Black

XVII

I opened the door to the empty, silent house, entering and closing it right behind m, ensuring all the locks were bolted shut.

Zoella jumped from my arms and ran to Charlie, who came to us barking as soon as the door opened. I rubbed my forehead and made my way to the kitchen, "Monkey, what do you want to eat?"

"Nuggets," she shouted so loud I almost dropped the plate that was in my hand. She was happy, she didn't know what beheld us. She didn't know the darkness that lurked in the corners, and that was the only thing that comforted me.

The darkness you have let into your own damn house, my conscious remarked like it was mocking me.

I got him into my own house, how could I have been so stupid?

But, maybe he just happened to be there.

Yeah right, that's why he hid the second you saw him.

Sighing, I started working on what Zoella wanted for lunch when a memory snapped into my mind.

"Have you seen any features? A boy? A girl?" Ethan asked.

I tried to remember the outlines of the person in my head, "Curls."

"What?"

"Curls. I think I saw curls," I said.

The breath got sucked out off my lungs, it has been him all along? But how? Who the hell is he? Who the hell is Harry Styles? We only just knew each other, how could have he known me before I even came to New York?

I put down the box of nuggets and leaned against the counter, my hand reaching out for the necklace around my neck subconsciously. That wasn't even it.

There was a student in school handing me notes from Jaxon.

Stop thinking, take action. Don't strangle yourself with all those thoughts.

I got back to preparing the nuggets and tried to wipe my mind blank. A few minutes passed and I was done with cooking it, so I made my way up to her room. The room that she entered only to play, but never slept in, because of how scared she was to sleep alone.

The door was closed, so I reached out to open it but stopped when I heard her muffled voice. I furrowed my eyebrows and opened the door slowly, taking a look at the inside of the room.

Zoella was sat on her bed with the colors she got in front of her and Charlie's head on her lap. She had a hand to her heart and she was looking at the ceiling, talking.

"Look I even got colors," she slightly squealed. "The teacher gave them to me today because I won." she smiled. "You know, Mommy, she even said to Zosie t-that I'm good."

It felt like a fist was squeezing my heart so hard, leaving me unable to breathe.

"A-And I have got friend," she smiled wider, "his name Jace, he wanted to see Zosie because I talked about her and we played. He is-He is nice."

She sighed, "I luff you all and I miss you as well." she looked down, removing her hand from her heart and putting it on Charlie's head.

I swallowed and knocked. Her head snapped to my direction and the smile returned to her face. I forced a smile, "I made the nuggets," I said, shaking the plate in my hand a bit.