1906 [h.s.]

twenty-five

I opened my eyes, recognising the musky smell that was surrounding me. My eyes widened when I realised there was something in my arms. Or better, someone.

I looked down, even though I couldn't see anything, my hand managing to find his cold cheek and cupping it gently. I felt my heart rush in my chest, hesitantly letting my fingers slide down his neck to feel for his heartbeat. I felt wetness poll in my eyes when I felt it, slow but steady, under my fingers, my breath hitching in my throat. "Oh my God" I said quietly, staring away into the darkness, my voice shaking. "We made it" I whispered. "We made it" I repeated, enjoying the sound of my words, not even being able to believe them.

I stayed there, with Harry in my arms, for what felt like hours, telling myself we'd made it over and over again, before standing up. "Let's go where there's light" I said to no one, since he seemed completely out of it. "Come on, I know it's hard, but we have to move."

I half dragged half helped him get out of the room and out of the corridor, where I knew there would've been light coming in from the windows of the cloister.

We got there and I adjusted Harry so that he was sitting with his back against the dirty wall, before sitting in front of him and staring at him. In the dim light of the moon coming from the huge windows behind me he was still pale, but a light rosiness had taken over his cheeks. I smiled again to myself, sliding closer to him, touching his arm just to prove myself that I really could. I furrowed my eyebrows when I felt him a bit cold under my hand.

I quickly took off my sweatshirt, realising that he was way more underdressed than me, wearing only a thin shirt in the cold of the abandoned asylum, and I carefully covered him with it, hoping that it would've been enough to warm him up. I felt goosebumps rise on my skin as my bare arms came in contact with the cold air, but I ignored it.

I turned my head, glancing outside. The few clouds and thunders had been replaced by a clear night, the moon shining over us. Another reminder that we were in today, not tomorrow.

"Hey" I said, turning my head and trying to catch Harry's attention, but what they had given him had sedated him heavily, because not only he didn't open his eyes, but he didn't even flinch when I touched his forearm again.

"We have 24 hours, and yet to find a way out. I'm gonna try to find one, okay? You stay here, I'll come back before midnight, sooner if I find it. You're safe here, so don't you worry" I told him, hoping that he could still hear me. I brushed a strand of hair out of his face, and stood up, walking away.

I sighed as soon as I turned the corner. The truth was, I had no idea of how to find a way out. Besides, I didn't trust going around in the asylum without Harry. What if I had got lost, and wouldn't have found my way back before midnight? It would've been the end for the both of us.

I looked up, finding out that, without noticing, I had made my way back to the main door. I ignored it, instinctively turning around and making my way back into the opposite side of the asylum, my heart beating faster in my chest the closer I got to the door with "P. B. W." etched on it.

I found it and walked inside, looking down as I made my way to the other end of the asylum fast, nervousness in my step. I took a deep breath when I arrived back into the large, strongly enlightened room. By that time, the sun had been up in the sky for a while, enlightening the room. I slowly got closer to the glass door, doing my best to ignore the anxiousness that was weighing down on my chest.

I looked up, counting the graves again, my eyes widening when I discovered they were only thirty-nine, the one closest to me, right in the front, missing.

I let out a surprised laugh, realising that we truly had made it. Harry was safe, I'd managed to keep my promise the second time around. Now, I just had to find a way out, and keep the second half of it.

I turned around, leaving the creepy rooms behind me and making my way to the front door again. There had to be something I still hadn't found it that little office. The way back there was long, and it was already evening when I managed to get there.

I got closer to the door and looked at the sky outside. The light of the day had given up to the night, and the moon was covered by dark clouds. I sighed. If I hadn't managed to find a way out soon, it would've been a disaster.

Inadvertently, my hand slid down the glass, falling over the handle, slightly pulling it down. I looked down fast, retracting my hand, a confused look in my eyes. There was no way I'd managed to pull it down, I knew the door was locked. I hesitantly put my hand on it again, slowly pulling it down. My breath stopped in my throat when it easily went all the way down. A deep frown on my face, I gently pulled it towards me, tears immediately forming in my eyes when the front door followed my actions, slowly opening, as if it had never been blocked in the first place.

I stared at it for a few seconds, a shocked look on my face, trying to make sense of it all. I looked up at the sky, for the first time in what felt like ages not through a glass surface, feeling as if I was about to cry when I realised what had just truly happened.

We were free. I just had to get Harry now. I widened my eyes when I noticed that the rain had started. I had to be fast, or else we wouldn't have made it out before midnight.

I almost ran on my way back, eager to find Harry and get the hell out of that timeless trap.

I realised there was something wrong as soon as I walked into the hallway, because Harry wasn't the only living thing in there. There was someone else with him. And that someone was standing right in front of him, pointing a gun to his head. Harry seemed barely conscious, his eyes kept trying to close, and it looked as if he was fighting against it. If he noticed me coming, he didn't make a move.

I was betrayed by the sound of my steps on the broken ground, and that person turned to me. It was a guard, one that I had never seen before.

"What are you doing?" I said faintly, my eyes passing from him to Harry every few seconds, my mind thinking of a thousand ways to react and all the possible outcomes.

"Hello, pet. Right the one I wanted to meet" the stranger said, smirking at me. "Ah, ah. Not one step closer, or I'll shoot your darling boy here."

"What do you want?" I asked him shakily, realising that I didn't know what to do, that would've not implied Harry getting shot.

"It's time to put a end to this bull. I'll kill the both of you." He glanced at Harry, and threw a kick at his leg. In response, he barely moved it away, not a single sound coming out of his lips.

"I would've started with you, you know, ladies first and all that. A real gentleman, I am. But I'm a man of pride, and I need a public. And he isn't much of that right now clearly. For this, I think he'll have the honour of being first." He pointed the gun barrel at his chest, but then he seemed to rethink it, because he moved it up a little bit to point it at his head. "Nice and easy, just how I like it. Have any last words?" He waited for Harry to say something, but in vain. "I thought so" he chuckled.

In that moment, I realised that Harry would've been shot. Nothing could've happened that would've stopped it. Everything we had been through, anything he had told me, came back to that one point. And I knew that I had to at least attempt to save his life, for I would've not lived with myself, for the last of my life, if I hadn't at least tried.

I jumped on the man. He tried to shoot, but he had forgotten to take off the safe. We fell to the ground, and he pushed me away. I scrambled to my feet as I heard the click of the safe being removed, and attacked him again, trying to point the gun at anything else but Harry. I tried to kick his crotch, but he prevented my actions, because he moved to the side.

"Can't wait to be done with the both of you" he spat right before I jumped on him again.

And then, all of sudden, the loud sound of a gunshot echoed between the empty walls.