Darkness Rises-Harry Styles

Chapter 22

"The prettiest smiles hide the deepest secrets. The prettiest eyes have shed the most tears. And the kindest hearts have felt the most pain."

Rose's POV:

I saw Harry's eyes widen in shock and confusion as he looked from me to this stranger, trying to piece it together. The man in front of us had blonde hair and grey eyes, with a sick smile plastered on his face. While I had my strawberry blonde hair and bright blue eyes, with a terrified expression reflected on my face.

"He's your...brother?" Harry asks shocked and I feel a tear slip down my face as this man laughs. "How does it feel, half-breed? To know that still, despite all your efforts, you are still rejected and betrayed in the end?" he snarls at me and I begin to cry, memories surfacing up in my brain that I had been so desperate to keep hidden, but they were now breaking through.

"Today's the exact day it happened too, isn't it? How fortunate for me to witness such a tragic day for the lovely Princess." he continues to chide me and I begin to shake as Harry looks at me worriedly.

"Rose, what is he talking about?" Harry asks but I can't bear to stay here any longer. My body is shaking as my memories are threatening to break through the surface. I can't have it happen again. No, not a second time. I don't think I could stand it.

"No." I cry out, turning around and running away from them, listening as he laughed cruelly at me. Harry called for me but I ignored him, running until I reached the safety of the forest. At least, that was the safest place for me at the moment it felt like. I knelt down against a tree, my head sinking into my hands as I began to sob.

Memories began to come crashing into my mind, ones that he brought up, just by showing up. Of all days, he had to show up on the day when everything happened. That day would never be erased from my memory, no matter how hard I tried to hide it.

'It was when I was three years old, that was my first memory of it happening. I was playing with a stuffed toy, my face bright and happy. I giggled as I saw my father come up to me, his attire rough and torn, as if he'd been in another fight. He's been getting into those a lot lately.

"Hi Daddy!" I say and he glares at me, picking up the stuffed toy I was playing with and ripping it apart in front of me. I screamed out in sadness as I saw the destroyed toy being dropped to the ground, disfigured and no longer usable. My father gripped my hair tightly, making me cry out in pain.

He began to drag me across the floor by my hair, ignoring my cries and taking me into another room. "Daddy! Daddy stop!!" I cry, only to be picked up roughly by him and thrown into a large wooden chair. I whimpered in pain as I saw him approach me with something in his hand.

"Daddy...daddy why?" I cry, sobbing at the pain that engulfed my small body. "You disgusting half-breed!" he shouts and slaps me across the face. I scream out, but that only makes him hit me again. I see something that looked dangerous in his hand and I looked at him in fear.

"Why?" I ask and he chuckles darkly. "My stupid, stupid daughter. You were never meant to be born!" he says, pressing a button on the thing in his hand, making fire come out of one end. "I will show you, what it's like to bear the pain your parents have to live with for having a disgrace like you for a child!" he rages, putting the flame onto my shirt and setting me on fire.

I screamed in pain as the fire ate at my flesh, my tiny body being engulfed by the flames. The pain was excruciating and unbearable, my entire body being swallowed up by the harsh fire. Something cold was thrown on me, but I couldn't really tell the difference until I noticed that the flames were now out. My father had thrown water on me to put out the flames. "You will know pain. Pain will be your teacher." He says before picking me up by the neck and throwing me to the ground, watching me curl up in a ball and cry out in pain.