Poison (discontinued)

19

Harry's POV



Fuck. Fuck. Fuck. What am I doing? Why the fuck did I say I'd tell her. Dammit. This is going to be it. She's never going to speak to me again. I just know it.

My palms are sweating as I pace back and forth out the front of Rose's front door. I haven't knocked yet because I don't want to face what's to come. I run my hands through to try and distract me from the panic that's surging through my body. C'mon Harry, just knock on the door. It doesn't take long at all before she answers the door and my heart beat races when I see her smiling. I'm going to ruin that. She won't smile at me ever again after tonight.

"Hey!" Her voice is cheery. This is going to feel worse than taking candy from a baby.

"Hi," I mumble. Concern flashes on her features for a moment before she gathers herself once again.

"Come in." The words leave her mouth slowly. Too slowly.

"Thank you." I head straight to the all too familiar couch I've sat on many times since I found her again. I try to put off the conversation as long as I can. "How was your day?"

"Pretty good actually. I went to visit my mum which was nice." She smiles as she retraces what she did today.

"That's nice." I repeat her last statement.

"Yeah it was. How was your day?" Fucking awful. I spent the whole day stressing about how I'm going to tell you what I know. Remembering the biggest mistake of my life. The day I saw something so distressing that it changed me forever.

"Good." I keep my answer short masking my true feelings about my day. "So you added any new movies to your collection?"

"Actually I have." Her smile widens at the new topic of conversation. "I grabbed a lot more from my mum's house."

"Care to watch any of them?" Maybe I can push this dreaded conversation back a little more. I can tell she's itching to know what I'm going to tell her but she agrees and picks a movie for us to watch. Without another word she presses play on the DVD player and we sit in silence.

After a while she finally drifts into the world of Hogwarts and is fully engaged in the adventures of Harry and his friends. When I was little I used to dress up as Harry Potter every Halloween. I thought I was so cool because I had the same name as a wizard. That was so long ago now.

She jumps, smiles, laughs and almost cries throughout the movie. This is what I adore about her. The way she can empathize with anyone and everyone even if they are a fictional character.

All too soon the movie ends and the credits scroll down the screen. Shit. She turns the tv off and positions herself on the couch so that she's facing me.

"So what are you hiding?" She's so eager to know what I'm going to tell her. Little does she know it's going to bring up awful memories that will make her hate me.

"I want to ease into this. This is going to be hard. For both of us." I don't look at her when I speak.

"Okay," she says trying to understand my distress. How do I even start? Where do I even start?

"What do you remember about your friend Thorn?" Maybe I can get her to remember as much as he can on her own, then I can just fill in the gaps.

"Um, not a lot." Her voice is slow showing her confusion. "I know we were neighbours and he was my best friend. We spent a lot of time together and that's how he got the nickname Thorn. Because a rose always comes with a thorn.

I don't respond straight away hoping she'll catch on. However, she still seems just as confused as before.

"What did he look like?" Maybe she'll recognize me from her memories.

"He had curly brown hair and green eyes. He had a nice smile and a relatively pale complexion." She rattles of a list of characteristics. "What's this got to do with anything?"

Again I stay silent hoping she'll make the connection. She stares at me waiting for me to say something until her eyes widen and her mouth drops.

"You," is all she says at first. "You. You're Thorn. Oh my god. How did I not realize this earlier? Holy shit."

She throws her arms around me and pulls me into an embrace. I go along with it enjoying what may be the last time I ever get to hug her. Suddenly, she pulls away and sits back awkwardly on the lounge.

"Sorry," she apologizes. "That was probably a bit weird. I hardly know you."

"Don't say that." I hate hearing her speak of me as a stranger. Especially when I know that's all we'll be after tonight.

"Is that all you were hiding?" She sighs of relief and then laughs. "I was expecting something much worse than that with the way you've been carrying on."

I squirm in my seat and my palms sweat even more than what I thought was possible.

"That's not all there is..." I look from my hands to her face apologetically.

"Go on then," she half smiles encouraging me to finish what I came here for.

"You're going to hate me." I can feel tears burning behind my eyes. I feel pathetic nearly crying in front of her when she's the victim here.

"I could never hate you Harry. Not now that I know who you are. You were my best friend." She pats my knee that's resting on the couch. Oh but you will.

I sigh before continuing. "What you have to understand is I was little and I was scared. I didn't know what they'd do."

"I have no idea what you're talking about but I'll take that in to count." She says. Her voice soothes my nerves but then makes my heart race at the idea I may never hear that voice again. "Just tell me."

"I'm so sorry Rose." I work hard to keep my tears at bay. She just stares at me blankly waiting for me to continue. "I'm so so sorry. I was little and I had no idea what the consequences for my actions would be. These men, big scary men. Tattoos all over them. One had a cigarette hanging from his mouth. They knocked on the door and I answered it because it was only me and my dad home. I don't know if you remember but he was a drug addict and a drunk. He scared me so much but he was my dad and I was scared even more by the gang of big men. They asked for my dad, well specifically they asked for Des Styles and I knew these guys were bad news even though I was so young. I told them he lived next door and I just watched as they strolled over to your house. They banged on the door so hard I thought they were going to smash it in. Please don't hate me. Your dad answered the door and they didn't even ask if they had the right man. They trusted me with what I said even though it was one of the stupidest things I've ever done. The biggest of the men grabbed your dad by the neck of his shirt and shoved him against the wall."

I watch as the tears fall slowly and silently from her eyes. The dreaded memories must be coming back but I don't stop my story. She must think I'm a jerk still talking even though it's obvious she remembers. I can't help it. I need her to hear everything from me.







Rose's POV


Oh my god. He's the reason why I don't have a dad. He's the reason I spent half of my childhood in therapy. It's all coming back. Every single detail.



~ flashback ~



"Daddy push me higher!" I squeal as I saw through the air on my backyard swing. He chuckles and pushes harder.

"That better?" I can tell he's smiling behind me.

"Yes!" My voice is high pitched as I scream when I nearly fall off. "This is fun! You have to push mummy when she gets home too!"

"Of course," he laughs from behind me as he pushes the swing once again.

"Did you hear that daddy? Somebody's knocking on the door." I tell him when I hear the noise from the front entrance of our house. He slows my swing so I'm traveling back and forth at a much safer height and speed.

"I'll be back in a second," he smiles and leaves the backyard to answer the door. I love my swing. It's my favourite toy. The swings not as fun without daddy pushing me so I jump off and walk aimlessly around the backyard until I hear a yelp from the front. That sounded like daddy. Oh no. I sprint through the house dodging furniture until I reach the front door. I peer outside and find my dad lying on the ground. There's a group of scary looking men around him and I don't understand. Why aren't they helping him?

"This'll teach you!" One of the smaller men smirks and smacks his foot into my dad's stomach before repeating the action but this time into my dad's head.

"Stop!" I scream and run to my daddy's side. He's bleeding and I try to pat it better with my shirt.

"Look what we have here. Des had a baby girl. Just as disrespectful as her father I see, interrupting us like that." The same man that spoke before speaks again. He's the scariest of them all. Not because he's the biggest because he's far from that and not because he has the most tattoos out of the men but because of the look on his face. He looks evil. Like the bad guys from the movies I sometimes get a glimpse of when I sneak out of bed at night. "Let's teach her a lesson too."

His hand slams into the side of my face making me fly from my dad to the grass a meter away. Ouch. I let out a wail as the tears fall rapidly from my eyes.

"Hold her." He says to one of his followers and they grab my arms holding them from behind me. "Make her watch."

He kicks my dad in the head again and I scream for him to stop. I scream for someone to come help.

"Shut up you little bitch!" The leader yells in my face. I don't know what to do. I just need to stop him from hurting my dad so I do the first thing that comes to mind. I spit in his face. "You disgusting piece of shit!"

He backhands me across the face. Ow! I begin to sob uncontrollably.

"Don't hurt her." The words spoken by my father a barely audible. His breathing is slower than usual and even though I don't know what that means I know it's not good. The men turn from me and back to my father.

"Get him boys," the leader laughs and stands next to the man holding me. He bends down and whispers in my ear. "See what happens when you're naughty. Let's go boys."

I'm dropped to the ground harshly as the men leave, climbing back into the cars and on to their motorbikes. I scramble to my dad and panic when his eyes are shut.

"Dad? Daddy? Dad?!" I plead for a response. "Dad?! DADDY?! SAY SOMETHING! DADDY!"

He doesn't say a thing nor does he move a muscle. His chest doesn't even move to breathe.


~ flashback over ~


I can't help the tears streaming down my cheeks. I don't know how to feel. I found my best friend from when I was little but find out he's the reason for the downturn in my life. I tuned out to the end of his retelling of that horrific memory and relived my own memories of that tragic day.

"Say something. Please," Harry begs. His eyes are apologetic and full of tears. I don't want to look at him right now. I can't help the dislike growing inside me towards this boy. The hate growing inside.

"Get out." I struggle to keep my voice calm. He doesn't move a muscle. "Get out!" I scream in his face. "You're the reason I don't sleep every night! You're the reason I spent half my life in therapy! You're the reason I don't have a father! You're the reason I had depression and self-harmed for years! I blamed myself for so long and now I know that you did nothing to save my dad. Nothing. You sent the men to my house to kill an innocent man. Get out! GET OUT!"

He doesn't speak and simply stands up and walks slowly towards the door. Before he exits he turns and apologizes once again.

"I'm so sorry Rose. Please don't hate me." I just want him gone. I want to be alone.

"Just leave," my voice cracks and he finally does what I ask. He shuts the door softly behind him and I've never been happier to see the back of someone's head.










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AUTHOR'S NOTE: WHAT?! Who was expecting that? Who do you feel for the most, Harry or Rose? I hope this chapter wasn't too bad because I wrote it in less than an hour so I apologize if there's any mistakes! Please vote, comment and share! I'm open for suggestions if there's anything you want to happen in this story so feel free to message me here, comment or message me on twitter ( @fanficpoison or @sunshinxstyles ). However I do have a plan for what is definitely going to happen in this story but how we get there is up to you guys! If you want one of the other boys to be involved more just say so. Anyways hope you're enjoying the story and thank you so much for reading! Have an amazing day :) xx