The Lost Boy (Harry Styles)

9

One day, Rita arrived at the Tomlinson's home, with boxes full of things for Harry.

"Oh my." Jay said as Mark bought the final box inside.

"What is this?" He asked.

"This is all the things we collected from Anne's House that Harry might need. There's everything from his bedroom, plus things of Anne's that he might want to remember her by. We'll leave it up to you what you want to do with it."

Jay's heart was pounding. This was Harry and Anne's lives in these boxes. "Ok. Thank you."

"How is Harry?" Rita asked as Mark handed her a mug of tea.

"Still very quiet. He's got very close to Louis, which is great. Obviously he's missing his Mum."

"It's going to take some time. You're doing a wonderful job."

"We're doing our best. We've never had such a sad child before, that's had such a shocking start to life."

Mark took Jay's hand and held it tightly.

"You're wonderful at what you do. I'll leave you now. You have my number, call anytime."

The couple thanked Rita and she left the home.

The couple sat on the sofa and looked at the boxes. "Guess we should look then."

Mark opened the first box. Inside were Harry's clothes. Most of them would be too small for him now, and they had bought him new clothes anyway.

The next box had his toys and books inside.

The final box was all Anne's things, such as her jewellery, perfume, photographs, and other bits and pieces.

"I wonder if we should put a few bits out for Harry to look at. He may remember Anne's jewellery or perfume." Mark wondered.

"I think that's a good idea. He should be awake soon. I'll go check on him." Jay replied. She walked upstairs to where Harry was napping in his bed. Louis was sat beside him reading a book.

"Hello Mummy. Who were you talking to?"

"Oh just the lady who's dealing with Harry. She bought some things for him."

Louis sat up straighter. "He had his birthday though."

"Not birthday presents. Just things from his house."

"Oh. OK."

Harry started waking up, their voices, although not loud, had woken him up.

"Hi Harry. You got some presents."

Harry looked confused and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

"You ok sweetie?" Jay asked. Harry held his arms up, wanting a cuddle. She picked him up and he laid his head on her shoulder.

"You coming down Louis?"

Louis jumped out of bed and hurried down the stairs ahead of Jay and Harry. "Wow! That's a lot of stuff!" He said as he poked his nose on one of the boxes.

"Louis, don't be nosey." Mark said.

Louis moved and sat on the sofa as Jay sat beside him with Harry on her lap. "Sorry Daddy."

Harry looked at the table, some jewellery, perfume and a photo of Anne were sat there, as well as a few of Harry's toys.

He pointed.

"You can have a look if you want to." Jay said. Harry climbed off of her lap and stood in front of the items. He touched the photo.

"Mummy." He whimpered, as tears started dripping down his cheeks.

Jay moved to sit on the floor next to him. She picked up a bottle of the perfume and sprayed a little bit into the air as Harry stared at the photo. He suddenly turned around.

"Mummy?" He said again. His eyes darting around the room. He obviously couldn't see her though and he fell onto his bottom, crying harder. Jay picked him up and took him to the kitchen, holding him tight as he continued crying, wetting Jay's shoulder with his tears.

"I'm so sorry Harry. So very sorry." She felt guilty putting him through that. Maybe it wasn't such a good idea after all.

"Is he alright?" Mark asked, appearing from the other room.

"We shouldn't have done that. Not yet. He's so young. He doesn't understand." Jay replied, her own tears trickling down her face.

"Hey. Don't cry. We tried and it wasn't the right thing. We'll wait a while. I'm sure it'll be ok to give him his toys though."

"Mummy, can I read Harry a story to stop him crying?" Louis asked. He wondered where everyone had gone and went looking for them. He just wanted to make Harry happy again.

"Of course Lou." Jay replied. She took him into the living room and laid him on the sofa, Louis jumped up and snuggled up beside him, finding Harry's favourite book.

Harry's thumb found its way into his mouth, while he hugged his Teddy and blanket in the other hand. Louis put his arm around him and began to read.

"Louis is so good with him. We should look into adoption."

Later on, Harry had pulled a few of his old toys out of a box and the two boys played on the living room floor. Even though most of the toys were for toddlers, Louis played happily, just because he wanted Harry to be happy. So they sat for a couple of hours, building towers with big chunky blocks, doing 10 piece puzzles and putting shapes into holes.

Every now and then Harry would let out a tiny laugh, that made Jay and Mark smile. This was their son making a very fragile boy smile.

There was no doubt in their minds that they would have to make Harry a permanent part of the Tomlinson family.

*****

Hi.

Anyone still reading this story?

Thoughts?

All the love. L  xx

💕💕💕