Empty streets
Your clothes, they seem ragged, on closer inspection, thorn and stained with deep darken spots almost screaming against its stygian folds. Your skin's pale, almost translucent, gleaming against the moonshine flowing from this starry sky above, its flow abrupted by the bright torches burning within the lamps hanging over the street ahead bathing half of him in a fiery autumn-like glow. And those eyes, your eyes, that deep blue hazed and blurred like windows looking into a dark house, just what have you gone through since I ran? Should I have stayed? What would you have done if you saw me out there? Just what would have happened if I changed that one thing? But if I did... I probably would not have gotten to know the kindness of James, Abel, Mary, or Arthur. Is this want perhaps just a selfish desire to see you again? You, the father which raised me beyond that door.
His slow steps spring soundless as we head up that bright street almost void of people, there are some but they're standing close whispering in each other's ears within the shadowy gaps between these numerous buildings. Harry's steps quicken suddenly, this haste, did he spot something? I need to keep track, stay close, figure out just what happened and why you were involved with that jewel-draped elder, and that dark... shapeless thing. Harry's hands swiftly tear some sheet of paper off a board in front of a tall building, shaped with bright birch wood, this movement seems almost a bit erratic, stuffing it within his torn cloak, will I be able to find out what it says if I get closer? My heart, this clenching cold again, pumping freezing shivers through my veins, should I even find out? The last time I tried to figure something out, last time I followed Harry did end up hurt... because of me and this selfish curiosity of mine, you lied about it at that time too, it... it must have hurt a lot.
The streets darken a bit, slipping into a subtle red glow reflected by the dim lights and bright colored buildings ahead, I know I shouldn't, these doubts continuously crossing my mind, but I just can't help but follow him like a ghost, down these nocturnal streets. It is just... no, it's unbearable, the thought of just letting him disappear down these streets now that I finally got to see him again, it is tearing my heart up, it's thumping so hard against my chest, hadn't it been for my current condition I'm certain, even with this distance he'd hear it, these quick... heavy beats. Ough! The world grew a bit blurry just now, didn't it? Could I be... no don't let me wake yet.
"Thought everyone had left, guess I'm lucky." That light mellow voice, the world grows sharp again, I can spot the source, a woman stepping out of one the left-hand building, her clothes... short cut and frilly almost exposing everything beyond her curves, her hair long and red with several ends splitting at the edges, her skin's spotted with small brown spots as she carries a sweet almost alluring scent with her, it almost... like its dulling the other senses. Her hourglass body is rubbing up against Harry so intimately... just what will... who is? This feeling, it's getting hard to breathe, why?
"Just what are you looking for on a night like this? And what will you give to get it?" She's so close almost wrapping herself around him like a snake, but Harry's eyes, that deep blue, cold, like glaciers unfazed and unmoved by that approaching person. His lips parting, he's about to respond but why... this trembling won't stop, just why am I shaking this badly? His right hand, one unseen motion before breath could even escape his mouth grabs the back of her head forcing her to stumble back as her neck uncomfortably bends up towards the dark sky now obscured by a veil of clouds.
"Go, bother someone else." That voice, just as cold as that almost empty gaze, devoid of any consideration, his hand janks, and the woman stumbles to her knees, her face plastered with shock, Harry, why did you treat her like that... is that really you? In this display, the lady crawling backward trying to get back on her feet almost feels tainting to all the other kind, warm, and loving memories of you... still, somewhere beyond that dark freezing look, I swear I can see it, deep painful loneliness, a hole left behind filling with the bile of frustration... is this all my
"You'll regret this when I tell my boss." The lady has scrambled back on her legs looking at Harry, her face twisted from shock to fury, yet he remains unfazed just moving forward before turning towards an alleyway swallowed by the abyssal shadows cast by nights and cast lights, stopping for a moment, his head turning back, his mouth opening drawing breath.
"If that makes you feel better, doubt it will matter tho." Even though the cold voice sounds stiff, it's almost apologetic, I knew it, he's just acting this way cause he's hurt, and I hurt him... as... as I left him, following my own panic and those voices... This crushing sensation... like a fist ready to grip hard and squeeze the life out of my heart... I really let you down didn't I?
Follow I still need to follow, I must figure out where this is, where Harry is, somehow it feels familiar... Wait, this street opening from this alleyway, there's no way, the empty booths, that bright red three-storied building, that sweet smoky aroma, the scent of wood, stone, and meat's, those innumerable blinded windows, its the Drowsy Feline, Harry's now standing still, gazing upwards towards the windows, something faint sparkling beyond the chilling sadness of his hazed irises, something... ough! The world, its fainting, spreading out into the void like petals scattering in the wind, there's some sound somewhere in the distance beyond the pull, tearing me back to my waking world.
The soft fabric of bedsheets, the clinging of my own nightgown against my wet skin, my heart rampaging so fiercely I fear I might pass out, window, I need to get to the window, If I'm quick will I be able to? I can barely feel the ground beneath my feet, just the sensation of moving, almost floating instinctively where I need to be, no, where I must go. The curtains, I never knew that such light fabric could ever become this heavy, will I spot him out there? Agh, I need to stop second-guessing myself, I need to do it now! The streets below are empty, no one, standing there looking up, no one moving between the empty booth...! There! A stygian cloak disappearing down an alleyway in front! He's here! Harry's here! I need to be quick, will I be able to catch up? No, can't afford to think, I need to get down there right now!
"Huh?... Khatryn?" Mary, I'm sorry, this can't wait, door, the door is just ahead. The corridor by the stairs beyond is still lit, voices still sounding from the reception, but it doesn't matter, not even the muffled shouts behind, I must, I just must... My legs, arms, shoulders, waist, I can feel every movement as I haste forward down the stairs shooting directly for the grand double doors. I knocked into something firm and hot, that sound... did something break against the floor? These noises, they almost sound like angry yelling, I can't stop, I cannot allow myself, I just need to get a bit further beyond these doors and he'll be there, he'll welcome me back and I'll help him. The handles are swinging down as the doors burst giving way to the cobbled streets and the night air, there, it was that alleyway, just a few more steps now, just a few.