Two Weeks Later

Harry's POV

She had been on my mind since we had returned from the trip; she had filled every conscious moment as well as my dreams. Was I in love? I would lay in bed each night and wish that I could hold her, wish my arms would wrap around her small frame and protect her from the world outside which wanted to hurt her.

She had been distant, ever since coming back from the trip I seemed to see less and less of her. When we talked her eyes never met mine, her tone quiet and her words trailing off. I didn't want to ask her what was wrong, mainly because I knew she wouldn't tell me. I walked on eggshells around her, everyday waiting to see her go back to her usual self.

It was midday before I pulled myself out of bed, on a mission to find out what was wrong with Phoenix. Why she was acting so strange. What had happened to her. The corridors were now beginning to feel like home, the people in them more like family despite the fact I rarely talked to anyone. Months away from home had made me almost forget my family completely. I hadn't received any visits from them, not that I wished to see them anyway.

In my mind I was finally cured, I hadn't wanted to touch alcohol in what felt like weeks. But I had to do my time, and then I could get the hell out of that place. But is that what I wanted? As I strolled through the corridors, I thought about how much the centre had changed me. In the outside world I was surrounded by people who only wanted to see me fall, in there it seemed like some people cared.

Maybe not Smith, but some of the nurses. Some of the patients I spoke to. Maybe I was scared that in the outside world I would revert back to my old ways. Maybe I was scared that I would never see Phoenix again. I reached her door, and knocking on it gently, and I waited for her to come out. But she didn't.

After a few minutes, I decided to look for her on the campus but that proved a waste of time as well. Janet, an elderly nurse who seemed to constantly be smiling, was walking my way so I decided to see if she knew anything about Phoenix's whereabouts.

"Janet, have you seen Phoenix around?" I asked, and waited to hear that Phoenix was in a session or something like that.

"Don't you know sweetie? She's gone out of town for a few weeks, trying a new treatment. She'll be back soon, don't you worry," she wandered off, and I stood in the corridor for a second as I processed the information that was being given to me.

Why hadn't she told me? Why had she kept it such a secret? Phoenix and I, while not having known each other for too long, seemed to share most things. Receiving treatment wasn't a huge deal at the centre, most people went off for a few days to take a trial drug that only made them woozy.

My head was heavy as I made my way back to my room, and I began to question my friendship with Phoenix. Was I merely someone to waste the hours away with? Someone of no importance to her? Here I was, falling madly in love with someone I knew I couldn't love, and there was her, leaving without even telling me.

She'll be back soon, I told myself, trying to shake my negativity. Maybe I was blowing things out of proportion, maybe it had simply slipped her mind to tell me that she was going. My feet found their way to my bedroom door, but I didn't feel like retreating into solitude just yet.

Instead I began to wander around the centre, gaining stares from the nurses, until I bumped into Dr Smith. Neither of us were looking where we were going, and his body crashed into mine. I gave him a halfhearted apologetic look, and he warily smiled at me.

"Harold?" he acknowledged me in a inquisitive tone, and I simply closed my eyes.

There was no doubt in my mind that Smith had sent Phoenix off to whatever hell hole she had been carted off to. As I looked at the smug expression plastered on his face, I knew that he was playing a very dangerous game. He knew that the 'new treatment' Phoenix would be given would make her more traumatised than she was, that it would only make her more emotionally unstable.

Walking past him, I shook the angry thoughts from my head.

"It will only be for a few more weeks," I whispered to myself, trying to stop the despondent feelings crushing my ribcage.

For the first time, I craved something more strongly than I craved alcohol. I craved Phoenix. She was my new addiction.

Sorry for the short (and late) chapter, some exciting stuff is happening soon! So Harry is now in love with her? What will happen when she returns from this treatment centre?

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