Chapter 14

My mother, so full of life and love, lie there dead. Her throat slit open and her blood spilling onto the floor. Her body was contorted in an odd angle and her night gown was ripped up along with her under garments, suggesting to me that she had been raped.

I didn't know exactly what to do… so I ran. I bolted out the door of the manor not caring that I wasn't wearing any shoes or a shirt.

I tripped and fell down the hill. The ice and rocks tore at my bare skin and ripped my pants. I tried to get up and after a couple of minutes of struggling I managed to. I continued running, thought not as fast I was before I fell. The blood running down my back made me colder. The snow and wind hitting my wounds stung. My head throbbed; I think I hit a stump or something on my roll down the hill.

My pace slowed when I got to the neighborhood that my driveway faded into and I fell to my knees in the middle of the street. I guess it's a good thing I didn't roll down the driveway… that would have hurt considerably worse seeing as its pure brick and concrete.

The air pierced my lungs; I was breathing so hard. My muscles tightened and lessened my movement so I started crawling in my desperate attempt to get as far away from my house as I could.

I realized I couldn't move any farther when I found myself lying flat on the asphalt in the middle of the road. I stared up into the sky and watched the snow fall. That was the last image I had in my mind before it all went dark.

My head it screams

My thoughts collide

I crawl to escape the darkness of the place I left behind

My lungs they burn

With the air that I used for screaming

Your name in the dark

Its cold outside

The wind bites at my wounds

I can't believe you're gone

There's nothing left for me here.

Where do I go now…

I felt a slight stinging sensation as I came back to consciousness. Someone was touching me… rubbing stuff into my chest… I opened my eyes slowly. It was a girl standing over me… rubbing a type of salve or something onto my chest. I waited for my eyes to refocus so I could get a better look at who she is.

She looked familiar… I reached up to touch her because she seemed as if she was unreal, like an angel or something.

"Malfoy… what are you doing?"

Her voice was familiar too. It sounded like the same voice that called me a foul, lonesome, evil… little cockroach. HERMIONE!
I jumped up after realizing this.

"What- Why am I here? I-I… got to go… I can't stay-"
This was way too close to my house… I couldn't be here.

"Malfoy… lay back down… you're hurt and need to rest."

I stared at her and whispered, "Why would you care? I thought you hated me?"

She sighed and answered softly, "I thought I did too… but after thinking about what had happened the other night… I realized that it couldn't have been you. A lot of the things you did reminded me of your father… the way you held my arms down… the way you pinned me to the ground."

I gazed at her, "How… how do you notice these things?"

"Well… when you're in a situation like that you try to focus on other things to take away from the pain and such… so I just happened to focus on things such as that… I couldn't help it…"

I glanced down to the floor and muttered, "I'm sorry for whatever my father… and I did to you."

"Never matter… So how did this all happen to you," she said indicating to my torso and arms.

"Um… I fell…"

She stared blankly at me, "You… fell…"

"Yeah… pretty much…"

"Why were you outside without shoes or a shirt?"

"I… forgot them."

"You forgot them…? Malfoy… come now, why were you really outside without a shirt."

"Uh… Er… I really forgot… them."
"Malfoy! Stop lying! Tell me why you were really outside."
"I… I… my mum… she was…," I took a deep breath. This was hard to say, "She was killed… and I can't go into the house… I can't look at her like that…"
Hermione stared at me for a while opening and closing her mouth, unable to say anything. I gazed absentmindedly at the floor then felt her arms wrap around me. My head ended up in the crook of her neck and for the second time in my life… I cried… and didn't hide it.