January is almost over before I know it. The weather is still incredibly cold, and we have snow at least once a week. We've missed a lot of days at school, which means we'll have to make them up in the summer. That's not as fun, when it's your senior year. You're supposed to be done with school in May, and not in the middle of summer, when there's barely any time left for a break before heading off the college.
I haven't been thinking much about college, it's honestly not that important to me. It sounds awful to say that, I know, but it's true. I always imagined myself going to a beauty college for a year or so and then being a hair stylist, or going through nurse practitioner training and working for a doctor. Regardless, I was ready to get out of highschool.
Harry and I spent a lot of time together. He would talk to me as I got ready in the mornings, and after school until it was time for me to sleep. I assumed he slept, although I had never seen him sleeping.
Our conversations weren't about Storm, or Harry's dead state. I was glad. It made me feel as if I had a friend that I could always confide in, kind of like Addison. It comforted me.
We spent nights huddled together in my bed, numerous blankets wrapped around me so his low body temperature wouldn't freeze me to death. Most nights were anything but peaceful, me waking up screaming atleast twice a night, having the same dream that I had about Storm and my mother. I had it every night, you could depend on it.
I don't know why I didn't ever wake my parents up screaming. Their room is downstairs, but they still should've heard me. They weren't very heavy sleepers either.
I was wary of the fact that in my dream, my mother had helped Storm to kill me. It sort of changed our relationship when I was conscious, as well. The dream had me shaken up quite a bit, and it scared me when I was awake. My mother didn't seem to care that I wasn't talking to her as much, and kind of shying away from her all the time. I guess she figured it was a normal stage in a teenage girl's life.
I remember one evening, in which I sat on the couch, my back turned to my mother, who sat watching the tv from our arm chair. My father had not returned from work yet, and I was watching it snow, as I had the night of my birthday.
I remember hearing her stand up and walk into the kitchen, and then hearing her whisper to someone. I figured she was on the phone, but it was laying beside me, on the side table. I remember shivering, thinking of who she could possibly be talking to, because my dad wasn't home yet. I stalked up the stairs, to find Harry standing near my bed.
"What are you doing?" I had asked him, stepping into his arms. He leaned his head against the top of mine, my face nuzzled in his neck. This was our way of hugging, a comfort to the both of us. At the time, I didn't exactly know where we stood, as in a relationship. I was well aware that he was dead, and I was alive, but it didn't matter. We both had begun to feel very strongly of one another.
"I just came to see you," he says, but there is a hidden emotion in his voice. It scared me, and I knew that he wasn't in my room, just to see me. This was the first time I really had a suspicion of my mother relating to my dream in any way. Who was she talking to? Harry, maybe? But that didn't seem rational.
I currently sit in the bathtub, pondering over all this. The water has nearly turned cold, I've been sitting here so long. The curtain is pulled across the rod, concealing my body from Harry, who sits on the toilet seat on the other side. This is my usual thinking time: me in the shower while Harry waits on me, reading a book. Tonight his choice was Wuthering Heights. I dont exactly see his interest in reading the old books. "They're classics," he always tells me.
I slowly stand up, the water dripping off of me, making the nearly-gone bubbles swirl. I pull the plug from the drain, and grab my towel from the outside of the curtain. I dry off and wrap myself in it before sliding the curtain open.
Harry sets his book down, looking up at me, a small smile on his face. "You know I care a lot about you, don't you?" He says. I feel my face heat up. I hope it's not red, for him to see. I nod.
"And you know I would never put you in a situation that I knew could possibly hurt you?" I nod again. He's told me this a million times before, and I'm confused as to why he's telling me this again, and now.
"I want to take you somewhere. Tomorrow night," he says slowly, the same smile on his face. Tomorrow is Friday, so I won't be busy. I nod, confirming that I'll go.
"Is it like a date?" I ask, wrapping the towel tighter around me. I wasn't shy around Harry. He'd watched me all my life, seen my body. He's respectful, but I know that he's peeked before.
He laughs. "I guess you could say that. I'm taking you to meet some people." I gasp. "People? You hang out with people?" I can't help but be surprised. I thought that when he wasn't with me, he would just return to his grave, in his coffin. That sounds stupid now, but I've never really thought about it.
He laughs again. "Yes, Madelynn. Well, they used to be people. They're dead. They're like me." I nod. He had told me there were others in the same state as he was in.
"They're Guardians?" This is what Harry and I had begun calling people like him, in our time together. The dead that get a sort of second life, to watch over another. He nods.
"They're the closest I have to actual friends," he laughs. I stick out my bottom lip, crossing my arms. "I'm your friend," I say, looking into his eyes. His smile grows wider, and he wraps his arms around me, picking me up and twirling me around. "That's not the same, I can't kiss them," he kisses me on the lips. "Or hold them," another kiss. "Or lay in the same bed as them at night," a final kiss.
I giggle. "I guess not." He shakes his head. "It'd be a little weird if you ask me."
I loved nights like this. Nights where we'd spend time teasing each other, comforting each other. Nights where we weren't worried about Storm. I knew that the fun had to end sometime, and that was usually when I had my dream.
So Harry has friends!! Yayyyyy
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