It's Just A Photo

Chapter 13

It was now almost midnight and Harry was lost in the storyline of yet another movie, Doc Holliday. There was a bowl of popcorn with caramel drizzled on top along with m&m's sprinkled ontop was sitting on the arm of his chair. After the first movie Harry changed into some pajamas, a pair of sweatpants and a hoodie with fuzzy socks covering his feet, and grabbed a heated fuzzy blanket to keep him warm and headed back to his chair.

Harry has gone through almost all of his photos and organized them into files and are just about ready to send. He only had one more set of photos to go through, the one set that he wanted to go through the most but also the one set he knew would be the hardest to get through. Harry decided to take a break before starting the daunting tasks and set his computer to the side and curled up into the chair like a puppy.

As the movie illuminated the small living room Harry began drifting off into a formidable daze as he pulled as the edges of the blanket that he was encased in. Harry was thankful to be sheltered inside away from the chaos of the outside world. The wind was roaring like racecars outside causing the windows to emit a shaking rattle throughout the house. Posted all over social media were videos and photos of everyone at the dance, eventually, Harry just tossed his phone to the other side of them room. If he had to see another group of random teenagers dancing to some cheesy pop song he was going to lose his mind.

Just as the credits began to roll up on the screen Harry saw the handle of his front door begin to twist back and forth causing Harry to jump up from his position on the chair and grab the metal bowl next to him. Harry kept the heated blanket over him, covering him from his shoulders down.

Standing on the very tip of his toes Harry moved stealthily forward with one hand clenched around the bowl and the other around the edges of his blanket. Harry shoved himself up against the wall of the hallway that connected to the living room so whoever was trying to break in wouldn't be able to see him in the windows that sat adjacent to the front door.

Harry had gotten nearly all the way to the front door, his body beginning to tremble with fear causing the leftover m&m's to rattle slightly against the metallic sides of the bowl. Trying to keep quiet he moved the bowl up against his stomach to try and keep it steady, just as he did the door handle stopped moving. It should have been a good thing, it should have been comforting. But it wasn't

Maybe they heard the rattling, maybe they are going to break through the window because they couldn't unlock the door. What if they heard the rattling and re now thinking of a way to kill Harry once they finally break-in? All of these thoughts caused Harry's breaths to grow rapidly and short causing his whole body to move with each exhale.

With his eyes still fixated on the door handle, Harry's heart dropped when the handle began shaking again. Harry took one more step towards the door now entering the line of fire for the intruder to see him. Harry raised the bowl bringing it to his chest just as the door handle moved all the way around and the door creaked open.

A foot appeared and stepped onto the wooden floors, immediately harry threw the bowl and its contents at the person with an ear pricing shriek of terror. Before the bowl had even hit the floor harry was running back deeper into his house trying to find anything else to through at whoever just entered his home. To his luck a cast-iron skillet had been left on the stove, Harry picked it up and reluctantly jogged back towards the front door.

The only thing keeping Harry moving and not turning into statue of fear was the adrenaline that was coursing through his body. His brain no longer had control over his actions, all he could do was hope that his body knew what to do.

Harry raised the heavy pan up over his shoulder as he turned the corner. Suddenly he stopped like a deer caught in headlights. Standing in the middle of the entryway stood Cassie and Niall laughing surrounded by a mess of half-melted m&m's. After a few moments, the two noticed Harry's frozen presence and only began laughing even more.