baby [h.s.]

five

The police showed up. We told them it was an accident and that he did not need to be sent to the hospital.

It took quite a while, but finally, they left.

Once they did, I took the job of cleaning up and Harry tied Parker up to one of my chairs. I swept in silence; the glass was the only noise, as it was gathered in a dustpan.

I was still gathering shards of glass when Harry began to gather the pieces of wood that had scattered around my house. For a moment, I stopped and watched.

I felt broken. Crying wasn't what I felt like doing. Instead, all I could feel was fatigue of emotions. It was overwhelming to be put in such a position.

"You're alright, yeah?" Harry asked, looking up from what he was doing. I nodded before looking back down to the glass. There wasn't much left. "I'm sorry that this had to happen,"

"It is what it is," I mumbled. My flat was in shambles. The hardwood floors where coated in shards of broken glass and broken wood. My rug was halfway folded up and my furniture was shifted around. Everything looked a wreck. A few things had been knocked over; books had fallen off of the bookshelf beside the door, along with a few knick-knacks.

And the thing was; I didn't feel like fixing it up. My desires weren't to stay and fix my home. Instead, they were to leave. I wanted to find a new home.

It had been nearly two hours since I had knocked him out when Parker came to. By that point, the shattered material had been mostly gathered; Harry and I both had spent a good amount of time sweeping and vacuuming.

Parker was confused; his eyebrows were creased and his eyes squinted.

"Wh-what...where-"

"Shut the fuck up," Harry snapped, storming forth to where Parker was strapped. Harry got close with narrow eyes. Anger radiated off of him.

In fear, I shrunk back. It was intimidating.

Parker began to shift in his restraints. When he realized that he was trapped, fury seemed to take him over. "What the fuck,"

"I told you to shut up," Harry said. "I'm going to explain something to you, kid, and you're going to fucking listen," Harry's body leaned over close to Parker's and he began to whisper in his ear.

As Harry spoke words that were inaudible to me, Parker's eyes widened. His skin paled a bit and his face was stricken with worry.

"Are we clear?" Harry was still whispering, but this time I could hear.

"Crystal," Parker responded. Harry began to cut his restraints.

My lips parted at the scene before me. Parker stood up immediately and began to rush towards me. My defensive mode came into play and I backed up, my eyes narrowed.

"I'm so sorry," he said in a low voice. I didn't respond, but he didn't seem to expect me to. In practically an instant, he was gone; he had left. My gaze remained on the door momentarily before I turned back to Harry.

"He won't be a problem anymore," Harry said as his hand ran through his messy hair. My head cocked to the side.

"Promise?" I asked in a small voice.

Harry sighed, cracking a small smile. "I promise, sweetheart,"

At that point, I was leaning on the couch. I put all my weight farther back and I slid down the back of the couch so that I was sitting on its cushions.