The Moment | hs au

All Too Well

The icy wind blows around Margo. Just as if she's running through Central Park in September, her feet carry her across bridges and past streets. She hears the countdown in the distance, but she doesn't care. Harry knows.

Her life is once again crumbling around her with a strange sense of deja vu. The one person she though had her back, the one person she trusted, probably will never want to see her again. Her sobs are silent against the winter wind.

By the time she reaches her apartment, all the air seems to have left her lungs. She feels like she's drowning—both emotionally and physically. Her face is red and puffy and covered in freezing tears. She pulls her camera off from around her neck once inside her apartment. She closes the elevator shaft before crumbling on the floor in a fit of sobs and screams.

Margo feels as if a knife has been plunged through her heart. First Liam, now Harry. And she loved Harry more than anyone else in her entire life. He was kind, gentle, and loved every piece of her. Now he's just a smudge in her memories; he'll surely never want to speak to her again. They promised each other no secrets, and Margo's secret is probably the biggest of them all.

Everything her childhood included will always have consequences. Monica, of all people, knows her darkest secret: she killed her father.

Her tears leave a small puddle on the floor under her cheek. Everything is rushing back at full force and Margo can't handle it twice. She's so consumed in her memories, she doesn't notice she's behind held tightly against someone's chest. She doesn't feel him gently stroking her hair and back, rocking forward and backward on the hard wooden floor. When she does feel these things, however, her crying grows much worse.

The shell Margo has built up after all these years has finally broken. She craved the feeling of nothingness for so long, she would greet it now like an old friend. Anything would be better than what she's feeling at this moment.

"It's okay, you're safe." Harry's voice is gentle yet concerned. He's shushing her like a newborn and holding her as one too.

"No Harry. I'm n-not." She says finally, her voice shaking like the crowds on the New York subway.

"You're fine." He whispers into her ear reassuringly.

She pushes herself away, "I'm a monster, you don't have to pretend. I know it."

"You aren't a monster." He responds, his eyes holding tears that haven't yet fallen.

"He wasn't even looking." She locks her eyes on something distant and let's them go out of focus. She can still feel his filthy blood on her hands.

"Stop, you don't have to-"

"I felt it. I felt it when I did it. I watched the life drain out of his body." She continues to stammer.

"Margo-"

"My real name is Elizabeth." She pulls her eyes to Harry, he looks confused.

"Elizabeth Marie Thomas. That's the name by mother gave me." She says, wiping her nose with the back of her hand. Harry understands that she won't stop, no matter how much he tried, so he's just going to be there for her to talk to. He will listen.

"He hated her, all those years with me. He hated me for ripping her, my mom, away from him. That night he came home-" her voice falters for a moment but she goes on, "I was reading a stupid book for school. He threw it across the room. He-" the tears start rolling down her cheeks again. Harry scoots closer o her on the floor and gently places a hand on her shoulder.

"It's okay, Margo."

"He dragged me into the kitchen by my hair and-"

"You're safe now."

"I thought he was going to kill me. There was so much blood on me, I-"

"You don't have to continue-"

"I stabbed him through his back." Her voice shakes as she utters those words. Harry's hand rubs circles on her back, telling her it's all okay and she's safe. If it's all okay, why does she feel this way. Her body aches, exhausted. Her sobs quiet down a bit when she finds herself leaning on Harry's chest.

"Are you angry?"

"How could I be angry at you for this?" Harry asks her.

"I've killed someone, my own dad-"

"He wasn't your dad. He wouldn't have treated you like shit if that title meant anything to him." He responds.

"But-"

"You were strong, and you took your life back from someone who toyed with it. You never deserved any of it."

"We promised no secrets."

"That doesn't count. That was so much more than a secret."

"Harry?"

"Yes, Margo?"

"Do you still love me?"

"I will never stop. You're mine." He says. Taking his finger up to her face, her smoothly wipes away a remaining teardrop. His hand is soft and warm.

"Happy New Year." Margo jokes, wiping away the smudges of mascara from under her red eyes.

"Let's put all this in the past, yeah?"

"That sounds nice."

"I love you, Margo." Harry says. This moment is genuine. All the glamour was stripped away from them, this is their bonding moment. This is the moment that will hold their feelings and trust strong to each other for an uncountable amount of time.

With a deep breath, newfound reassurance, and without waver in her voice, she responds, "I love you, too."

The End