1906 [h.s.]

twenty-six

I froze in my actions, and so did he. We looked at each other in the eyes for a fast second, so close to each other that I could see the dull grey iris in the mild darkness. Then I remembered Harry. I turned around to look at him, he was still sitting against the wall, one of his arms abandoned on the floor, the other draped over his stomach. Was he cold? But his white shirt was still white, no darker colour to stain it that wasn't the dull greyish-brown of the dust that was all over the place.

And as I realised that, I heard a thud next to me, as the unknown man's body fell to the ground.

I jumped to the side, trying to avoid the crimson puddle that started to stain the floor, and I reached Harry, dragging him against the floor, having grabbed him by the waist, not having time to help him stand up. After I took him far away enough for him not to get dirty, I let go of him, and his back hit the ground as his eyes fell shut again. "No, Harry. We need to get out. I can't carry you all the way, please open your eyes." I cupped his cheek with my hand, it was incredibly pale, and cold. I couldn't understand if he had been sedated or poisoned, and just the simple thought of the second possibility made my heart drop. "Hey" I called out softly, watching him as his eyelids trembled as he struggled to open his eyes, without success. "Do you think you can walk?" I asked him, but he either didn't hear me, or couldn't answer me, because he made no move.

I heard a sudden thunder, and I looked out of the window. The rain had started to fall. It was 11pm, one hour to midnight.

I took the gun that was abandoned on the floor and hit the window with it, creating a hole big enough for my hand to pass through. I sticked my hand out of it, a little smile on my face as I felt the cold water on my skin. I retracted my hand and sat next to Harry, passing it on his cheeks, forehead and neck, hoping to bring him back to his senses by wetting him. It did work, because he managed to open one eye, blinking a few times, as if the light of the night was too bright for him. He closed his eyes mumbling something of completely unintelligible and then opened his eyes again, that seemed as if they were about to clamp shut at any second. He looked dazed, and I wondered if he understood what was going on around him.

"We have less than an hour. I found a way out. We can exit this place, Harry. We'll be safe. But we need to get there. I can't drag you all the way there, do you think you can walk?" I explained briefly, but he didn't seem to know the answer. I sighed and helped him to stand on his feet.

He leaned on me almost completely, but if that was the only way we could've got there, so be it.

We walked for over forty minutes, I was beyond surprised that he was holding up that long.

Then, all of sudden, we saw the door of the entrance of the building. I smiled, we were so close.

"Come on" I said, inciting Harry, knowing that it was just a matter of a couple of minutes before the midnight would've chimed again. "You can do this."

All of sudden he fell to the ground, almost making me fall with him. He fell hard, hitting his knees, his arms only strong enough to slow his fall down.

"Not now!" I said quickly. "Come on, we can make it!" I tried to make him stand, but with no use. "Harry please!" I said loudly, cupping his cheek. "Don't give up now! We're so close!" I begged him, but it was like my prayers had fallen on deaf ears.

He couldn't - or wouldn't - stand up. I tried to help him up again, but he fell again to the ground, unconscious again.

"Harry, please" I whispered into his ear. "I can't do this on my own. You have to help me." It was as if he hadn't heard me at all, and I felt wetness in my eyes again. "Harry!" I called him again, feeling it fall down my cheek as the urgency of the coming midnight hit me. "Please!" I took out my phone, turning it on just for it to show me the lock screen and the time before turning off. I widened my eyes, panic overcoming me when I realised that it was just a minute to midnight. "Harry, please!" I said again, even though I knew he was too out of it to listen to me. "We're so close!" I stood up, trying to lift him up, giving up quickly when I discovered I wasn't strong enough to do that, the tiredness of my limbs not allowing me to help him.

I fell to the ground with him, wrapping my arms around him tightly as I cried into his shoulder, my fingers gripping his shirt tightly. I knew that the midnight would've chimed any second, and I knew that if they had found us there, we would've been done for. I shut my eyes, hiding into his shoulder, not being able to stop my cries. We'd been so close. We'd almost made it.

"I'm so sorry" I murmured brokenly into his neck, hugging him tighter. "I'm sorry I failed you. I thought we could've made it, I'm so sorry."

I stayed in that position, waiting for the midnight to come and for it all to end, gripping him tightly.

After a while, I realised that everything around us was silent. I slowly looked up, a frown taking over my face when I realised that the asylum was still abandoned, even though I knew for a fact that it was past midnight.

For some reason, the switch hadn't happened.

I furrowed my eyebrows, trying to understand what had happened. It didn't make any sense, it had always happened, and nothing had been different this time. Why hadn't it happened?

Harry moved slightly in my arms and I looked down, my eyes widening as soon as they fell on him. I was wrong. Something had changed. There was just a single detail that was different.

Harry.

I slowly looked up, giving a shocked look the glass door in front of us. It had just opened, while usually it had been impossible to get through.

I hadn't managed to smash a window with a chair before, but that time I'd broken the window of one with just a hit, without even thinking much of it.

I looked down at Harry again. Could it have been that everything had happened because of him? Had he been the one inadvertently keeping the asylum closed, forcing himself to relive that day over and over again, until he'd managed to get it right?

And now that he'd made it, the asylum had gone back to being what it had always been. Just an abandoned building.

Would it have been a too weird coincidence of events? For some reason, thinking of them separately would've seemed even more absurd.

I shook my head, detaching my body from Harry a bit. "Come on, we need to go" I said again, my voice still shaking slightly, wrapping my arms around Harry's chest and helping him to stand up.

I almost dragged him towards the door, my breath fastening up, but not caring. I kicked the door open wider with my foot, and we slowly made our way out under the rain.

All of sudden the cold air I had grown so used to became warmer, wet summer weather. But I barely had time to realise it, because Harry's legs gave out and he dragged the both of us on the wet muddy grass.

As I sat there in the mud with him barely conscious in my arms, trying to shield him as I could from the droplets of the storm over us, I thought of how complex and strange life is sometimes. I knew that if I'd told anyone what had happened, they wouldn't have believed me.

To be honest, I hardly believed my own memory, and the only thing that kept me from thinking I'd just gone crazy was Harry, that was still asleep in my arms.