The Sanity Thief (Under Major Editing)

06.

(Before the car crashed)

Harry's POV

With the blink of an eye, the shadow was gone.

My mind was spinning like a merry-go-round. I had no idea what was going on and it made me want to faint. I looked in the mirror, wanting to see what I would find. Staring back at me, wasn't the curly-haired boy I came to know over the years. 

It was a man. A man with years marked across his face. A young man's dreams in an older man's clothes. Suddenly, a blinding mixture of deification and sweat enveloped him like a cloud, he had a nasty limp that suggested he might've been in a war, and his clothes were moth eaten. In his face you could see a lifetime, both full and overwhelming, he was very tall and weak. I was afraid a gust of air might cause him to fall over, it made me feel pity, and pride, and sorrow all at once, how such a strong man could amount to this. Although, I already knew that he always brought a horrible stench of sweat anywhere he went and that he did serve his country. I knew all this for one reason. A reason that I shoved into the back of my mind years ago, when the old man in front of me had died. 

"How can you be here?" I whispered.

I recognized the man's deep, resonant voice.

"They question isn't how, it's why. You thought it would all pass, you thought there was no more pain, you thought it was all over, "

My heart was going as fast as a speeding bullet.

"But you were wrong. As wrong as could be,"

I wanted to run but my legs refused to shift. 

"But you see the saddest part for you, my dear boy, is that now I am inside your head. You let your guard down. It might have just been for a moment but it was the perfect chance for me to crawl through the open door that leads to your mind. Any of your thoughts over the last eighteen years are now visible to me,"

The words that once rolled off my tongue so easily seemed frozen. My mouth opened but my words were restrained by my horror. 

"I can use your own thoughts to destroy you," he spoke. 

~~~~~~~

Siren's blared in the distance, getting closer and closer with each ragged breath I took. The cold night air coursed through my lungs and dried my already parched throat. My heart was beating so fast, I was scared it would lead the cops right to me. That, or it would burst out of my chest. Both options sounded rather unappealing.

I let my hands rest upon my knees as i took a deep breath. After wiping away the beads of sweat on my forehead I took in my surroundings.

The blood pounding in my ear clogged my brain and I launched into the alley at full speed. I had my arms out in front of me as I ran. If this path led to a dead end I wanted a bit of warning before colliding with a brick wall.

My pace picked up and I thanked everyone and anyone, when I saw the dim shine of a dying street light on the other side of the alley. 

~~~~~~~

Finally finding my words, I yelled, "No! Stop it! You can't do this,". The very thought of this brought me pain.

The man chuckled in amusement.

"Well if you don't want to recall that night, I can bring back any of the other thousand nights I spent with you. But I know the one memory you would never want to relive,"