Caught Between a Halo and Horns

twenty nine.

Harry's POV

I sprint over to the door where Niall is, opening it as fast as humanely possible. I turn the knob with .56 seconds left on the timer, cutting it extremely close. 

As soon as I don't hear any gas being let out anywhere or any screaming, I let out an exhausted sigh of relief, and start down the dark hallway that is behind the door. 

I don't even take two steps before a series of red beams appear before me, the projection deploying itself on the ceiling. "Now now, Harry. You didn't think it would be that easy, did you?" The mysterious voice booms. 

I growl in frustration and stressfully tug at the ends of my hair. "I can do it." I look up at the boys behind me, who all have the same wary look on their faces. 

"Mate, don't be stupid. There's no way you can't flip and maneuver your way through those things. It's a suicide mission." Liam shakes his head. 

"I'm not going to let her die, Liam!" My voice strained and cracking. A look of sorrow and sympathy washes over his hard face before he shakes his head once more, stepping back. 

"I have to do this, we've come too far to give up now." I convince them. 

Louis stares at the opposite wall, clearly holding down his opinion. Niall walks over to the door, and studies the laser patterns. 

"You have a six second window to get to the other side, and you can't stay under one beam for more than .3 seconds. Got it?" Niall rushes. I nod, and he does the same back.  

I internally thank my mum for making me take those fucking gymnastics classes when I was a kid. I suck in a few deep breaths and I can feel Niall's hard gaze on my back. 

"Don't fucking die, alright?" Louis sighs from behind me. I turn around a half smile. 

I turn back to face the red beams in front of me, moving like clockwork. I roll my shoulders back and approach the first one, looking up at a frail silhouette at the end of the corridor, sparking will and encouragement inside me. 

I suddenly and swiftly duck my head and dive under the first laser, not wasting any time before I regain my upward posture and front flip over the next two beams, which sweep underneath me, inches from my stomach. 

The next one is vertical, coming at me on both sides at lighting speed. I face the wall to fit in between them and one of them grazes my flannel, setting it on fire. Almost at the end, I decide to ignore it despite the worried hollering I hear from the other side. 

I drop to the floor to crawl under the next three lasers moving towards me, before approaching the final two. I turn on my heel once I stand, and backflip three feet, safely on the other side on the beams. 

I hear the boys muttering thoughts of relief and question my sanity, but the first thing I do is walk into the darkness, and look for Cristina. 

The lights turn on and the lasers turn off, and the boys jog over to me. Niall rips the burning material from my chest, and stomps on it. The bottom of my wife-beater is still a little burnt from the flame, along with the skin underneath it. Just as I think I'm approaching her, my nose sharply meets a glass wall.

I wince in pain and look up to see a eight by five foot glass box, with Cristina sitting inside it. I whisper profanities when I look at the ghost of a girl sitting before me. She looks like she hasn't eaten to slept since she left, but the weird thing about it is that her hair and makeup is done, her body adorned with a beautiful baby blue dress. Almost as if she was dressed for her funeral.