Estranged • h.s.

16

HARRY

I'm sore. I was shot in the stomach but somehow, it's my entire body that aches. My mouth is dry, I feel disgusting before I've even opened my eyes. I'd rather be dead than feel like this. My eyeballs move around behind my lids before they start to open, and I wince even further at the light. 

My arms are heavy but I pull one up to shield my eyes. 

I'm a mess of grunts as I try to look around, let my eyes acclimate slowly. It hurts like a bitch as I sit up, but nothing I can't handle. Even waking up out of a haze, I know I'm in a room I've never seen before. I look to my right as the door opens, and Louis walks in. 

"Fuck man, hey." 

I grunt, working to sit up very slowly. He rushes to me, his hands hovering like he's about to help. I shoo him away and finally sit up with my back against the wall, a single pillow in between. I roll my head to look at him again and he's staring at me like I'm going to die. Or that I did and I'm a ghost. 

"Water," I croak out, my voice scratchy and gruff. 

He's quick, digging into a bag and handing me a water bottle. I chug it, naturally. He watches me as he sits down on the edge of the bed, getting comfortable. 

I finish the bottle, screwing the cap on as I watch him watch me. He's making me uncomfortable. My eyes thin into slits, as I set the empty bottle on the table next to the bed before clasping my hands in my lap. "What?" I ask, fully aware of the fact that I'm in a bed healing from a gunshot. 

"You're alive, awake. It's just good to see you up," he says, acting like he may be just a smidge emotional about this. 

"It's good to see you too, man," I say, giving him a smile. "How long have I been out?" 

He shrugs. "Almost two days, Zayn's mate fixed you right up but your body was exhausted from the stress. We've just been waiting for you to wake up." 

We... I'd be lying if I said the first thing I thought of when I woke up wasn't Cecily. I passed out in her lap, and she isn't here. 

"Yeah? Who's we?" I ask, working to lift my shirt up to look at the bandage wrapped around my torso. It's clean, I assume someone's changed it multiple times. 

"Me, Zayn, sometimes Cec- Eris." 

I look at him through my lashes, dropping the shirt with a wince. "Where is she?"

He shrugs again and I close my eyes, taking a deep breath. 

"I really don't know. She's barely been here, Zayn's the one to ask." 

I scoff. "Yeah, like he's going to tell me anything." 

Louis stares at me, obviously lost at what to say. He's pretty bad at making me feel better when it comes to her. He never saw us on our good days, has no idea how deeply and quickly I loved her, how she loved me. 

I mull over the blend of emotions I feel for her not being here. Sadness, anger, confusion. Somewhere in there, there's a tiny piece of acceptance for what we've become. What we'll never be again. 

"Tell me how it all worked out. It was a shit show, I can't imagine we made it out of that place without someone knowing she killed him." 

He gets comfortable, looking right at me. "I finished alone. I saw you run off and called Zayn, he told me to get on the piano and finish it. So, I did. As for everything else, all I know is Zayn pulled off a fucking miracle by getting things cleaned up before the auction was over. He had me hack the system as soon as I was done and shut down the elevator for maintenance, wipe the cameras, and had someone on the stairs. How they got two fucking bodies out? Beats me."