Chapter 34
Harry's P.O.V
I could feel the anger bubbling inside me, but it was consumed by the immense pain causing my chest to cave in. I took my eyes from Louise's, no longer able to look her in the eye as she sat down next to me, an attempted reassuring smirk crossing her face, leaving no affect on me. I had heard his voice on the other line, I knew it was him, and I couldn't escape that fact. She scoot closer to me on the couch, our legs briefly touching before I moved away, cringing at the contact. Emotions boiled inside of me as I sat motionless, tensing at her presence next to me. I had to get out, I had to get away before I snapped, and I knew if I didn't do it now, I would snap on her. I clicked the button on my phone, unlocking it to check the time.
1:34pm
We'd all been here for over 36 hours already, hardly leaving at all since we got here. I rose to my feet, glancing once more down at Louise as she sent me a worried and questioning look. My feet carried me forward, and without a word I left the studio. The tension around me dropped from my shoulders as I left the building, the cold air rejuvenating every one of my senses from their numbness. I began walking, in no direction in particular, my eyes looking blankly into the oblivion in front of me as my feet carried me down the vacant streets. I walked with my hands shoved in my pockets, the crisp air biting at them as I pulled them up to my face, breathing into them to warm them up. My eyes focused again when I felt the crunching gravel underneath my feet, and as I brought my eyes forward, they landed upon the familiar outline of a dark gate towering over my head, the words "Shepherds Cemetery" outlined over my head. I sighed, before pushing open the heavy gate, and following my feet to where my mother lay, my knees clashing to the ground as my feet brought me to the worn out ground beneath me. My cheeks burned with tears as they rolled down my face, the freezing air biting as my nose as I sniffled uncontrollably in front of the erected rock engraved with her name. "Mom?" I squeaked out, only a whisper as my voice was hoarse. Her face flashed through my mind, her beautiful smile greeting me as laughter rolled off her tongue. Her glimmering eyes were slowly replaced with dark, sad, tear stained eyes as my memory was dragged back to that night. Her sobs filling my ears as she cowered on her knees, her hands gripping her stomach as her body lay on the cold floor. My father was out, like always, and at the time I was glad, and I still am, because everytime he was home, she got hurt. I was only eight then, and I didn't understand everything that had happened. She never had talked about that night with me, but as I pieced it together more and more each year it revealed itself to me. If it weren't for him.. my own father, hurting her, I would've had a little brother. He always tried to hurt her and she would yell at me, telling me to run as she put herself in front of me, protecting me. "It's my fault" I wept, breathless as the memories flooded my mind. My hands beat down on the hard earth underneath me as I screamed into the crisp air, a white puff of air cutting through it before quickly disappearing above me. The weight of my chest pulled me to the ground, as I lay down on my side, the tears still streaming down my face. The spring air sent shivers down my spine, a chill coming over my entire body as the numbness had earlier, desensitizing my emotions, and my body completely. The cold consumed my body, and fatigue devoured me as my eyelids flickered, trying to stay open. Images of my mother still flashed through my head, but as my head met the cold rock beneath me, Louise's face took her place. Lighting up for him, and not me, her bright smile was no longer cause by my own. With her, I lost myself, growing more and more distant as I faded off to sleep, further away from Louise, and further away from reality.
