To be given a chance - (BxB)

Chapter six - Hot chocolate

Harry's POV

When I wake up, I am not shivering from the cold... I'm not on a hard concrete floor on the side of the streets in Hallgate... I'm not hiding under a makeshift shelter at a bus stop. For the first time in a long time, I'm lying in a bed. A real one. A real warm bed. I bite my bottom lip, doubting my take on reality for a moment; maybe it's just a dream. A dream too good to be true. The only thing making it known that it is most definitely not a dream, is the fact that I can still feel pain.

I shift on the mattress, pushing myself up, only for an aching of discomfort and pain to go running through my body getting stuck just under my ribs. The dull throbbing pain behind eyes makes it hard for me to concentrate on more than one thing. I lift a hand to my jaw; it's smooth but tender, as I gently trail a finger over the bruise that had been left after someone had hit me, thinking it funny and breaking my hearing aids by standing on them. It was unprovoked, like many of the attacks that get thrown on me.

Since I don't have my hearing aids anymore, it makes it harder for me to prepare myself for a fight... I say fight, it's more like a five against one and even then I am only able to throw back weak little hits. Nothing worth fighting back for, though, I've learned that now; learned to just take it, flinch away until they've finished having fun and leave. An occasional plea would go unnoticed, words I don't understand called at me instead. Words I can't hear them saying.

Groaning, I sit up on the bed dangling my legs over the side. I'm clean. I no longer smell like dirt and sweat. I smell fresh now, like soap and toothpaste. A small smile tugs at my lips, I'm wearing comfy clothes. Clothes that don't chafe the bruises on my body, clothes that aren't rough from getting wet and drying out in the cold wind. They're soft, warm and cozy. Something I've dreamed of having for so long.

Looking up I catch a glimpse of someone sleeping in a chair, his head resting on the desk in front of him. It's the man, the nice man. The one... he... My mind drifts back to what had happened yesterday.

I had found a flyer. I say found, but it actually blew in my face when I was trying to get some sleep in a back alley of a local cafe. One that I usually get ushered out of because... no one wants me sitting next to them while they eat. That flyer was the only thing I had to something... to somewhere I could go. I walked for a mile down the road until I found it. The shelter... the... the man helping me. He can sign! Kind of. The nice man, giving me food, talking to me like a normal person.

Then he left. Leaving without telling me where he was going. Leaving me alone in here, by myself. Only a note to say that he had to go, that he would be back soon. I had sat there, trying not to cry; trying not to be upset about him leaving me. I don't know why I was so upset in the first place, I just knew that I was and that I needed him to stay with me. But he had already left.

Be back soon. It's meant to mean not that long. Five hours, all alone is long. He wasn't back soon. I stayed in the office waiting for him to come... but before he did, I kind of had a mental breakdown that seemed to continue long after he had returned. Clinging onto him like an idiot.

I glance over at him, I bet he thinks I'm a freak just like everyone else does. Just because I'm hard of hearing, doesn't mean I'm stupid. I know what everyone thinks of me, what they say about me when they think I don't understand. Does... does my voice really sound that funny? Am I really that bad?

I look at the clock on the wall above the bookshelf; 7:15 am. Should I wake him? I've been staring at him for longer than ten minutes, if he woke now then he might think it a little creepy that I've been staring at him. His body twitches in sleep involuntarily. He doesn't look very comfortable, why didn't he sleep in a bed... Then I remember that I am in his office... in his bed.