Harry is unresponsive for so long that I think he missed my question. When I look at him, I see that his jaw is clenched tightly, and his green eyes are smoldering like dark coals.
"I- I'm sorry," I falter. It's the first time I actually regret one of my intrusive questions towards him. "It's just... Cade mentioned her, and I... I was curious." My face grows hotter. "I'm really sorry, Harry."
Abruptly, Harry gets up, leaving coldness where his form was pressed against mine. He strides off and disappears into a door I assume is his bedroom. I blink after him, wondering if he's actually going to shut himself in there and leave me stranded in his own living room.
Then he reappears. He's carrying a small scrap of white in one hand. Sitting beside me, he hands it over to me.
It's a photograph. Small and square-shaped. I can tell by the frayed edges that it has been taken out and looked at many times. I picture Harry taking it out of a drawer and gazing at it, thumbing it with loving fingers as he gazes upon the photo.
I study the girl in the picture. She has wavy dirty-blonde hair that falls in soft ringlets. A pair of glasses rests on the bridge of her delicately-formed snub nose, and her lips are bow-shaped and pink. However, there's something about the downcast tilt to her thin face that makes me wonder if she's ever known true happiness. Her pretty brown eyes are solemn and tired behind the lenses of her glasses.
Somehow, I know without saying that this is Margaret.
"Who was she?" I whisper.
"She was... she was also a Lab 2 intern." Harry's voice shakes like he can't control it. "She was my only friend here, the only one patient enough to put up with all my bullshit and moodswings."
I nod, listening, because that's all I can do.
Harry takes a deep breath. "Like I told you before, she never trusted Damon. That was her one weakness; she didn't know what fear was when it came to something she cared about. Once she made up that mind of hers, nothing would change it. She was incredibly smart, but she was also impossibly stupid, if that makes sense; she wouldn't listen to reason. She made it her personal mission to figure out what was going on at Priory."
I see Harry's face twist in pain.
"The- the last night I saw her, she was planning to break into Lab 3. She wanted me to come with her, but I made excuses. I knew it was a bad idea, and honestly, I was scared; I was a coward. I begged her not to go, too, but she refused me. After about five minutes, I changed my mind. I ran over to her dorm room, but she'd already left. I tried to find her. I followed her to the fourth floor and ran over to the Lab 3 doors, and I saw... I saw..."
"Harry," I breathe softly, not sure what I want to say. Anything to erase the tortured look his features have crumbled into.
"She was... dead. Cade was standing nearby. He was there, Amber. He was there and he saw them kill her and he didn't do anything-"
"Who killed her? How?" I gasp.
"Them. Whoever Damon is associated with. They shot her. They told everyone--all the other interns and the media--that she died in a late-night labratory experiment mishap. Utter bullshit. But everyone believed them. Priory has a lot of wealthy and influence, so no one ever questioned it."
"What about her family? Didn't you tell them? Didn't you call the police?"
His hands ball into fists. "She never had any family. And who would believe me over Priory Inc.'s highest officials?"
"Oh," I whisper. How could he have stayed at Priory, even after all that? He must have seriously dedicated his life to taking down Damon. No wonder he resented my interference in his investigation so much: I was nothing but a bother to him. I didn't understand the weight of his mission. I hadn't known Margaret. I had just blundered blindly into his personal business.
YOU ARE READING
Priory // h.s.
Fanfiction❝choose your last words, this is the last time 'cos you and i, we were born to die.❞