All Of The Stars - Ed Sheeran 

HARRY

Her blonde hair gets caught in the wind. It blows against her beautiful, freckled face. Her blue eyes glistening as we lay across the green grass. Her eyes dance with the innocence of our youth and the late summer nights. I pick another daisy and add it to the growing collection of flowers in her hair.

"Do I look pretty?" She asks me. Childish laughter emitting from her thin pink painted lips.

"Of course," I answer her. She smiles up at me. Her small hands wrapping around my neck, pulling me closer to her lips. The moment her soft lips touch mine, I am brought to a state of complete euphoria.

"I love you, Haz." She whispers against my lips.

"I love you too, baby." Her smile widens and grows into a sheepish grin. I am pulled down forcefully and unexpectedly, causing me to lose balance and fall on top of her.

"Umph," her voice muffled by my body. "Get off of me you big lug," she manages to say.

I start to laugh, rolling over and laying flat against the grass. I pull her from the ground and bring her close to me. Her body moulding against my own. This was everything that I needed. A dream I'd always dream about; the distant memory of a long lost love.

"Oh Haz," she whispers against my t-shirt. "Don't ever leave me."

"As long as you don't leave me."

"I won't." She whispers against my chest. Her eyes hidden behind her lashes, her eyes not meeting mine. Her rose scented perfume swept over me. The world around us becoming increasingly silent, the only thing being heard is her steady heartbeat playing in tune with my own. 

My body jumps awake, a cold sweat sticking to my skin. An ice cold breeze hits my cheek causing my body to jerk in a shiver. "What the fuck," I exhale a long breath. It had been a year since I've last dreamt about her; years since I've dreamt about that night. My heart continues to beat erratically inside my chest. Groaning, I slip out of bed. A cold glass of water seemed like the best thing for my dry, scratchy throat. 

I take a glance at the oven clock. It was only three in the morning, still too early to wake up. The water feels refreshing as it slips down my throat. The liquid cooling down the anxiety that has seemingly shaken me up. God, I thought that I had moved passed this. The nightmares, the cold shakes. The memories. All of this had been in the past. Ever since I moved out of Manchester, the meeting ground of my demons, all of it's hauntings had ceased. Yet here I am, awake at three in god-damn morning in desperate need of a dry shirt and an Advil. 

Fuck. 

With another deep breath, I walk back into my small bedroom. I glance over at the mattress that sat beside the wall, the blankets a crumbled mess. My desire to lay back down and go to sleep was low. I feared to close my eyes and fall back into another nightmare. Another memory of her and the last time I saw her. "Shit," I groan. My hands running threw my curls. 

Morning time comes much to quickly. I had managed to fall back to sleep only an hour ago. The annoying buzzing sound of my alarm clock grows increasingly more irritating the longer I let it ring. With another loud slur of profane words, I roll out of bed and get dress for work. This was going to be a fucking long day. 

- 

If my night hadn't been shitty, my day had grown increasingly more shitty. 

"Really, Harry, Brad and I are so thankful that you can take little Bosco here. He won't be much of a pain. As long as you take him for a walk in the morning and another at night and have food laid out for him, you won't even realize he's around." 

I stare at my boss. Her wide green eyes shining in the afternoon light. Her husband standing behind, with their suitcases in hand and a dog leash in the other. "There'll be a bonus on that next pay cheque of yours kid. Remember that." Brad nudges my arm with his, a knowing smirk on his face. The bastard. If he wasn't my boss, I'd say something to wipe that arrogant smirk off his lips. 

"Yeah," is all I say before taking Bosco's leash from Brad and the dog's fucking duffle bag from Erin. "Have a good trip." 

"We will, dear." Erin smiles at me, her facial features softening as she looks at her massive german shepherd puppy. 

"And you're sure he's a puppy? He's fucking massive." Bosco looks up at me with his brown eyes and fucking whip of a tail wagging. 

Erin laughs, "We promise. He's only eight months." 

Fuck, this was going to be the absolute worst next five days. I fucking hope Izzy likes dogs, because she's going to be forced to watch this dog with me. I don't even care what she says. She has no fucking choice. 

"Alright kid. There's a bunch of contact information on the sheet inside the bag. If anything happens, give my cell a call. Alright?" 

"Yeah." I nod my head once before saying goodbye. Bosco pulls the leash causing me to almost fall flat on my ass. "Fuck you dipshit. Stop pulling the damn leash." 

He looks up at me, his ears perked up and tail fucking wagging with his tongue out like he's fucking Gene Simmons. I hate dogs. I was a fucking cat person. Couldn't they have a damn cat? God, why the hell did I agree to doing this? 

I walk Bosco over to my shit car and open up the backseat. He jumps in, sitting like a damn human. I pull out his treat bag from his duffle bag (who the hell has a duffle bag for a dog?), and give him a treat. He practically bites my hand off in excitement but chews his treat in contentment. "Stay. Got it?" His tail continues to hit the back seat with his tongue continuing to hang out of his mouth, his teeth showing. It looked like he was smiling and it was fucking creepy as hell. "Alright," I nod to myself. 

I shut the back door and open up the drivers door. Buckling myself in, I glance at my rearview mirror. Bosco is fucking smiling at me from the backseat. Creepy dog. Shaking my head a few times, I start the car and begin the drive back to my flat. 

- 

"A puppy?" Isabella screams into the phone. "Oh my gosh! Oh my gosh! I love puppies." She was practically oozing with excitement. Leave it to me to pick a fucking dog lover to have as a girlfriend. I thought girls liked cats. 

"Yeah," I mutter. Bosco is laying across the couch. His whole damn body taking up the whole couch. I was forced to sit on the uncomfortable love-seat as he lays across the only comfortable couch in this damn flat ... to chew a bone. A bone! 

"Damn it, Iz. Why did I say yes to babysit a fucking dog." 

She giggles on the other line, earning a small smile to spread across my lips. "Because you're a boy scout." 

"That would only work if I was actually a scout," I chuckle.

"Then I have no idea," she laughs back. 

"Fuck. He keeps laying in front of me for belly rubs like he's a french girl and I'm fucking Jack. It's frustrating." 

Isabella bursts into a fit of giggles. The sound earning a string of chuckles from myself. "Oh god, now I have the unfortunate image of a naked Kate Winslet with a dog face. It's horrifying." 

"She'd still be hot with a dog face." 

Izzy gasps, "Wait! Hold on a second here. I can't like Leonardo but you can like Kate? What the hell is that, Harry." 

"I never said you couldn't like DiCaprio. I was just pointing out that you would be wasting your time. At least Winslet has won an oscar." 

"Are you really going to bring this up again?"

"Yep." I bite down on my lip to stop the laugh that wants to escape my lips. I could imagine her brown eyes rolling at my comment. Fuck, was it pathetic that I missed her? 

"Come over?" I ask her, hoping that I didn't sound like a pathetic-love-sick teenage girl like I felt. 

She lets out a sigh, "I can't." Disappointment makes its way into the crevices of my heart. 

"Oh." 

"I'm sorry, H. I'm actually working on a business plan."

My ears perk up. I had forgotten about her plans to start her own publishing company. "How's that going?" 

A loud groan comes from the other line of the phone. "God, this is harder than I expected. I've been researching a bunch of different plan samples all afternoon. Then, I've been researching how much it'd cost to jumpstart it as well as what some local publishing company structures look like. This is going to be a lot harder than I thought. I don't know if I want to do this anymore." 

"Don't give up baby," I hear her sigh once again. "It's going to be hard but the payoff will be worth it in the end when you're publishing thousands of fucking novels. You've got this baby. It'll be fine."

"I don't know," she sounds defeated. I start to pull my shoes on, ready to rush over there and pull her into my arms and whisper sweet nothings of encouragement into her ear. That is until I hear loud barking from the living room. Shit. The dog. I let out a frustrated groan. 

"Harry? Are you alright?" She asks, her voice laced with worry. 

"Yeah. Yeah, it's fine." I slip off my shoes and walk towards the kitchen counter to retrieve the dog leash. "It's the dog. I have to go walk him. I'll talk to you later, yeah?" 

"Yes."

"Alright," I pause. "Don't stress, love. It'll be fine in the long run." I hear the exhale of a long breath. 

"I know," she pauses, taking in another long breath and exhaling it once more. "I know. I'm sorry, I'm just freaking out." She begins to chuckle softly. 

"What's so funny?" I'm distracted as I ask her. Bosco begins to lick my hand, his drool slobbering all over my leather jacket's sleeve. 

"I was thinking how funny this whole thing is," she begins. "I knew that this was going to be scary. That's why it's on my list of fears. But now that I'm actually doing it and getting scared, I'm ready to quit." 

"Don't quit." 

"I won't." She whispers. 

"Take a break," I suggest. "Have a bath or something. Don't you like baths?" 

She laughs on the other line. It's not loud but tender. "Yeah, I like baths." 

"Have one babe. Then go to sleep and tomorrow we can take this dumb dog for a walk to the park or something. After work. Sound good?" 

"Yes," she hums, "that sounds great." 

I pull Bosco off the couch. He follows me towards the door. I open it up, locking it behind me. "Alright, baby. I'm going to go and walk this little fucker." 

"Be nice!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'll be nice," I glance at Bosco. His tail wagging in excitement as we make our way around the neighborhood.  "Go rest, alright?" 

"Alright." 

"Night babe." 

"Night, H." 

- 

Blue eyes, that were once full of life are now lifeless. They stare blankly at me. Her blonde hair is a matted mess across her forehead. "No," I breathe out. My heart breaking at the sight. 

"No!" I yell this time. My hands trembling at my sides. "No! Fuck! No, no, no!" 

Tears begin to sting my eyes. I bite down on my lip to hold in the strangle cry that fights to be heard. I hit the bed where she lays lifeless. "Fuck! Wake up, please baby. Wake up!" I hold her lifeless hand in my own. 

"Harry," a hand takes a hold of my shaking shoulder. "Son." I cry harder against the bed. My body shaking as the tears tumble out of me. 

"Fuck! Baby, why? Why? Damn it. It wasn't supposed to be this way. You weren't supposed to end up this way." 

"Harry, please son." I look up at her father. His eyes too red and glistening from his own tears. 

"No," I growl. "Why didn't you stop her? Why did you let this fucking happen to her. You're her father, god damn it. You're supposed to fucking protect her." I push his hand away. He takes a step forward. He takes hold of my arms, pulling me close towards his chest.

I don't hold it in anymore. I scream. I fucking weep in his chest. His own tears mixing with my own, as we cry for her. For her lost soul that left this earth too soon. 

I jump out of bed. My body a sweaty mess in the sheets. I look at my clock: 2:37 AM. This was the second night in a row that I have been haunted with memories of that night. The night I lost her. The one true love that I have ever experienced. The one person who has ever made me feel whole.

Until you met Isabella, my subconscious reminds me. He was right, however. Isabella was beginning to make me feel again. Something that I haven't been able to do since she died. Since she left me after making the promise to never let me go. 

I walk to my bathroom. My eyes, that were once a vibrant green, are now rimmed in red. Dark circles line my eyes, a contrast of the pale skin of my cheeks. I splash cold water against my face. With a deep breath, I shut the bathroom light and walk back to my bed. Bosco lays on a duvet, his body sprawled against the closet door. His breathing quick as his snores resound throughout the cramped bedroom. 

It takes a while to fall back to sleep. My mind still racing with images of my nightmare. I shut my eyes. The image of her blonde hair, crowned with flowers, and her bright blue eyes plays behind my closed lids. It is soon replaced by a picture of bright brown eyes and curly brown hair. 

The fear that I am constantly fighting, the fear of losing Isabella, resurfaces. I shake the thoughts away but they stay grounded. The demons that haunt me continue to mock: If she loved you, then why'd she leave you? 

Isabella is going to leave you too, they add. 

I run my hands through my hair, a low growl reverberating from my lungs. I ignore their taunts, my mind slowly shutting off and dreamless sleep finally encompassing me.