Darkness cloaked the wooden cupboard Oliver hid inside. He didn't even allow the door to open for a peak of light. His small body curled up with his knees tucked to his chest. But he could still hear it. He could always hear her footsteps.
Today, he would stop the pain. He would stand up to Voldemort and win just like Harry. Then he would meet his dad and ask him why he left and his dad would hug him, and tell him to go back and he was right behind him. He had spent hours memorizing the spells and they had to work. They would work.
"Dark and difficult times lie ahead. Soon we must all face the choice between what is right and what is easy-" Oliver recited his voice still tiny. When he said these words, everything calmed down in his head. He would be fine. But he stopped when her voice echoed. Whisky eyes shook with fear. "Liv! Where are you Liv!? Come out, mummy wants to play!" Every time his mother wanted to play, it always ended up with him being bruised, wounded, and in tears. He didn't want to play.
His palms covered his ears to drown out the noise, "But remember this: you have friends here. You are not alone! I am not alone! I am-" The door swung open with such force that the hinges were almost removed.
"There you are Liv! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Her caramel eyes widened with such brightness and excitement as if this was just a fun game of hide and seek. She had found him. Why didn't he disappear like the vanishing cabinet?
The woman grabbed Oliver's hand and started pulling him away. "No! I don't want to! I don't want to go! Leave me!" he struggled, scratching, and biting her arm, but whether it affected her was unknown because her grip became tighter.
Spells! He could use the spells! "Expelliarmus!" Nothing happened. "Crucio! Crucio!" he cried out, tears streaming down his face. "Imperio! Imperio!" They had almost arrived at the torture chamber. He had one last chance. One last chance! The last curse. The one that would work. "Avada Kedavra!"
To his surprise, she didn't go still like Sirius. Nor did she fall. It didn't work. The realization stung when she had already tied him to the bed on his belly after she had taken off his clothes.
"Please no! Someone help me! Someone help me! Please help me!" The first lash seeped into his skin and he jerked, but he couldn't scream. He learned that she enjoyed it.
"Liv! I want to hear you scream 'mummy'! Okay? Let's go again!" She hit him with the chain again, and the scream clawed from his throat.
"No! Please stop! No!" Oliver sat up faster than a snake's bite, a thousand buffaloes stampeding in his chest and ears as sweat drenched his naked upper body. He trembled, gathering his legs to his chest and rocking back and forth. "I am not alone! I am alone!" His eyes darted around the brightly lit room, thinking she would appear. She would drag him away and paralyze him.
His breath was shaky as he willed himself to stay calm. She wasn't here. No one was here. No one. They were back. The nightmares were back. He should ask Nate to increase his dosage because it had been two years since he had the last one.
"Deep breaths. Deep breaths. I am not alone." he repeated and after minutes, his breathing slowed. He wondered what Hastings would think of him if she saw him like this- a shaking mess. A Coward. His body recoiled from the thought. Why should he care what she thinks of him? He didn't matter. He didn't. But a voice whispered in his head, "Liar."
This was who he was. Stripped of everything he had. Lonely, broken, and a nobody. A thirteen year old boy whose mother never loved him. Whose back bore scars like a soldier after returning from battle and he went to war. Unfortunately for him, he never made it back, entirely.
****
"Where are you going, Kay?" Louisa looked up from her phone, eyeing Kay who was obsessively staring at her reflection in the body mirror.
"To class," she replied off-handedly, smoothening out the dress and turning sideways to get a better angle.
"Dressed like that?"
"I'm dressed normally. What's your point?"
"No, you aren't. Why are you wearing this dress during fall? The weather is humid or has your skin grown numb?"
The dress in question was a pink mini dress with printed roses, that had a blouse design with draping and boning. A key-hone neckline accentuated with one gold necklace and, a cinched waist that if it weren't an A-line silhouette would have done wonders to outline her wide hips. The sleeves were long and puffy with buttons at the cuffs and she paired it with a chunky heel ankle strap sandal.
"Am I not allowed to dress feminine from time to time, Loui?" She grabbed her tote bag ready to leave.
"Are you sure you're okay? Or did your lack of sleep last night mess with your brain cells."
"You are overreacting, Loui."
"Or are you dressing like this for someone in particular? A boy maybe?" A playful smile tugged at Louisa's lips.
"Go back to reading your devilish novels and leave me alone!" Saying that, she slammed the door, but Louisa's words still reached her ears, "What's his name!? You can at least tell me that!"
She wasn't dressing for anybody's gaze. She wanted to wear the dress because it was pretty and she felt pretty when she woke up this morning, and she even let her hair fall down in waves. Today was Friday and she only had one class today so she might as well just take a long stroll and treat herself. That was all. That was the only reason. Nothing else. She told herself, as she hummed, "POV" by Ariana Grande, sipping her usual boba tea.
Then, her Hazel eyes spotted a familiar white scooter packed beside an empty bench. Her eyes widened. It was the pyscho's scooter who bumped into her! She checked her watch and saw she had a good thirty minutes to deal with the boy. "Hehe. Karma is a bitch." Kayla walked over, innocently and accidently tripped making her boba tea spill all over the scooter. "Kayla one, universe zero. Yes!"
"What did you do?"
"Shit!" She chuckled nervously before turning around. "Um… I tripped?"
But the boy was taken aback and stared at her face. "Hello?" she waved her hand in his face when he didn't say anything. "Do I have something on my face?"
The boy cleared his throat and smiled sheepishly, "Yeah. Sorry. You spilled the boba tea on my scooter." He confirmed and Kayla nodded. The boy's black hair was being tousled by the wind and his blue eyes were fixated on Kayla.
"I saw you from afar and I'm sure you didn't trip. Why did you do it?"His voice was raspy but still pleasant to listen to. Kayla's eyes swept over him. Grey hoodie, and white joggers, paired with blue sneakers and he had a square jawline and this masculine handsomeness with a hint of softness around his lips. She wouldn't lie saying little butterflies swarmed in her belly. But every time she remembered what he did, they disappeared.
"Wow! Apart from being reckless with your scooter, you also stalk girls?"
"Only the pretty ones," A small smile latched on his lips.
"Haha, very funny, but flirting won't get you off the hook." His words chipped her heart, only a little bit. He gave off nice guy vibes and Kay was into that, however a pair of whiskey eyes flashed in her mind.
"You said I was being reckless with my scooter? Are you saying this was a premeditated action?"
"You are the psycho scooter guy who spilled my boba on my clothes making me late for class, so your pretty face and cotton words won't work on me!" Kayla said firmly.
"So you think I'm pretty?" His grin became wider.
"You're going off-topic!" Her left eye twitched.
"Okay then. My scooter is water and boba-proof. Buuuuut, how about I get you boba every Friday morning and you'll collect it here at this exact spot," he offered.
"No, no, no. You don't need to do that. It's fine. I already got my revenge."
"Well, how else am I going to convince you to go on a date with me?"
'Ahhhh! Oh my God! This guy's game is good!' Her inner girl was jumping with joy.
She coughed lightly. "Well then," she looked away, "if you insist"
"I do. So what do I call you? I would say beautiful but that's like a third date thing, so I have to wait."
Where was Louisa when she needed her? Her cheeks turned red. "Um… yeah.. Kay. Kayla." She played with the ends of her dress.
"Alright, Kayla. You look even cuter when you're shy. I'm Wyatt." For some reason, her name on his lips didn't quite fit.
"I have to um, get to class or my professor won't let me in. So, um, you know, um, bye." God, she was acting like a teenage girl when she was twenty-two, for crying out loud!
When she wanted to step forward, he also stepped forward. When he wanted to move to the left, she also moved to the left.
"Oh my God, this is so awkward!" she laughed.
"I'll step back and you walk away, sound cool?"
"Sure." As she moved, her leg really tripped and she fell directly into his arms.
"Woah, easy there." He steadied her by holding her shoulders and their gazes met.
"Is this the reason you are always late to class, Hastings?" That voice. Kayla pushed Wyatt away so fast and faced the man who spoke. "Professor!" But Oliver's eyes weren't on her but on the man towering behind her. They were cold and unkind. He didn't sleep well now he was seeing this?
Kayla was in the middle of two tall men and she didn't know where to hide herself.
"She was just about to leave but she tripped. She seems to be clumsy." Wyatt tried to lift the tension. Kayla chuckled but stopped when she saw Oliver's frightening look. 'Why is he looking at me like I killed his dog?' She thought unhappily.
"Is that so? Let's go." He said simply and Kayla wanted to say bye to Wyatt but opted in for a safer choice which was to trail behind Oliver.
"I'll see you on Friday!" He called after her making Kayla smile.
"Why is he seeing you on Friday?" Oliver questioned, darkly.
"Does my answer relate to your class, professor?" In other words, she was saying, 'Mind your business' and his face darkened.
"Yes. He wants to see you on Friday and my class is on Friday."
"Don't worry I won't be late to your class." She didn't like his attitude one bit and he wasn't satisfied with her answer. She was close to him. He touched her. The things he couldn't do and that made his blood boil.
He halted, abruptly making her slam into his hard back. "Do you want to fuck him too?"
She rubbed her forehead and was irritated by his words. "Gosh, you are such a prick!"
"Stop being dramatic."
"Dramatic? I'm being dramatic? What was your back made with, steel?" Oliver looked unimpressed. "And what is it to you if I want to fuck half the boys on planet Earth? I am just your student, remember?" They glared at each other. He took a huge step, closing the distance but still safe enough that no one would suspect.
"I don't care if you want to fuck every man or dog on this planet, but they will never give you what you want."
"And what is it that I want?" She raised her chin to be on eye level with him. "Fire, Hastings. You want to play with fire." A fire only he could bring.