Taken | h.s + bey ✔️

9. Screen Door

Harry's POV

Deep, deep, deep down, I feel bad. Like somewhere hidden inside I want to feel bad, but I can't really seem to allow myself to. Like there's two different people inside of me but the darker one was overpowering.

As I sit at the breakfast table, I watch her intently. She looks pitiful.

She's making breakfast for me. Well— trying to. I can tell she doesn't really know what she's doing but pretending she does because she's too scared to disappoint.

She accidentally burned her finger a bit with the pan but she hardly reacted. Apart from her jerking her hand away, she didn't even hiss or blink. It's like she's dead inside. Eyes lifeless, shoulders limp, expression blank.

As she shifts from in front of the stove to the counter, the silence in the room is broken by the chain around her ankle clinking. As long as we're downstairs, she can't be loose.

Also, I know she's not Rose. Yet. She will be in due time though, because I need her to be. I need Rose. I do. I'll continue to address her as Rose until she is.

I'm gonna get her back. She'll return through Kimberly. Soon. I know she will. And it has to be through Kim. She's looks closer to Rose than all the other girls. The resemblance is the number one reason I've been successful at not hurting her like I did the others.

The sound of her chain clinking again broke me from my trance. She was walking toward me with two plates in her hands.

She looks like a robot or zombie. She doesn't even care enough to fix the straps of her dress that fell off her shoulders or push back the strands of hair that fell to her face.

But she looks like Rose so much right now. It's the hair and how it's balled up in the back but too wild to actually stay tamed so there's shorter loose strands flying everywhere. And it's the dress— Rose's— and how even though it's flowy and big, it fits her exactly how it fit Rose. And unfortunately, the empty look on her half-covered face resembles how Rose looked her last few weeks with me. Too much.

And now that part of me that wants to feel bad is growing.

She sits my plate down first (she tries to crack a fake smile at me but she couldn't even successfully do that), then hers before sitting down across from me. It's the breakfast table so the space between us is small even though we're sitting on opposite sides.

She made us sloppy omelettes that had broken apart in a few parts and ended up just looking like a blob of egg; hash browns that came out decent; and she cut up strawberries, kiwi and grapes. Yes, she actually cut the grapes in half. I couldn't help but snicker a little at that.

"Thank you," I said with an amused smile.

She just nodded. Expression never changing and gaze never leaving her plate. My smile faded.

We went halfway through the meal before I noticed that she hadn't once asked me anything, glanced around the house or even shifted in her seat.

"Umm," I hum, trying to think of what to say, "this is good," I twisted my mouth. It wasn't actually. I mean it wasn't horrible but it wasn't like Rose's.

She slowly trailed her eyes toward me and looked at me through her lashes. She gave a very weak 'thank you' nod and went back to eating.

"You... don't have anything to ask me?" I asked hesitantly. She blinked in surprise that I had even offered. There was almost a revival of light in her eyes and I knew she wanted to say yes but instead she let her expression fade like she changed her mind and shook her head, "No," she said softly.

I actually hate when she bombards me with questions but now that it seems she's given up, I'm dumbfounded. She can't give up like that. If she stops giving effort, she'll never become Rose and I need her to. I know me hating her asking questions but still wanting her to sounds crazy but so is this entire story.

"Hey," I tilt my head and finally, she sets her fork down and sits straight up to look me dead in the eye, "are you okay?"

She squinted and started to look angry at the question but controlled herself, "is that a real question?" she managed to say without a hint of anger in her tone. I realized that probably was a stupid question.

My jaw clenched and I searched for what to say next. She went back to eating before I got the chance.

Then something finally came to mind, "Come on," I said with a small smile and stood from my seat.

She looked up me with a lost look, "wha?" She muffled with a mouth full of food.

I squatted down to her side and undid the chain from her ankle, "I said come on," I grabbed her hand and waited for her to stand, "bring your food."

"Where are we going?" She asked as I pulled her to the back of the house.

When I reached the back door I felt her hand squeeze around mines a little, "We're going outside?" Her voice rose as if she couldn't believe it.

I pulled her out onto the back porch and let her hand go to close the door behind us. She passed by me and further onto the porch, she looked a little happy.

I placed my hand on her back to guide her over to the day bed against the back wall. The entire time she just scanned the porch in amazement.

This was Rose's favorite place. This and the lake not too far out. We were the only two that ever really came out here. It was a very large porch that was completely encased with walls that were all glass and a screen door that led down to our empty backyard.

The screen door was blocked by a loveseat. That wasn't intentional but it made it so I didn't have to worry about her trying to run out of the door. I watched her as we passed by the door. Her eyes fell on it as she looked around and I saw her eyes perk a little before noticing the heavy couch in front of it. The little glint she had in her eyes from thinking she had a way out disappeared but she tried to play it off as if she thought nothing of it.

I sat down first and she followed. She folded her legs up in the seat and sat back to eat.

I watched her in admiration as she closed her eyes and tilted her head back a little before inhaling the fresh air. She had a relaxed smile.

I even caught myself smiling. Mostly because of the memories that took place on this very porch returned and I had someone who at least looked like the person I shared those memories with right next to me.

We sat out there for a while. Long after we'd finished eating. We were mostly silent. Kim— who was in her own world— would occasionally hum to herself and the wind chimes would occasionally become the instrumentals.

After some hours of relaxing outside, I noticed she'd fallen asleep and before I knew it, I'd rested my head on her shoulder and did the same.

*

I was suddenly awakened by the loud thud of something hitting the glass walls of the porch.

As I slowly gained consciousness, other noises came to my attention. Like something running through grass and panting.

I looked up to see that the thud was the screen door being swung open with so much force that it came back around and slammed into the glass.

Then once my vision completely cleared, I looked into the distance and and saw that the running through grass and panting was Kim.

She was running full speed towards the woods that exceeded the backyard, holding both sides of the long dress up with her hands and not looking back once.

The darker side had gained full power now.

Broke the fourth wall a little there in the beginning :)

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