Always

I was sitting in an empty room staring at the wall. It looked almost like a cell, but the lighting was too dim to tell. I could hear someone talking. I was straining to hear better, my eyes finally adjusted to the dark space. Ron was lying next to me. His hair was disheveled, it looked like it was caked with dried blood. I noticed he had cuts going down his arms. I tried to reach out to him, but I couldn’t reach him. I was chained to my side of the cell.

“Ronald, Ronald, answer me. Please!” I begged, but he didn’t answer. He lay there lifeless. I couldn’t even tell if he was breathing from where I was chained.

“Ronald, please”, I cried, tears streaming down my face. I tried to reach out to him, as far as my chains would allow. I heard sounds coming from the hall, so I pulled even harder against the chains. if I could just reach him, I could shield him from whatever was coming our way. A dark, hooded figure floated into the room. The face was black, it looked like it was decaying. Chunks of skin either missing or peeling off. The cloak was thin, like a sheet and shredded, covered in blood and dirt. I tried to scream, but no sound came out. The figure moved over to Ron and reached an arm out for him. Finally, I could make a sound. I yelled at the figure to stop.

“STOP! PLEASE TAKE ME INSTEAD. DON’T KILL HIM PLEASE!” I begged. The figure paused and looked at me. The last thing I saw was the figure open its mouth wide, its mouth was covered with sharp pointy teeth and blood. It floated towards me. I let out a scream.

“Katherine, Kat! It’s me, please wake up”. I felt Ron’s hands on my arms. I jolted up, pulling him into my arms, gasping for air. I pulled back to look him over.

“Ron? You’re, okay?” I cried out, sobs taking over my shaking body.

“Shh, it’s okay Kat. It was just a dream. I’m okay. Let me go get you some water”. He started to pull away, but I gripped on to him tighter.

“No. Please. Don’t leave me”, I whimpered. He pulled me in closer to him and held me, stroking my back and my hair. I pulled away slightly to look up at him. “Can we go home? To our bed?” I asked quietly. He nodded and kissed the top of my hair. Silently he packed up our bags and held out his hand for me. Holding my hand, we quietly headed down the stairs. He grabbed a piece of note paper and a pen from the kitchen and left a note for Mum so she wouldn’t worry when she woke up.

“Mum,

Kat got sick and wanted to go home. We'll call you later.

Love you,

Ron”

“Ready?” he asked me gently. I nodded. He led me to the floo, his hand on my lower back the whole time. I noticed he kept looking at me out the corner of his eyes. He led me to my room and pulled back the covers on my bed. “I will be right back; I am grabbing some water and something to help you sleep”. He kissed the top of my head and walked out. He returned moments later with a small glass of water and a potion bottle. “Here love. This should help”. He started to back away.

“Don’t leave me. Please”, I cried out again, tears slipping down my face as I gripped his hand. He moved to the other side of the bed and slipped in under the covers with me. He pulled me to his chest. He wrapped a warm arm around me, rubbing circles on my arm. He was running his fingers through my hair with his other hand.

“Do you want to talk about it?” he asked. I shook my head, a sob forming in my throat at the thought of his lifeless body.

“It was going to kill you. I couldn’t let you die”, I let the sobs take over me again. Ron held me tighter. I leaned up and kissed his lips fiercely. I needed to feel him. Needed to know he was real, and there. I pulled away. “Sorry”, I murmured, burying my face in his chest. He kissed the top of my head, and my eyes struggled to stay open. I gripped on to his shirt for dear life. He was saying something to me, but I couldn’t hear him as sleep overtook me. Thankfully a dreamless sleep.

I woke to loud snores coming from Ron’s mouth. His shirt was still tightly gripped in my hand. My eyes felt crusty with dried tears, and my head was pounding. There was no question that I loved Ron. He was my best friend. That dream truly terrified me. It felt so real. I thought I really lost him. I tried to wiggle out from Ron, but he had a tight hold on me.

“Ron. Ronald, you can let me go”, I said loudly so he would wake up. He didn’t open his eyes; he only tightened his grip around me.

“Mm. It’s early. Go back to sleep”, he said. His voice was raspy with sleep. He sounded kind of sexy. He sounded sexy? Oh lords, I’m losing it.

“Ron please? I’ve got to pee”, I begged. He removed his arm from me letting me go. I rushed to the bathroom. After using the bathroom, I looked at myself in the mirror. I looked awful. My face was red and blotchy from crying. I walked into the kitchen and grabbed my phone. I wanted to call Mum and let her know I was okay.

“Hello, Molly?” I said as she picked up the phone. “I just wanted to let you know we made it home okay… No, I’m good, just an upset stomach… Yes, Ron is taking care of me… we’ll call you soon… love you too… okay bye”. I finished the call and placed my phone back on the counter. Slowly I made my way back to my room, Ron still asleep in my bed. I crawled back in next to him. He opened his arms for me.

“Thank you for taking care of me”, I said into his chest.

“Al…ways”, he replied, still half asleep. I closed my eyes and let the sounds of his breathing lull me back to sleep.