Mr.Styles (Harry Styles)

Epilogue

The echoes of my footsteps fell into rhythm with my heartbeat, hoping my nerves wouldn't get the best of me, that I wouldn't chicken out of what I am about to do.

I walked into the dull room and sat down where the guard had instructed me to do so. I pulled my jacket closer to me, feeling a sudden chill. I stared at the plane of glass in front of me, taking all of my strength to glue myself to the cold, metal chair instead of running out of the building and back to the safe confines of my car.

When Shay sat on the opposite side of the glass, my heart was beating so fast I thought I might go into cardiac arrest. Her hair was longer, she seemed to have aged more than six years since I last saw her at the trial. She motioned to the telephone that was hung on the side and in response I picked it up.

"Took you long enough to visit." She said, her voice made me flinch ever so slightly, the part of my brain that still pictures A as a hooded figure bleeding through the little progress I have made. I was going to say something to retort but my words got caught in my throat and I remained silent, forgetting the reason why I was here in the first place. "Why now?"

"I thought it was time." I gave her a short answer, not knowing how to put everything I was feeling in a coherent sentence.

"I bet you feel smug, sitting there on the good side of the glass." She said, scoffing.

"You can't blame me for the position you're in." I said, gripping the phone tighter, I watched her shoulders deflate as she sighed, looking down at the desk her elbows her rested upon. "I used to blame myself, for everything that happened- that it was my bad judgement, me being a bad friend that lead you to do those things to me and the people I cared about, but it wasn't my fault."

My voice breaking made her look back up at me and for the first time she looked into my eyes- making direct eye contact, seeing for herself the damage that she had caused.

"I still get nightmares, I still struggle to make it through the night- but now its not a masked person, a demon in my head blackmailing me and terrorising me, it's you in my nightmares, someone I cared about, someone I loved." I didn't want to guilt trip her, she needed to hear this, she needed to hear what she had done to me- it's not enough that she's sat in prison for a few more years, she needs to see that what she did had consequences for other people as well as herself.

"It wasn't supposed to go that far but it was just too easy- with all the technology out there and the fact that you just kept lying to us." Shay said, I could see the tears brimming in her eyes, over the blur of my own tears.

"But you had a choice Shay, you and Aria both had the fucking choice and you chose to hurt me." My voice sounded pathetic, breaking and cracking as tears rolled down my cheek.

"I know, and I've spent six years wishing I could take it back and I would, and I'll spend the next three years wishing the same." She responded.

"What will you do when you get out?" I asked,

"Go to college I think, try and get my life together." She mumbled in response.

"One minute left." The guard behind me said, we both nodded back towards him and I turned towards Shay, gathering my bag and beginning to leave.

"I'm sorry Sky, I hope you know that." I smiled back at her and put the phone back on the hook, waving her goodbye and leaving the visiting area.

Hearing Shay tell me she was sorry for everything she did, didn't erase the trauma I went through, but it felt fucking good to hear her say it. I left the cold building and climbed into my car, heading back towards the city.

It took three hours in total to get home but when I did I felt a light sense of relief, it took me six years to visit Shay in prison and I was actually glad I did, it gave me a sense of closure that the trial didn't give me. I walked into my building, and greeted the Richard in the lobby, I decided to take the stairs up to my floor- wanting the time to think about my time with Shay and how different my life seems to be.

When I finally reached my floor, I walked down the royal blue carpet to the end of the hall where my apartment was, I pulled out my keys and began to open each of the locks- four in total, my mother said it was a bit extravagant but it made me feel safer, especially living in the city.

I hung my coat up in the hallway and placed my bag on the kitchen table, it wasn't a huge apartment- it was homey and comforting, I sat down on the sofa and switch the TV on putting some old cartoon reruns, something I didn't really have to pay attention to since my head felt like I had a bowling ball in my skull.

A few hours later the door opening woke me from my short nap on the sofa, I blinked, attempting to focus my eyes on the curly head of hair that was currently making its way over to me.

Harry kissed me on the forehead and then sat down next to me, throwing one of his arms around the back of my as he relaxed into the sofa- he had gotten a job at a university teaching English literature- sometimes there was late lectures.

"So...How was it?" He asked after a few minutes of silence.

I leaned into him, rubbing my eyes slightly "Good."

He kissed me again, on the side of my head, his finger tips playing with the ends of my hair, we sat like that for a while, aimlessly watching whatever cartoon was playing on the television while we enjoyed each other's company.

Eventually, Harry suggested that we order some food, since neither of us felt up to cooking, we shared a pizza while watching a romantic comedy on Netflix. Something we did often during our year together.

At around midnight, we both decided to call it a day and after getting ready we slipped into bed together, him holding my close like he always does- just in case I have a bad night, but as I relaxed into him, inhaling his scent and stealing his warmth I had a feeling that maybe everything was going to be alright.

The End

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