Chapter 3
24 April 1990
Lila awoke to a comfortable pitch black darkness and a pounding headache. She knew immediately where she was. How could she not? She knew the feeling of her ratty, thin pallet made of baby blankets she’d been sleeping on since she was a baby. She can hear the sound of the water heater.
But there was something new.
Lila could feel the vibrations of the water heater. Now she could always feel it, it was hard not to when she couldn’t move more than three inches away from it. No she could feel it. In her heart and somewhere deeper, a place she didn’t even know how to describe. Even though Lila didn’t know what that place was, she could feel something else there. A strange sense of peace and relaxation…?
Lila shot up into a sitting position, and kind of regretted it. Her head spun with the sudden movement, but she quickly disregarded it. How could she forget?! Her mind raced through the morning events and she remembers it all. She remembers getting ready for her baptism, Uncle Vernon’s dwindling patience, stupid prat Dudley, Uncle Vernon’s lost patience, and– and the car door.
Scrambling to stand, she lets out a silent scream and pulls at her hair.
She somehow ripped off the car door ! What was she going to do?! She had of course seen how her uncle treats Harry for making the smallest of mistakes. What was he going to do to her? She tore the door off of his car!!
“I’m dead,” Lila whispered, “I’m dead, I’m dead, I’m dead!”
Then she remembered one more thing.
“Harry!”
He was there. At the very end of all the excitement he was there. She had to find him.
And with that thought, Lila squared her shoulders and opened her closet door only to see– Nothing. Where there should have been ugly wallpaper, there was instead there was a shadow that seemed far darker than possible covering the entire room. However, the lack of sigh did not deter her from her mission, because the darkness was Harry. Or a part of him.
She stepped out into the void, and it felt like the darkness was… excited to see her?
“Where’s Harry?” Lila asked, and immediately the darkness felt solid upon her back and began gently nudging her towards wherever her brother was.
After a few moments, the dark had stopped moving her forward, but it turned her body to the left and gave her a kind pat on the back. She knew she had to reach ahead of her but… Lila shook her head. No ‘buts’! Harry needed her. He somehow caused the house to turn into a void and thinking back on how she was feeling when she ripped off a car door, she knew whatever Harry was feeling wasn’t good.
Lila stretched her hand out infront of her, carefully so she didn’t slam her hand against whatever was there, and touched a surface she immediately knew. She’d recognize that chipped wood anywhere. Harry’s cupboard.
Eyes wide, Lila knocked on the door and whispered, “Harry?”
She felt the woosh of the door swinging wide open on her face and the darkness pulling her away by the back of her dress.
“Lila?!” her brother breathed out in disbelief, “I’ve been so worried you had a fever I thought you were gonna die!” He then hugged her so tight it was almost painful, but Lila didn’t mind. Even though she still couldn’t see him, she hugged him right back.
“Harry, I’m fine! Somehow. I have a really bad headache, though.” She pulled away from the hug and looked at where she thought Harry’s face was. “Listen, Harry. We have to run. We have to leave. I don't know how we’re able to– to do these… things , but we can’t stay here because of them. If we stay we’ll die .”
“Leave Little Whinging? Lila, where are we gonna go?”
“I don’t know, we’ll figure it out. But we have to go now!”
Lila sighed, slightly exasperated. “We’ll take from the Dursleys. They really don’t need it anyway. Now, first things first, where are they?”
“They’re still upstairs sleeping. It’s only 3:30 am.” Harry whispered, remembering that they’re currently still in danger.
“How do you know what time it is?” The only clocks the Dursleys had were wrist watches and a digital alarm clock on their bedside table. Places Harry and Lila were nowhere near.
Even though she couldn’t see it, she knew Harry furrowed his eyebrows and frowned.
“I don’t know how I know, but I know.”
With all the weird stuff that went on, Lila didn’t question it.
“Alright,” she nodded, “Can you guide the way to our Aunt and Uncle’s room?”
“Why do I need to guide you?” He sounded confused.
“Harry, I can’t see anything. The whole house is pitch black!”
“What– but I can see just fine!”
“Because you–! Actually, I don’t know! Harry, we don’t have time! Please help me up to the room!”
“Right!”
Gently but surely, Harry grasped her right hand and guided the way.
“Don’t forget to skip the eighth step,” he whispered, and she gave his hand a little squeeze of thanks at the warning.
Up the stairs and to the left at the end of the hall and they stopped walking. She could hear Vernon’s snoring.
Harry let out a deep but quiet sigh. “Here we are.”
“Okay,” Lila shook her free hand to help get rid of her nerves, “go ahead and open the door.”
And Harry did. She could feel him move to gingerly push on the wood and heard the door creak open. Loudly. Both she and Harry gasped as they heard the snoring stop and the bed rustle.
“Oh my days stop creaking, stop! Shut up!” Lila screamed in her head.
And oddly enough, the rusty metal hinges went silent.
Both the twins let out a silent sigh of relief.
“Okay. We need Vernon’s wallet and Petunia’s purse,” Lila squeezed his hand in support, “be quick, Harry.”
And then he was gone.
It was so nerve-wracking, being left alone in this darkness, not even able to see how her brother was fairing or able to be a lookout for him.
How was he able to see through this unnatural darkness? Why did the darkness feel so friendly and comforting and familiar? Then again, how did she manage to rip off a car door? And why did her head hurt so much?! She’s obviously missing pieces of the puzzle but what–
“I’m back.”
It took everything in Lila to not jump and scream when she heard Harry’s voice right next to her again. She didn’t even hear him come back!
“You scared me,” she whispered when her heart calmed down a bit, “how much money do we have?”
Harry grabbed her hand again and took the lead to go back downstairs. “I don’t know. I didn’t want to count it right there, but I stole almost all of Aunt Petunia’s jewellery so we should be alright.”
Lila beamed with pride. “Right on, Harry!”
Soon enough, they stopped somewhere downstairs and the only warning Lila had was a quick “watch your eyes” from Harry before she had yelped and covered her eyes away from the outside.
🙡🙢
After trying to open her eyes a few times, they finally adjusted and she looked around to find herself in the back garden. Just like Harry said, it was the middle of the night. Lila was surprised that despite that, the light from the little sliver of moon was enough to hurt her eyes. Just how dark was the inside of the house?
Lila turned back around to face the gazebo and look in the house, but she couldn't see in it. She couldn’t see through any of the back windows either. In fact, the darkness seemed to be seeping from the edges of the house, a dark looking aura surrounding the whole thing.
“Uhm, Harry?”
Harry looked up from where he sat under the tree in the back of the garden, legs splayed out and the contents of Petunia’s purse and Vernons wallet on the grass in between them.
“What’s wrong?” He scrunched his nose and pushed up his broken glasses.
“I think the house is disappearing.”
Harry glanced away from Lila and at the house. By then the darkness had spread, the house halfway consumed. His gaze went back to his pile. “So it is,’ he shrugged.
“Are you not concerned,” Lila asked incredulously, “What do we do? What about the Dursleys, they’re still in there!”
At this point Harry sighed a deep, exhausted sigh. “What about them?”
Lila made her way towards her brother and plopped down next to him in the itchy, perfect grass. “I don’t know. Stealing is one thing, but this…we don’t know what this is! How do we know it’s safe?”
She put her head on his shoulder and Harry put his head on top of her’s. His hand stopped sorting through the pile.
“I… I think it really doesn’t matter, and I find myself not caring. They put us through hell. They’re awful people that deserve awful things. I don’t care if they disappear forever.” The look on Harry’s face was one of absolute conviction.
Lila didn’t respond. And so they both sat there in silence, watching as the house became a dark spot in the night.