Sink or Swim

7

I'm so excited to torture you guys with this book, bc y'all don't know if they're gonna die or not heheheheheheheheheheh oh the joy.

tbh....I haven't even decided either.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH 

okay keep reading.

Harry's POV

April 11, 1912 - 11:36am

I angrily wiped the tears that began to flow from my eyes. I wasn't mad at Jane for what she said; she didn't know any better. 

I was mad because I broke my promise to my mother.

~Flashback~

"Harry," mother croaked as she lay in her bed. She was terminal, we all knew that. 

Tuberculosis. It was starting to make its rounds around the city and there was nothing we could do to keep her from leaving us. 

"Harry," she croaked again, beckoning me to come over, "I need you to promise me something."

I walked over to sit next to her on the bed and grasped her cold hand in my own. I felt all positive emotion leave my mind and body as I stared blankly into space. I felt numb as I sat in our small space in the crowded hospital.

My mother was my best friend and here she was, leaving me. 

I felt my eyes well up when she squeezed my hand and asked me to look at her. I slowly turned my pale green eyes and looked upon my mother who was smiling weakly and pale as a sheet. The familiar sparkle in her eyes when they lit up were now put out as the life was slowly leaving her. The hollows of her cheeks were slightly sunken in as if she was sucking in the life herself and her eyes were now glazed over with the memories of the past as she began to fade away into the future, where she would merely become a memory herself. 

"Promise me," she began as she stared at me, "that you'll always enjoy life to the fullest. You'll work to accomplish your dreams and you'll open up that bed and breakfast that you've always wanted. You'll keep being my sweet little boy. You're only eighteen, honey. You have so much life left in you. I want you to live the years that I couldn't."

My mother was only thirty-three. She was my age when she had me.

"I will," I replied softly. Anything to make her smile.

"And promise me you'll fall in love with a girl who loves and respects your wishes and desires. Someone who respects herself too, and preferably, has standards?" she joked. I felt my mood lighten up a bit and nodded swiftly.

"I'll try to," I replied. She smiled warmly and nodded before she tugged on me lightly. I took her hint and moved my head down closer to hers to allow her to press a kiss to my head. She pulled away with a shaky breath and smiled. 

She began to cough violently suddenly. I became panicked and started yelling for help. Luckily one of the doctors heard me and came rushing in.

"Sir, we'll need you to step aside," he said. I stood up and backed away, terrified for my mother as she began to cough even more wildly. Tears began to flow from my eyes as I watched her. 

The doctors tried to rescue her, but she finally let out a heavy breath and stilled.

And my best friend left me.

~Flashback over~

I sighed as I leaned against the railing and looked out at the sea. I wiped another tear away from my cheeks as it trickled down my skin and sniffled.