In the shadows. (H.S) [A.U]

Chapter 35

"I'm sitting here eyes wide open and
 I got one thing stuck in my mind.
I can't help but feel numb,
Even after all this time."

***

1 MONTH LATER.

The room is dark and empty. There's a light in the middle of the room, a figure standing right beneath it. I make my way towards it slowly only to see the blonde hair and bright blue eyes. 

"Niall?" I call out.

He doesn't answer. He only picks is head up, his eyes meet mine. I run to him and hug him tightly. 

"I was so scared. I thought I had lost you.." I say to him with my head on his chest. 

I pull away from him when he doesn't say anything in return. I place my hands on his cheeks as I say, "Hey are you okay? I missed you so much I thought you left me. I was so scared.."

He smiles lightly as he says, "How can you miss me when you were the one who caused it all?"

"W-what?

"It's true Elizabeth. It is what it is. You are responsible for my death. If it weren't for you, I wouldn't have come all the way here. If I wasn't trying protect you and helping you escape, I might have been alive, Eliza."

"N-No. Niall I didn't.." I remove my hands from his cheeks only to see his blood on them.

I stumble back from him a bit, staring at my blood covered hands. I look up from them to see Niall's body laying on the floor, blood gushing out from his neck, forming a pool around him. 

"N-no, no. No, Niall!" I run towards his body and sit on the floor, taking his lifeless body in my arms as I scream.

"I- didn't. I  would never-- want you to be h-hurt. Niall get up!"

I keep yelling but to my dismay, his eyes are lifeless as he lays there in my arms. I rub my blood covered hands on my face as I scream loudly, crying because there's nothing else I can do now.

It was never my intention but I'm the one who's responsible for his death. His blood is on my hands. I can feel the guilt creep in.

"Not sure if Niall will forgive you. But the real question is, will you ever be able to forgive yourself over this?"  Harry's voice echoes through the room, breaking me out of my thoughts and I see him standing in front of me.

My breath starts hitching as I look back at Niall's body in my lap and then to my hands.

"NO! NO! NO!"

~

"ELIZA! Wake up! It's just a bad dream! Wake up!" I hear Harry yell as he shakes my shoulders harshly.

My eyes shoot open as I sit up in the bed. I see him sitting at the end of the bed with an unrecognizable look on his face. I don't have the time to process what happened or whether it was reality or not before I run up the stairs of the old basement, breathing heavily. 

Before I can even process what's happening, I find myself in the bathroom, scrubbing my hands under the water as harshly as I can to the point where my skin turns red, tears blurring my vision and Harry has to come up from behind me to pull me away from the sink.

He keeps a tight grip around me as I thrash around yelling profanities and different things at him. After a few minutes, when I calm down a bit, he sits onto the floor, dragging me down with him. 

I don't put up a fight. I'm too weak and lonely. I need someone to hold me.. So I put my head on his chest and hug him without even thinking about it. My screams turn into small whimpers as he keeps me pulled into him, rubbing his hand on my back to comfort me.