Redemption [h.s]

twenty-two

I looked at Harry, that was nursing his tea.

"Do you ever miss Holmes Chapel?" I asked him all of sudden, and he looked up.

"That's a weird question" he said, "I guess I do miss how it was. But those times are gone, and now it's just another place I'm not welcome in."

I frowned. How could the people he'd spent his whole life with, people that saw him grow up, turn their backs to him like that? "What do you miss the most about it?" I asked, curious to discover more about him.

He smiled slightly. "There's this bakery. Every day, before going to school, I would stop by to get some food. It always felt so homey."

"What happened then?"

He sighed. "After... Everything, I just... I just isolated myself a lot. I just stopped going there."

"Why did you? Isolate yourself, I mean" I asked him carefully.

"It just... Wherever I went, I felt judged. They knew what I had done, and they just wouldn't let it go. Like, ever. I just stopped going around" he replied, giving a fast glance out of the glass of the window on our side.

"But you're here, now" I said, and he nodded.

"Gemma saved me, I guess." He gave me a small laugh and finished his tea.

"What about we leave now? So that you'll stop looking out of the window nervously every three seconds" I suggested.

"I don't do that!" He replied, standing up and getting his coat.

"Sure, love" I said, following him out of the door. "Do you want to go back in now?" I asked.

He shrugged. "I'm open to new possibilities."

"Can I take you somewhere?" I asked again, and he nodded.

I started making my way to the playground, and he walked beside me.

"And you?" He asked all of sudden.

I looked at him furrowing my eyebrows in confusion. "Me what?"

"Do you miss your home?" He specified, putting his hands in his pockets to hide them from the cold weather.

I smiled. "My home is on your same floor, Harry. But yeah, I do miss my family. Especially when I'm all alone and the house is just so silent."

"What do you miss the most?" He asked curiously, glancing at me.

I bit my lower lip, thinking. "Probably the sound of my mom's voice in the morning. She'd always come to wake up Michael and I. She always only knocked on my door, but Michael is way too lazy, so most of the time she just ended up shouting at him through the door to wake up. I know it's something stupid to miss, but I just got used to it, I guess."

He smiled. "My mom always used to put our dog on my bed to wake me up."

I laughed. "Your dog?"

"You may think it doesn't do much, but he would always be so happy about it, and he always started barking of happiness and all. And I've always been a light sleeper."

"I wish my mom woke me up with a dog as well" I replied.

"Trust me, a knock on the door is much better than having an overexcited dog jumping on your bed."

I looked up and saw the open gate of the playground. "In here" I told him, and he looked surprised.

"What are we doing here?" He asked.

"Nothing much" I replied, "Now that I think of it, it doesn't seem like a good idea at all."

We sat down on the bench in front of the big cherry tree.