Regal [h.s]

Chapter Sixty Eight

"The monsters turned out to be just trees, when the sun came up you were looking at me"

♔ ♔ ♔

DONT SHOUT AT ME OR MARLIE!

Harry

I always had a suspicion growing within me. I always had a sneaky feeling that something wasn't right. I guess you could've said that I knew from the start.

But looking at Frankie's phone screen at the dead of night with tears coating my eyes and quite possibly the worst thing to ever grace the internet on the screen.

It wasn't negative as in the press would catch on, I'm sure no one even cast their eyes upon it for longer than two minutes before they went about their day as if nothing had happened.

This was a private issue that only very few people would actually acknowledge to be a problem. And I know for one that this would just be the cherry on top for Marlie. This would be the one thing to make the landslide fatal. The one thing that pushes her over the edge and threatens to drown her lungs.

For her this is everything.

It's not just a news article, it's not just a picture. It's her life.

"What is it? What's- what is it Harry?" Marlie straightens her back and I close my eyes to prevent seeing that look of fear splash across her face as her mind runs away with all of the possibilities that could be flashing up on that news article.

"Mar-" my breath hitches at the back of my throat. The last thing I ever wanted was to upset her with my words, and though they weren't coming from a place of violence or hate, I would just be relaying what was on Frankie's phone, I knew it would still upset her.

It was a shock to actually see it right in front of me. I had truthfully always known, I had always been so sure, and my suspicions were correct, I just hate that this was real and I hated that I had to be the one telling Mar. I hate that it would be coming out of my mouth.

Even though I knew, I never wanted to share it with her, I never wanted to add stress to her already heavy load and I didn't want this to spiral more anxiety within her. So I kept quiet. I kept quiet for nearly a whole year and we had lived just fine, well just about.

I had never thought to bring it up because I didn't want to upset her, though now I'm regretting my choices as I stare down at the phone, avoiding all eye contact from her.

"What? Can someone please just tell me?" She exclaims, raising her voice in stress and I can't blame her one little bit. The anticipation alone would've killed me off.