Dead Like Him

Chapter 6: Harry

Harry walked me toward a building on the Northside. You want to talk about posh and living like you haven’t died but for some reason it suited him –given he was famous or something of the like before he died. My curiosity was still peaked but he was a very guarded person and it seemed the more I wanted to get to know him before his reaper life, the more guarded he became.

“Harry? Do you have anything from your old life? Something personal? I have diaries from when I was seven I hope mom doesn’t see.” I laughed, trying to light up the mood from my earlier mistakes as we sat down in Harry’s very open spaced kitchen, a sandwich in front of me.

That was another thing I was confused about. We could eat but never had to go to the bathroom. We could get impaled with something and it would simply heal up as if it never happened. I could smell other grave makers and reapers. This was so bizarre and exciting. I should be sad but I wasn’t. I was happy.

“I don’t think she will, love.” Harry murmured, listening intently to my sparse conversation as it seemed to go all over the place.

“Yeah right, she’s a snoop. My brother too, they’ll all go through my things and –“I started but Harry reached over with his free hand and rubbed my knuckles.

“Don’t worry about them, they’re fine. You need to worry about you. I need focus because the sooner you start, the sooner you’ll finish.” Harry smiled kindly, trying his best to appease to my earlier request at not smiling like he was at a funeral –oxymoron I know but if I couldn’t feel sad then he wasn’t allowed to either.

“That smile still isn’t convincing. If you were standing next to a life sized Barbie and she had her tits hanging out, I’d think they were more real than that smile. I can tell when someone’s faking and you, Harry Styles, are putting Barbie to shame with those lips.”

He burst out laughing, his chest heaving hard. I half suspected he had his funny bone removed –perhaps I was wrong. He was just very…British.

“Oh God, Calla, stop.” Harry begged, his voice cracking from the force of how hard he was laughing which got me going further. He needed to loosen up.

“If I stop then you’re going to go back to fake smiling and people who fake things are the ones who have the most to hide. Did you know that?” I chuckled which slowly brought him down to merely smirking. His eyes clouded over. He wasn’t giving anything away.

“I have nothing to hide, luv.” He said, although his voice wasn’t good at playing poker. I decided to go ahead and ask outright.

“Harry? Can I ask you your story? How did you become –this?” I gestured about, sobering a little. I needed to know. I didn’t understand it but I did.

I saw his good mood slowly close off again and his eyes dropped back to his sandwich plate but he still kept the smile on his face, almost as if it were for my benefit instead of his.

“Our story, luv, isn’t nearly half as interesting. I don’t want to bore you,” Harry winked before standing up, throwing the other half of his chicken salad in the trash and holding his hand out for me to take. “I did get to keep one thing from my life, come, I’ll show you.”

I took his hand and followed him through the apartment. The tile was a baby blue marble and the walls looked to me made from black mahogany. It was something fit for a rock star. Not much in the way of decorations but it had nice fancy furniture. I dunno how he was able to live in an apartment like this but I envied him in a sense.

We came to a long hallway, the blue marble breaking off into a deep colored green carpet, doors lining down the hall – I counted nine of them. He took me to the last door on the left and pushed it open, tightening his hold on my hand.

What greeted me was possibly the most beautiful room I had ever seen. It was filled with musical instruments and a single twin bed. In the corner was a baby grand piano, its elegance captivating the room and adding an undertone of creativity with the guitars and sheet music that was scattered throughout.

The bed completed the ensemble with the piano and guitar sheets.

“So you were a musician?” I gawked as we stood just inside his room. This time when he turned to me his smile was genuine.

“I’m still a musician, luv, I just can’t devote full time, especially when a certain beautiful lass is making me chase her from here to the ends of the earth.” He snorted, letting go of my hand and allowing me to explore.

“Maybe you shouldn’t pursue me if I’m such a bother.” I replied, although feeling bad that Harry let me off so light. All he did was tell me not to do it again, I couldn’t help but feel that something else was amiss though. I wasn’t going to dwell, whatever it was, it would come to me sooner or later.

“I like you, Calla, luv, that’s why if you run, I’ll always be able to chase you. You’re mine. From now until the end of forever if need be.” He winked, but there was something very double edged in the way he said that. Whatever his game was, if it helped us stop butting heads, I was all for it.

“So, am I reaping with you tomorrow or am I going with Zayn?” I asked casually, my bare feet sinking into the deep carpet as they padded softly to the piano. I sat down and straightened my back, positioning my fingers to the correct keys and begin to play the only song I knew on there. As you can imagine, I also hit a lot of wrong notes.

Harry followed my lead and sat down next to me on the bench and stopped my hands where they were. His face contorting with something unsaid and I visibly shuttered.

“Zayn will take you in the morning. Try not to run from him this time, huh? He’s harmless, I promise. As for the afternoons, you’ll be following Louis and I will take you in the evenings. I reap over at the Southside hospital and occasionally around if I’m called there. You’ll switch off with Liam and Niall when the others or myself are unavailable, so your schedule will never stay the same. Once you’ve got everything down pact then you will go out and reap alone.” He explained, his eyes sparkling with something unreadable.

I breathed in his scent again, the overpowering sense of stardust and lemon drops filled my nose and warmed my chest. The amount of energy he was giving off was strong enough to overpower me in such close proximity, his touch gave off heat and eased my growing tension. He was doing something to me and I didn’t even know what.

“Maybe-maybe.” I stammered, his beautiful jaded green eyes sparkling with amusement.

“You’re something else, Calla. I’m sorry you had to die, if I had been able, I would have saved you. Please know that is the truth.”

I did believe him. I don’t know why but I did.

“Come on, it’s late and you need sleep. You’ll find the more energy you use, the more you’ll need to replenish. Sleep is the perfect remedy –even though technically we don’t need to sleep anymore but you will find it gives you the charge you need to make it through the da-“

He stopped hearing the front door to the apartment open.

“Looks like the guys are home.” Harry smiled and stood up, offering me his hand again. I took it and we went back out to the living room, seeing Louis, Liam, Zayn, Niall and Colton walk through. They paused when they saw us there.

“Hey guys!” I greeted warmly, waving slightly.

“Hey love, what brings you to our humble flat?” Louis spoke up, clearly a little confused.

“She will be staying with us, temporarily, until she can get her own place. I’ll talk to the high ups about that tomorrow.” Harry explained, letting go of my hand.

“Hey a sleep over, I’m down for that.” Colton winked which earned him a hard shove from Louis.

“Not tonight, not ever.” Harry glared before putting his arm over my shoulders. “Off limits. We keep focused on the job, not the distraction. Understand?”

The other guys didn’t respond but it was clear they understood. Harry was in charge and whatever he said, went. At least I knew no one would try anything. I felt safe with this group and I couldn’t even explain why.

“I was just about to show Calla to her room, unless one of you guys wanted to give her the tour? Just remember, we got a long day tomorrow and she needs her sleep. She’s a young reaper and unlike us, still learning.” Harry warned, looking over the guys who all put looked or focused on something else –well, except for Colton. He was clearly focused on me and his eyes were definitely focused on Harry’s arm on my shoulder.

“I will.” Colton shrugged but received another hit from Louis, a warning it looked like –but I didn’t speak reaper, so, your guess was as good as mine.

“If you hit me again, mate, I will rip your arm off and shove it up your-“Colton began to threaten Louis but was cut off.

“I will.” Zayn offered, rolling his eyes.

Harry gave me a gentle push toward Zayn and nodded, glancing at Colton and motioning him away from the group –whatever was to be discussed, it wasn’t for any of us to hear.

Colton followed Harry to the kitchen and Zayn smiled and slid his hand into mine, guiding me around the apartment to show me where everything was before finally taking me to my room –which happened to be right across the room from Harrys. I half suspected he planned it like that but who was I to guess anything in this deadening universe?

The only piece of furniture in there was a twin sized bed, with a white comforter and white sheets. Something you’d find in a military setting. Utterly boring.

“I got something for you,” Zayn whispered before looking out toward the door and putting a finger to his lips, slipping it from out of his jacket and walking back toward me. “We’re not technically allowed to keep things from our past but –this looked important.”

I looked down and felt a small wave of sadness overtake me.

Zayn noticed and mimicked my frown, reaching up to guide my eyes to his.

“What is it?” He asked, his tone soft, barely audible.

I breathed in slowly, trying to fight the sadness.

“Nothing important; not anymore at least.” I replied, throwing the item onto the bed and stepping forward to hug the reaper in front of me. “Thank you for caring enough to go and get it though. It means a lot.”

Zayn didn’t react immediately to my embrace but eventually I felt his arms wrap around my body in a gentle hug.

“Goodnight, sweet Calla.” Zayn whispered, pulling away and quietly leaving the room, closing the door behind him.

I stood there for a moment before sitting on the bed, picking up the item Zayn had brought me and flipped through it. It was my diary –the one I had told Harry about.

Tears brimmed at the corner of my eyes but I hurriedly wiped them away and put the journal under my pillow, lying down, and closing my eyes.

Notes

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