’t prepared to find out what it was.

I left school as soon as the bell dismissed everyone. I walked with a quick pace so I could escape the area before Carissa or Justin noticed me. I made it to my house and went straight into my bed to absorb everything that was going on.

I was going to meet up with Harry. He was going to tell me everything that I wanted to know. I would be reunited with someone who meant the world to me when I was younger.

I put my finger over my temples and slowly rubbed them. Everything was so overwhelming. Something happened to Harry was we were kids. Something big. And it scared me so much to find out what had happened. I just wanted to know if I had done something that made him disappear. That’s the thought that pained me the most.

It was quarter to 6 and my stomach was churning. I backed my mom’s small Honda out of the driveway and proceeded to the location that Harry had written down on the sheet of paper. I honestly had no idea where it was, so I brought out my phone and got directions. I’ve never heard of the street before.

After going through a vast amount of deserted roads and streets, I arrived at 30562 Dunham Pkwy. It was a little swampy area with a tiny picnic bench resting right on the side of the swamp. It was gloomy outside being that it was getting late. Harry wasn’t here yet so I was skeptical that I was at the wrong place. But about five minutes later he pulled into the small parking spot. He got out of the car smoothly, wearing the same plaid shirt and a t-shirt tied around his head. He adjusted his sleeves on his shirt and scuffed his boots as he approached my car. I rolled down my window, unsure if I should get out of my car or not.

“Hi.” He said as his forehead creased in the center.

“Hi Harry,” I replied, my heart pounding rapidly.

“So lets just get this over with I guess,”

“Okay..” I frowned.

He turned around and started walking toward the small picnic bench. That was my cue to get out of the car and follow him. He sat down and rested his folded hands on the table tops. His thumbs rubbed together nervously. I sat down directly across from him, our knees gently brushing each other under the table.

“Ashlynn,” My heart literally stopped. Hearing him say my name for the first time in years was the most refreshing thing. “There’s a lot that you don’t know. I’m not going to go through all of it, but I’ll tell you what you need to know.”

“Okay.” I said very softly it sounded like a whisper.

“I know some of this might seem confusing to you but you just have to bare with me, okay?” I nodded. “My dad is a dick. He gets very violent when he’s angry. When I was a kid, I saw him abuse my mum. But there was really nothing I could do. I would walk in on him pushing her to the ground, or punching her in the face, and it was just…just awful.” He looked up with all the memories flashing back to him. I rested my hand on his, but he shook it off and placed his hands on his lap. “When he caught me witnessing what he had done he would pin me to the wall and punch the shit out of me. I kind of just kept it all to myself, I never wanted to talk about it really.” He swallowed all the horrid memories. “So anyways. My mum and I took off one night, while he was gone so that he couldn’t stop us. And we went back to England and that’s where I’ve spent the past few years,”

I was speechless, I honestly didn’t know what to say. I didn’t know if I should give him sympathy or ask him more questions. I just wasn’t expecting to hear something like that. Picturing the image of Harry’s father, who I knew very well as a kid, laying his hands on Harry made me sick to my stomach. I finally spoke.

“So…what are you doing back here?” I asked with a sympathetic expression on my face.

“My mum…she died. And until I graduate high school, I still need to be under custody of a parent so I can go far away to college and get away from everything.”

It all made sense now. That night I heard screaming coming from Harry’s house he had said that his mom had died, but it made sense on why he came back. I replayed Harry’s words in my head over and over thinking of what to say next.

“I’m sorry.” Is all I could say.

“Just stay away from me and you’ll continue to live your normal life.” He said standing up off of the picnic bench.

“But what if I don’t want to stay away from you…” I said hesitantly.

“You will. You don’t want anything to do with me anymore. Trust me.”

My eyes lead to Harry’s arm with a large bruise and cut on his arm. Was this happening to him again?