First day at college 3

Harry's POV

Once more in his mind palace.

The older Harry was sat on the ground, his back against a log with one arm draped across it. His other one would occasionally pick up the stick and poke the fire ensuring it would stay alive, he had also taken his shoes off and his bare feet were close to the fire. The toes in his feet would wiggle from time to time enjoying the pleasant heat and rubbing his belly in satisfaction. The big wrapper of marshmallows next to him was completely empty.

The younger Harry however was sat on his log, that first marshmallow barely eaten. Little teeth marks adorned it but he mostly just stared at the fire with a haunted look, his blanket loosely draped across his shoulders.

Older Harry scratched his belly a little and burped loudly, snapping his childlike counterpart out of his thoughts.

“You know that you can't stay here forever, right?”

“Who says so? Just watch me do it,” The child grumbled a little in reply.

“Hehe no, you don't understand. What I mean is that I enjoy having you here, it's fun chilling with uhhh… Myself.”

“But real soon you,” He gestured at the kid.

“Or We,” pointing at himself now.

“Are gonna get kicked out screaming and crying.”

“What do you mean?”

“Hehehe,” The older Harry simply gave an enigmatic laugh.

A rumble vibrated through the landscape, they could feel it as it shook the logs they were sitting on.

Young Harry bolted up, throwing his marshmallow on a stick and grabbing his older counterpart's shoulder, he started to roughly shake him.

“What did you do?”

“Why are you doing this?” He asked with a frantic look on his face, his tiny sharp nails scratching his other self lightly.

The old Harry was unphased, simply picking up the stick again and fixing the fire, completely ignoring the tantrum and the fingernails digging into him.

After doing that, he turned to the child with a relaxed expression on his face.

“Why would you think it's me doing this?”

“It's you little bro.”

“These are the consequences of your actions.”

Young Harry paused. The words shocked him to his very core. He shook his head side to side vigorously, almost as if wanting to throw those words out of his head. Another rumble, this one deeper.

He lost his balance and plopped down to his ass. He remained stubborn and started to inch away from Old Harry, screaming his lungs out.

“Noooo! You're lying, you lie and lie!”

“Just like everyone out there!”

“How am I causing this?”

“No!” He grabbed the sides of his head and pressed his palms to his ears wanting to block the words out.

As he frantically tried to create distance, he felt a strong grip on his tiny ankle. Older Harry was pulling him in. This aggravated him even more, his wails reached a higher level and he even started punching and kicking.

Old Harry paid no attention to this whatsoever and reeled him in, utterly unphased by his tantrum. He laid him on his lap, rubbing his back, hair and occasionally kissing his forehead. This was still ineffective in calming him down, seeing by the amount of small wounds he was getting from his younger counterpart.

Older Harry leaned down to whisper in his ear, “You made a friend Harry.”

“Friends can be the most frustrating and lovable people you know.”

“They can piss you off, betray your trust and worst of all, they like trampling your boundaries. Giving you help when you least want it. They squeeze past your walls and make themselves a bother.”

“That sounds terrible right? Especially for you right now.”

“Because now it's not so easy to hide away forever.”

The earthquakes in the mind palace had reached a critical point, the fabric of this mental reality was already shattered beyond the limits of what it could sustain by itself.

“Let's go out together lil dude, you've kept us here for too long”

“And also it seems we've had people waiting for us”

As it further deteriorated, The source of the rumblings were making themselves more and more clear.

A bright light shined everywhere blinding everyone.

And when Harry opened his eyes…

I saw one of the prettiest girls I had ever seen.

Brown hair with deep unfathomable brown irises. The circles around her eyes too, I don't know why I found them hot but it was like a cute raccoon, it's kinda weird but it just was!. Other than that her face was kind of ordinary to be honest but I liked it that way. It was a face that was comfortable in its plainness. It allowed its expressions to be revealed to the utmost.

The way that bomber jacket laid on her slender body, too big for her but that only emphasized the allure of her body more. I just wanted to rip it off of her.

Going downwards I saw she was wearing dark brown corduroys, which were kinda unsexy to be honest. The shoes too, some crocs but what was this?

The tips of her shoes were pointed towards each other touching each other lewdly, a perfect expression of shyness and eroticism. This woman was the perfect embodiment of shyness and sex appeal.

Even her actions were good, the way she was sputtering and spitting out blood was cute too…

Wait! spitting out blood?!

I drew my attention away from her and glanced to my side.

It was Toucan's bloody corpse. Was the blood dripping down my face his?

Fear seized my heart and I almost couldn't move, my muscles frozen up. What was the girl even doing here?

She had killed Toucan, but how did she know where I was? Did she follow me? and what were her intentions? I never even thought she was capable of this, was she sent by someone?

Could her pathetic actions all this time be a front?

I looked up to see her watching me with an eerie smile on her face. She was mumbling something and Toucan's blood on her face slowly dripped from her forehead down her chin and trickled to the floor.

I tried my best not to look again at the corpse with its head caved in. I thought Toucan was the monster but maybe it was in front of me this whole time.

She then turned around facing her back towards me. I took that chance to shuffle back, allowing my back to lay against the door.

I forced myself to breathe in and out, okay was that a sign of mercy? Was she letting me escape?

or-

“SHUT THE FUCK UP AND RUN!”

“RUN NOW PLEASE!!!”

That voice…

It sickened me, I wish I could switch it off, tune it out. No matter what it screamed at me.

But beneath the voice I could sense a new feeling, Ortho's fear. Something I had never felt from him before stuck in my head.

“HARRY, I'M SORRY PLEASE!!!”

“JUST MOVE, JUST MOVE, JUST MOVE!!”

“I'LL EVEN GIVE YOU THE MANA I'VE STORED UNTIL NOW, JUST PLEASE RUN!”

I felt a red hot vitality swim through my vessels. It was pure power, my muscles tensed and bloated, my whole body started to heat up even the ache in my fingers started to reduce.

I felt powerful, was this Ortho's energy? He called it mana. Like in the games?

Didn't matter, I still wouldn't move.

“P-PLEASE YOU SON OF BITCH, WE ARE GOING TO FUCKING DIE!”

“OPEN YOUR EYES, IT'S A GHOUL!”

“IT'S A MOTHER FUCKING GHOUL WITH VAMPIRE BLOOD. please…..”

I opened my eyes and there he was, Toucan had stood up, head split open and blood pouring out of the same wound. Yet he stood, faster than I thought possible, his muscles trembled and shook but his body did not fall.

He grasped the girl's neck with a monstrous strength and lifted her with one hand.

I didn't wait to see the rest, my cowardly body moved even before my thoughts and I burst out of that building as fast as my body could take me.

The girl's fate was the last thing on my mind, what mattered to me in that moment was preserving my pitiful life.