Ok so this chapter is a little 'dark' so here is the mandatory warning: TRIGGER WARNINGS
As that is finished, please enjoy!
'Jo, please!' Henry called into the dark night. He felt his clothes growing wetter and he shivered. The cold of the night went straight to his bones with no thick winter coat to keep his bodies warmth in. Not that it would have mattered anyway. His body felt cold, with no feeling.
How could Jo think I was mocking her? He asked himself. Why would she think I would do a thing like that?
'Henry, come inside.' Abraham's voice broke into his thoughts and he turned.
'In a minute.' Abe shrugged at his reply and shut the door, disappearing into the depths of the shop. Henry stared down the road, faintly lit from small, flickering lightbulbs. The street was silent; the only sounds the trees rustling in the wind and rain hitting the pavement.
Sighing, Henry turned to go inside. As he reached out for the door handle he turned round, just in case Jo was there. But all that greeted him was darkness, empty and lonely. The handle, when he grabbed it, was cold and it seemed to travel through his body to his heart, where it lodged like a shard of ice. As he pushed the door open the bell chimed. Henry frowned. It was too happy a sound, too cheerful. It reminded him of happier days and cheerful springs. It was at odds with the feelings in his chest, the feelings of sad days and brutal winters.
'I'll be down in my lab if you need me Abe.' Henry called towards the back of the shop before lifting the rug and trapdoor that led down to the basement. His feet clunked down the stairs, echoing in the room. He heard a faint 'ok' from Abe, but other than that it was silent.
The silence was perfect for brooding in. Alone with his thoughts, Henry sank into his chair and put his head in his hands.
Now what? Jo is gone and I'll probably never see her again. Her last memory of you is going to be one of hate. Without Jo, I might have well leave now. Start again somewhere fresh. She was the only one keeping you here.
No. Henry's brain told him. There is Lucas, Hanson and Lt Reece here as well. They are your friends too. At this realization Henry felt himself sink even further into despair. He had, unknowingly, driven Jo away from her friends, her job and her life. She had been planning to leave anyway, but what she had said in the car kept coming back to Henry.
'You can't tell anyone. I moved to New York from London because someone found out about me, and before that I lived in multiple English towns and cities. I don't want to move again.'
She'd changed her mind. Decided to stay. Henry had no idea what she was planning on telling Lt Reece and the rest of the precinct but she must have had something planned out. But now that was gone, and Jo was on the run. Again.
Henry was in dire need of some distraction, of something that would make it all stop. His thoughts were swirling inside his head, growing louder and louder until they were drowning him in their screams. He shook his head, trying to clear from it the demons that were trying to destroy him.
It's all you fault.
It's your fault Jo has gone.
Jo hates you
You drove her away.
You have to live with yourself knowing that you killed her hopes for a normal life here with her friends.
It was your fault.
It was your
It was
It
A final thought came into Henry's head, pushing him over the abyss and into the darkness that lay beyond.
You don't deserve this life when Jo can't have it. You took it from her.
Henry scanned the room frantically, looking for something, anything, to make it stop. To grow less. To rectify what he had done.
His eyes fell upon a neat line of tools laid out on his desk. The neat line thrust his fevered mind even deeper into the abyss. Before everything was orderly, and now it was all in disarray. He lunged at the tools, scattering them across the room.
Next he swiped at a shelf of poison, shattering glass bottles so that the shards of glass glittered in the light. Poison drip, drip, dripped from bottles, forming puddles on the wooden floors. The clear, seemingly harmless substance on the floor brought Henry back to himself. The pools of liquid, like the glass, shone in the light, reflecting back at Henry the good in the world. The opposite of darkness.
But the darkness returned. Stronger. Darker. Deeper. The puddles were now pools of temptation, and before Henry knew it he was reaching for the one bottle that hadn't broken. He opened the bottle and, raising it to his lips, took a large gulp. He felt the cool liquid slide down his throat, calming his nerves.
A few minutes later the cool liquid was hot, almost fiery. It burned and churned in his stomach, leaving Henry gasping on the floor. His life flashed before his eyes, Nora, Abigail, Abe and Jo, before everything went black and he burst out of the water in the river gasping.
Jo stormed away from the car, tears rising in her eyes and threatening to spill over at any moment.
How could Henry be so callous? To make fun of me? She wondered as she run down the street, hearing Henry call after her, 'Jo, please!'
Ignoring him she ran on into the night, focusing on getting as far away from him as possible.
How could I be so trusting? I should have learnt by now. Jo scolded herself, slowing to a walk and pulling her coat tighter around her, buttoning it up around her neck, under her nose. She breathed in deeply. What was that smell? She froze. It wasn't her coat, it was Henry's coat.
Shit. She thought. I can't steal his coat. It was nice of him to give it to me, but… she felt fresh tears welling in her eyes.
His smell. It makes me miss him and hate him at the same time. He was the one person I thought I could love after Sean, and he's ruined my life. She sighed turning around. I'll just return the coat. I'll fold it up and leave it on the doorstep.
It was as she wrapped back to the shop that she realised how far she had run. It seemed to take her ages, but at last she reached the door to the small antiques shop just as the sun was beginning to bring life to a new day. She gently folded the coat and set it down on the ground by the door.
She turned to head back out into the city but froze as she saw a forlorn, hunched figure hurrying down the road, wrapped only in a torn, dirty old coat. Like it had done only a few hours earlier, his name left her mouth without her meaning it to.
'Henry.' His head whipped up, eyes wide with fright and filled with despair.
'Jo.' Her name left his lips uncertainly, like he was scared of how she might react.
'Henry, what are you doing? Why are you wearing a coat?' Most of Jo's anger had gone, replaced with worry for her… friend?
No, not friend, colleague. She decided. I'm still a little mad at him.
Henry paled visibly, pulling the coat tighter around him as if it was a shield.
'Oh, I was, umm, I was skinny dipping.'
Sooo watcha think's going to happen next? Please review I love reviews I'm a sucker for reviews! And happy birthday to my second (not through blood but through friendship) sister! Happy 15th Anna :) I have to go now because it's 10pm and my lights mean to be off so byeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee