Affliction

Chapter Six

Meredith's POV

It seemed like the more we traveled down the dark, dusty road, the more Harry's anger withered away, and my anxieties about the earlier events were subsiding. Harry saved me from possibly the worst experience of my life, and then I remembered... I hadn't thanked him yet. How do you even say thank you to someone who just saved you from getting raped?

"Harry?" I asked hoping that his anger was almost diminished

"Yes"

"Um, I just wanted to thank you for saving me back there, God knows what would have happened if you hadn't shown up" I say

"I don't want you thinking about that shit right now okay Meredith?" He frowns

"Okay" I whisper as he pulls into the parking lot of my dorm. I'm almost certain Paige isn't home yet, she most likely going to spend the night with Luke at his apartment.

I unlock the door to Harry's car and step out onto the warm pavement. "Thanks again for everything Harry" he nods not making eye contact with me. I begin to close the door to his car, but Harry stops it from doing so. "Meredith I-" he hesitates.

I raise my eyebrow waiting for him to finish his sentence, when he doesn't I start to get aggravated because I'm ready to upstairs and wash any traces that assface back at the party left on me.

"what were you going to say Harry?" I ask in annoyance

"Nothing see you in class" he grumbles as he reaches across the passenger seat and yanks the door closed. Harry backs his car out of the parking lot and with that he is gone.

I make my way down the hall to my dorm to grab my toiletry bag and head to the showers. When I get to my door I reach in my pocket to find that the key to the dorm is missing. Great. Luckily, the dorm manager lives just down the hall, I'm sure she keeps spare keys for when the tenants get into situations like this.

After successfully getting the spare key from the rude half asleep dorm manager, I unlock the door and grab the supplies I will need for the showers.

I walk into the girls shower room and make my way to the last stall, I hang my toiletry bag on the bar, and place the clothes I will be wearing on a bench across from my stall. I peel the clothes from my body and step into the warm water. I take my time since its so late and most people in the dorms take their showers in the morning so I don't have to worry about anyone else coming in here.

When I'm finished with my shower I wrap a towel around my body and begin to dry myself off. I slip on a pair of gray sofee shorts, and a plain white tank top. I wrap the towel around my wet hair, and grab my things and begin to walk back towards my room.

I lay in my bed debating on whether I should text Paige to see if she is okay. I'm sure she is, but Im just paranoid about Luke. I don't think he would hurt her. I need to stop overthinking. I barely know Luke and here I am judging him. I may have mistaken his confrontation earlier, maybe he's just a friendly person. Who knows? I just get the weirdest feeling when he is in close proximity to me. Like he's planning something in his head, I just don't know what.

My eyelids slowly begin to droop, and I turn over to get more comfortable, making sure my alarm is set for in the morning. Saturday is laundry day. I then drift off into a light sleep.

Harry's POV

Dammit, I should have told her, but I couldn't. I was going to say something cruel to Meredith to hurt her feelings so she would hate me and stay away from me. I couldn't bring myself to do it. I can't get involved with her. She will find out the things iv'e done, she will be terrified of me... maybe that's what she needs my conscience tells me.

Fuck this, I need to stop thinking about it, I tell myself as I head back towards the lake, not the part of the lake where that piece of shit bonfire is taking place. but a much more peaceful place that I spend most of my time at.

I pull into the usual hiding spot, because I don't want anyone to bother me, and I head down the barely visible trail that I have created from coming here so many times. I walk down onto the sandy beach and onto an old abandoned dock that I as a child use to jump off of during the summer months.

I take a seat in my usual spot and peer out over the water. Everything is pitch black apart from the moon which cast a dim light over the lake just enough to see about 3 feet in front of you.

For the longest time, I just sit there staring at the water, thinking about how easy life used to be when my dad would bring me and my older sister Gemma here during our summer holiday, we moved here with my dad when my mother got sick and had to be transferred to a cancer research center in Maryland.

It was hard leaving my life in London, I was just becoming a teenager and had already had an established group of friends, so when I had to pack up and leave them, I fell into a state of depression and sadness that lasted throughout my teen years. That is until I met Luke and his Clique.

I pushed the bad memories aside and thought about how Gemma and I would splash around in the water for hours at a time, while Mum and Dad would lay on the beach reading a novel.

After a couple more minutes of reminiscing I layed back onto the dock and looked up at the stars. Here lately the seem to be twinkling even brighter than ever. I don't know what the sudden change is, but whatever it is I like it, it makes me feel like I have something to look forward to. And that something gets stronger everyday.

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HI GUYS! I hope the story isn't getting too cliche..

Jess xx