Persuasive

fifty-six

Gone.

Just like that, my feelings for him were gone.

The pain he caused me was unbearable, the pain he brought to my brother was sickening.

I use to see Tom and my heart would feel light and delicate, like it was floating on clouds. Fully hypnotized by him, butterflies fluttering around in my stomach freely when our eyes met.
Now, my heart feels heavy and broken when I lay my eyes on him, seeing how much he's changed. How evil he is.

But still, deep down in my heart even after he looked me in the eyes and told me he doesn't love and our love wasn't real, I don't believe it.
I don't believe that after everything, he hasn't grown to love me and our memories. He denies our love because he's scared of it, scare of what it does to him. It makes him a better person, it makes his black heart turn a vibrant red.

So he pushed me away, because he's afraid of what I did to him, of what he became.
A person with a heart.
A person with true feelings.

I'm trying to decide whether I should keep trying to prove to him that he's a lovable person and he's not evil, or if I should just give up on him. Give up on us.

So i'm not going to decide.
I'll see his true emotions today when I stand in front of the astronomy tower and plumage down.
I'll really see if he cares about me then.

---

After the meeting was over, there were many death eaters roaming around my house on their way out the door.
Tom Riddle was still sitting at the table, tapping his finger on the wood in front of him.

I sat a few seats away from him, and soon everyone left and the quiet room was filled with only the sound of Tom and I's breathing.

"Why are you still here?" Tom breathed as his eyes slowly met mine.

"I can't sit at my own dining table?"

He pressed his lips together and moved his eyes back down to his finger tapping onto the table. We sat in silence for a few minutes, steadily listening to the distant sound of people chattering outside the dining room.

"I don't believe you." I blurted.

He pressed his eyebrows together and shot his eyes over to me.
"Don't believe what?" he cleared his throat.

"The things you said in the room. I don't believe that you don't love or care about me. It's rubbish-"

"It's true." he hissed.

Tap.

Tap.

His fingers continued tapping on the table, a bit faster.

"Fucking prove it then!" I roared as I stood from the table.

Tap tap tap tap

"Fucking kill me right here! Right now!" I shouted.

BANG

I jumped to the sound of his hand slamming down on the table, causing it to break and plumage down to the floor.
He drawed out his wand and pointed it towards my chest, inching closer and closer to me as I backed away from him.

"I can't kill you yet, you haven't done any of my tasks yet." he snarled as his wand pointed into my neck.

"I'm not ever doing any of your tasks so might as well kill me now." I whispered as I raised my eyebrows at him. "Kill me, Tom. If you don't care about me then fucking kill me!"

"SHUT THE FUCK UP AVALON!" he thundered as the wand pointed deeper and deeper into my neck.

"DO IT!" I roared.

His hands were trembling as he held the wand so close to my neck, his jaw clenched and red as a tomato from the anger and frustration he was feeling.

I grabbed his arm and we apparated to the astronomy tower, where it was dark and stormy, the clouds filled with rain.

"If you won't kill me then I will!" I called out as I inched closer to the edge of the astronomy tower. The rain started trickling down our heads, completely showering us and drenching our clothes.

"What the fuck are you talking about Avalon?!" he called out as he trudged over to me.

We could barely hear each other from how loud the thunder was in the sky, the heavy blotches of rain plunging down onto our heads.
My back was against the icy, wet railing as I faced Tom. He inched closer and closer to me, wiping his wet, smeared hair from his face.

"Goodbye, Tom." I smiled as I grabbed his face, our eyes burning into each other's.

I knew that if I jumped, he would break through and save me. I knew that if he saw me dying in front of him he would save me with no hesitation. Because that's who Tom is, he has the biggest heart imaginable.
He's not a killer.

"You sound crazy." he chuckled as he grabbed my face and wiped my drenched hair away from my face.

"There's that smile I've been dying to see." I beamed. "Admit to me that you love me. That you care for me-"

"No, no no I don't." he shook his head as droplets formed into his hair.

"So if I died right now you wouldn't care?" I shouted as our lips were centimeters away.

"I wouldn't care."

"Oh really? What about that one time you saved my life up here when I was drunk and I was about to fall of the edge?" I tilted my head. "Why didn't you just let me die?"

"Because."

"Because what?!"

He stood for a moment and breathed heavily as the raindrops completely devoured him. Our lips were inches apart, his breath fanning against my lips as we breathed in sync.

Then, I leaned back against the railing and felt my legs release from the ground, flipping backwards.

"NO!" he shrieked as he watched me slip away from the railing and plumage down in the air.

"AVALON!!" he cried as he leaned against the railing and watched me plummet down, further and further until I saw the ground become bigger and bigger.

The air was frigid and the raindrops spiked against my skin, leaving it feeling numb. I closed my eyes and let myself feel the air brush up against my face, raindrops dotting my cheeks.
And right as I was about to hit the ground, I felt my body come to a halt and my head jerked up. I opened my eyes and saw myself a few inches away from the ground, floating above it.

I knew Tom would save me.

I fell down to the floor with nothing more than a couple bruises, and raindrops completely drenching me as I laid down on my stomach.

Tom apparated to me and hurried over to where I was lying.

"Avalon can you hear me?!" he trembled as he bent down on the floor and placed his fingers on my neck, checking my pulse.

I lifted myself off the floor and a mischievous grin curled on both sides of my lips.
"So you do care about me."

"Don't ever fucking do that again." he muttered as he pushed me and collapsed onto the floor.

I collapsed down onto the floor next to him, closing my eyes and listening to the sound of raindrops hitting the floor. I felt the icy raindrops numb my face as we laid together letting it soak us.

I fluttered my eyes open and looked to the side to see him staring at me with a stupid grin on his face.

I leaned my head in close to his and planted a small kiss onto his soft, delicate lips.