The Harvest || h.s.

Chapter 32

XXXII. GIGGLE AT A FUNERAL

John Marvolo Marrow.

The sound of her beloved father's name leaving Harry's lips as he was reading the list of the lost souls during battle was a sound that Lena knew would haunt her until the day she laid on her deathbed. Those three words would taunt and torture her forever, just as when Brad's doctor came out of his room and told her family there was nothing else he could have done to save her brother, and when Harry announced that he had chosen her that day of The Harvest.

It kept replaying in her mind, and she knew that it would be tattooed on her brain forever. A disturbing thought roamed her mind, and as much as she tried to avoid thinking about it, it echoed in her head. Two of the most heartbreaking sentences that she had ever heard in her entire life were caused and said by Harry.

Hot tears burned her cheeks, she was now sitting down on her bathroom's floor pouring her stomach out, and with it came her heart. Her newly shortened hair dropped on the sides of her faces and she felt a gentle hand collecting all of it and rubbing her back in an attempt of comfort. She looked up to Lou's warm eyes and sad smile. The former princess helped her wash her face and sit back down on the bathroom floor. There was a kock on her bathroom door, and Louise immediately shot back up and walked to the door.

Whisper shouts in French were heard coming from outside the room, and it if were not for that deep voice, and the clumsy pronunciation of the French words compared to Louise's fluency, Lena would have never recognized it to be Harry. She looked up to see him standing by the doorframe and Louise holding him by the arms, as if preventing him from coming in.

"Lou," Lena's voice creaked, shutting down the voices of the arguing pair of friends. "Just let him in."

Harry walked in, and sat down next to her on the floor, his mind brushing off the thought of him having stood up his hundreds of guests. Lena cleared her throat and wiped her nose with the back of her hand, before looking up at Harry with red-tainted, tears-filled eyes. "How did he die?" she asked just above a whisper, voice breaking.

Harry gulped, "I do not know, I can ask if you want me to." After getting no response from the lady, he added; "go home, you should be with your family during this hard time."

Lena shook her head slowly. "Please do not make me go home. Just leave me alone."

"I understand you want to be alone right now but please consider my offer, think about you mother, it will be best for her if she sees you."

She looked up straight into Harry's eyes, cheeks and eyes swollen up from all the tears. "I am. That's exactly what I am doing, thinking about my mother. It would be so much worse for her if I visit after she hears the news. I do not want her hopes to be raised. And she will be much more devastated when I leave again. Let's be honest here, I am never going back home for good, Harry. I know it and I have already accepted that fact. I do not want to add to my mother's suffering with my presence only to be taken away from her again. Tell whichever soldier you send to tell her that I am alive, that I am well, and that I love them. Just do that for me, will you?"

The maiden proceeded to get up from the floor and leave, just like that. The Prince sighed lodly when she was out of sight, running a hand though his hair in frustration and pulling at it sightly. He had tears burning his eyes, but he denied them permission to be set free.

Life works in mysterious, funny ways. The girl who had just stormed out of the room has lost all that was once important for her, getting nothing in return. Harry looked up to find his best friend with her arms crossed, a stern expression on her face, and her head shaking. She left the room to go chase after the first girl. This second girl had also lost everything that was important for her, but she found herself in the process, and she realized that indeed, a window closes for a door to be opened.