Harold

Remember your name.

Harold

Harold stared deep into his soul, reflected in the mirror through the windows of his eyes. It would take too long to get used to, he was sure of it. Harold. Harold...

Eventually he blinked. Damnit, this shouldn't be so hard. Breaking his efforts, Harold dried his face and left the relative peace and darkness of the bathroom. His hotel room was functional, plain white and light browns, save for the deep purple of his lone suitcase. Lucy had known that purple was his favourite colour..this was enough to refresh the drops of perspiration on his dried brow. Suddenly, everything was a connection. Even the smallest link of information could be enough. He was Harold, now. Harold. Christ.

Exhausted, Harold threw himself down on the bed. It was surprisingly soft, comforting. As it soothed and lulled him to a calmer state, he couldn't help but think of her. Hot coffee on that winters morning, little jokes and tense shoulders gently caressed. The last time he'd seen her...the twisted face, a fiery bang that broke them both. Yelling in the dark, the orange crack of gunpowder, slapping, sprinting steps and a heart beating near to burst.

He sat up, his own vision a blurred fatigue. She was gone, now. He'd been grateful not to see the blood, taste the metal. He was grateful that, now, he'd seen nothing. Known nothing. He was Harold, and Harold never knew her.

It was time. Harold heaved up his suitcase, ignoring the colour. It squeaked as he wheeled it from the room, clacking the door shut behind him, squeaked further as he strode bolt upright down the hall. Front desk, check out, I had a lovely stay thank-you, the taxi was waiting for him.

The taxi sat like a black bug just outside. Harold edged towards it.

"I know who you are, Oliver." the voice to his left rasped. Harold turned to it. As he saw the tall, dark, smoke and leather figure who shot his girlfriend, his mind froze too solid to remember his new name, Harold.

Reviews

[Rassoul]

You wrote that so well, it's kinda scary tho.

Nice work, Alex!

[Maya]

Wow, brilliantly written, tense, scary, sad... You could totally do crime fiction if you put your mind to it! 10/10