Torpid Void

Louis
Harper's little noise brought him back to reality. Louis put his hand on the floor and pushed off it, coming to his feet. He paused, taking a deep breath (he'd done it countless times already that day, and he'd continue to do it most likely) to stabilize his emotions and nerves. "I'm going to get a glass of water. I can grab you a small snack or water or something if you want." Oh, right, she just said she didn't need anything. 

Harper
Harper closed her eyes, exhaling slowly. "I guess I'll have some water."

Louis
"Okay. I'll be right back." Louis left her room and went to the kitchen. Sure enough, it had a faucet. He found two glasses and filled them with clear water. From one he took a drink, then filled it again before turning and heading back to Harper. He offered the glass he hadn't drank out of to her.

Harper
Harper sat up, almost falling back down from the vertigo that set in, but she managed to get into a sitting position without toppling of the bed. She took the water with a mutter of "thanks," taking a sip from it.

Louis
"No problem." Louis sat down on the floor again. He never should have allowed the memories to start playing. He'd held them at bay for a while now. It had been years since he'd last let his guard down enough to vividly recall that time of his life, to think about her. Louis stared at the wall once more, trying to form some other thought to distract himself. "Do you play games with your family?" 

Harper
Harper took another sip of the water, this time almost dropping the cup. Once she had balanced it in her hand, she stared at it blankly. "Not really. I mean, apart from like... checkers. Shane and I normally just imagined there was some monster to fight off and would run around the back yard screaming. My dad works a lot though so he's never around much to play anything as a family."

Louis
"Oh. Do you like checkers?" 

Harper
"Uh, sort of. It gets boring sometimes, but I normally like it." Harper looked up from the cup and tried to focus on something else.

Louis
He recognized the look on Harper's face. It was one he had most likely bore not long before. "What's wrong?" 

Harper
"Nothing...?" Harper didn't look over at Louis, or even make much notice to him, but continued to stare at the wall thoughtfully.

Louis
"That didn't sound very confident." 

Harper
"Surprise... I though I always sounded confident."

Louis
"No, not really. You're relatively good at hiding things, especially for your age, but not great at it. You'll get better as you get older, probably." Louis shrugged. "Are you planning on telling me what's wrong?" 

Harper
Harper squinted her eyes, although she couldn't tell if it was from frustration or just trying to reduce the pain in her head. "I'm freaking out because I'm pretty sure at this point my mom has burned down all of New York?"

Louis
"That would be unfortunate. I live there." Louis took a sip of his water before continuing. "Yeah, she's probably worried." Hey, Princess, you can read my mind, right? Is it possible to send a message back to reality? "But don't worry too much about that right now, okay? Just focus on getting better."