Redemption [h.s]

sixty-six

Gemma

As soon as I walked into the house, Grace shutting the door behind me, I knew that there was something really wrong. I couldn't really tell what it was, if the darkness of the house, enlightened by one single light, or the deep silence that I had grown to know.

"Harry?" I let out his name questioningly stepping forward in the silent house, trying not to think about what could've happened. I had to remind myself that if something terrible had happened, how it had already occurred in the past, Grace wouldn't have just left.

I reached the kitchen, and I spotted him sitting down on the floor, his back against the wall, staring right in front of him, his breathing ragged.

I fell down to my knees next to him almost instantly. "Harry" I called him, trying to get his attention, but he didn't even flinch. "What happened?"

As soon as the words left my mouth, a sob broke through his chest, and he bent his legs to hide his face between his knees, shielding himself from me.

I put my hand on his back, moving it lightly up and down his spine, caressing him slowly. "Hey" I murmured to fill the silence, starting to despise how familiar the situation was to me, in the past few months almost, but never quite forgotten.

I heard his breathing increase and become shallower than it already was as his hands gripped the fabric of his trousers so hard that the knuckles became white, and I made him sit up against the wall again. "Harry, you're panicking" I told him trying to meet his gaze, but there was no use, and he cried harder. "Take deep breaths, alright? Can you do that?" I asked him gently.

He closed his eyes, his tears getting stuck between his eyelashes and not being able to fall down his cheeks, trying to calm himself down.

I put my hand on his forearm and squeezed lightly. "Do you want a hug?" I asked him, and he nodded.

I wrapped my arm around his shoulders and I brought him to lean on me, his head on my shoulder, as he tried to get a hold of himself. After some minutes the shaking of his shoulders subsided along with his crying, and I went back to caressing his back to help him relax.

"Harry?" I called his name lightly, just to find out that he had cried himself to sleep, and I frowned, not really understanding what could've possibly happened for him to react like that.

Even though my instinct told me to stay as still as possible to avoid jostling him and let him relax a little, I knew from experience that it was way better to have him get some sleep on his bed rather than in someone arms on the floor. I shook his shoulder lightly, moving back a little bit just to get a glimpse of his face. "Harry" I said when he started to stir, more for the sake of saying something than to wake him up. "Let's get you on the bed." I helped him stand up and walk to his bedroom, trying not to think of all the times I had supported him to get there in the past. Once in the room, I helped him to lay down, and covered him gently with a blanket when he finally did. "Get some sleep, alright? We'll talk later" I said before going out of the room.

I went to the living room and sat down on my couch, taking my phone out and starting to play with it to make time go faster. After a couple of hours, when it was around 7pm, I got up and moved to the kitchen to see if there was something he could eat. I saw it in the moment I walked into the room, lying down on the kitchen table, and all of sudden I wasn't that unaware of what could've possibly happened. Even though I had wanted it to happen, the idea of him actually seeing that report sent a shiver down my spine.

Finally getting a hold of the situation I was in, I decided to give up on making dinner, since that he had never eaten when something of that kind happened, and start preparing tea instead, that was the only thing that I had always managed to make him drink, in every situation.