starry eyes ✮ slashers.

chapter 005.

five. his bloody valentine.

          The letter lays upon her white pillow, her hazel eyes drifting across the page. Having space between his visits allows her time to miss him and in absence the heart grows fonder.

Her nails, the same shade of fire as her hair, trace the words on the page. It's so unusually gentle, his description and words, in comparison to his manner. She imagines Tom in the miner suit, thinking of her as he scribbled the words on the page with a small smile.

How foolish she felt to long for a killer.

The door to her room opens and she almost expects to see Tom, but instead her mother smiles warmly at her.

"Everything okay, honey?" Lyra nods and rolls her head in the way of the letter encase her mother inquires. "Good, i'll be watching a movie downstairs, if i fall asleep then wake me before you leave for work, hon." Lyra hums in acknowledgment, too tired to respond coherently. Her mother leaves and closes the door quietly, it's only then that Lyra notices the heavy breathing emitting from her closet.

A small smile finds her lips and she rises from the bed, pulling her shirt down to cover her stomach as she makes her way to the closet.

The breathing doesn't stop and Lyra looks up through the slits, her eyes meeting Harry's through his mask.

"Harry, why are you in my closet?" She asks, sighing slightly as she opens the doors to let him out. He huffs out through the mask and she hides a giggle at the sound.

He stands beside her bed and she watches him closely, he tilts his head and rests the pickaxe against her bed-frame. She follows his movements as he approaches her, she's backed into the wall.

As Harry approaches she has to tilt her head to view his mask. He stops when he's directly in front of her and slowly reaches for her. Lyra steps into his arms and rests her head against his chest.

She looks up at him, feeling his hesitation to hold her, but he wants to. He approached her, he had the intent. His arms curl around her and his head hovers above hers, careful to not harm her with his mask and suit.

"You're leaving town, aren't you?" Lyra speaks and Harry tilts his head. How did she know that? He steps back and observes her quietly. He nods. She steps closer to him again, not liking the distance.

It's insane to her, how so quickly she'd become so comfortable with him, was there something wrong with her?

His mask had once haunted her nightmares, now it lived in her dreams. Such a strange but welcome feeling she had around him. It was inexplicable.

"I don't want to part from you." She admits. The sudden affection she shows him conflicts his heart. Last visit she was frightened, cautious. What possibly could've changed her mind so quickly about him.

He shows no reaction, watching her silently as she reaches for his mask. He clenched his jaw, forcing himself to allow her to run her fingers across it all. She reaches for the straps behind his head and his gloved palm wraps around her wrist.

He holds her in place and she attempts to reach for the straps again.

"Please." She whispers, this could be the last time she'd see him. She can't possibly prepare herself enough for what his reaction might be but she needs him to see, to understand who he really is.

He isn't just Harry Warden, he's also Tom Hanniger.

The miner lets go of her and closes his eyes, feeling her fingers undo the straps behind his head and remove the top part of his mask. Then she moves to his main mask, it's discarded on her bed with the other and he takes a deep breath, somehow quieter than his shallowest ones with the mask.

"Harry, look at me." she reaches up for him once more and when he feels her palms placed upon his cheeks, his eyes shoot open.

She looks at him with such admiration, a look he'd never experienced in his life.

"Come with me." His voice is gravely, but still recognisable as a lower octave of Tom's. His voice brings a smile to her lips and she thinks of her mother. Her mother was all she had, but she wasn't all her mother had.

And now with her murderous valentine stood before her perhaps it was time to start a life of her own.

Instead of answering, she stands tall, tilting his neck downwards to reach him. Their lips brush together and she allows herself to melt into him as he draws her closer.

It wasn't all in her mind, her heart thumped to reaffirm the strange care she has for this man as she gently caresses the stubble lining his jaw. He smiles, showing humanity she didn't know was possibly for Harry.

Taking his gloved hand in hers, she pulls away and beckons him to follow her.

"If i leave with you, there's something we need to talk about first. I'll be here for you through everything, i assure you, we can make it through this." She positions him beside the mirror and gently turns him to face it, "It's time to face yourself, Tom."