You Sunshine, You Temptress (l.s)

Lonely Shadow Dances

Mum ushered me up the stairs to get our things and to get home so we could await Harry. The sound of Louis' cries echoed throughout the entire house, shaking all of us to our core. The last thing I saw before the front door closed behind us was Louis cradling his face in his hands and shaking violently, his mum trying to soothe him with soft hands and a calming voice.

"You can try talking to him. We're just starting to build our relationship again... I don't want to push too hard and screw everything up."

The status of their mother and son relationship is unknown to me, but what I know is that Harry was a changed boy. He has been for a long time now.

I nod and stand from the kitchen table to give mum a hug, her arms lingering a bit longer than usual and I know this is hitting her hard. Anne Twist was a resilient woman, flawed in some ways, but resilient and tough as a nail. You'd never see a single tear fall from her eyes unless she wanted you to and judging by how she hurried out the house, a hand clasped over her mouth, she really didn't want anyone to.

I sigh heavily and tie my hair back into a low ponytail, ready to face the beast. Here goes nothing.

I walk down the empty hallway, avoiding the nail which protrudes between the floorboards. It took me one snagged sock and a fall on the face to realize I need to watch where I'm going.

I rest my head against the dark wooden door, lifting my hand and tapping my knuckles against the wood, and I barely noticed I wasn't breathing.

"Harry? Are you up?"

Silence.

"Mum just left...you want something to eat?" Still not a word was spoken from the other side.

"It'd be a shame for me to spend my last few days alone when my cheeky baby brother is just in the other room," I joke, Harry probably sound asleep and not hearing a word of this. Still, I gotta get in there.

Inhaling deeply to give myself a bit of confidence, I straighten my posture and twist the knob ever so slowly; the hinges creaking at the movement of the door because it's truly been so long since it's been opened.

I peek my head through the crack and look directly at the motionless lump laying on the bed, facing the window that has little to no light peeking through the blackout curtains. It's nearly completely dark in here, but I walk inside nonetheless.

It smells exactly like how you'd expect, like the door hasn't been opened and there's been no ventilation for days, Harry probably lying in his own filth and having no will to move. It just feels so stuffy and lifeless in here, like the grim reaper himself set up camp in the corner.

"Haz? Are you awake?" I ask, using the oldest trick in the book.

"... No," he mutters weakly, voice cracked and hoarse like everything was drained out of him. That 'are you awake' trick has worked ever since we were kids.

I chuckle humorlessly, stepping further into the bleak bedroom and shutting the door behind me. "I think you are," I murmur, stopping directly in front of the bed and watching while his small frame lifts and drops evenly as he breathes as slowly as possible.

"Please leave," he pleads nearly silently. His voice cracked mid-sentence, pushing out of him like a breathy squeak.

"Now you know I can't do that. What did you do when that James boy stood me up for my formal in year 10? You didn't leave me alone once that entire night, not even when I threw everything from my dresser at your little head." I smile fondly at the memory, Harry standing innocently and awkwardly, only whimpering to himself when an object flew across the room and smacked directly into his head. He took all of it and watched the Princess Bride with me that night, both of us eating ice cream like mad men until we fell asleep with an obscene amount of ice cream in our stomach and a spoon hanging from our mouths.