PHANTOM SEPILOGUE

CHAPTER 16

HARRY'S POV

How did I get into this position? Jane sobbing into my chest, helpless.

I wasn't really sure how to help her in this situation, I mean shit her parents looked her in the eyes and told her to stay away from them. And now here we are, in my shitty Toyota Corolla.

I have to come up with a way to make them remember her. I take a mental note of my surroundings so I know where to come back to, but in the meantime we need to go back to the hotel so Jane can clear her head.

"Jane, listen," I start, "I think we should go back to the hotel." I say while rubbing soft circles into her back. She looks up at me, sniffling and wiping her eyes with her sleeve.

"I don't want to go back to the hotel Harry," Jane tells me through broken sobs.

"We can't just sit in the parking lot forever, love." I say chuckling to lighten the mood.

"No. I just want to go home. Back to Washington. There's no point in staying so I don't want to be here any longer," she explains to me angrily.

"Jane-"

"No, Harry! You always do this! You try and make things better but this is totally out of your control. You have a family here, I dont. This isn't one of those time where you can just magically make things better."

I decide that with her outburst on me it's better I stay quiet. She is still very worked up and distraught from what just happened and I do not want to make this any worse. I reverse out of the parking lot and take the streets back to the hotel. The drive back is silent and tense, as expected.

Jane looked out the window the whole ride with her back turned on me. I've never been in this situation with her before so I can't decide if she's actually upset with me or the situation. I'm really hoping its the latter.

Before I can try and deal with her parents, I need to convince her to stay here instead of us driving all the way back home. We came all this way and she was so excited to find them, we can't go back now.

"Listen, I know you're upset with me right now. But the worst thing we could do is drive all the way home. Let's just get some rest and figure everything out tomorrow, after the day we just had I think you and I both need a nap," I say to her, mentally crossing my fingers she won't lash out on me again.

She nods in response, telling me she's going to shower. This will give me some time to plan.

JANE'S POV

When you're little, you are always told great things of heaven or the afterlife. I was always told that there would be streets of gold, and trees made of candy. Which sounds stupid now, obviously. But I always thought my parents would be there and we would always be a happy family with no worries or cares.

Hearing my parents saying they want nothing to do with me hurt. More than it probably should. Of course they're only teenagers, but hearing the news of them passing from Whitmore and then this being the first I see of them after was not what I expected.

I sigh heavily, letting the complementary vanilla scented shampoo fill my nostrils and only hope that the steaming water will help me relax so I can stop lashing out at Harry.

He was right. And I shouldn't be mad at him right now because I know he's only trying to help, but I don't wanna talk to anyone right now or hear any opinions about what I should do. And I know that's exactly what he wants to do.

After rinsing my hair and body off, I can only hope that the water took the stress of today with it down the drain. I put on my clean clothes and ring out my hair with the fluffy white towel before laying next to Harry on the bed.