Oscillation | [H.S]

Chapter 12

I was utterly confused upon waking. The light was blinding, as was the pain in my body. I didn't even expect to ever wake up again. My sleep had been dreamless, just an endless stretch of darkness.

When my vision started to focus slowly, Nova was hanging over me. She was seated on the edge of the bed and it looked like she was bandaging something. Probably me. My head hurt too much to think. I closed my eyes for a few seconds, welcoming back the darkness. Everything was aching. As if I was hit by a car and my body had shattered into a million pieces. Breathing was also strenuous, I noticed.

My eyes opened again when the weight next to me lifted from the bed. Nova was standing next to the bed, her eyes scanning over me from toe to top. When she reached my face, a small gasp exited her mouth but she didn't say anything. Her eye was also heavily bruised and closed slightly due to the swelling.

"You... Kay?" I tried to ask her if she was doing okay upon seeing the bruise but my throat was dry and hurting. She nodded quickly, still not speaking and put her pointer finger to her lips. I tried to frown. My face didn't work with me. She was now bandaging my arm. The limb didn't feel like it was attached to my body. In fact, I didn't feel it at all. I saw several stitches embedded in the pale skin. What had happened?

I closed my eyes for a moment again, trying to process everything. My head was beating way too hard for me to be able to do that. I felt myself slipping, thoughts tumbling and mixing in my mind.

"Harry is coming. Act like you're asleep." The soft female voice whispered from far away. I almost didn't hear it. I heard some stumbling and a click of the door. Silence.

I fell deeper and deeper back into the darkness. It consumed me like a hungry wolf. The presence of another person registered vaguely in the back of my mind. I felt fingers touching my forehead, wiping away the sweat that I didn't even notice being there. A small sigh left my body and I was gone again.

Waking up for the second time was very different. I got used to the light quicker, being able to actually notice my surroundings. Everything seemed more realistic now. I came back to reality and sadly my body did too. It hurt so much I didn't know what to do except for laying there and taking it. When I had woken the last time, my body had hurt way less.

There was a dim light in the room which made it easier to adjust and scan the room. It certainly didn't look like mine. This room was at least two times as big, with a dark blue colour on the walls and large windows. The bed was stood almost in the middle of the room and a large closet covered the wall on the opposite of me. Next to the bed was a small table with a little lamp and a small basket filled with silver rings.

It dawned on me that this room must be Harry's. I saw also several pieces of black clothing laying on the back of a large chair, as well as a pair of sneakers on the ground which confirmed my assumptions. Those were the shoes he had worn to Louis' place.

Louis' place.

That was were my last memories were made. I remembered being in the living room and the smoke in the air. And the pain, the terrible pain. Flashes came back to me, although not in a coherent story. Zayn grinned at me. Laughs echoed in my head. Screaming.

Harry had almost killed me. Shocked by that thought I tried to sit upright to observe the damage. I was in full panic-mode. However, a number of medical wires stopped me when they pulled harshly on the skin of my hand and wrist. The wires were attached to a machine next to me as well as a bag of fluid that dripped slowly.

"Don't move too much, you'll rip them out." I was shocked to hear his raspy voice. He stood in the door-opening in a pair of sweatpants and a large sweater. His hair hung in damp curls around his face. I flinched upon seeing him. A flash of his livid face shot through my mind. He was capable of so much anger.

Harry barely made a sound when his bare feet padded on the carpet towards the closet from which he retrieved a new back of fluid. He changed it with the almost-empty one next to my bed easily. The wounds on his knuckles didn't surprise me.

He walked out of the room without a word but came back just as quickly. I didn't dare to move or even to breathe. He came up to the bed. I was sure I had flinched if I could.

"Open your mouth." He spoke, surprisingly softly. I tried to obey as quick as I could, but my mouth didn't open very far. Apparently it was far enough since he was able to put a little pill in my mouth. His body crouched down so that he was sitting back on his heels now. He held a glass of water with a straw up to my mouth and I drank greedily.

Not a minute later I was knock-out again.

"You shouldn't give her anymore of these pills." I recognised Niall his Irish accent immediately when he spoke. "You can't keep her knocked out forever. Her body is already starting to reject them." Niall's voice continued.

I opened my eyes to observe the situation, facing Harry and Niall who were standing at the end of the bed.

"Emma." Harry stated when he saw that I was awake. My body hurt a little bit less now, the pain being almost bearable.

"I'm sorry" I croaked out, my voice hoarse. Sorry for disobeying him, sorry for existing, sorry for everything. I was almost sorry for being alive. I was also sorry for myself having to be alive in a room with Harry. He nodded, which I took as him accepting my apology. Niall walked out of the room with a last glance at me. It was too quick to read his emotions.

"I told you there would be consequences if you would misbehave." Harry moved easily through the room, sitting down on the large chair that was now positioned so that it faced the bed. No clothes hung over the back. "Although I'll admit that I went too far." He continued.

He reached out and grabbed my hand softly. I could feel the limb this time, wincing at the pain from the twisting movement it made. Harry started to slowly remove the bandage from my arm which was covered in bruises and scratches.

"I'm just checking on your stitches." He explained when he saw my fearful face. "They got infected."

I didn't answer him and closed my eyes, trying to block out the world and falling back in to the darkness. It had become quite comfortable. A sharp pain made my eyes shoot open again. Harry was now applying a cream which hurt like a bitch. And that was nicely said.

When Harry was done with applying the cream and rolling a new bandage around my arm he sat back in the chair, his eyes tracing my face. His face was hard to read. It was almost neutral. The sound of our breathing filled the room.

"You're lucky that Nova stopped me." He suddenly said. "She came back to ask if she could use Niall his I-pad when she saw me beating you. I think it was all the blood that made her stop me." He stopped for a moment. His scanned my face again, waiting for a reaction that didn't come. I couldn't anymore.

"The others stopped me when she threw herself at me, gaining quite the bruise on her face." I was wondering why he was telling me all this. He didn't seem to regret his actions so it wasn't to apologize. Was he proud?

His gaze drifted over my body once more. Not much was visible as I was buried beneath the blanket until my neck, only my arms sticking out.

"I'll get Willow to help you clean up further." Harry told me when he finished scanning my body. I had no idea who Willow was, but I would be more than happy if Harry left the room.

Before leaving, he pushed some buttons of the machine next to me and messed with the bag of fluid for a moment. His long strides took him out of the room without another glance.

Tears started flowing down my face when he was gone.

It took him less than three weeks to break me.

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I will take a small break from writing as I have a test on Tuesday next week. I'll be back afterwards.