Bulletproof // h.s

04

avaline

four weeks later

he was getting better. harry was coping with his mother's death, which had happened exactly two weeks before on this date. 

i rememeber it clearly in my mind. he came to the bench, crying unusually loudly, letting agonizing screams out of his throat. i had seen it coming but seeing harry's red eyes and swollen lips made it seem real in a way that was difficult even for me to handle. 

she had seen me once, but i had seen her many times. after looking at the many family photo albums harry had shown me, i felt like she was close enough to be my own mother. she had the same green eyes that she had passed on to harry. later, harry had taken me to his house one day, when his mother was alive. barely alive.

she was sitting in front of a window, watching the streets empty out as rain started to hit the window. she was unaffected by the raindrops and the sound of my umbrella closing as my wet shoes sloshed over their wooden floor. 

harry ran up to his mother and turned her wheelchair to face me. 

"mom, this is avaline." he whispered, barely audible in the already quiet home.

i awkwardly walked over to her and got on my knees as i offered her a warm smile. i slid my hand on top of her knee as she painfully smiled back at me. and that was all. we didn't have to make conversation or pretend to be overly cheerful. our eyes did the talking, between harry, his mother, and i.

the day she left him was the first day i felt his touch against me for the first time. i had a shocked face as he trudged to the bench and clumsily sat down. not knowing what to say, i put my arms around his frail body as he sobbed. i felt his face in the crook of my neck and heard the sound of his rough breathing going in and out with chokes of crying.

after two weeks of her death, harry and i had bonded quite well. i had never thought that this beautiful boy at the pharmacy and i would become this close but i'm happy we did. 

he had started to chuckle and smile at my attempts to make him laugh now. his constantly red eyes were starting to become normal and his mouth made conversation with me without choking on his words.

"hey harry," i called out to him as i watched him walk over to the bench in a white shirt that i could see his pale body in. 

"hi avaline." he sighed, smiling through the evident pain.

"how are you?" i asked, giving him a light hug.

"fine. i wanted to show you something avaline."

"sure. what is it?" i asked, not able to hide my curiousity.

"look at you." he smiled at my chilidishness. a real smile. not a half hearted smile, one that was from his heart.

he pulled out a small box. i looked at his large hands open the dust covered lid of the velvet box. many pieces of folded paper looked up at me as i looked up to harry. 

"are, are they from your mom?" i choked. 

"i don't want to see what it says. please, read it for me and then tell me if i'll be able to handle it. it's been sitting underneath my bed since the day she got diagnosed. she told me to wait till she was gone and i consoled myself that i wouldn't have to look at it since she would be cured. but now that she's gone, i still can't bring myself to open it up. help me. please, i'm trusting you with this ava." he called out my nickname in the now silent sky that was turning dark blue, making the yellow streetlights look as bright as fireflies.

i took the box out of his shaking hands and into my lap. opening the first chit which happened to be the only colored chit. it was hard paper that was larger than the others, and colored light pink it stood out from the rest of the white sheets so i decided i would read that one first.

dear harry. my wonderful harry. these chits have small letters on them, explaining the true story of how you came to be, why the rest of our family is disconnected from us, and who your true father is and what he has that you need to survive. now, i know you would have picked this one up first, since it is colored. the rest of the story is in the rest of the chits. i have labeled the chits with numbers. go find chit number two. i know, that after reading this, you will take the right decision. i love you harry. from your mother, mareline colette garnier.

i gasped as i took in the last sentence of the letter. 

marie colette garnier.

could it actually be her? the one i've been searching for since last year? 

i thought i would be elated, happy, jumping up and down in joy when i found her, but the situation turned out to be completely different. i thought i would run to my boss, show him the information, the evidence, the proof, and collect my reward. then i would treat myself, go shopping, and then peacefully go to bed. 

but no. i was sitting on the bench. my mind spinning, my heart racing. i desperately wished it was anyone but her. anyone but her.

+++

there you go. the plot has started to unfold. sorry for the cliffhanger!

happy reading :))