Incomplete (Hollow Sequel)

Chapter 3 - Bad Religion (Rewrite)

Songs: 

By Now: Gabe Bondoc

In the End: Mark Diamond

Droplets: Lewis Watson feat. Gabrielle Aplin

Bad Religion: Bruno Major

Harry's POV

July, 2016 - Four Months Ago

 The warm breeze consumed my lungs, filling them with something other than smoke was refreshing. My body swayed on its own, trying to keep balance as I struggled to grab my phone from my pocket to call for a ride before deciding against it. I could walk home. It wasn't that far from here. 

I took two steps forward and regretted it, the world spinning out of control.

"They're so pretty," a feminine screech found my ears.

I turned to see a couple, both smiling from ear to ear. He looked down at her, his fingers caressing her cheek as he admired her, admiring the bouquet of roses I assume he'd just given her. "Not as pretty as you," he sighed. 

He was definitely in love. I saw the signs, even in this intoxicated state.  

'Flowers are meant for three things; dead people, love, and to apologize.' I clearly remember the fury in her eyes. Or it could have been hurt. 'I'm not dead, I don't think you're apologizing and I don't see anyone in love here.'

If she only knew how much I regretted that day. That entire part of our relationship. That's all I wanted now, to apologize. I couldn't keep looking for her. I decided that this afternoon after another false alarm, Odie and I thinking we'd found her. Setting ourselves up for disappointment was going to be the end of us. But, if I could tell her one last thing, it would be that I was sorry. She deserved to at least know that. 

"Ride?" A car pulled up to me, nearly driving up on the curb. Either that, or my depth perception was way off.

"I'm wal-" I paused, the new pain in my chest getting the best of me, begging me to get rid of it. "Yeah," I nodded, hopping into the backseat of the taxi.

"Where to, boss?"

"Bar," I practically begged. 

"Which?"

"The closest one."

"There's one right over there," he pointed over to the building I'd just escaped from.

"Different one."

He only nodded, carefully pulling back into traffic. "Girl troubles?" He asked, peaking back through the rear view mirror.

I hummed, preferring not to answer. If he only knew the depths of my troubles. 

"Alcohol won't solve your girl troubles, man," he offered a tight smile. 

"It sure helps."

"It eases the pain for a bit, but it only comes back harder when your sober and you just won't to numb that pain. Vicious cycle, it is." I followed his new line of vision, the sobriety chip dangling from the rear view mirror.

"She was..." I sighed, not finding the right words to describe her.

"Not like anyone you've ever met?" He finished for me.

"Exactly."

"Aren't they all, though?"

"No. Everyone has that one that's like no one else in the world to them and she was it for me," I rambled quietly, not sure if he even heard me properly. 

"Perfect?

"Hardly," I smiled at the thought of her imperfections. Just happy that she graced my mind. "She had, deep, deep, issues. I knew I couldn't help her."

"So, it's a good thing she's gone?"

"Hardly," I repeated. "I'd take on every single one of those issues over our empty bed, any day."

He nodded, seemingly agreeing. "Hoping for reconciliation?"

"I dunno. I know she's better off without me. But," I chuckled to myself, "it's been a proven fact that I'm a selfish bastard and if she came back to me, I wouldn't dare stop her."

"So, you were the issue?"

"Aren't we always?" I asked back, again, he only nodded. 

"What'd you do?"

I laughed, finding his question a bit ironic, I suppose. What did, I do? "What didn't I do?" I asked myself aloud. "There was a bar, right there," I protested as he sped through the street, away from my remedy. 

"Not a good one, trust me. Tell me more about this girl of yours."

"Rather not talk about her anymore," I practically pleaded, not comfortable with the way this conversation was turning out. 

"Maybe you need a new hobby."

I laughed even more. My only hobbies nowadays was killing my liver and my lungs and chasing leads with Odie. I was the literal definition of pathetic. "She has a sister," I blurted out, her image now flooding my mind. Scolding me. 

"Anything like her sister?"

"Probably an exact replica, but cuter," I admitted.

"I see why she left you, man," I could see his disapproval through the rear view mirror.

"Not like that. My girl, she, she's beautiful. She has this grace about her that I've never seen," I sighed at the memory of our first meeting. "She takes my breath away. She's strong and there is a hardness about her, but once you know her and why she is the way she is, it's just, I dunno, man, she's just something.

"And the sister? Don't get it."

"She's just as beautiful, of course; their mother," I rolled my eyes, annoyed by the admission I was about to make, "she's stunning and the genes are strong, but she's not as hardened. She's still a kid. Still has an innocence about her that I know for a fact her sister has tried to protect. I just- she's kinda living with me right now. She's been trying to find her sister and instead of being an adult and not making her suffer or get disappointed, I join her in searching-"

"Your hobby," he concluded.

"Mhm."

"Can't be healthy."

"'Course it's not. But what am I supposed to do? Pretend I don't want to find her. Pretend like every single time she gets wind of where she might be, I feel like my life is going to be okay, again. Am I supposed to break her heart and tell her that we shouldn't look for her sister anymore. Make her hate me, too. More than she already does."

"What would she do? Your girl, if she were in your shoes," he clarified. 

"Definitely, stop looking," I scoffed, knowing Katarina wouldn't waste her time that way. She was brilliant that way. 

"Shouldn't that be your answer, then?"

"It should, but, I think, even you know, by now... I'm not that bright."

"So, you're gonna stop looking?"

"I'm going to talk to her about it. I guess."

"Still want to go to a bar?"

I laughed, again. "I shouldn't. I promised her, I'd stop drinking."

He nodded, pulling up in front of a small hole on the wall. "Guess you got a choice to make, huh?" He looked back and maybe I was paranoid, but I for a second thought he was waiting for me to tell him to take me home instead.

But I couldn't do that. I handed him a few notes before getting out of the cab and started to make my way towards the bar.  

I made it all but three steps before I turned around and go right back into the cab. 

"Just keep driving please, I need to sober up before I go home."

"Sure thing, boss."