Deranged • Ghost N.H. au

Twenty seven

Riley's P.O.V.

There was silence, nothing but silence after I'd told Harry everything that had been going on the last couple of months. Niall sat next to me all the while, not saying a word but keeping a close eye on Harry, just as curious to his reaction as I was. I didn't hold back any longer to spare him, he deserved to know the truth and maybe, in some way, he could help us. After minutes of silence and intense eyebrow movement from Harry, he finally spoke up.

"So what you're saying is that the person who killed Niall and his parents," He stole a glance at Niall to see his reaction, which was none existent. It was heartbreaking but he obviously got used to the idea after eight years. "-is now stalking you?" He finished before leaning back against the armchair he was in, running a hand through his hair. I nodded but before I could say anything, Harry did again. "And this person is most likely a relative of yours?" He said while looking at Niall as if asking a question. I knew it would be hard to understand all of this if you weren't the one experiencing it like Niall and I, and that's why I tried to break it to him as slowly as possible. 

"We don't know that, all we know is that my dad had a brother, but neither him or my mom ever said a word to me about him." Niall was hesitant, as if he was trying to remember if they did but he just couldn't remember. I suddenly sat up straight, an idea popping into my mind. 

"How about we go talk to your grandparents and ask them about this other son of theirs?" I asked, looking from Niall to Harry. "My grandma died when I was little, I don't know if my granddad is still alive, though." Said Niall, Harry almost immediately interrupting him. "He is, well, he was seven months ago when I visited him." Niall raised his eyebrows at his words, surprised obviously. "You've been visiting my granddad, why?" Harry shrugged, seemingly like it wasn't really a big deal. "I've been doing so a few times a year since that day," He swallowed hard, still adjusting to the idea that his best friend was back again but this time he was sat in front of him in a not so human form. "-I just thought it was the right thing to do you know? I've always liked him and it must've been very hard on him." Niall laughed at that, closing his eyes for a brief second as if he was imagining his family in his mind, all together again. "I suppose, sometimes I thought he liked you better than he liked me." 

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Niall and I were sat in the living room, my phone on the table in front of us as we listened to Harry getting out of his car. The phone was on speaker so we'd both be able to listen to whatever unfolded in the next couple of minutes.We had decided that Harry should go to the elderly house on his own, without me. If I would've come he might be confused or suspiscious about our motives. Harry had visited him before so there was no reason for him to not go again, we needed to be careful if he wanted to know anything about Niall's uncle.

"Alright, I'm going inside now, I'll keep the phone in my hands or in my pocket, hopefully you'll be able to hear us." Harry spoke, lowering his voice mid sentence, indicating that he'd entered the building.  Niall and I kept quiet, not wanting to give Harry away as he held my hand, obviously very nervous. It was silent for a couple of minutes before we heard Harry speak again, his voice sounding very far away, like the phone was somewhere on the ground which it obviously wasn't. "Mr. Horan, Hi." His usual kind voice spoke. We sat on the couch, my chewing on my lip, a habit that surfaced whenever I was nervous. "Harry, son, how have you been?" His voice sounded old and creaky, like he found it difficult to speak. Niall had told me that his grandfather was supposed to be around eighty seven years old now. 

There was unimportant chatting going on for a few minutes before Harry started talking about something else, making Niall swallow hard. "Mr Horan, I went to visit Niall and his parents' grave a couple of weeks ago and I saw something that confused me." He started, followed with silence for a couple of seconds. "What did you see?" The voice of Niall's granddad followed, very creaky and unclear because Harry had probably put the phone in his pocket but we were able to follow the conversation. "On Bobby's stone, it said that he had a brother?" Harry's voice sounded, hesitant. He was an excellent actor. The sound of someone's feet ruffling around on the ground was very clear now, as if someone had got up and was walking towards the other side of the room. "You know, Harry, I have never been a good father," He started before Harry interrupted him, making Niall and I curse under our breath. "Of course you were, Bobby loved you."

My phone's screen suddenly started to flash, indicating that it only had 5% battery left, making Niall stand up and rush towards the kitchen to grab my charger before I could. He came back after a few seconds and plugged it in, calming us both before he sat down again. "Bobby, yes, but not his brother. You know, Harry, the times me and my wife grew up in weren't the most wonderful, there were rules we had to follow, that everyone our age had to follow if they didn't want to be sent away or abandoned by their family." It was silent for a while again, it obviously took Niall's grandfather a lot of strength to talk about this. "My wife was meant to marry me but she was in love with someone else. Now I, I had been in love with her for years, ever since we went to school together and it was very hard to cope with the fact that she didn't love me," His voice sounded much more clear now, as if Harry had taken the phone out of his pocket, which I was grateful for because my head started to hurt because of how hard I needed to focus to be able to hear them.

"-When I found out that she was pregnant with this man, I was angry but never expressed it towards her, I loved her too much for it. The father of the child neglected his responsibilities and moved away, leaving my wife with the troubles. If I hadn't been there to act as if I was the father, she would've been abandoned by her family and everyone in town, forcing her to move away as well and raise the unborn child on her own." Harry interrupted him, a worried tone sounding through the speakers of my phone. "Why don't you sit down, Mr Horan?" He asked him, which the man probably did because we could hear some sort of approving grumble before he continued. "I know what I did was wrong, but I just couldn't stop. I hated that child with every fiber in my body, I simply couldn't accept him as my own. To the outside world everything was fine and I loved him but whenever the doors to our house closed, I just couldn't keep it inside. And when Bobby was born, that feeling intensified. Bobby was my son, I loved him and he loved me but the child my wife had gotten with the man she loved before me, hated me as much as I hated him." He finished with a long and tired sigh before the creaking of a bed could be heard. "I think I'm going to take a nap, son, I am very tired." This sentence made me speak out loud, forgetting that we had to be silent. "We need-" But before I could finish, Niall had clamped a hand over my mouth, raising his index finger to his lips, telling me to keep quiet. 

"Mr Horan, what was the child's name?" Harry asked him, making me nod approvingly, Niall's hand still covering my mouth. 

"Jeff." Was the last word we heard before the line went dead.