Annabel [h.s.]

thirteen

Author's Note: Sorry this is so short and probably terrible.

The trees blur as he runs past, his arms catching on random branches and his feet stumbling over rocks and tree roots as he propels through the forest. He can't find a focus on anything other than the fact that he needs to keep going.

Someone's chasing him, but he doesn't know who: he only knows that he can't let them catch him.

Whoever it is, is close and he's terrified for reasons he can't quite explain. He's already flying through the forest at a fast pace, but he's not at his limit yet and he knows it. Something clicks in his brain and his body kicks into overdrive, his legs straining with the distance as he pushes them to their limit and his lungs are blindly gasping for breath because he's paid no mind to pacing himself or breathing properly.

A tree root catches his foot the wrong way and he's spiraling down a hill that he didn't even know was there. Twigs scratch his skin and get caught in his hair and rocks punch his bones and still his breath away with each hit.

It feels like he's in the spin cycle of a very twisted washing machine and the spinning continues for what feels like forever.

Finally, he hits the bottom. But it's no longer the forest floor: it's water.

He was already gasping for air before, but now he's suffocating. Frantically, he kicks his feet and reaches his hands up and towards the surface, wherever that is. It's pitch black and he can't see a thing so he has no idea how deep he is or if the surface is even clear.

Fingernails make contact with hard ice and now he's literally scratching the surface. It's not making a difference so he balls his fists and hits the sheet of ice as hard as he can. The ice doesn't even crack.

His skin feels like it's being used as a pin cushion and his lungs are about to explode.

This is it. This is how he's going to die.

Suddenly, the water and the ice are gone and he can breathe again, but he's freezing and his entire body is trembling. His clothes are wet, but it doesn't feel like water and he's afraid to look down.

But he does anyway.

Dark red coats every inch of his clothing, stains his skin, and drips from his hair. He can smell the copper like odor and he knows that it's blood. This isn't anything new to him though, he's used to having the thick liquid coat him and he's not afraid of it. He wants to know where it came from though because it clearly isn't his and there's a bad feeling in his chest and in the pit of his stomach.

Again, something clicks inside of him and he's fucking terrified like a child who's watched way too many horror movies and has been left alone for the night. He's done something wrong and he knows it.

Something's happened out of his normal routine and it isn't good at all.

A twig snaps from somewhere behind him and he whips himself around, frantic to know what, or who, made the nose.

Another twig snaps.

And another.

And another.

Twigs are snapping all around him and he's spinning in circles with his frantic heart in his throat. The sounds stop and suddenly he's left in a smothering silence.

He can hear his heart pounding in his carotid artery and he can hear the blood rushing through his veins and creating waves in his ears.

Everything feels like it's slowing down, but he knows that it's just the adrenaline tricking his mind.

His eyes scan the tree line cautiously, but there's nothing that he can see other than branches and heavy leaves.

All of the sudden a wall of orange, red, and yellow erupts from the ground and traps him in a small, circular prison. The blood drips rapidly from his hair and rolls off of his skin only to be consumed by the encroaching flames.

He tries to back up, only to regret his decision as the flames sear his skin and eat his clothes.

A girl pops through the fire screen just inches in front of his and his heart almost stops. He wants to scream, but he can't because the sound gets caught somewhere in his throat because it's not just some girl, it's Annabel.

His eyes are wide and he pales as if he's seen a ghost.

Her eyes are colorless, the pigment long gone, and there's a deep cut running across her throat that's caked in dry blood.

He wants to look away, but he can't and it feels like his heart as just been ripped from his chest.

She looks him directly in the eyes and speaks in a voice that sends shivers down his spine.

"I loved you, and you did this to me-to all of us."

Every single one of his past victims appear and fill the space around him. He's astonished by the numbers and terrified because they're all the way that he left them before he burned them.

He shakes his head and there are tears in his eyes because he doesn't want to believe that he's killed her, the only girl he's ever loved.

"Try not to scream, my love."

Before he gets the chance to say anything, hundreds of hands are reaching for him and digging into his skin.

Annabel's got her hands wrapped around his wrists and she's trying to pull his hands off of his skin, "Stop it. Harry. Harry! Stop it!"

She's screaming and shaking him now, her eyes wide and filled with a concern that he's never seen before.

Reality sinks in slowly and he lets her pry his hands from his arms. He doesn't know what to say because he's still a little terrified and she's not even afraid of him.

Annabel doesn't ask and turns his hands over only to gently run her fingers over his. He lets her do what he wants because he can still see the dead white in her eyes and the dried blood on her neck.

She ends up leaving the bed to get stuff to clean his arms because he's made himself bleed and she doesn't want them to get infected because they're pretty deep.

The alcohol burns when she wipes it against his skin but he welcomes the feeling because it tells him that he's not dreaming and that he hasn't drained her beautiful red hue from her yet.

He stops her before she's done, his hand caressing her cheek. She's still looking at him with concern, but she still doesn't ask him what's going on, even as he kisses her and pushes her into the mattress.

She doesn't ask him why he's suddenly being so careful with her or why he's looking at her the way that he is. She doesn't ask him why he takes things slowly and she doesn't ask him why he holds her close when they're done.

And that's how he knows that she loves him too.