Half Bad // Harry Styles

Chapter 22

♡ chapter 22 - Rose ♡

            I woke up screaming, my head throbbing consistently, an excruciating pain striking through my neck. My chest is heaving, trying to keep up with my rugged breaths as I prepared to calm myself, but to no avail. One hand flew to my head, trying to minimize the pain as I squeezed my eyes shut, but quickly snapped them open due to my mysterious location. It would be better to be alert than to be careless.

            My eyes take in the sightings, noticing nothing but dulling dray walls smothered in grime. I was sitting up on a hard bed, not even the simplicity of a mattress being stuffed under me and a thin paper-like pillow where my head had been moments ago. A toilet with a makeshift sink built in behind it is in the corner, a sliver of wall for privacy being the only bit of coverage I could spot. It was then I realized where I was.

            Prison.

            For some baffling reason, I had been thrown into a cell where all the horrendous criminals or people who are a threat to the Council go. But if I am a supposed White Witch, why would they lock up their own kind? What had I done to deserve being tossed in a stuffy cell? I just recently found my powers, and now I was being restricted?

            But then it all came rushing back. The kiss. Being taken. The tracking device in my neck (most likely the cause of my pain). Being brainwashed into killing innocent people without my consent.

            And that's when the anxiety kicked in.

            Unintentionally, I screamed again.

            Did I hurt innocent people? Had Marcus really pursued his diabolical plan that far? How long have I been here? What happened in the few hours, days, weeks—however long—that I was unconscious, brainwashed?

            "Hey, hey. Calm down, Rose. It's all right."

            My head snapped to the source of the voice, sweat beading my forehead and my shoulders slumped a bit in relief at the sight of Harry in the cell across the hall. At least we were close by, not only for comforting but for company. Reassurance, even. I don't know what I'd do if we hadn't been so close. I'd either scream until I killed myself from screaming too much, or I'd drown in my own paranoid tears. Neither seem like a very pleasing death.

            Harry was sitting on the floor next to the bars, his back against the wall as he steadily drummed his fingers along the metal. He seemed utterly calm for someone who was abruptly thrown in prison, but I had to remind myself that he had been here before. He's experienced the life of a criminal. He's experiencing the life of a criminal.

            And even though we were opposite each other, Harry tossed me a small smile but his eyes were filled with exhaustion. "I'm glad you're finally awake. You were beginning to worry me."

            "W-why are we here?" I asked, my throat raw from the two piercing screams I had belted out previously.

            Harry blew air from his cheeks, his lips making a motor sound like you do when you're a toddler. "Long story short, you shouldn't associate with me, be near me, or even glance at me, for that matter. You're the good and I'm the bad. We aren't supposed to mingle, Rosalie."

            My eyebrows pulled together. "So we're locked here because we're not the same?"

            Harry smirked, shrugging slightly. "The Council has hilarious ways, don't they?" He then shifted his weight, sitting up straighter. "But I do believe that's the reason you are here. Me, well... I'm supposed to rot here, so it's a no-brainer why they locked me up for a third time."