Phantom [h.s]

Thirty Three

Max and I stare at the screen, our eyes wide. What could this video contain? Could this be the key to solving Harry's murder?

My mind buzzes with questions but it can do nothing but focus on the tape as in the video Ava retreats to sit in an armchair next to the couch Harry, Max, and Nate sit on.

"Why the hell are you filming this?" Harry asks Ava, his expression clearly annoyed.

"Come on, we're not juniors anymore. We've got one more year of high school and we're out!"

Harry rolls his eyes, pushing up the sleeves of his infamous white sweater. The sight almost sends a chill down my spine.

"Harry was put in school a year later than the rest of us," Max says. "So, he was a year older, but in the same grade. I don't really know why he started school late, though."

I nod. That makes sense. Why would Harry have turned eighteen in the middle of his junior year? It adds up now.

As I study the screen, I see now what Ian was talking about when he said there was a sort of tension between Harry and the people around him. It's seen in the way Max and Nate carry a conversation with Harry sitting there between them, a drink in his hand. Or the way Ava sits in her armchair, smoking a cigarette as she usually is, sending Harry a tentative glance every so often.

I watch Harry carefully. He seems like such an opposite to the Harry I interact with. The sight of him sullenly sitting on the couch in this video combined with his bitter attitude towards his mother in the other video almost makes me glad I didn't know him. Was he like that all the time? In the first video of him and Max playing soccer when they were younger, he seemed so jubilant and excited. What happened to make him so sour and annoyed with everything?

"Stop smoking," he snaps at Ava in the video.

She takes a long drag from the cigarette. "No."

He sets his drink down on the table, leaning forward and resting his elbows on his knees, glaring at her. "I said, stop smoking."

"And I said no." She glares back at him.

"Cut it out, guys," Nate says, reaching into the front pocket of his shirt and retrieving a pack of cards, much like I'd seen him do earlier tonight at this very party. In the video, he shuffles the cards, watching Ava and Harry glare at each other.

The tension between Ava and Harry is almost tangible, even from watching it in a video. Harry leans forward and slides the ashtray on the coffee table over to Ava and sits back in his seat.

"Since you stole my necklace I think the least you can do is put out your cigarette."

I stifle a gasp. Stole his necklace?

Ava's eyes harden onscreen and she begrudgingly sits forward and stabs out her cigarette. She continues to glare at Harry.

"What necklace?" Max asks.

"Nothing," Harry says, picking up his drink and taking a long sip of it.

"You could loosen up a bit, Harry," Ava snaps. "It is the first day of summer and all."

"I don't give two shits what day it is," he retorts. "You throwing this pointless party at my house no less doesn't make me less angry with you."

"Calm down, Harry," Nate says quietly.

"It's not even a party," Ava says, rolling her eyes. "It's just a few of our friends."