AN: Welcome to the next entry. Thank you to everyone for the reviews/follows/reading! Your collective compliments and insights are always well appreciated.
Melissaax3: I am glad you love Harry and Reese. That was definitely a fair assumption to make. I plan to delve in it further. So I will leave that with a River Song quote "Spoilers."
The cold water splashed over her hands and forearms as she furiously scrubbed her shirt in her bathroom sink. Droplets leapt from the stream to splash across her bare stomach. She still could not figure out what the hell had happened. Never had she seen Harry lash out at anyone. Reese snatched a bar of soap from the little tray connected to the wall. She rubbed the slippery bar over the stains, building the bubbles into a thick lather.
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"Holy shit, Harry," Reese breathed, a growing panic settling heavy in her stomach, making it convulse. "What have you done?" She looked from the poor pathetic puddle at their feet to Harry, still breathing heavily at her side.
"I.. I didn't, " he panted. "He shouldn't… He shouldn't have touched you like that." A fluttering of affection tickled her heart at the sentiment, which she immediately swatted away to give priority to the admitablely drastic situation at hand. She dropped to her knees to what's-his-name swimming in his own blood. Gingerly she reached out to where his neck was, seeking out a pulse. Holding her breath, she waited until finally a faint beating brushed against her fingertips. Reese blew out her breath in a compound relief.
"Harry," she said, turning with wide eyes to Harry. "You need to go." He hesitated, looking at her with a furrowed brow as he mulled things over in his head.
"Please, Harry. I'll…" she paused gesturing nervously before her. "I'll take care of this." Harry backed slowly away, a guilty expression spreading across his face. Casually she wondered if the guilt was because of what he had done, or that she was going to cover for him.
Reese pulled the bloody man over onto his side, keeping his face from being submerged in the growing puddle around his face. Blood smeared onto the palms of her hands. Grimacing she rubbed the palm of one of her hands onto her top so that she could fish out her phone and call 911.
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Deep pink water emerged from her formerly pretty top, sloshing back and forth in the sink. Brushing her hair out of her face with her arm, Reese squeezed as much of the water out of the drenched cloth. Reese shuddered slightly at the disturbing sight, quickening her motions so as not to force her to have to deal with anymore of the blood than she had to. Taking a moment to breathe, she looked into the mirror above her sink.
Hair mussed, she looked an absolute wreck. The police had questioned her until the bitter tangy smell of blood had been so strong that she started drying heaving into the dumpster. Either they took pity on her delicate stomach, or they'd become so disgusted with her that they didn't want her around anymore. Her red streaked eyes and puffy skin was pretty gross. She was fairly sure at the time of the questioning she had sported some pretty nasty snot and slobber mixture to top off the image.
She caught sight of patches of blood on her chin and right cheek. Frantically she snatched a tissue from the box sitting on the tank of the toilet, and wiped roughly at the offensive splotches. The little box slid from its perch and dropped with a splash into the toilet, making her jump in surprise.
"Fuck!" she snapped at the mess. Rather than tend tp the slowly soaking box, she returned her attention to the blood on her face. Reese had always been bothered by the sight of blood. Everyone encounters blood at least once in their life, but unlike a scraped knee or bloody nose, her memories of blood were far less reasonable.
"Dear, God, Harry," she murmured at her reflection. "What happened to you." Water dripped slowly off her nose and chin, tickling her reddened skin. Reese snatched a towel from the hanger on the wall and covered her face. Through the thick cloth she breathed slow deep breaths, trying to calm her fluttering heart. Her phone's ringer sounded from the living room, summoning her with its obnoxious tone. Blowing out a frustrated breath at the inconvenient timing of the call, she tossed the towel back onto the rack. Reese trotted out of her bathroom, bypassing her bed to run into the living room. Swiftly approaching its final chime, her phone blinked in warning on the small table that took refuge in the corner. She stuck out her hand and caught the little technological nightmare and answered it; not bothering to check the number for fear of missing the call.
"Hello?" she breathed, the phone just closing the distance to her ear.
"Hi." Reese nearly dropped the phone at the sound of Harry's timid voice. Her mouth opened, lips moving around words without sounds.
"D'ya think we could," he mumbled. "You know, meet up for a second?"
Amidst the tidal wave of thoughts plaguing her mind, her response suffocated before it could reach her tongue.
"That is if you want,"Harry said quickly. "I just want to say a few things that I can't over the phone." His voice lowered significantly near the end of the sentence.
"Harry?" A woman's voice called faintly. "Who are you talking to?"
"It's just work, Ma." he answered. "I think we're gonna have a meeting tonight." Reese shook her head at the pitiful lie. Still she had long since been familiar with the strange dynamic between those two, and if he was willing to lie to his mother about her...
"Ok," she said softly into the phone. "Where?"
"Uh," he sounded flustered. "Yea I can make it in time. I'll cut through the playground."
"Oh, Harry you know I don't..." Mrs. Oldum's voice was cut off, leaving her with only the loud thumping in her own chest. She walked to the window, clutching the phone lightly to her collar bone. Her fingers pulled back the thermal curtains blocking her window. Small white flakes drifted down from the sky, speckling an already white blanket below.
"Damn," she muttered before running to grab some warm clothes and a jacket.
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Her feet crunched the lightly packed snow littering the playground floor. The sun made its departure long ago, leaving everything at the mercy of a darkened night, illuminated only by a crescent moon and the pale ovals of nearby street lamps. Foamy white wisps blew out from her frozen lips, piercing through the static air before her. Sitting perched on the swing was Harry. She watched him sway slowly in the swing, disturbing the snow at his feet. His blonde hair stuck out in thick locks from under his hood. He was clad in the same jacket he had worn when he drew up the courage to come into the club.
"When did breakfast diners start to at 9 o'clock in a deserted playground?" she asked loudly as she approached the other swing.
"They don't," he admitted.
"So why would your mother believe that?" Reese asked as she brushed snow off of the rubber seat.
His eyes refused to meet hers as he mumbled the answer. "I have a second job."
"Oh?" she pried. "Doing what?" Reese sat down on the swing and tucked her hands into her pockets.
"Just taking care of a few things for a friend." Her brow furrowed at the blatant side step of her question. She brushed a small path into the snow at her feet, unsure of what else to say. Out of the corner of her eyes she could see Harry shifting uncomfortably on the swing.
"I don't know what to say about earlier," he said softly. "I have a few versions, I keep going over in my head, but none of them quite describe how I feel." Reese kept quiet, letting him gather her thoughts. She glanced about at the dilapidated playground. It's once pleasant looking jungle gym had severely deteriorated over the years. The bright paint of the slide, once a rosy red like a fresh apple had rotted in a similar manner. Its former brilliant luster was now a stained reddish-brown with rust that peaked out between gaps in the snow. A ghost of a smile spirited over her lips as she spied the old monkey bars.
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"I am the monkey bar queen!" Reese squeaked as she swung her little stubby legs in a big circle. She was so caught up in swinging around while maintaining her hold on the bars, that she did not notice the other body approaching her on the bars. The side of her calf smacked into a very warm barrier.
"Ow!" a soft voice cried out. Coming down from her adolescent euphoria, she watched a little boy drop from the ground in front of her. Her hands released their grip on the bars, surrendering to the laws of gravity and dropping her to the ground.
"Oh!" she shrieked. "Ohmygoshohmygoshohmygosh! I am so sorry." Her eyes widened in panic at the potential trouble in front of her. The sandy haired boy in front of her rubbed his thigh with a grimace.
"I'm sorry!" she squeaked again. "I didn't mean it. Please don't tell my mom." Her little body shook as her mind stretched forward at the trouble she would catch later. Reese's tear filled eyes met the little boy's bright blue ones, locking onto a similar sadness in their azure pools.
"Are you ok?" she asked.
He nodded his head, lightly patting his thigh, "I'm ok." They stood for a moment in an awkward silence, his head dropping to break their locked gaze.
"I'm Reese," she said, wanting to break the unnerving quiet.
"I know," his soft voice drifting from where his face was tucked into his chest. "You live next door." She cocked her head at the observation, never having seen him at all let alone him being her neighbor.
"Did you just move in?" she asked, still trying to figure out why she hadn't met him sooner.
"No."
Reese's little brow crinkled in confusion. She had seen a blonde haired woman living next door. Her mother had made a passing snide comment about her being a prostitute. Still she had never seen any kids coming or going from the house. Not even in the windows. She watched the boy shift from side to side, noticing many of her own uneasiness in his motions. Strangely it comforted her to see those similarities.
"What's your name?"
"Harry."
"Hi Harry," she smiled gently at him. "Do you want to be my friend?"
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"I don't really have an excuse for what happened," Harry muttered, drawing her attention away from the monkey bars. "I just got so mad. I've had these problems lately." He paused to take a breath, his thumb traveling to his mouth to let him nibble on his nail.
"Sometimes I do these things," he said around his thumb nail. "But it's like its not me. I mean I'm there, but I'm not. I dunno." His hand drifted from his mouth to join his other hand in his lap. Harry's head dropped in shame at her continued silence.
"I didn't mean to scare you," he whispered. Reese swallowed several times, trying to push her heart back down her throat and into her chest where it belonged. Reaching out, she slid her hand in between his and squeezed his cold fingers with her own.