The Boy In The Basement// h.s AU✅

TBITB|| V

Chapter Five of 'The Boy In The Basement':

The tree house would be something that you expect in an old tree house.. All made of wood. Some of the branches from outside the tree have invaded inside from the three windows in the house. Other than that, it was perfect.

There were dolls, trucks, crayons, colouring books, old soda cans, and books. There were big novels. 'The Great Gatsby' by F. Scott Fitzgerald. 'War and Peace' by Leo Tolstoy. 'Gullicer's Travel' by Jonathan Smith. 'To Kill A Mockingbird' by Harper Lee.

Those are mine, not Gemma's. She wasn't much of a book reader. Myself, on the other hand, was a book worm.

I smiled at the information that I have just receive. He was a book worm? That is kinda hot.. I like guys who love to read, and if they have an angelic voice, it's a bonus. "This is wonderful." I breathed and sat up against the wall.

Harry followed my gesture, and sat across from me. I smiled at him and grabbed 'War and Peace' off from the stack of books. It was a bit dusty, so I blew it off. The dust roamed around in the air for a few seconds before making it's way down onto the floor.

"Epic in scale, War and Peace delineates in graphic detail events leading up to Napoleon's invasion of Russia, and the impact of the Napoleonic era on Tsarist society, as seen through the eyes of five Russian aristocratic families." It read.

"Any good?" I asked, referring to the book. I looked up at Harry and raised a eyebrow. 

"Um, yeah. It's sad also." Harry answered. I nodded and put it back down on the books. I looked around the house and breathed in the outside smell.

Peppermints. I began smelling peppermints. I'm growing used to the smell that I don't even realize that it is there in the first place.

That would be me.

I looked up to a smirking Harry. "Really? Wow, I haven't noticed by now." I said sarcastically. Harry smiled. He brought his legs up and rested his arms on top of his knees. "So." I trailed off. "What was life like before, you know?" I asked.

"It was wonderful. My mom, dad, Gemma and I were like, a perfect family." Harry smiled to himself as he talked about his family. I smiled and rested my head up against the wall. "I remember the night before everything went to hell, we were going out shopping for my mom's thirty-fifth birthday."

"We went out to eat before we did any shopping. I was sitting in a booth with Gemma, and mom and dad were sitting in the other side of the booth. I had ordered spaghetti, and Gemma had ordered some chicken dish. I remember when I asked to try a bite of hers, she shoved my face into her plate." Harry was chuckling as he spoke.

I began laughing. I could just imagine that happening.

Don't laugh at me!

I laughed five times harder when he whined inside my head.

"ANYWAYS! Mom yelled at her as I got cleaned up. When I walked back, I was standing next to my plate. So, I shoved her head into the plate, and I got grounded for a week. Obviously I wasn't grounded that long cause," Harry closed his eyes and breathed deeply.

"Yeah." He finished. I was still smiling at him. "That is a normal brother-sister thing to do." I told him. 

"I miss them so god damn much, Alice." Harry whispered. I frowned. 

"I know." I sighed.

Harry looked out the window all of the sudden. I ignored it and continued to admire his large hands.

Your parents are home.

Harry then looked at me and I stood up, looking out of the window. Sure enough my parents were pulling into the long driveway. I sighed and watched them. As I turned around, I began speaking. "Well, I guess it's ti-- Harry?" He was gone. Harry was gone.

I'm in the basement.

__

"How was your day at work?" I asked as we gathered around the table for dinner. "It was... good." Mom said and avoided eye contact with both my dad and I. It was as if she was hiding something from me.

She is hiding something from you. BOTH of you really.

I tried my best to ignore Harry in my head. My parents are sitting before me, and he's talking to me. I can't just talk out loud. They might send me to a therapist or something, thinking I'm crazy.

"Is something wrong, dear?" Dad asked mom. I looked down at my food, poking at the noodles on my plate. 

"Everything is just fine." Mom said assuring.

__

I sat on my bed, staring out my window. What if I was just imagining Harry the whole time? I haven't heard from him for three hours. It's around eleven right now. What if this was all just a dream, and I never met a ghost named Harry Styles?

"Late in the winter of my seventeenth year, my mother decided I was depressed, presumably because I rarely left the house, spent quite a lot of time in bed, read the same book over and over, ate infrequently, and devoted quite a bit of my abundant free time to thinking about death."

"Hi, Harry." I sigh without looking at him. I heard something close, then heavy footsteps. Peppermints invaded my nostrils, and my arms were covered in goosebumps.

Harry's presence was here with me at this very moment.

"Something is wrong. What's wrong?" Harry asked and leaned up against the window. He entirely blocked my view. 

"You just seem.." I paused, looking for the right word that describes him. I looked him up and down.

"Intangible." I finished, looking at him with the same expression that I have had all night. "Why can I only see you?" I questioned him. I wanted to hear his answer. Harry pursed his lips and turned his head. So I averted my eyes away from him.

"I can choose who can and cannot see me. I can get inside whomever head I want. That's why you can both see, and hear me." He answered smoothly. I took all of it in.

"Why me? Why me out of everybody in the town?" I asked, looking him dead in the eyes.

Because you are my friend.