Harry

Anxiously, he looked around the room. Class had started hours ago and Jane still hadn't shown up. The other kids were whispering about her and it was making him angry.

He'd already told two other kids that it was mean to talk about her like that when they didn't know her, but it didn't make a difference and they continued talking like he hadn't said anything at all.

Mrs. Hillary only told them to stop talking a few times, and everyone knew it wasn't because they were talking about Jane.

By the time recess, came around, Harry felt sad instead of angry. Jane hardly ever missed school and he was lonely without her. She was his only friend and vice versa and he had never felt lonely with her, even if she was his only friend.

Today he felt it though and he didn't like it at all.

Half of their recess had passed before two of his former friends made their way over to where he sat picking blades of grass and ripping them to pieces.

Harry ignored them and focused on the green blades between his fingers.

"Hey, Harry."

Harry wasn't one to ignore people when they were speaking to him and he looked up with sad eyes, "What?"

Andrew and Oliver stood above him with mocking smiles, "Where's your girlfriend? Jenny said she saw them take her to the loony bin!"

Harry's fists clenched around several blades of grass and his jaw clenched as he looked at the two boys "Stop it."

Oliver didn't listen and prodded him further, "Your girlfriend's a whacko!"

Tears were threatening to spill over, "Stop it."

The two boys noticed the gleam in his eyes and it only encouraged their teasing. Andrew spoke up instead of letting Oliver continue his lead, "Jane and Harry sitting in-"

Harry was fed up with their teasing. Jane was different but that didn't make her bad and they didn't have any right to talk about her when she wasn't there.

The two boys didn't see it coming. He pushed them both to the ground and punched at Oliver with all the strength that he had. Oliver cried and held his hands up to absorb the blows and Andrew ran off to go get their teacher.

"I said stop it!"

Harry wasn't helping his case at all, but he didn't care because he was defending Jane. Jane and her pretty dark eyes and cheeks dotted with freckles.

By the time the teachers had pulled him away, there were tears streaming down his face and his nose was runny.

They waited to ask him what happened until they had already asked the other two boys, who, of course, said that they'd just come over to say hello and he'd attacked them.

Harry was calm as he wiped his eyes and told the truth, "They were making fun of Jane. I asked them to stop three times. They didn't stop when I asked nicely, so I hit them."

Mrs. Hillary told him that it was no excuse and he wasn't allowed to come back to school for three whole days. After that, no one messed with him anymore because he scared them. Harry didn't mind it though, because Jane was gone and they were mean anyway.

A few years passed by before his sister was also taken away like Jane, except this time he saw it and he hated every second of it. Soon after his sister was taken away, he and his parents moved to another town to avoid the gossip and the rumors.

Harry was happy because he could actually have friends in this new town, but he was also sad because he had lost his best friend and his sister, one after the other, and now he felt utterly alone.

                                                                                                                                                             . . .

Harry walked in with a smile and a book in his hand. Jane was still different, but she seemed to be better around him and Amelia had told him that she wasn't as scary at night anymore. Sure, visiting the institution while working was a little tiring, but he wasn't willing to give up time with his sister and he certainly wasn't going to stop loving Jane.

Something was different today and Harry could tell right away. Jane's eyes weren't frantically scanning the room and the guard that was nice to her looked sad. He looked to Jane and saw that her eyes were focused on her hands that rested atop the table.

She didn't look up, even as he sat down in front of her. Harry smiled softly despite the sad mood he knew Jane was in, "Hi, Jane."

Jane glanced up at him briefly before diverting her eyes to search around the room frantically. She didn't answer him like she usually did, but that was okay because he knew it was difficult to be where she was and that some days were worse than others.

He didn't see any new marks on her skin and he frowned, "Jane, what's wrong?"

She was silent and refused to look at him, her eyes everywhere but on him.

Harry's frown deepened, "Jane."

He watched her lower lip tremble as her eyes met his, "I don't want to see you anymore."

Jane's eyes were glossy and she looked away the moment she'd spoken the last syllable. Harry felt something sink in his chest and fill him with an astonishingly horrible feeling that he couldn't quite put to words. He felt like he did on the day that she stopped coming to school and on the day that his sister was taken away.

"W-what?"

It was hard to force the words out because he was overwhelmed with so many feelings at once. He was shocked that she'd want that only a short few weeks after she told him that she felt the same, he was upset because he didn't want to stop seeing her, and he was confused because of how sudden it was.

Jane kept her eyes away and didn't say a word. He could tell that there were a million things tearing at her mind, and he wanted to help, but he needed answers first or he wouldn't be alright.

"Jane...what did I do?"

Again, she kept her eyes away from him, "You...you shouldn't...you shouldn't love me."

Harry's eyebrows pulled together in confusion, "What do you mean I shouldn't love you? Why not?"

Jane finally met his eyes for the second time. She still found their color striking, but she didn't like the sadness that welled there and seeped slowly from the edges. It had to be this way though, he wouldn't want to love her after they tried something else to fix her.

The voices were teetering at the edge of her thoughts, telling her that it was good to finally get rid of him because he was getting closer to hurting her. They hated him more than anyone else because he pushed them away a little more every time that he visited.

Jane answered him with the same thing that he'd told her when they were younger, "I'm different."

Harry wouldn't accept that as an answer, "So what Jane? There's nothing wrong with that."

Jane focused her eyes on her hands, "It's bad. I'm...bad for you. Please...just go."

She was forcing the words out because, in her head, the voices were shouting things that she wouldn't mean. Horrible things that would do even worse things to him than they did to her.

Despite telling her that he wouldn't touch her unless she said it was okay, Harry reached his hand out and laid it on top of hers, "I know that you're different, please know that I do, but I'm not out to hurt you. I love you, Jane. You're not bad for me at all, quite the opposite actually, and I promised you that I would stay. I couldn't keep that promise when you left, but I have no intention to break it now."

Jane let the voices take hold of her mind and yanked her hand away. She stood up and her hand trembled as she tapped one of the guards on the shoulder.

The guard turned around and gave her a questioning look. It wasn't normal for her to reach out and touch anybody, let alone a guard.

"Yes?"

Both of Jane's hands shook at her sides as she forced the words out, "I'd...I'd like to go back to my room."

Harry stood up quickly and Damien, the guard that had been standing to his right took him by the arm and stopped him in seconds, "I wouldn't do that."

Jane didn't look back at him once; she didn't want to because it was better this way. They were going to try to fix her and she would be different again and, from what she'd seen, it still wasn't a good type of different.

Harry fought against the guard that held him, "Jane! Please! Don't do this!"

She was nearly out the door now and the way that his voice broke as he pleaded with her to stay did something awful to her chest. Jane didn't turn around.

Harry called her name one last time before going slack in the guard's arms because he knew that there was no point. Jane didn't want to see him anymore and they weren't going to let him visit her again.

"I'm sorry that I couldn't love you enough."