Redemption [h.s]

forty-nine

"Harry, please, open the door!" I said knocking on it loudly for the millionth time in the last few days. "Harry? Are you in there? Please, stop ignoring me."

"He's not at home" a voice said on my right.

I turned my head in the direction fast, surprised at the unexpected interaction.

The old lady living in front of me had opened her door, and was now looking at me with her icy blue eyes.

"How do you know?" I heard myself ask.

She gave me a small, unhappy smile. "I heard him go out yesterday morning. He still hasn't come back." She caught the worried look I gave to the door, and she added something else. "I'm sure he'll come back, don't you worry about it."

I glanced at her curiously.

"They always come back. If he cares, he'll come back" she repeated, and got into her house again.

I went into my house, and got a hold of my phone. I tried to call Harry, but all my calls went straight to his voicemail. I called Gemma.

"Hi Grace, I'm sorry. I still haven't started to search for those files. I have a lot of things to do right now" she said as soon as she picked up.

"Oh" I said, not really knowing what to reply. "Actually, I was wondering, is Harry at yours?"

On the other line, there were a few seconds of silence.

"No, he's not here. Why?" She finally replied.

"Oh! Nothing, don't worry about it."

"Is there something wrong?" She asked, a hint of panic in her voice.

"No!" I was fast to reply, "Everything's okay. Don't worry about it. He probably just went out for a minute. He'll be back soon" I said, trying to calm her down. "I really need to go now, though. It's been nice to hear from you, bye." I closed the call before she could say anything else.

Where was Harry?

My phone buzzed in my hands, and I was fast to reply, hoping that it would've been Harry. But it wasn't.

"Hey Gray, I was wondering if you wanted to hang out?" I heard Liam ask.

Maybe it would've been good to just take my mind off the Harry problem for a few hours.

"Sure, when and where?" I replied.

"At my house and now?" He asked hopefully.

"I'm coming" I said, and closed the call.

•  •  •

"So, how's it going?" I asked sitting comfortably on the couch.

"What?" He replied, trying to avoid the question.

"You know what."

He nodded. "He just left. We haven't talked since that day. He just packed everything and left."

"You know you'll have to sort things out soon, don't you?"

"Honestly, I feel no rush at all. I mean, I thought I had found the perfect guy, but he was only playing with us."

"Zayn's always been weird." I tried to check my phone as subtly as possible. There were no missed calls, no messages.

"Weird... That's one way to say it. You could've told us we were dating the same person, though."

"It's not my fault if you never told me his name."

"Would you have told me if you had known?"

I stared at the floor.

"Would you have told him?"

"I wouldn't have."

He nodded. "Okay. It'll be okay. It's bound to be okay, isn't it?"

"I guess so."

My phone buzzed in my hand, and I rushed to answer the call.

"Grace, I tried to call Harry, but he just won't pick up! I'm worried" I heard Gemma say.

I excused myself and walked out of the room and into the bathroom, closing the door and leaning against it. "Is the phone turned on?"

"I guess so. He just won't pick up the call. Is he at home?"

"When I called you, he wasn't."

"Did he tell you where he was going?"

"We haven't talked for the past three days."

"What? Why?"

"He completely blocked me out."

"Did something happen? Something has to have happened" she reasoned.

"Yeah" I replied, "Louis."

The silence on the other side spoke clearer than words. "What about him?"

"They... Kind of had a talk. It was really fucked up."

"Are you at home right now?"

"No, why?"

"Are you close to home?"

"A few minutes away, why?" I asked, not understanding why she was asking me those questions.

"Can you go home? I'm too far away. I think... I think he might want to do something stupid. I need to know if he's at home or not."

I sucked in a sharp breath at the simple thought of what she was hinting at. "I'm on my way right now."

I walked out of the bathroom and rushed to the front door. "I'm sorry Liam, but I really have to go" I said just before getting out. I walked down the stairs and, as soon as I was out in the streets, I started running.

As soon as I reached my building, I ran up the stairs, even though I was already completely breathless. I reached his door and I knocked hard on it once again. "Harry! Are you in there? Please, reply." I stopped as soon as I heard a shifting sound on the other side. "Harry" I whispered, even though I knew he wouldn't have heard me.

"Go away" I heard him say.

"Please, don't disappear again" I replied, leaning my forehead against the door.

"I just... I just need some time alone."

"You don't have to isolate yourself like this."

"I need to."

I said nothing, listening to every little sound on the other side. I heard a thud, as if he had just leaned against the door.

"Listen" he said, "I want you to go to work. You don't... You don't have anything to worry about. I just... Need some time. Go to work, okay? I know your shift is about to start. Just go. We will... We will talk later."

"Do you promise?"

He didn't reply right away. "Yeah" he said after some seconds, "Yeah, I promise."

I nodded, accepting his words. "Goodbye, Harry."

"Goodbye" he replied faintly from the other side, "I love you."

"I love you too."

I went into my house and picked up my bag and a warmer coat. It was the evening of January 5th, and the weather had started to get even colder. I took the lift, glancing at Harry's door every few seconds, until it came. I got in and pushed the button of the ground floor.

When I got out of the building, I looked up. The sky was cloudy, but it wasn't excessively dark. Maybe it would've snowed that night.