Twenty-Nine Dolls [H.S. AU]

15. Callie - 2012

"I'll use you 

as a warning sign."

2012

It was cold. So cold. I wrapped my arms around my sides with force, swaying through the streams of the wind as the grey sky started to engulf me. The temperature dropped with every step I took as voices of people I loved scurried through my head. My eyes hell-bent on searching for a light, anything to prove that the stranger was right. I needed sanctuary but I'd rather die than go back to the madman.

I was so desperate for someone to hold me. I was so desperate for some sort of compassion or desire or care from anyone at that moment that it drowned me in tears full of petty emotion. I wanted to be strong. I wanted to be hopeful that after this I will be in my onesie, preparing for exams and my future as my parents sat by my side. I wanted to be able to go back but instead, my face burned with tears that I was surprised it wasn't accustomed to and legs that threatened to give way at any moment.

Something touched my head. Turning around, I saw no one. 

Nothing. 

Frowning, I carried on at my swift pace until I felt it again but in a different place. Looking up, I watched as the skies got more grey and that was it. I couldn't help it. I ran.

The wind burnt my skin as the droplets slapped every part of my skin that was exposed. My shoes were getting heavier and heavier. The earth wanted to hold me hostage, again; the bare memory of the reason why I encountered Mr Styles kept me running. It kept me hoping. I wanted to get so far away but... I stopped. I stopped because I heard it. I heard something that might-

"Conor?" I screamed. My throat threatening to rip to shreds. My eyes piercing through the layers of rain and the bike that was coming my way. But this rider was taller. This rider was more built. This rider looked like Mr Stlyes, so I screamed, "For fuck's sake!"  

I ran into the mud. I turned away from the road, it was the only way I could get away. The first thought... The only solution. My sobbing started to get heavier. I heard animalistic sounds as I pulled my weight through the mud. As the sounds started to persistently be audible, I realised it was nothing other than my own voice losing control. 

Suddenly, my foot got stuck in a mound of mud, I couldn't handle the world I was so cruelly brought into. I wanted to die. I wanted to freeze. I wanted to suffocate in my cries and tears and fears. I wanted this to stop. While losing the battle with my shoe, my foot came out and I was tumbling. My back collided with the mud under me and that was it.

I couldn't move.

I couldn't breathe.

It was a matter of seconds before the helmeted rider came and stood above me, "You won." I whispered, watching the rider slowly take the mask off but the face was getting blurry. The droplets looked bigger.

And there it was.

Darkness.

***

Everything was grey. My eyes couldn't bear to open more so all I could see was a line of grey. Pain shot through the entirety of my body, a groan escaped my sore throat. Moving my figure slightly, nothing was mobile. Everything hurt. "Help," I whispered. I wished. I hoped.

My head started to boil. The unknown suffocated me but I murdered the curiosity in me too quickly for me to do anything. I didn't want to open my eyes. I didn't want to see the world around me. He had won. He had got what he wanted and, by God, did that frustrate me. I was back in the same damned house. In the same damn clothes. I was his toy to play with. Just a runaway one. Just a rebel. He seemed to be into that. He was willing to leave me to die. What happened? 

"Callie?" He whispered. He was here. A burning sensation travelled to the back of my throat and my body threw me up and propelled the lack of food it even had inside it. The acid, the fucking sandwiches, I tasted it all when it came back. Coughing and spluttering through it all as I ruined what covered my legs, the man didn't dare to touch me. And a good thing too or else I would have killed him. Choked him with my own vomit, scrapped out his eyes, repetitively hit his head against the floor until it was shattered. My own Humpty Dumpty. 

Wiping the back of my mouth, I looked up at him. His hair thrown up into a bun carelessly, deep bags under his eyes.  White on top, black below, he was more darkness than light, that was for sure.

"I don't know what you want." I heard, the sound so croaky and broken I didn't recognise it at first. It was so weak. It was so defeated. It was not Callie. I touched my neck and the arm before me startled me. Sore and pale. This wasn't me. Looking back at him, I had no energy to do anything. I wanted him dead. I wanted that door frame to slice him in half. I wanted the walls around him to crumble so he would lose his breath under the rubble. "I hate you."

"You have every right to. But you're alive Callie."

"So what are you saying? You only wanted the best? Did you think of me? Of course, you did. This isn't about your sick obsession with me. This isn't about you acting in the presence of beneficence. You're maleficient Harry. Malignant, maleficial, sociopathic demon. You're corrupted. Kill me. I don't want this life no more." It was all done in a whisper but he heard every damn word. He didn't flinch. He didn't avert his gaze from my eyes. He just fucking stood there. He crossed his arms and leant against the door frame that I prayed would just miraculously electrocute him.

"You need me. You're dead. You need me to keep you alive." He said monotonously, "You're just a memory, Callie. But with me, you're flesh and blood." He pushed himself off the wall and turned to leave. But he stopped. He thought. He said, "Just remember that."

--A/N--

Lol, if he didn't look scary before, he does now.

Thank you so much for all the support. I love you so much x

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