Ephemeral //H.S

Chapter 68

-Harry Styles-

I look down at my hand, my fingers twisting the silver band around my middle finger, I take it off and brush my finger against the fingerprint engraved on the inside, the only thing I have left from a family I don't remember.

"You're gonna be okay?"

"I'll be fine." I say as I put my ring back on and rank my fingers through my hair, sighing heavily as I look at my reflection in the bathroom mirror. Devon leans against the doorframe, arms crossed against her chest as she looks at me, biting her nails.

"Harry.."

"What?" I turn to look at her, swallowing harshly. She sighs, and walks over before grabbing the comb and running it through the side of my hair.

"You forgot a spot." I look back at myself in the mirror and inspect my gelled back hair after she fixes it.

"Thanks." I tug on the collar of my suit jacket and walk away from the mirror, running an anxious hand down my face.

"Harry." She says again and I groan.

"What?" I say with an aggravated tone which makes her flinch, and I immediately regret it. She bites on her lip, looking at me with her sad eyes she walks over and wraps her arms around me. I frown, looking down at her I wrap my arms around her shoulders and sigh, hating myself for acting so cold towards her when it's the last thing I want to be.

"Please be careful. And bring her back, okay?" I nod as I hold her.

"I will." She hugs me for a few moments longer, and I hold her back.

Last night was rough on all of us, but it only fueled my hate for Russel. He's lied to all of us from the beginning, making us feel like he was the only one we could rely one, like we had no one else to turn to because he was the one to do that to us. I had a family, we all had families and loved ones but he took all of that away from us.

Niall had an older sister, they were both in the foster care system together and somehow they managed to stay together for a while. But Russel got to her one night when she was walking home from high school.
Liam had a daughter, she had leukemia and spent a lot of time in the hospital.. Russel got to her too, he bribed her nurse to switch up her medication which is what killed her. She was only seven years old.
Louis' girlfriend, she never overdosed on her own. I still remember the day he called us, there was nothing we could do to save her.
Zayn's mom was assaulted only a few feet away from her house, she died in the hospital after complications.
Lucy's parents, who were driven off a bridge right before they were about to pick her and Devon up from school.

My mom, dad and my little sister. My mom worked at a hospital, her name was Anne. My dad, Jacob, was a salesman. And Gemma, my little sister, was only five years old at the time. We could've grown up together, made so many memories, and been a real family. But now I'm 26 years old and I don't remember any of them. I'm sure I used to have a least some memories before the incident in 2018, maybe it was an early memory of my parents taking my sister and I to the zoo or something just as innocent and normal, or maybe playing in the backyard or at the parc with my sister, eating ice cream or fighting over toys. And now I curse myself for destroying my own memories, I could still remember them but now it's just a void in my brain. A place where something treasurable used to be but that is now gone forever.

I lost them, we all lost our families to Russel and we'll never get them back. But we've created our own family, no matter how strange this family is it needs to be complete again and it can never be without Lucy. And she needs us tonight, no matter how strong she is, she can only handle so much on her own. Ever since all this shit started she's made the decision to carry all of it on her shoulders, I know she always felt she was doing the right thing for us, that she didn't need us. But we need her, because without her we wouldn't all be so close. She's made it this far on her own, yes she hurt all of us in the process but I'm sure she didn't mean to. Even after what she did I'll still stand by her side, because I want to carry some of that weight with her. She's been through so fucking much, too much for just one person to handle and she'll never be okay, she'll never be who she used to be and she needs to realize that she's not on her own and that she doesn't need to be.