1906 [h.s.]

twenty-four

All of sudden, all the lights went off. And I knew what that meant. We only had twenty minutes to reach the gate, or we would've remained there forever, and Harry would've not been saved.

I took the candle and searched for Harry's file on the bookshelves on each side of the office. When I found it I flicked through the papers, knowing that I didn't have much time at all. I found the number of the room he was in and I put the folder back in its place, standing up and rushing outside with the candle in my hand. I walked on the side of the hallway, controlling the numbers and hoping that I wouldn't have met anyone. When I found it I pushed against the door and it opened with a creak. I frowned as I realised that the doors were supposed to unlock right before the power went on again, not before. Were they really that sure that he wouldn't have managed to escape?

The light of the candle enlightened the figure of a body carelessly thrown on the bed, providing the reply. I slowly walked towards it, my heart beating fast into my chest. His eyes were closed and he seemed pale in the golden light coming from the flame.

"Harry" I called out to him, but his eyes remained closed, and he gave me no answer. "Harry, please" I said shaking his shoulder gently.

When he gave me no answer again, I feared the worst. I put my hand on his neck checking his pulse, and felt a wave of relief wash through me. I said his name again louder, shaking his shoulder more forcefully.

All of sudden I heard the sound of steps outside and put out the candle, knowing that it would've been over for the both of us if they had found me there with him.

"Who is the one of tonight?" I heard a guard say just out of the door, in the hallway.

"Number 384, Harry Styles" another voice replied.

"384, I see" the first guard said. "Finally his time has come. He was starting to become too much to handle."

The second voice hummed. "Heard won't be fun. They had to put him down a while ago."

"Damn, was looking forward to seeing it all. There's a satisfaction I get from seeing people beg for their life."

"Won't miss anything, in my opinion. Too proud to do that, he is."

"One less problem in any case" the first guard said, and then I heard the sound of steps leave in each direction.

"Harry" I whispered to him in the darknesses I knelt next to the bed, and when he still didn't reply I realised that if I wanted him out of there, I had to be the one taking him out.

I reached out in the darkness and my cold fingers brushed against the softness of his cheek, being warmed up by his faint breath. "Sorry" I whispered even though I knew he couldn't have noticed. I let my finger travel down his neck to his chest, where it stopped. I stood up and stepped closer to the bed before wrapping my arms around his chest and lifting him up in a sitting position against my body. I put a foot on the bed behind his back, pushing him to lean against my knee and hissing at the strain. I wrapped my arms around his chest again from behind, preparing myself to pull him out of the bed.

"I'm sorry if I'm hurting you, I promise I'm trying my best" I whispered into his ear as I slowly moved him.

I sighed when I realised that if I had let his legs fall from the bed I would've created excessive noise, that could've brought unwanted attention to the room we were in.

I laid Harry's back on the floor and I felt for his legs, taking them by the ankles and putting them off the bed. With a little hard work I managed to hug Harry from behind again, and I pulled him towards the door.

"If you could come around now it'd be of great help" I whispered as I opened the door as silently as possible.

I started moving slowly towards the electricity room in the most complete darkness, keeping an eye out for the eventual sound of steps or voices. Suddenly, right as I was close to the room, the lights turned on again with a sizzling sound.

"Well fuck" I hissed under my breath as I moved faster, trying to get to room as fast as possible, knowing that, given that it was still five minutes to midnight, if someone had seen us we wouldn't have stood a chance.

Finally we reached the room and I opened the door, pulling him inside and making him sit leaning against a shelf as I closed the door. I looked around and smiled to myself as I noticed that the electricity room had a clock as well.

It was four minutes to midnight, we'd come inside way earlier than we had ever had.

I got startled by the sound of something falling on the other side of the room, but I just brushed it away, looking at Harry instead.

He was just as unfazed as before, and it looked like he hadn't even noticed that I had moved him. Under the sharp light I could notice perfectly that his complexion was way paler than usual, an even stronger contrast to his messy dark locks. Because of how I had basically dragged him his white shirt was a bit stained by the dust and dirt on the floor. I brushed a lock of chocolate hair out of his eyes. I had managed to save him this time. All I had to do at that point was find a way to escape.

I knelt next to him and pressed his body against mine not to lose him in the darkness that awaited us, closing my eyes as the clock chimed midnight.