My very soul demands you.
Harry? Why is he here? Did he follow me? I stay put as instructed by Jeffrey while he goes out to
speak with him. I watch from the safety of this office like a guarded bird.
Harry is less than pleased with Jeffrey's appearance, and I take in his rugged and haggard exterior.
His shirt is almost shredded at the edges, tiny frays like sticking out like needles with a mission;
his sleeves are pulled up to rest above his elbows revealing the reddened skin previously hidden
underneath by the fabric. The keys held captive in his right palm are digging into his skin by the
intensity of the strength he is applying to the grip. He hasn't seen me yet.
"Can we help you?" Jeffrey walks up to him calmly.
"Louis." He says my name like it is his first word after a drought. It chills my blood in an anti-
soothing manner. "Where is he?"
"What do you need him for?" As an officer of the law, Jeff isn't permitted to lie and say that he
does not know where I am.
"That's none of your business." He bites.
"If you are threatening him in any way, Harry, we have to detain you-"
Harry's boisterous laugh cuts him off. "Threatening him?" Harry takes a step closer to Jeffrey,
letting his height do the intimidation routine. "He isn't the one I'm threatening, officer."
Jeffrey isn't Navy material, his training didn't include fearlessness because of the true boring nature
of Middleston. If it weren't for the baggy nature of his attire, we'd all see him shaking in his boots.
Harry decides that his point has been made. "LOUIS!!"
I jump at his sudden outburst, gripping the doorknob a little too tightly. I don't dare make a sound
too loud for fear of him hearing me.
Harry's face is screwed up in a foreign emotion, several creases forming on his forehead from his
frown and furious expression. They won't tell him what he wants to know and he's getting pissed
off.
"Harry, calm down!" Jeffrey grabs ahold of his collar and holds him fast.
Harry violently shakes off the newly anointed head of Police, yet to be indited, with no fear or
hesitation gleaming in his eye. Not that I can see from this distance.
"Don't touch me." Harry threatens.
I put my fingers between two blades of hardened fabric and pull them apart to make my visibility
of the situation clearer.
"It is good that you're here though, Harry." Jeffrey says reaching around his back towards a much
too familiar pair of handcuffs.
Shit no! He's being too obvious and I've seen first-hand what Harry's capable of doing if he even
suspects there's a possibility of being caught physically. I didn't need to witness a repetition of the
mess. I shake the door handle but it won't budge. The bastard locked me in here! I can't scream or
Harry will hear me. I'll just have to pray the other three officers are smart enough to act with their
brains and not following protocol just this once.
Harry is watching Jeffrey like he's a fragile ornament, and Harry is the menace that would crack it.
Jeffrey unclips the cuffs and brings it into Harry's view just as the other two officers block his exit.
The fourth component stands beside Jeffrey like a loyal minion.
"Shit, Jeff!" I swear under my breath applying further force on the barrier.
Harry's eyes fix on the clinking metal pair of circles and his mouth sets in a grim, steady line. He
just stares at it for a while, before looking behind Jeffrey at the ground. He slips the key ring of his car keys onto his finger and swirls it around noisily. The officers behind him grab his forearms and still his movements, but he pushes them with enough suspicious force to have them stumbling back two feet.
"Don't touch me." He repeats with a straight face.
"Harry you're under arrest for the murder of Deputy Sharke-" Jeffrey starts, but a fist to his cheek
cuts him off.
Fuck! He hit an officer. What the Hell, he stabbed an officer before so this isn't a huge dent in his
reputation when the comparison is made. I shake the handle but it's useless. I knew Harry could
easily handle all those men if he chose to, looks like he's choosing to.
The two officers that had the task of securing Harry have proven to be useless when Harry puts
them on their arses with a swift kick in the gut. One for each of them. The final officer does try to
do his duty, but Harry seizes his arm, twists the wrist and throws him down like a discarded bag.
Harry goes for then man coiled up on his side moaning from the blow he'd received. He reaches
for the belt attached to his navy pants. His gun. He had to stop. I had to stop him. How the Hell do I do that?!
Hanayen doesn't make a sound all through this and I am only half grateful. I jimmy the knob of
stained steel, twisting and shaking but it's more audible than it is helpful. An idea comes to mind.
A suicidal idea.
"Harry?!" I shout loud enough only to let my voice carry over a short distance.
Harry's hand stops halfway on it's trip to unbuttoning the pack that held a firearm. He looks up
unsure of whether he'd heard anything at all. I try again.
"Harry!" I try to make my voice sound more afraid, like I'm being held here against my will. My
fist comes down on the door making the entire contraption vibrate.
Harry gets up off the floor and drops his keys into his jacket pocket. He looks around the room
until his eyes land on the door to the office I'm hidden within. He's holding the gun.
"Louis?" Harry speaks from his current position. He is uncertain of what to do. Fuck, so am I.
I wrack my brain for something to say. I bang the door helplessly. "Harry? I'm in here!"
I just hoped the men I entrusted my own safety with as well as my families was being responsible
and rising off the floor by now.
Harry closes the gap between that spot and my door with wide, loud strides. "Are you okay,
Lou?"
I really hated that name. I lean on the door with my forehead pressed against the cold wood. What
was I doing? "I can't get out, Harry."
I keep the blinds closed when I see him try to force the door open from the other side. He pushes
the door and it knocks my nose.
"Ow." I whisper checking to make sure it isn't broken.
"Lou?" Harry calls worriedly because he can't see me all that clearly from his side.
"I'm fine." I answer immediately. "The door hit my nose."
He frowns. "I'll get it open."
"I don't know where the key is."
"Step back." He cautions.
I stand back and watch him remove that emerald green bandana from his forehead, before
wrapping it over his knuckles. No. He simply cannot punch this glass. It's shatter-proof and would
fracture his hand. I learnt that the hard way.
"Harry-" I begin my warning but in one fluid move his fist penetrates the glass. I shield my face
with my hand. What the fuck?
In any case that move was meaningless because you still needed a key. He reveals a small silver
key from his side, and deftly unlocks the latch. Is there no handle on the outside? I hadn't noticed.
"You could have slid the key under the door." I comment bravely when he looks up from flexing
his wrist.
"Who locked you in there?" He asks simply while he unwinds the bandana from his fist.
I notice the four officers rising to their feet behind him and I quickly glance away so as not to
draw Harry's attention to that. He waits for an answer.
"I did." I answer stupidly.
"What about the key?" He raises his eyebrow.
"What about it?"
He smirks in amusement and tucks the bandana into his jacket pocket. Hanayen has emerged from the room now and stands beside me like he always does. Harry ignores his presence completely as if he was irrelevant.
"Are you coming back to the house?" Harry asks.
I catch sight of Jeffrey giving me a signal to keep him distracted and I work on a quick
conversation.
"My stuff is still there." I answer truthfully. That response suggested nothing.
"I still don't have any food though." He bites his bottom lip and frowns.
If the circumstance was different I would have laughed. How unfortunate. "Gotta do something
about that tomorrow."
He considers it before becoming neutral again. "We should leave. Now. Before these pathetic
police officers try to arrest me again."
He steps aside giving me way to walk out past the four individuals first but I'm hesitant about
Harry walking behind me. I stand still until he takes my jacket in his fist and tows my weight
forward with him. He stops in front of the door and releases me. What now?
"Harry?" I question his intentions.
He doesn't say anything, taking the gun he pulls the head back swiftly and points it at the ground.
I frown letting my eyes follow the aim, but before I get my chance to protest he pulls the trigger
twice.
"HARRY!" I scream pushing his arm out of it's firing range. That's two officers dead today by
Harry's hand.
"He locked you in there." He says venomously. He points the gun at Jeff.
"No." I say firmly putting my hand around the barrel of the gun and pulling it back.
Harry frowns and Jeff shoots me a grateful look. I step between the gun and the slouched officer
preventatively. Harry narrows his eyes at me but I don't budge, he sucks in a breath and raises his head as if to say Fine, you win. Three gunshots later I'm made to regret my decision. Harry tosses
the gun across the floor and storms out without a word.
"Thanks, Louis." Jeff accepts my extended hand in assisting him to stand up.
I shrug lazily. Three officers are bleeding into the afterlife on the floor around me.
"I'm calling all the officers on duty to bring him in again. You can ring the hospital."
I nod and shivering, dial up the three-digit number for the Middleston County General Hospital.
Ambulances arrive moments later to take the bodies away to the ER. It was too late. They were
dead. Harry had killed them, and felt no remorse about it.
"Hanayen!" I call suddenly when I realize I haven't heard or seen the dog in a while.
He appears from behind an upturned desk unharmed and I let out a sigh of relief.
"We're staying with Marie tonight." I tell him.
"I don't think that's a good idea." Jeff intervenes. "Harry will come looking for you again and you
don't want to endanger her."
"I'm not going back up there by him." I found it odd that Harry 'freed' me from the office, made a
big incident about it all and then just took off.
"I know but, kid, I can't risk the safety of the few people in Middleston. Let me get ahold of the
proper authorities then you can relax."
"How long will that take?"
"Couple days. One or two at most."
I hold my head in my hands. "What do I do during that time?"
"Go about your business. He's nuts enough not to actually care about what he did here tonight.
He'll forget."
"Think he'll try to get me?"
"No." Jeff shakes his head. "He sees you differently than he sees us. But if you need me, I'm right
here."
I push off the table. "I can handle myself."
I was annoyed that nobody took a real interest in what was going on here. Everyone turned a
blind eye and disregarded what Harry did as insanity or him being delusional. He needed to be
stopped because this isn't a game. You don't play around with guns and people's lives the way he does.
I get into my car and start the engine, taking my own sweet time in stalling. Hanayen seems to
have returned to his old guarded self when I cut the engine off at the side of the house, beside
Harry's GMC. I get out and take note of the fact that the kitchen light is on again.
I resist the urge to announce my arrival when I step through the front entrance, Hanayen clinging
to my side in either fear or courage. I close the door and come face to face with Harry. The guy's
movements are freakishly feline. My blood runs cold in my veins, that omnipresent fear I've
developed just for Harry rises up again.
"Where were you?" He demands wiping his hands on his jeans. "It's late and I thought you were
going to make me come look for you again."
I don't answer him and glance toward my room door. He cocks his head to one side. "Something
wrong?"
This is the most he's ever spoken to me. To anyone as I've been told. And I am unappreciative. I
preferred the silence between us to this chatter of homicide and pretending he knew nothing of
what he can do.
Something that wasn't God blew life into Harry Styles.
I shake my head and turn to walk away, in the direction of my room. Harry blocks my way with
his shoulder. "Lou?"
"I said don't call me that." I spit.
His eyes widen. "Does someone else call you that?"
I don't answer him with words, until he grows impatient and I watch his eyes turn from green to
black.
"Tell me what's bothering you." He orders without the slightest hint of courtesy.
"You're a murderer, Harry. I'm living with a fucking murderer." I let the anger leave with my
"You're a murderer, Harry. I'm living with a fucking murderer." I let the anger leave with my
words.
He blinks. "Do you not want to stay here with me?"
"What do you think?"
He takes a deep breath, closing his eyes and running his hand through his hair. When he looks at
me again, the black orbs are blazing.
The air is knocked out of me - for the second time today - when I'm shoved backwards, my back
forced against the door I'd just stepped through and my feet thankfully still on the ground.
Hanayen barks for the first time all day but Harry ignores the noise, holding me up by the lapels of
my jacket. His fists are hard and painful against my chest; my own hands failing to pry them off
me.
"You're so ungrateful." His face looms nanometers above mine.
I am paralyzed in his grip, my shoulder blades pressing into the hard wall making me flinch. I dig
my blunt nails into his bare arm in a futile attempt at freeing myself. He steps impossibly closer so
that the heat from his exposed skin beats down on my freezing flesh.
I decide to take a page from his instruction manual. Maybe talking to him will somehow get
through to him. "Why am I ungrateful?"
He smirks. "I have done so much for you."
"What have you done for me?"
"I, too, can play innocent, Lou." His eyes drift all over my facial features. I turn into an ice block
when he presses his forehead against the wall behind me, above my shoulder where I cannot see
him.
"Do you want me to be afraid of you, Harry?"
He chuckles into my ear and I say goodbye to my personal space, because around Harry I now
had none. I screw my eyes shut in awkward disgust when his nose brushes my jaw. No other guy
has ever been this close to me before.
"Of course not." He answers still hidden on my side. "We can't be friends if you're afraid of me."
"You can't make friends like this." I almost gasp when he tightens his grip on my shirt. I think it's
going to rip in his fingers.
"I've never done it before." He breathes and his breath is chilly against my cheek. "Tried to make
friends."
"Harry." I caution when he impossibly closes his fists tighter and it reddens my chest.
He suddenly releases me and drops to his knees on the floor like a pilgrim begging for
forgiveness. I suck in large gulps of air like it's my first breaths and leave him there, kneeling and
go into my room. I slam the door shut and Hanayen comes to me on the floor. I hold him around
his soft furry neck and take deep breaths, calming the nerves that threaten to over boil.
"We have to leave, Hanayen." I say to the creature with a shaky voice. "Just us."
He seems to hear every word I say, his noisy ragged breathing diminishes to allow my voice's
clarity.
*HARRY POV*
The door's closing rings in my ears, my knees don't even ache from the sudden collision with the
floor. I glance at the door that is soundly shut to keep me out. I clamp my hands over my ears
rocking back and forth on my heels, inwardly punishing myself for planting fear in Louis.
I get off the floor, and approach the weak barrier preparing to knock on it with my knuckles. I
pause when I hear a voice. His voice. I frown when I realize he is talking to someone, that cursed
mutt is in there with him. I pinch my bandana lifting it away from my forehead.
"Just us." I hear Louis say. "We only have to wait two days. Then we can go."
I stare at the door as if willing it to explode in my face. Have I not done what I can for that
ungrateful prick? He wants to leave even when I ask to be his friend. That dog is the root of the
problem; he is distracting Louis from what I could offer him. Louis would hate me if I laid a finger
on the foul creature, and so I won't. For now.
*LOUIS POV*
I've never showered in this house before and imagining it to be less of an unpleasant experience
than it looks, is a rare thought. The soap is pitiful and dried beyond the state of usefulness, there is
no shampoo or sponge otherwise. I wash my hair with the scented soap, having to work it over
into a lathered state before I can put it to my skin.
The water is warm however and though it may not be therapeutic, it is trusted to rid my body and
soul of the discomfort of the past day. Nothing happens as it should. Every worry is still at the
back of my conscious, making my shoulders slump from a heavy burden.
After my shower I throw on a pair of fresh boxers, pacing around my room with damp hair and
skin. I hunt all over for my phone, only coming up empty-handed at the end of my search.
I really didn't want to sleep here tonight, it felt different to my first night. I hate it.
*NARRATOR POV*
She stuck to his ceiling like a malevolent presence, gazing down on his bed while he slept. He
shouldn't be here, she thought, Brother would hurt him by accident or worse, purposely.
She went into her brother's room. He was sitting on the edge of his bed; he never slept. Of course
he is outraged at her blasphemous claim.
"I won't hurt him!" He protests loudly.
She begs him to be quiet so that Mother won't overhear. Mother already despised Louis' presence.
Harry wasn't hearing it though. She tells him that they both knew Harry will lose his temper.
"Leave me alone, Gemma!" He shouts covering his ears, raking his hands through his hair so
painfully the hair could come out at the roots.
She asks him to please calm down, then inquires about what's bothering him so much. His eyes
are bloodshot and wide. She asks where his bandanna is.
"I don't know. I lost it." He answers more calmly. "I hate-"
They both stop talking when the familiar chill sets into the room, settling the space into an alien
remote feeling. Mother was coming.