Wait (Harry Styles)

f o u r

4

Zack was the first one to walk over and stare at him with wide, curious eyes.

"Wow, where did you find him?" He kneeled down, with his mouth agape. Then quickly backed away. "Holy shit, he smells like mom's tuesday surprise!"

"Language!" I gave Zack a scolding look which he just as easily disregarded.

Rosie had also decided to join us by the door. "What's his name?" She tugged on the hem of my jacket, her eyes fixated on the boy in front of her.

"I don't know, let's ask him." Suddenly realizing I hadn't even bothered to think about his name, yet alone his identity.

"What's your name?" Zack asked. Since he was pinching his nose, it came out to sound nasally and monotoned.

We all glanced down at the boy who was still on all fours. His head was feverishly darting around, like he was confused with everything he saw. In the end, all he did was just stare back at all of us. No sign that he was going to answer us anytime soon.

He's probably just not ready yet. Maybe he'll relax after getting out of those grimy clothes. My blanket fell to the floor and I kicked it to the corner, deciding that I'll wash it later. Or burn it.

I took off my boots and walked up the stairs, it would be best to start up a hot bath for him.

Once my head was turned, Rosie screamed.

"What's wrong?!" I turned around quickly, already halfway up the stairs. My eyes meet Rosie's frightened look. Even Zack looked a bit spooked. Then I spotted the empty spot between the two.

Where did he go?

I glanced down, realizing that the boy had already scurried behind me on the steps. He looked up at me expectantly, as if he was waiting for my next move.

"Well, since you're already following me, I'll show you to the bathroom."

I regarded his behaviour as some traumatic outcome, it will eventually stop, I think.

I walked up the stairs and stopped at the end of the hallway. Turning around to face him, I gestured towards the bathroom door.

"You can take a bath in here. I'm just going to go find a towel." I opened the door and pointed inside, to which he obediently went in.

Closing the door behind me, I walked into the unfurnished master bedroom. It was currently the 'storage room' until we set up the bed. A bunch of boxes were scattered across the dark oak floor.

My eyes scanned past all of the boxes till it landed on the one that had 'bathroom stuff' scribbled on the side with a sharpie.

I rummaged past through the face towels at the top of the box, and slowly pulled out the bigger towels at the bottom- being careful not to mess up the order.

Closing back up the lid, I walked back out to the hallway with the towel draped over my arm.

I hesitantly knocked on the bathroom door. "I'm coming in." I said towards the door, before covering my eyes with my free hand, and also my nose. The smell seemed to be much stronger than before, if that was even possible.

I turned the doorknob, my eyes squinting shut even though my hand was covering them. It was better to be safe than sorry.

My hand that had the towel on top of it, instinctively stretched out aimlessly to look for the bathroom counter. Once my hand touched the familiar countertop, I slid the towel onto the surface - peeking a little bit just to make sure I didn't knock anything over.