1906 [h.s.]

twenty-one

"Emma." I heard someone call me.

I turned my head to the side, ignoring the annoying person that was calling me.

"Emma."

"Shush" I murmured, my eyes still closed.

All of sudden I felt a warm hand on my shoulder, shaking me lightly. "Emma!"

I opened my eyes all of sudden, blinking fast as I adapted to the dim light of the small room we were in, discovering that Harry was kneeling in front of me, his green irises focused on me. "What is it?" I asked, sitting up straighter. "Hang on, what?" I asked, taking in the slight yellowish light coming from under the door.

He sighed. "We are in my time again. You fell asleep. Eleven hours to midnight."

I gave him a confused look. "What? Only eleven?"

He pursed his lips. "You were tired" he said, standing up and offering me his hand.

I nodded, taking it. I stood up, but didn't let it go, enjoying the way it felt warm in mine. "You're here again. You're okay" I said, not being able to keep a smile from curving my lips upwards.

He looked down at our hands. "I am" he replied. "It feels... weird. To be here again."

"Yeah" I said faintly, looking at him in the eyes. "I meant what I said. I won't let anything happen to you this time. We will find a way out of this together, I promise."

"You should stop making promises that aren't yours to keep" he mused, letting go of my hand. "There is another issue, I'm afraid" he said, lowering his voice when someone walked past the door we were behind.

I furrowed my eyebrows, not liking how how words had sounded. "What is it?" I asked worriedly.

"We must leave soon" he replied. "We have to take food from the kitchens."

"Steal food? Have you fucking gone crazy?" I hissed at him, not knowing how he'd even come up with something like that. I was fairly certain I'd never heard such a stupid idea, it was kind of a surprise that it was coming from him, out of all people.

"We can't avoid eating and drinking for two days" he simply stated, settling it.

I sighed, realising that he was right. Besides, I would've had to follow him even if I didn't approve of his idea, since I didn't know my way around without him. "When?" I said, resigning. I just hoped we wouldn't have been caught.

"When they're closed. Ten in the evening" he replied easily, without spending time thinking about it, making me understand that his idea wasn't just coming out of nowhere, and that it probably wouldn't have been the first time he did something like that.

"You've already done this, right?" I asked him, pushing my worry to the back of my mind, knowing that it wouldn't have helped me in that moment.

He gave me a faint nod, making me realise that I was indeed right. "Of course" he said, the tone of his voice suggesting that I should've probably expected it.

"Okay" I said quietly, sitting down again. I sighed, bringing my knees to my chest and leaning against whatever was behind me. I glanced at the floor as a small silence fell over us. "What is it that you miss the most? From before this mess happened" I asked him after a while, wanting to make conversation to fill in the void.

He sat up straighter as well, the light coming from under the door dancing as he moved. "Being out of here, probably" he whispered with a faint laugh. "The sun. The moon. The smell of the air in spring."

I nodded, kind of understanding his words. I missed those things too, and I'd only been there for a way shorter time than him. I wondered what it would've been like to spend such a long time away from everything. "Are you from here?" I asked him again after a while, curiously.

"I'm from Church Hulme." He sighed. "Feel as if I haven't been there in forever."

"That's true, in a way" I said jokingly, and I didn't need to actually see him to know that he was probably glaring at me. "Sorry, not funny, I know" I thought of the name of the city. "Never heard of it, by the way."

"Cheshire" he specified, as if it would've made a difference.

I looked down, even though it was too dark to really see what was too distant from the shard of light. "Still don't know it. Would you ever go back there, if, you know, you managed to escape?"

"Can't escape. The entrances are controlled" he only said, something in the way he spoke letting me know that he'd probably tried to do it at least a couple of times.

I didn't reply right away, thinking. "What if you managed to escape... you know, on the other side?" I whispered quietly.

I heard a shifting sound as he changed position on the floor. "You know I won't" he said sharply, the shortness of his tone making it clear that he didn't want to talk about it.

I stared at him in the mild darkness. Even though I couldn't see him clearly, I knew that hopelessness had made its way back into his eyes. "I wouldn't be so sure of that if I were you" I said in reply, slowly, wanting him to truly consider the possibility of what I was addressing.

"I don't think I'm following you" he replied quietly, the slightest hint of hostility in his voice.

"I get why you don't want to think about it" I whispered fast. "You think you will never make it, you don't want to give yourself hope for no reason" I said, realising how true those words were only in the second I spoke them. "But I'm trying to tell you, it's not impossible for it to happen. You're here in front of me, you truly are. I promise I won't leave 1906 without you."