Wait (Harry Styles)

e i g h t e e n

18

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HARRY

"We'll let you do as you please and let her go, on one condition."

The words echoed inside my head as I watched Amelia's soft brown eyes cloud with disbelief and grief. I could see her bottom lip begin to tremble as the words registered. The workers nearby seemed to notice her but didn't say anything. It took every ounce of self restraint to not reach over and hug her.

"You're kidding..you must be." Her voice cracked but she continued to look at me. Searching every inch of my face for a possibility that I was lying. I tried my best to look uninterested and un-animated in front of her, but it was proving to be a harder task than I thought it would be.

I repeated my words again, hoping she would realize that I was a lost case and give up.

"Whose Harry?"

"You're Harry." Amelia spoke softer, almost as if she was telling me a sad hushed secret.

"I named you Harry, don't you remember?"

I forced my eyes to focus on anything besides the fragile girl sitting in front of me. The old man sitting by the nearby table. The triangular clock hanging by the wall. I was this close to spilling everything..

"Amelia, it's no use."

Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that the girl who had been eyeing us earlier had directed her full attention towards us. Her auburn hair rested just below her shoulder blades and her face was set in a stern expression. The frown set on her face loosened up a little.

"He's not going to remember anything, there's no point."

Amelia's eyes laid on mine for what seemed like decades until she silently got up, still facing me. She smiled, yet her eyes seemed to represent the exact opposite of happy.

"I'm sorry, I must've mistaken you for someone else."

I didn't say anything. My lips were set in a straight line, concealing any possible explanations of the truth. Our eyes met each other once more before she hastily looked away. A wretched numbing feeling washed over me. Once she sulked away a couple metres away from me, I tried focusing on the tray in front of me.

I shovelled in a couple pieces of tasteless corn into my mouth. I didn't chew. It just sat there on my tongue as I didn't bother to move it around. What was the point of this exactly? Was I only to escape death just to come back to the place that started it all? All of this managed to happen while I dragged Amelia into this. It was only fair that I helped her get out of this.

I pretended not to notice Amelia out of the corner of my eye. In fact, I didn't even move my head an inch towards her direction. Discrete discretion would probably be best.

After all, they had warned me.

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AMELIA

Everyone was silent. No one dared to comment on what had just happened. Which was fine by me, I had no intentions of talking about it. My head and eyes didn't turn to the side, I didn't do anything else except mechanically move my fork up and down to pick up pieces of food.

Maybe this was for the best. He wasn't meant to stay with me for long. What was to come was inevitable, it just came sooner than expected. That's all.

I forced my mind to believe what I had thought. If I repeated those thoughts daily, maybe I'll start to forget him.

The clatter of the tray caught my attention as I noticed Mal getting up with her tray barely even touched.