Harry.
Have you ever had a bad feeling? The type that sat at the bottom of your stomach, that feels as if it's eating you from the inside out. The bad feelings I usually get, ended in me regrettably doing something horrific, and another dead body ending up on the evening news. If I was careful enough, it didn't but hat wasn't very often. In my manic states, I couldn't really control myself. It was a flaw I was trying to work on.
So when my phone rang, and an UNKNOWN CALLER flashed across my screen, I told myself not to answer it. I had a sickening feeling that I wasn't going to like what was on the other line. I watched as it rang and it rang, until the seventh miss call flashed on my screen and I growled in annoyance. A part of me wanted throw my phone, or even just turn it off, but I knew if Niall called and I missed it, I would never forgive myself if I let something bad happen to him.
By the ninth time, I was frustrated enough to pick up the phone.
"What?" I hissed. "Who is this?"
"You're a hard man to get ahold of, Mr Styles."
Hearing Bill Henry's voice through the phone made me feel sick. I glanced over at the entrance of Midnight Blues, double checking that Sophia wasn't in sight before I stalked down the street to continue this phone call without anyone hearing anything.
"Well when someone doesn't pick up the first time you ring, you might want to stop fucking calling," I snapped into the phone. "Why the fuck are you calling me?"
I knew whatever he was calling about, wasn't going to be good news. A part of me knew he was just calling to psych me out over something and I should hang up before he got into my head. Did I listen to that sane part of me though? No, Of course not, that would just make my life easier.
"Trent is up and well," he said into the phone. "Thought you'd like to know that. He asked for you."
He asked me for me to be hanged my feet, was more like it. I didn't care he was awake, nor did I care he knew I was the one who attacked him. Any surveillance from that night was gone, I had made sure of it. It was just he said she said. Nothing that could be held up in court.
Glancing around the streets and the passing people, I tucked my phone between my ear and my shoulder to pull out my work phone. I typed a message to Niall, encrypted enough so if it ever landed in someone elses hands, they wouldn't be able to understand it, but clear enough so he knew Trent was awake.
"Send him my best wishes," I mumbled, "Not sure why he asked for me, didn't even know the bloke."
I could hear the grinding of Bill's teeth through the phone and it made me chuckle. I would love to see the look on his face when we put him behind his own bars. I would take a photo of it and frame it for all the stress he put on Sophia.
"How's Sophia?" he asked, hauntingly. The way he said his name should of been enough to make me know I needed to hang up the phone, but I didn't.
I didn't comment, I couldn't find my voice and he knew it. His laughed echoed into the phone. "I know you know I spoke to her the other day," he started. "I was planning on using her for information, and I didn't believe her when she said she didn't know anything, so me, being me, I threatened her."
Bill knew as well as I did, that you didn't admit anything over the phone. Not with todays technology and how anything you can say can be recorded and compared to your voice. The fact Bill was willing sprouting this information meant that he was going to spring something a lot bigger.
Hang up, the angel on my shoulder demanded. You don't want to hear what he says! You know it will just get you mad.
Nah, the devil cooed in my ear. You know you want to hear it. It might be enough to drive you mad enough so you actually kill him. What's a few years in jail?
The devil on my shoulder had a point. Tightening my grip on my phone, I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. "Do you have a point, Bill? You're a real time waster these days."
"Patience is key," he mocked drily. "Anyway, so I threatened her, got her feathers all roughed up, or whatever the saying is. I left her alone with her thoughts, and honestly, between you and me, I was going to scare her a bit more, but then I heard about her little stunt with Niall, and realized, fuck, she was telling the truth and she isn't any use to me. I knew if Niall took her screaming and crying, she wasn't going to be able to give me anything. Hey - did she tell you I saw her today?"
I stilled my movements. She told me she hadn't spoken to Bill. I shouldn't care, I wasn't her boyfriend nor did she owe me anything, but we had an agreement. To help each other. Protection for loyalty...
LIAR! The devil on my shoulder roared. Liar, liar, pants on fire. Punishment, Punishment!
No, the angel said. Normal people don't seek punishment!
I could almost hear the devil inside me snort, Since when are we normal?
I had to blink a couple of times to come back to reality, and not stay up in my head with my thoughts that were running a million miles per hour. I hated liars.
Bill was quiet for a second, and I was sure it was for dramatic effect more than anything. "Anyway, I came to tell her that she wasn't any use to me, but she ended up demanding that she be an informant for me, isn't that just the craziest thing?"
I shut my eyes so tightly, I saw stars. I knew I should of hung up. He was baiting me. "You're lying," I snarled, unable to stop myself. "She wouldn't do that."
He chuckled. "You make it seem like you've known her for years," he remarked. "Now, I know that I might not be able to get you for attempted murder for Trent, but then I thought, hey, why not actual murder?"
I snorted. I was trying to keep my breath as even as possible, but the rage inside me was building. I could almost picture the dainty little Angel on my shoulder getting burnt alive. "I'm not going to kill someone just because you're telling me she asked you to be an informant. How deranged do you think I am?"
Bill laughed. "You know, best part of being a police officer, is that nobody expects you to take the easy route and just record everything. Well, maybe they do, but Sophia is just a sweet, sweet naive girl. Poor thing just wanted a way out of this hellhole of a life. Sad that she is going to die in your hands. I know how much you dislike people calling you the C word..."
Without another world, Sophia's sweet voice filled my ears. It was slightly distant, but I knew everything single word was coming out of her mouth and not an imposters.
"...But I...I came up with an idea."
"I'm listening."
"Harry...he's crazy. He's not all there.,,,I want to be an informant for you."
"You're joking, right?"
I couldn't listen to the rest, not because I didn't want to, but because the word crazy falling from her lips sounded like venom. The devil inside me was shaking in his cage, screaming to be let out. I swallowed thickly, gripping a nearby wall to hold myself up. Crazy, crazy, crazy.
'I'll let you do what you want with that, just don't leave the body somewhere too obvious. That's no fun."
With that, the line went dead, and I found myself shaking my head furiously until my head felt like it was spinning. Niall was right. Sophia wasn't who I thought she was.
"Crazy," I whispered to myself, staring down at my shaky hands. "Crazy, crazy, crazy..."
Sophia couldn't be trusted, and she thought I was crazy, I repeated in my head. She was like everyone else. I was crazy. Crazy, crazy, crazy, crazy...
The word echoed in my head until it didn't even sound like a word, just like a sound heavy on my heart. With my sudden daze, I almost missed Niall calling. It took a few attempts at answering the phone, my fingers were slippery with sweat as I tried picking up.
"Niall,'' I laughed. It didn't sound like me. It sounded high pitched and raw.
"Harry, I just spoke with Bill. Where the fuck are you?" He demanded. He sounded short of breath, and I imagined he would be frantically running around his apartment in search of the keys he always lost.
"Crazy," I laughed into the phone, throwing my head back. I ignored the looks I got as people passed. "She said I was crazy, Niall! I'm going to show her fucking crazy."
I was smart enough to always bring my gun with me, and now it felt hot against my skin as I stared at the front entrance of Midnight Blues. I wondered where she was. I knew Bill wanted to see me lose it, and I was struggling to fight against my sudden urges.
"Don't do anything fucking stupid!" Niall roared into the phone. I could hear the screech of his tires in the background, but I was too caught up in watching the entrance door swing open to respond to him. "I'm fucking coming!"
As if on command, Sophia peaked her head out the door, glancing around before she spotted me. Her smile was wide as she made her way to me, oblivious to my current manic state. Her body was covered by her coat, but her face was stripped of her makeup. I hated how much of an Angel she looked like as she walked. She was a fucking imposter. Her heels made a clicking sound as she walked, and my eye twitched as she got closer to me.
"Hey, there you are!'' She wrapped her coat around her a bit tighter and glanced around. "I've just been booked for another dance. Are you okay to wait for a second?"
I mumbled something under my breath, not registering the fact I had mumbled crazy until she furrowed her eyebrows at me. I hated how easily she played me, how unhinged I was to actually believe she was nothing but innocent. I should of fucking known better.
"Are you alright?" she asked hesitantly. She looked between my death grip on my phone and my stiff posture. I didn't even want to think about what my face looked like right now. I didn't miss the way she took a small step back.
"Fine," I spat out through clenched teeth. "I will...wait. Wait here."
She nodded slowly, staring at me for a moment longer before scurrying off back inside without another look over her shoulder. I sighed heavily into the phone, my fingers itching for my gun that was still tucked away.
"Niall," I breathed in the phone, glancing around me. My hands shook at the same speed my head did, and everything suddenly felt like it was too much. "Hurry. I don't think I can control myself this time...''