This Was Home [h.s.]

| *15. SECRETS* |

  I opened my mouth to say something, but my words fell short. My brain was still processing what just happened in front of me only moments ago. I couldn't tell if I was overreacting or if he was just under-reacting.

Harry hadn't looked over to me yet, he was preoccupied with haphazardly cleaning himself off. He wiped his eyes, removing some of the blood splatters sprinkled across his face. Bending down, he felt the man's pockets and pulled out a set of keys. This was when he finally looked over to me with a face full of newfound excitement.

He jingled the keys towards me to get my attention, but I only looked back with a blank stare. I couldn't wrap my head around how he was acting so normal. Was this really just me overreacting? I mean the man was threatening to kill us with a gun pointed, sure, but I had never seen death so close to my face like that. Was that normal for everyone else? Was I that much more sheltered than every other person in the world? Or just Harry?

It left me with a weird feeling in my chest and I didn't like it.

Harry noticed my unchanged expression at his finding and frowned. He sat up and walked over to me. I couldn't help but to scan his body, noticing all the blood splatters clinging onto his clothing. There were still splotches leftover on his face, some smeared from his previous wiping. Looking at him for longer than a few seconds at a time was remaining difficult because of it. All I could see was the anger that I had just witnessed; the bulging veins, the red cheeks, the clenched teeth. He was so angry and it was the first time I felt genuinely frightened by him.

His head crooked to the side as he studied me. I was staring off to the distance with him in my peripherals. A hand reached for my arm and I immediately flinched, a small gasp leaving my mouth. It brought me back to reality as I stared back into his eyes. All of a sudden the closeness no longer felt like a safe haven, but more like a trap.

I took a small step backwards, my eyes not moving from his. My cowering from him made his face drop slightly. He looked taken aback, like he wasn't expecting me to react that way.

"Brin," he stepped forward with an extended arm, "c'mon."

I shook my head no, taking another step backwards.

He stopped walking towards me, his arms dropping to his side in defeat. His face looked disappointed. A large breath was inhaled through his mouth and he ran a hand through his hair as he stared at the ground. He looked like he was trying to calculate his next move.

"Brin–," he said with a sense of desperation in his voice, "he would've killed you–would've killed us." His gaze was back on me, dancing back and forth to each of my eyes.

"You don't know that!" I yelled, surprising myself on how upset I sounded.

He briefly closed his eyes for a moment and placed his hands in front of him as he spoke. "Brin, you can't trust people like that. You don't know what people are like out here. Just trust me, okay?"