Spotlight |h.s|

Nineteen

TW// ABUSE AND SEXUAL ASSAULT

No Perspective

Harry's head shoots up from his desk in startle, suddenly awakening from his slumber and observing his surroundings with frantic eyes. The sun is down and his heart is racing, unsure of how long he was out.

He looks down at the paper in front of him covered in his graphite-scribbled numbers and equations. Multiplication is easy, but long division tends to confuse him. The numbers are only getting bigger, and it's far too much for him to keep up with. The coursework of year five has been a lot harder for him than he anticipated.

There's a small bit of his drool on the white math sheet, making him wipe his face of the excess after noticing the wet spot. Thankfully, it didn't ruin any of his work. He doesn't have the time or energy to rewrite it all. He couldn't even finish the entire paper, too drained to keep his eyes open.

He glances to the right of his desk, seeing that Ruby's bed is empty. She was there while he was doing his homework a bit ago, talking to him and making things a bit more bearable.

The sight of the empty bed with strewn-out covers makes his heart sink to the floor. Where is she? How long has he been asleep?

Standing from his chair with a wave of anxiety now flowing through him accompanied with a growling stomach, he heads for his bedroom door. His stomach is so loud, he could swear the neighbors can hear it. He hasn't eaten all day.

He grabs the cold handle, pulling the door open with a creak and peering down the hall. He doesn't smell any food, so he thankfully didn't miss a night where Thomas made any for himself. Their pantry is empty, all food being kept in the freezer which is too high for him to reach. He can normally scrounge up some scraps of leftover warm meals from the trash, but Thomas must've been too busy.

This busyness only makes Harry worry more, his brow furrowing as he creeps down the hall with all of his focus being on listening for any activity coming from Thomas' room.

His steps against the cold flooring make it squeak, each small noise causing him to involuntarily wince in hopes that he isn't heard. The crumbs on the wood touch his bare feet, some sticking to the thick skin and making him cringe at the feeling.

He reaches Thomas' closed door, the faint sound of choking sobs being enough for him to fully panic. Of course he would do this while Harry wasn't awake to protest.

He presses his ear to the scratched up door with a hole punched into the center, wanting to know what he's walking into first. When there's no noise filling his ears besides the thumping of the bed and light crying leaving Ruby's lips, he feels tears filling his own eyes.

He holds them back, bursting the door open with his most confident face on, "Stop hurting her!"

Harry will defend his loved ones with everything he has. His baby sister is the only one on that list, meaning that seeing her in pain strikes a serious nerve.

Thomas quickly tucks himself into his pants snd buttons himself up despite the fact that they both know what he's doing. It's like he always has to make sure he's not being caught. That it isn't CPS or the authorities at the door stopping him.

Harry knows that would only mean the worst for them with his manipulative tendencies. He would find a way to lie to the police or whoever else caught him. After decieving the other adults, the fact that he was reported and nearly caught would only make their lives harder. Harry can't risk that. He's never even tried to.