.Perfect Fantasy. |H.S.|

Chapter 12. Superstition.

.Harry.

"Are you really ready to do this, sweetheart?" Mum looked at me in a way that probably all mothers looked, she kept the smile on her face, but I could see a worried expression in her eyes as she voiced one of the many questions I had, out loud. "You can back out from this now, get better with your sessions and then do it."

Was I really ready for this? A huge part of me wanted to say no, I wasn't really ready, all I wanted was to avoid this for the rest of my life, but the other side of me was fed up with feeling so useless, this was a dangerous person, out there in the world, free.

When I couldn't answer any of her questions, she quieted down and sat next to me while I laid my head on her lap. Her long nails smoothed my hair back as she made comforting noises in the back of her throat. I was really glad they were here, I needed them here with me.

"You know," Her voice was small and kind of emotional. "Hearing that awful sound behind a phone speaker was probably the most horrible thing I've ever had to endure."

We haven't really addressed the subject, so my eyes were instantly drawn by her troubled voice. I raised my head to take her in, my eyes instantly glazing over with emotion as I looked at her features looking down to me, eyes filling with tears and her voice breaking in pieces.

"I was a mess, I screamed for help, but you were so far away from me—" She wiped her sobs with the pads of her fingers, the red nails contrasting with the darkness of her lovely hair. I felt my eyes blurring even more. "Robin called for help, he was on the phone for the longest minutes of my life, making sure they got to you on time..."

I was really quiet, taking in what she had to say about that night. It was harder and harder each day to avoid this, and I knew my mother was dying to tell me all of this things, the thought of Gemma and Robin leaving for a mysterious lunch now making a lot of sense.

"I had to take a sedative to go through the flight, my mind was trying to stay positive but it was all too much for me to understand," Her voice cracked under the honesty of her words. Her eyes bored into mine as I tried to calm her down with the use of my own fingers stroking her chin and her cheek, wiping that last stray of the wet trail. "I can't even begin to describe what I felt when I saw you in that bed."

"You don't have to, I'm alright."

"You're so brave baby, you've been nothing but brave." I moved from my spot on her lap and crawled my arms to reach for her, she hugged me and moved her fingers through my hair, not stopping for a second, that trademark flowery smell of hers making me feel that I was suddenly home and not here.

"I was so damn lucky." I mumbled against her shoulder. "I know I haven't really said much about this, but I'm truly scared that this isn't over yet, I don't know why."

"You don't have to worry about it Harry," She took my cheeks in her hands, her eyes searching for mine. "Listen to me hun, I'm not leaving you alone, I'm staying with you until this is over, you hear me?" I knew that already, mum would always be there for me as I tried to survive devastation; but to hear it come out of her like that, it made me a little bit stronger to face whatever the hell was waiting for me.

***

The two officers that walked into the room looked nothing like a clichéd police person would look like. Instead of the regular uniform they were wearing regular clothes and they greeted everyone in the room with only head nods, the badges on their hands as they were taking a seat next to us in the living room area of the hoospital suite.

"My name's detective Tate and he's detective Mattson from Criminal Investigation Division," The first man to enter the room held out his hand to me and I took it, on the other hand he was holding a compact, black camcorder and some manila envelopes. "I'll be taking in your case Mr. Styles."