The Time Capsule (Harry Styles Fanfic)

Chapter 12

Harry's POV
16 years old

I've been sitting beside the bathtub with Madden for the last thirty minutes. She hasn't said anything else, she's just staring at the wall of my shower. She mumbles every now and again, but I can't make anything out.

She said nothing as I picked up the soap and washed her hair and body both. This was the first time I had ever seen her completely naked, but my mind wasn't even focused on that. It couldn't focus on anything else but the look on her face and the bruises on her body.

The bath water is a reddish brown color, and I know it has to be cold by now. But she doesn't look like she's ready to get out yet.

I stand up from the floor, and my legs are both asleep from crouching down. "I'm just going to grab you a towel and a change of clothes, okay?"

She doesn't respond. Just continues to stare.

I walk out to the linen closet in the hallway and grab a large towel before heading back into my room and grabbing a T-shirt and a pair of my smallest boxers.

Picking up my phone from my nightstand, I call Edge, thinking he's the one I have the best chance with answering the call.

"Hello?" He answers, and I can still hear the music thumping in the background at the party.

"I need you and the guys to get here to my house, right now."

"What's wrong?" He asks, and I know he heard how serious I was by my voice. "Bake! RJ! Let's go!"

"I'll tell you when you get here." Is all I say, and hang up the phone.

Walking back into the bathroom, Madden is exactly how I left her, with her arms wrapped around her legs and her chin resting atop her knees.

I walk over to the tub, and lean down and pull the plug, draining the water.

"Let's get you out of here, okay? I know this water has to be cold by now."

She again says nothing, no surprise. The tub drains, and I see her body shivering in the cold without the water surrounding her.

"I'm going to get you out now, okay? If you don't want me to touch you and you want to get out yourself, just let me know."

She says nothing, so I take that as my hint to remove her from the tub. I leave the towel on the counter, and lean down and lift Madden out of the tub by grabbing her under her arms.

She stands on her own as I sit her feet down on the mat and turn to grab the towel and wrap it around her now goosebump covered body.

I pick Madden up around her waist and carry her into my room. I feel her head slide onto my neck and she lays it there, still not speaking or acknowledging me at all, but seemingly finding comfort in being near me. Touching me.

Sitting her on the edge of my bed, I use the extra length of the towel to better dry her hair and body. I unwrap the towel from around her, and do my best not to let the rage at seeing her battered body show on my face.

After I've dressed her, she continues to sit on the bed and stare at absolutely nothing. Crouching in front of her, I grab her cheeks as gently as possible and force her to look at me.

"Please, please tell me what happened."

"They killed me." She says in a voice that sounds faraway. "That's what it feels like inside anyway."

"Who? Who did it?"

I'm waiting on her to answer me, but she doesn't.

"How did they hurt you?"