Infinity

Chapter 5

Well this fucking sucks. The words raced through Harry's mind as he leaned forward on the counter of Tom's Bakery. Taking a deep breath the smell of flower and frosting was almost overwhelming. This was all Liam's fault. If it hadn't been for his soonto be stepbrother. His father never would have cut Harry off and he wouldn't be out with his friends instead of trapped in this torture chamber.

It all started because Liam decided to get a jobat the grocery store after school. Which was fine. The only problem was that Harry's dad overheard Liam talking about it and insisted Harry proquire after school work as well. He took all of Harry's credit cards and even threatened to take away his car if he didn't comply and start pulling his own weight. it was all so frustrating. Why did Liam have to be such a suck up all the time ? If Harry had wanted to work long hours and make little money he would been born poor. Like Hello.

Now there he was trapped in the bakery by himself on a Wednesday night like a total loser. All the good after school jobs had been taken by time Harry actually got around to applying to places. Not that working at the bakery was hard or anything. His boss, some nerdy looking guy in his twenties named Cole with glasses and a bad case of acne was pretty chill. The only problem was how boring his job was. Nobody wanted to buy donuts at nine o'clock at night. But since he had school in the mornings he was stuck with all the crappy night shifts.

Pulling out his cellphone he looked through his contacts. Maybe one of his so called friends would want to hang out. Even if it was a school night. Lets see, there was Kylie. he immediately pushed that thought away. It would be too awkward. Sure she was fun and everything but they never really hung out whenever they got together. They mostly just had sex and went their separate ways. Plus he'd already "hung out" with her earlier in the week and he didn't want it to look like he was stalking her.

Then there was Gigi. Nope, she was probably off either breaking up with her boyfriend or making up with her boyfriend. It was hard to tell with those two. There was always some drama going on with them and the last thing he wanted to get stuck in the middle of it.  Okay so not her.

What about Louis? They hadn't really talked since all the freaky stuff during the camping trip. None of them had actually. Harry knew that they were going to have to address it at some point but it was just weird. None of them even knew what had happened. Part of him just wanted to believe that he'd just drunk too much and leave it at that. Touching the bright red pendant around his neck it felt hot against his skin. He'd tried taking it off and just throwing it out. He just couldn't every time he took it off he just felt drained and exposed. Like he was walking around naked or something.

Anyways Louis had been acting like beyond weird since they'd come back from camping. It was like he was avoiding Harry or something. At school he hardly ever talked to him anymore. Whenever they made plans to hang out Louis would totally ditch him and cancel at the last minute. Its not like Harry had hit on a girl Louis liked or anything. So why was he acting so damn weird? It was seriously starting to piss him off.

Typing excitedly he stuck his cellphone in his pocket and waited for a response. As much as he hated to admit it. Louis ignoring him really bothered him. They'd been friends since they were little. so how could Louis just cut him off with an explanation. Hopefully they would be able to clear the air. Feeling his phone vibrate he pulled it out.

SORRY. H CANT HANG OUT 2NITE. GOING OUT WITH LIAM. MAYBE SOME OTHER TIME. - L

Harry had to keep himself from flinging his phone across the room in anger. What the fuck was going on with everyone? Was he infected with a virus or something? All his friends were being super annoying. How could Louis ditch him to go and hang out with Liam. Liam for fucks sakes. The guy was the most boring person Harry had ever met in his life. They lived in the same house and all he ever saw Liam doing was reading or doing homework. It was enough to put Harry to sleep just watching it. Since when did those two start hanging out anyways?

"Hey Harry" turning he found his boss Cole yelling his name from the back office. Making his way there he tried to push all the thoughts of his friends from his mind. He was still at work after all. The last thing he needed was to get fired.

"Yes, do you need help with something?"

"Harry I need you to take all the garbage to the dumpsters out back." Great that's exactly what he needed, not.  

"Sure okay" said Harry in his friendliest voice. Forcing a grin on his face he turned and he made his way towards the back where they kept all the garbage bags in one pile. The good thing about working in the bakery was that at least it didn't smell as bad as if he worked at a grocery store or something. cursing under his breath he opened the back door and looked out into the small ally where the dumpster was. The days had seemed to go by faster and faster since school started again and the sky was already pitch black.

Cursing under his breath he dragged bag after bag to the large green dumpster. one after the other he grabbed the dirty lid and tossed the garbage inside. He really should have put on some gloves. Turning around he suddenly let out a startled yelp. Standing right in front of him stood a man. sometimes homeless people went through their garbage looking for leftover donuts. Dressed in a ripped up trench coat and the man said nothing as he glared directly at Harry.

Harry felt a chill go through his body. This guy was totally freaking him out. He looked to be in his fifties. His grey hair was wild and dirty like it hadn't been washed in weeks. His faced was lined with deep wrinkles and his eyes were dark.

"Uh sorry I think we threw out all our leftovers yesterday." He hated the way his voiced sounded nervous. Instead of responding the man just looked at him with a blank expression on his face. Turning to go back inside the man got in his way blocking his path. "Look I have to get back to work so -"

A pair of hands were around his throat. In a flash he felt his back slam into the cold concrete ground and the man straddled him as he pressed his large finders tighter and tighter around his neck. Using his hands he tried pushing the man off of himself. his fingers only gripped tighter the more Harry fought back. gasping for breath he felt his lungs burn and after what felt like an eternity his vision began to turn blurry. He was going to die. Strangled in an ally by some psycho.  

Just then he felt his pendant burn hot against his skin. Sparks of bright red flames flew from his hand and onto the man. Letting out an inhuman screech he let go of Harry's neck and he suddenly found himself gasping for breath looking up to see the homeless man on fire. The dirty trench coat was covered in flames and the man ran around screeching clawing at his face and body. Coughing Harry raised his hands to his face to find them aflame. Shining bright in the dark ally. Immediately he expected to feel the fire burn his skin scorching him with heat. Instead it slowly dissipated before his vary eyes leaving his hands as they always were.

The man collapsed and with a loud crack in the air Harry watched in horror as the man dissolved into dark black ash before his very eyes. A cloud of dark smoke rose from were the man once was and disappeared into the sky. Lifting himself off the ground Harry took a step forward to take a closer look. A gust of wind blew through the air and the ashes on the ground scattered away and out of sight.  

Raising his shaking hands he felt the sudden urge to cry. What the hell was going on? as if to answer his question his pendant began to shine as bright as flashlight covering him in a warm red glow. calming himself down he pulled out his cellphone. If this was happening to him because of the pendant then it was probably happening to his friend too, right? they each had one after all. Something weird was going on and it was about time to figure out what.

Putting his phone against his ear he prayed Louis would pick up the phone.

"Hello" Harry had never been so glad to hear anyone's voice in his life.  

"Louis, its Harry we need to talk."