My old friend (One Direction fanfiction)

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

Lingering memories

I limped down the cold dark street that I knew so well.

Finally reaching my destination I stopped and turned to look at the house that was all too familiar.

Tears streamed down my face as I stood silently staring at the house I grew up in.
I began to sway on my feet and grabbed the gate for support.
I was getting extremely light headed and nauseous from blood loss.

After I had left my Uncle's house I had used the only money I had to buy a bus fare.
I had come to the only place I could.

Home.

Yes, I was back in Holmes Chapel, the town where I had my childhood.
The town I had a family and a life in.
The town I used to be happy in.

Now that I was here I realised how stupid it was to come.
I couldn't go back into my old house, as there would most probably be someone else living there now.

I had no other family to turn to, no where to go, and no money.

My life was looking pretty hopeless.

I hobbled forward for a bit, not wanting to be near that house anymore.
There were too many memories, too many tears.
I made it to the town hall which wasn't far from the house, and looked at the big clock face in the brick wall making up the side of it.
It read 6:30 am.
People were going to wake up now.

Already cars were starting to make their way down the roads.
Shit.
I couldn't be seen.
I looked around desperately and my eyes stopped on my perfect solution.
The public toilets!

I made my way as quickly as I could towards them, hiding my face.

As soon as I stepped into one of the cubicles I locked the door quickly and leant against the other side, sighing in relief and pain.

I looked in the mirror and winced at my appearance.
The girl in front of me had sunken cheekbones and grubby skin, but you could still clearly see the bruises on her face.
On her left cheek there was a long gash that was still bleeding.
There was also a long cut running up the side of her arm.
Her jumper was covered in blood and her skirt was old and practically stained red.
She had a hand shaped, ugly bruise around her neck and she practically had blood dripping from under her clothes.
Her thin hair was falling out of her pony tail and her eyes were red and puffy from crying.

I sighed before deciding to try and clean up.
I gently washed my face, wincing when my fingers touched an area of particular bruising.
After that I splashed some water on my cuts, which hurt, and washed most of the blood away.
I redid my hair and wiped most of the blood off my jumper and skirt.
I didn't even want to know what my ribs looked like by now and my foot was probably stuck in my shoe from all the swelling.

I knew there was nothing I could do about my back, which was still bleeding into my soaked shirt underneath my jumper.

This was probably the best I was going to get.

I slowly opened the cubicle food and stepped out into the streets.

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I had been very slowly roaming the streets for about an hour now, and I was exhausted.
I had stop every two minutes just so that I didn't pass out.

I was struggling to stay conscious and my entire body was in agony, but when I saw where I was, it woke me up immediately.

I looked at the name of the street I was on and my blood ran cold.

I was standing on Harry's road.

I gasped and placed my hand over my mouth, my eyes finding his house immediately.
Memories were suddenly overwhelming me and I staggered back a few paces, leaning against a tree.

*FLASHBACK*

"Harry stop!" I squealed as he continued to spray the hose at me. We were eleven and were having a water fight in Harry's back garden.

"Never!" He shouted, holding up the hose.

I took this as an opportunity and quickly grabbed my water gun, squirting him in the face.
He looked shocked for a minute before playfully glaring at me.

"Oh now you're going to get it now, Bishops!" He warned, grinning.

"In your dreams, Styles!" I cried, brandishing my weapon.

To my surprise he dropped the hose and ran up behind me, grabbing my waist.

He lifted me up causing me to drop the gun and I screamed.

"Harry! Put me down!" I demanded, pretending to be angry.

"Ok" Harry said simply and I screamed as he fell backwards onto the grass and I toppled over next to him.

We were both laughing and once we calmed down, we just lay there, staring at the clouds.

"I love you Emma." Harry whispered. I knew he meant as a friend. A best friend.

"I love you too Haz" I told him back. Smiling at him.

We both lay there just taking about random things until Anne told us to come in some time later.

*END OF FLASHBACK*

That was the week before he had to leave, promising me he'd call and write.
Tears stung my eyes at the memory and I thought of how he left me, after he promised he never would.

Suddenly a thought dawned on me.
I could ask Anne!
I had always got on particularly well with Harry's mum, and all I needed was to stay a night or two.
Harry was probably touring with his band or something so I didn't have to speak to him.
"It's worth a shot" I thought as I slowly headed towards the Styles' residence, assuming they still lived in the same house.

Taking a deep breath, I lifted the knocker, and rapped on the door twice.

I thought no one was going to come, when suddenly I heard five male voices arguing from behind the door.

"No I want to!"

"You always get it though!?"

"I never get to answer it!"

"But-"

"EVERYONE JUST SHUT UP WE'LL ALL GET THE DOOR TOGETHER."

One of the voices sounded awfully familiar.
I took a sharp intake of breath as the door opened to reveal five boys.

After glancing at them all each I quickly looked down so that they couldn't see my face, breathing heavily.

Four of them I didn't recognise, although I do have to say they were all very cute.

I hadn't even needed to look for more than one second at the last boy to know who it was.

Signature brown curly hair.
Sparkling green eyes.
Adorable dimples.
That same smile I had thought about for so long.

Harry.

I assumed the other four were the rest of his band.

"Um, hello?" A voice said, and I realised I must have looked really weird, knocking on the door and the just staring at the ground.

I couldn't walk away, I couldn't ignore them, so I did the only thing I could do.

I looked up.

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Thanks again for reading and I'll try and update soon!