Snippet #2576774

Surprisingly, Harper found himself initially immobile after Haru left. His original plan was to bolt for the door as soon as it was clear they were over.

In fact, he didn't realize he was still in the room until about a minute after Haru left. He could have sworn he'd already left the room, rather than just imagining it.

With a strong sniff and one final swipe of his hand, he swallowed thickly and stood up, eyes still red and watery, but tears no longer rolling down in streams.

Wordlessly he walked across the room to the door. When he reached the door jamb, he paused. Took a shaky breath, as if he might say something to Kyle and Tallyho. Perhaps an apology was on the cusp of his tongue. But old habits were difficult to break, and after a few seconds of just standing there looking like he might talk, he ended up leaving the room entirely without so much as a spoken farewell.

He didn't think mingling in the ballroom would help much, but he didn't expect it to suffocate him so much. He'd hardly taken a step towards it when he was suddenly overcome with the noise, the sights...everything. Sensory overload. The last thing he wanted to deal with. He felt like he might faint.

Briefly his eyes glazed over and found familiar faces grouped together. Skylar. Xabi. Dorian. Autumn. Falke. Talking.

On normal accounts he wouldn't have thought twice about approaching them. But this was certainly not a normal account.

Taking a shaky breath, he averted his eyes, looking down at the ground as he stuck to the perimeter of the room, rather than cutting straight through the middle as he was typically want to do. A hand trailed against the ornate wall, as if for support, as he briskly made his way towards the exit, avoiding all eye contact, but forcing a smile and a quick nod should someone greet him.

When he made it outside, he didn't run. Didn't make a break for the ocean like he had originally planned. His stomach was tied in too many knots, legs too weak. Throat dry. Body shaking in general. Instead he leaned against the outer wall, breathing hard, the muffled noise of the festivities inside wafting out and thudding against his ears.

The night air helped cool him down physically, but he still ended up sitting, feet sliding out from him as his back skidded downwards towards the ground. He pulled his knees in and pressed his forehead against his pants, eyes closed, fingers buried in his curly hair.

Invisible. Harper wished he could be invisible.