Camera Shy (Louis Tomlinson) Book 5

Chapter 55

Louis’ POV

I’ll admit. It was creepy. Sitting there in a rental car in the dark, watching a heartbroken girl crying on the porch. Wasn’t my finest moment. I’d been sat out there for hours waiting for her to come. I’d passed the envelope off to her dad while he was out for ‘errands’. I’d asked him to put it in her room and I guess it took her a while to find it. Eventually though she found it. I almost got out and went over, but Hunter came out and she disappeared inside, ruining my chance. So in the end, I just went back to Aunt May’s. I sat in front of May’s ancient computer, looking out the window, attempting to come up with something to write in the next letter to pass off to her dad the next day, but it was hard to focus. All I could see was her. How she actually showed emotion last night when she thought no one was watching. Granted, as soon as Hunter appeared she tried to put the mask back on. I wasn’t buying it though. She was cracking. Soon the dam would break. I just hoped she’d be willing to let me save her.

The next morning, with a new batch of letters for the day, I head for the store. Lauren’s dad had called me this morning, telling me he’d be there around noon if I needed to deliver any letters. The snow had lightened, but the roads were icy so it had been slow driving to the store. Even so, I managed to get there five minutes early. I loiter around the parking lot, keeping my head down in case someone saw me. By 1, he still hasn’t shown up and I was beginning to debate on whether just to leave. Maybe he had changed his mind about me being with his daughter. Or maybe he got a late start and he was still on his way. But an hour later, I’d pretty much given up. I pull out and begin heading down the road.  I’m about 15 minutes away from Aunt May’s when my car hits an icy patch and begins to skid.

“Shit,” I mutter, feeling a thrill of fear as I jerk the steering wheel to try to stay on the road. I manage to stay on but I pull over to the side to calm my heart. And that’s when I notice it. A couple meters ahead of where I had skid, another car had done so earlier. They hadn’t been so lucky though. The car had skidded off the road and had tumbled down the side of the hill and was currently upside-down in the snow.

“Oh shit,” I say, jumping out of the car and half running, half falling down the hill through the snow to try to get to the car. I stumble to the ground besides the car, peering in to see if anyone was there. The sight that meets my eyes makes my blood run as cold as the snow I was currently laying in. Lauren’s father. Unmoving. Blood dried on the side of his head. I pull my phone out with shaking hands and make a panicked call to 911.

“C’mon, c’mon, c’mon,” I repeat after I’ve hung up, as I try to pull the door open. But it’s jammed. So I’m on my knees, attempting to shovel the snow away with my frozen hands, to try to open the door. Soon the sounds of sirens fill the air and I run back up to the road to wave them down.

“Please, hurry. He’s unconscious, I don’t know if he’s breathing,” I plead to the paramedics as they emerge from the ambulance. “The door’s stuck,” I add hastily. One of the guys nod and they get out a giant pair of metal cutters before heading down the hill. I trail behind them, praying that everything would be ok. When they get him out of the car, they immediately load him onto a stretcher and start calling out codes to the paramedics up on the road. I felt sick. They hurry past me, up the hill as they begin trying to revive him. When I manage to get back up to the road, the paramedics told me only family was allowed in the ambulance so I had to follow behind in the car. When I manage to get to the hospital, I’m practically out of the car before it comes to a stop, sprinting in to the front desk.

“You just brought a man in. From a car crash. Is he ok?” I pant.

“You’ll have to sit down and wait for the doctor to come out,” she says in a bored tone. She probably said those same words hundreds of times a day. I want to scream. To tell her I was Louis Tomlinson and that I when I wanted to know something, I was told. But then I remembered I wasn’t even supposed to be here. I was supposed to be back at home visiting family. I couldn’t afford to drop my name and have the attention that would come down on me from that. Especially not on something as serious as this. So I wait. Impatiently sitting in the waiting room, praying everything would be all right. Maybe twenty minutes later a grim looking doctor emerges from the back. I’m on my feet in seconds, rushing over to him.