Introspective Strangers [h.s.]

Chapter 20

Chapter 20

Peace.

Bliss.

Serenity.

A blinking sky of starlight and an illuminating moon. The world is vivid, I can see clearly. My hand is intertwined with another as we run through a field. Laughter – shrill and intoxicating. The grass sinks beneath my feet, caressing my toes in the comfortable warmth of the earth.

The air is crisp. The trees smell of life and beauty.

Beauty.

Beside me is beauty.

Beside me is Harry.

"Do you trust me?" His face is different than normal as he speaks. His skin is glowing, golden. A golden lamp light guiding through the night.

"I trust you,"

My voice sounds like honey, is dripping with sugar and molten chocolate.

He pulls me through the field, through a forest, through a pond, all the way through to a cliff. The cliff seems high, but I feel as though I could fly. I can fly, I'm sure of it.

"I have to go," Harry speaks abruptly as he turns to me. His glow is gone, his face is gray.

"Don't go," I say. "I trust you."

"I have to go," he repeats. "You can't follow me."

"Please," I plead. "Please, please don't go. I need you."

I try to tighten my grip around his hand, though my fingers feel empty and alone. I look down to see that his hand has disappeared, gone up in a mist as if it wasn't there at all. He is now standing away from me, at the edge of the cliff.

"Please," I try to move toward him, but I am rooted to the spot. If I could move, I could save him. I can fly. "Please don't go."

"I have to go," he says. "You have to be alone."

"I don't want to be alone."

"You were always alone."

He jumps off the cliff. Still, my feet are rooted to the spot. There is a crack. I am sure it's my heart, though it could also be his skull hitting the pavement below.

I am broken. I will always be broken and alone.

"May!" A voice shouted. "May, please wake up!"

Harry. Harry's voice. Harry was okay, Harry was alive.

My eyes opened with a start and it felt as if all the walls were suddenly closing in around me. I jerked upwards, palming either side of the mattress and grabbing a fistful of sheets in both of my hands. My breathing was shaky and rapid as I tried to fill my lungs.

Harry was in front of me almost instantly, in my lap, his legs on either side of my body. His hands were on my face, thumbs stroking my cheeks. I looked into his panic-stricken expression, watching his eyes dart up and down my body.

"My inhaler," I choked. "It's in my nightstand–"

Just as quickly as he had hopped on top of me, he hopped off. Harry ripped the side drawer open beside us, the décor on top rattling and falling onto their sides. He grabbed the inhaler and was back on my lap in seconds, guiding it to my lips.

I took a few puffs, holding and inhaling my breath as rhythmically as I could in order to allow myself to breathe and also calm down the terrified man in front of me.