SOFT SPOT// h.s

1.8 ~ Gone*

I awoke to the warm, stuffy room as the morning sunshine glimpsed through the small crack in the thin curtains. I could hear the buzz of the traffic on the road down below and the voices of people outside.

I had gotten used to waking up in a different place each day, so it didn't take me long to make sense of my surroundings.

Ellie lay on the sofa, still succumbed to her deep sleep, her face peaceful and innocent. I hadn't even realised that Harry's large arm was draped over me and my left leg was wrapped around his right one. I blushed as I glanced at him lying next to me, still asleep and I carefully wriggled out of his grasp. His long, brown lashes brushed the soft pillow case, and a stray lock of his dark curls fell over his eyes like a curtain.

Drops of sunlight that glinted in from outside touched Harry's skin as I watched him in his slumber. I didn't want to think of how long it had taken him to fall asleep, but the fact that I could feel the heat radiating from his bare torso created a strange stirring in my chest. He hadn't kept his promise of staying strictly on his side of the bed, but at this point I didn't care. He was acting very nice last night, but I knew it probably wouldn't last.

I peeled the plain duvet off my skin and sat on the edge of the bed before deciding to take a quick shower, despite having taken one the night before. I had washed Ellie the previous night, and Harry had also taken the luxury of a hot cleanse, so it was just me.

When I emerged from the shower, I scraped my freshly washed hair back into a ponytail and pulled on my jeans and Tshirt that I had been wearing a few days ago. To my relief, all the clothes had dried out and it meant fresh things to wear for all of us.

Harry still seemed to be in a deep sleep when I padded over to Ellie, who had just awoke. "Morning baby," I greeted her as she rubbed her eyes tiredly.

"Hi mommy. Where's Harry?" She asked me to my surprise. I don't care how much she likes him, I'm still the favourite parent...

"He's still asleep babes," I whispered, kissing her forehead. "How about we get you dressed and ready to go?"

I smiled as my daughter yawned and stretched out before I helped her pull on the lilac sundress and cardigan she was wearing the day that we missed the bus to the airport.

I was brushing through her soft hair with my fingers when I heard Harry stirring on the bed. He groaned and rolled over, burying his head in his pillow to shield his eyes from the sunlight when I pulled back the curtains.

"Good morning Harry," I sang with a hint of sarcasm. Harry was not a morning person.

He flipped me off and I scoffed at him for using rude gestures in front of Ellie.

"Get up and get dressed now. We need to leave soon," I ordered him, ignoring the fact that Harry mustn't have had much sleep, but neither had I.

He groaned again, but sat up in the bed. "We need to talk," he announced, ruffling his messy hair.

"Mommy, I can't find my glitter shoes," Ellie wailed. Although they were only five dollars in the clothing section in Target, they were her new favourite shoes that I had purchased two days ago.

"Sure, hold on. I need to find these shoes," I told Harry hurriedly as I looked under the bed and sofa.

"Shit," I murmured, pushing my hair out of my face.

"Ellie, do you want to check the other room?" I asked her as I lead her out the door, not really waiting for a reply.

"Ok I'll be right back, don't open the door to anybody, ok?" I told her quickly as I let her search the old room as I rushed back to the other room to pack our bags. The checkout for our accommodation was at 12 noon and it was 11:30am, which caused me to rush around, trying to get ready.

I rushed back into the other room and began to shove everything we currently owned into bags as Harry brushed his teeth in the bathroom. He emerged wearing nothing but his skinny jeans and I found myself admiring his inked chest.

"Something wrong?" Harry smirked, pulling one of his signature black T-shirts over his head while my face flushed with colour.

"What did you need to talk to me about?" I avoided his question as I turned back to my packing.

Harry ran his hand through his hair, I had noticed that he did that when he was either nervous or stressed. "I just wanted to say, uh thanks," he mumbled, his eyes flickering away from mine. "For you know, last night."

"Oh," I replied, a little surprised. "It was nothing, really. It wasn't a lot of fun to watch you suffer like that."

"I'm sorry," he apologised.

"Don't worry about it. You're fine now, and that's all that matters," I told him, resting my hand on his upper arm sympathetically.

I carefully brought my finger to the corner of his lips and wiped away a bit of toothpaste. "Now go wash your face and get ready because we're leaving in fifteen minutes," I teased him, shoving him playfully.

I glanced at the time on the faded digital clock to see it displaying, 11:48am. Harry was in the bathroom now, splashing water on his face running his hands through his hair, trying to tame his wild mop of locks.

I gathered up the few bags we had and looked around the room. I couldn't shake off the feeling that I'd forgotten something.

Harry exited the bathroom, patting his face dry with a towel. "Where's Ellie?" He asked as he looked around.

My heart dropped in my stomach. "Oh fuck," I muttered as I dashed towards the door. My fingers ached as I violently prised the door handle open and darted into the next room, feeling absolutely awful.

"Honey, did you find your-" I began, but stopped once I realised I was talking to thin air. Ellie was nowhere to be seen.

My breath hitched in my throat as my eyes flew around the room and I tossed back the duvets and threw open the wardrobe doors. She was only hiding somewhere in the room, she had to be.

I scanned the unclean bathroom, peeping behind the shower curtain and behind the door. The paranoia inside me began to rocket and got suddenly worse when I had to face that Ellie was not in the room.

I felt my heart pounding frantically against my ribcage and my forehead throbbed with my sky high stress levels as I swallowed back my tears of hysteria and ran straight back into Harry's room.

He looked at me in confusion as I stared at him with water brimmed eyes.
"What's wrong Clary?" He asked me, genuinely puzzled.

"Ellie," I choked out. "She's gone."

**************

Haha well shit

Idk if this is boring or what help me ahaha

I'm so lonely somebody love me

*