Hope «h.s.»

Fourty-Three.

Chapter 43:

I could not believe I made it this far.

Even more so, I couldn't believe Max had made it. He got out of the hospital with only a concussion, two black eyes, and a broken leg. The nurses asked questions, but Harry simply dismissed them and told them to just do their job a little more harsher than necessary.

As for me, when we got back from getting Max to the hospital, I had my first real meal in days. The Harry cooked up bacon, pancakes, coffee, anything and everything that I was craving.

We did not necessarily go to school the next day. Harry knew something was going on when I refused to get out of bed the next morning. Even though we were so overwhelmed to be out of the hell-hole, we skipped over the subject of it all together. He made food and we sat in silence as I devoured my hunger as well as ignoring my emotions. I did not usually like missing school but I couldn't get myself out of the funk I shrunk myself into for the past weeks. I felt like my eyes were not opening all the way, like my brain wasn't processing all that was going on around me from all the lack of stimulation that I had in the past week. I felt fragile, weak, emotional, and lonely even though Harry was sitting right next to me. His eyes were clearly watching my every move, and that wasn't much when I felt like any huge movement would make a crack in my pale skin. I felt as if I was going to fall to my knees in tears at any moment.

Harry kept his distance for the most part. He sat on the end of the bed as I curled up in a ball and laid there. I felt as if I was depressing him more than myself.

He walked over to me and I opened my eyes.

"I'm going to take a shower," Harry said and pressed a light kiss to my forehead. The ends of my lips curved into a slight smile as he walked out of the room.

I needed to get out of the mental state I was sinking in. It took all my strength to rip the covers off of me and fully sit up. Dizziness made my head feel like an exploding balloon but I kept pushing through it.

I reached for Harry's phone on the drawer next to the bed. Digging in the back on my memory, I typed out Scottie's number.

I wrote: Hey Scottie. It's Piper. Sorry I haven't been at the shop in a while. I promise I will be back in a few days! xo

I smiled at the thought of Scottie. I missed him and his happy-go lucky spirit. I missed my fingers dancing on the piano keys as he sat there fascinated. I missed my best friend. I did not miss selling CD's and instruments though. I hit 'send'.

Next, I typed in Rene's number. I had so much to say but absolutely no words. I wanted to know if she was safe, how she was, and if anything remotely odd happened to her in any way in the pst week. I typed a long message to check up on her and saying that we would be going home soon. At least, I hoped we could.

Harry came back as I sat his phone back down on the dresser. Only a towel was wrapped around his lower waist, exposing almost more than needed.

"I hope you don't mind, I used your phone to message a few people," I said. I couldn't take my eyes off his lower half for a solid twenty seconds. Color creeped onto my face for the first time in a week.

"It's fine. Great to see that you are up," Harry said with a slight smirk. I quickly turned away as he casually let the towel drop from his hips. He let out a laugh at my reaction and opened several drawers. "You should get cleaned up because we are going somewhere."