kingdom ; minishaw

eighteen.

simon's grey eyes are bloodshot and harry's blue eyes are the only thing he can think about and now, he has dug his nails so deep into his skin that tiny puddles of red formed on the floor.

the lack of light was almost unbearable. darkness stretched into every corner of this damned cell and almost breached his sanity, simon had always despised the dark.

it was cold down here, the kind of damp cold that got under your skin and seeped into your heart. simon was still unaccustomed to the drabness of the cell, it terrified him that he could barely see anything. he felt utterly helpless.

he wasn't allowed to shower, they were still deciding what to do with him. he had been violently shoved into this cell and it had now roughly been forty-eight hours since his last meal.

simon smiled a small sad smile, all he knew was that he needed to hold on for harry, the single most important reason he hadn't given in to the side of him that was losing it. he just needed to cope for a little while longer.

harry, the little spark of light in this dark, dark world.

-

harry hadn't slept, the shadows under his eyes were nothing compared to the nightmares replaying in his mind. simon, his only friend that he had grown to adore, being torn away from him so carelessly.

and it was all harry's fault.

they didn't understand that simon couldn't sleep unless harry was there to stroke his hair and kiss his fingertips, they didn't understand that he was afraid of dark rooms and that he was made up of pieces of glass carefully put together and easily smashed. simon was on edge almost all of the time, and this could only make matters worse.

"simon." he whispered, runaway tears escaping and trickling down his face like a broken tap.

harry couldn't bear it, there was now a guard in here with him, watching him so he wouldn't try anything. there were now fresh bruises on his arms where his father, the king, had roughly forced him into the room and screamed at the boy until he was reduced to a quivering mess.

what's worse is, the kitten had come out to see what the fuss was about and the king had almost gone ballistic. picking it up by the scruff of his neck and throwing him down the stairs. harry cried and cried until his bones felt weak with his tears, the small time in paradise he had had with simon was well and truly over.

harry squeezed his eyes shut and buried his face in simon's shirt. there were storm clouds gathered in his chest and every single drop of rain is etched with his name. he was afraid.

"i'm sorry." his sobs racking his entire body, "i'm so sorry."

he apologised until he felt numb, trying to wish this all away, he pictured every pretty star simon had shown him and wished it all away, nothing bad had happened and simon would knock on harry's door right about now and it would all just be some horrifically tragic nightmare.

almost immediately there came a knock on the door.

harry stood up so fast the entire world seemed like it had slowed down, in three paces he was at the door, flinging it open.

and then his face fell.

"harold, how are you?"

the woman's silvery voice evoked some long forgotten memory inside of harry's mind, it sent shivers all the way down his spine.

in stepped the person that harry had longed for when he was little, his mother. his heart rate increased as a mix of emotions flooded over him, drowning out the noise of his other problems for just a moment and then it cleared, and harry was angry.