This Means War || H.S

Chapter 12

Chapter 12

Harry's POV

She sits in silence, staring at the cloud covered sky over the balcony. I got her into some new clothes, her's were cold, dirty, and held too much pain. But the weird thing was, she trusted me. I swore on my life not to look at her body and she trusted me after I so obviously hurt her. We've yet to have a true conversation but I'm okay with that as long as she's here with me. She hasn't stopped shaking either, which bothers me immensely. I called a doctor, a British man who wants to escape America faster than anyone else, to come check on her. He told me that it was an after effect of so many drugs, and that it should wear off soon. She's only been home a day, give her time to not just physically heal, but help her mentally heal, is what he said. Her physical health isn't the worst outcome of this, it's the permanent trauma that will stay with her forever. I can't even begin to imagine what it must be like to have that happen to you as a young adult. You have your whole life ahead of you but then a huge wall appears out of nowhere to haunt every single second of your life.

I want to be able to protect her and provide for her. But I feel like her independence and strong-headedness will make that extremely difficult once she returns to her normal mindset. She's a lot more fragile than she likes to think, very breakable in harsh situations. I've been trying to find a way to relax her but I don't want to frighten her at the same time. Whenever my sister was afraid in the past I would paint her nails and do her hair, not very masculine but I loved her so much I would do anything for her. I stand up quickly trying to repress the memories, causing Autumn to flinch slightly and I immediately apologize. After getting some of the old nail polish, a hair brush, and some scissors I return to Rosie. She looks at me quizzically but remains silent as I begin to paint her nails a pastel blue color. Her muscles are still slightly tense so I finish and move behind her to start on her hair. My hand moves gently to remove the tangles from her now golden hair. I'm sure she doesn't really enjoy the new color but it suits the light that I know is still somewhere inside of her. It's hiding in the same place as her smile, her beautiful, gorgeous, captivating smile. I take the scissors and cut the bottom of her hair to an even link before pulling it back up into a bun in the back of her head. Her bangs hang slack beside her face, far too short to be pulled back.

I rest my head on her shoulder, trying my hardest to hold in my emotions. My eyes fail me as a tear escapes the corner of my eye slowly. "I'm sorry Autumn. So so sorry. It was the biggest mistake of my life to do that to you. I know now that I was just trying to suppress my feelings for you and I'm obviously a bipolar prick, but if you could somehow find a way to forgive me I would feel like the luckiest man in the world. I don't deserve it but I'll do everything in my power to earn your forgiveness. I would exchange my life for your family, because they would never put you through that and I might as well have dragged you there myself because I know I sent you into that hell hole. They never would've done that and I wish it was me in that house instead of them." Autumn chokes out a sob, the first emotion I've seen from her since I found her. I pull back and grab her hands in mine. She shakes her head vigorously and sobs into my hands.

"She used to- she used to sell me. For my body. She promised it would make things better, that it was what I was supposed to do. I would cry out for her to make them stop but she sold me every day Harry. Every day, I was so young and to go through that again I just- I loved her so much but you can never really love a person after that. You didn't do that to me, they did. Don't say that don't ever just- don't let them find me please." She starts shaking and I pull her into my arms. "Please please don't let them find me Harry. I'd rather be killed. I want to be here with you, not being used by their hands." "Baby girl they're never going to find you. You'll be with me here, safe. I'm never leaving you." Her dead eyes meet mine and more tears spill out of them. "Yes you are," her whisper is full of disappointment and heartache and I suddenly remember what she thinks I'm going to do. "No no no love, I'm not going anywhere. Not without you, never. I could never leave you somewhere, especially not here."

"You aren't safe here Harry. They'll kill you and I'll truly be all alone." I pull her into my lap like a fragile child. "We'll figure it out together later. Right now I need to take care of you." She squirms a bit as I stand up but doesn't object as I carry her into the bathroom. Minutes later a bath is prepared for her with bubbles and rose scented wash, ironic I know. I cover my eyes while she undresses, as much as I didn't want to to be honest. "Will you stay in here with me," she looks up at me with stunning, pleading eyes and there is no way in hell that I would say no. I sit down next to her and she picks up some bubbles in her hand and blows them into my face, causing us both to laugh uncontrollably. "Hey Harry," she looks at me with now bright eyes. "Yeah babe?"

"I really like my nails," she blushes and so do I.

**a/n I didn't want to leave you hanging so I really hope that you enjoyed! Please don't forget to vote, comment, follow, and share it really really does help me out! Thank you lovelies. xx**