Virgin Sins | Harry Styles

O'Donnell's Secrets

The air of the morning was kissed by winter's fall. Much like the many days before it, the rain still plummeted down onto the earth's thick soil, harshly and vigorously. The crisp air it provided, snuck it's way through Nina's window-pane, etching its way through her room and down the hall.

Her cheeks were frost. Her feet were ice.
And her heart, though warm, was slowly loosing it's fire.

Nina sat in her double bed, her duvet bunched around her, providing a protective layer. Grandmother Mary sat to her side, placing her cold fingers on Nina's own. Nina had decided not to go to school today, she wasn't sick but she ached and every bone in her body felt bruised with sadness.

Though, those weren't the only motivational factors to perform a perfect act of sickness to her Grandmother that grey morning.

It was the suspicious newspaper and a candelabra that purred her name from downstairs. It invited her to it, unlike her Grandmother who never did.

After the candles failed on her last night, she decided to creep back to bed before somebody found her where she shouldn't be. Choosing to conclude her wondrous thoughts when she knew it was safe.

When Grandmother and Grayson did not occupy the old house that sat isolated at the end of Hampshire Road.

"Are you sure you don't want me to stay home today and take care of you?" Mary croaked, her eyes didn't meet Nina's when she spoke. They hadn't in a while.

"No!" Nina blurted too quickly, almost blowing her cover. She smothered her sudden anxiety with a cough. "Don't worry about me, I'll be fine. Just need some rest."

"Alright, dear." Her Grandmother responded. Both individuals in the room receiving what they wished.

Nina staying home and Mary running far from it.

It wasn't until the front door slammed twice and a countdown from one hundred; Nina then threw the shield of her duvet off her pale, shivering body and began to make her way down the stairs. She listened intently for any noise, incase someone was to return home and catch her in the act, but heard nothing.

Her sock-clad feet slid along the floorboards as she made her way to the hardwood-door that loomed over her in a daring way.

In that moment only one thought rattled her brain. 'Who is Robert O'Donnell?'

They shared a last name but Nina had never heard of him before. She needed to continue reading the article from last night.

It took a few thumps of her quickened heartbeat until she finally placed her hand once again on the golden doorknob that had faded details etched carefully in the centre. It turned almost rhythmically as it scraped the wood behind it. The door soon joined in with a lullaby of loud creaks.

The room in now light, looked drastically different but somehow still the same as every piece of furniture stood in the same place it did last night. The desk in the centre, the piano to the side. Even the countless story books still sat heavy on the shelf, their tales surrogated away from life as the bind sat closed; a thick layer of dust was it's coat. The only thing that had changed was the candelabra, which was now returned to its home above the piano.

There was no clue to find that could reveal Nina had ever set foot in here before today.

After a couple of double-takes to the hallway behind her, she finally steps into Mary's forbidden office, closing the door quickly. It felt like utter betrayal to do this to her Grandma, but Nina was a curious person.

Etching her way towards the desk that was littered with endless pages, the floor felt as though it would cave in but it failed to do so and within seconds that felt like minutes, she took a seat on the desk chair that was tucked neatly under the old table.