Illicit [Harry Styles]

Chapter 7

Diverting my eyes forward again, this was the moment I knew I was totally screwed: I had to walk down a dark alleyway. There was no other way for me to get from A to B other than down this path. My eyes were starting to water as I tried to come up with a plan in my head but the sound of my heart along with the sound of my rushed footsteps was deafening and all these things added together were clouding my thoughts. This was the kind of thing you'd see in a horror movie; young girl walks home alone at night, hooded figure follows her, there just so happens to be no one around to witness whatever was more than likely going to follow.

I regretfully rounded the corner and turned down the alleyway that lead into a quiet back road near the train station. My feet were begging me to take off and sprint the entire way but my brain was holding me back, the adrenaline was rushing through me as I clutched my coat tighter around me and prayed for the distance from here to my house to somehow miraculously shorten, or just for someone to show up and save me. My eyes were fixated on the ground in front of me, and then I started to hear another pair of footsteps approaching, following my own closely.

Before I could even turn my head fully to check out the situation the figure was right there behind me, grabbing at the back of my arms and yanking me backwards by my elbows. The sudden but anticipated contact made me stiffen up and my body went rigid as he tried to drag me towards him, my gut reaction was to scream as loud as my lungs would allow me to, so without even thinking I cried out in a blood-curdling shriek just in time before a gloved hand shot up and covered my mouth. My captor grunted, probably in annoyance, and my small body was slammed into the tatty fence that ran along one side. I tried to cry out again when my forehead made contact with the splintered surface but the sound was muffled by the leather glove holding my mouth shut.

Suddenly a second person shot round into the alleyway, upon noticing me being held against the fence they shouted, "Hey!" and didn't hesitate to begin sprinting towards us. My aching head spun and I became weak and terrified by the thought of another person joining in with whatever was going to happen next, but the new figure didn't slow down as he approached at lightening speed, instead he lunged forward and threw his fist at the man holding me and the brutal cracking of bone made me cringe and I screwed my eyes shut. The fierce grip around my arms loosened as another punch came flying at him, and as the fist connected with his face again he pushed me forward and I fell to my knees as he stumbled backwards, but I watched timidly out of the corner of my eye as he quickly regained balance as the second man went after him for the third time. Before he could take another swing the hooded figure was cowardly darting off down the alley leaving me crumpled in a heap on the tarmac, and as the footsteps faded away the space was left deadly silent apart from the din of strained breathing behind me.

"H-hey are you alright?" I felt a much softer grip as the person who had just essentially saved my life gently pulled me up off the floor. Involuntarily, I began to whimper and sniffle and the tone to the person's voice that soon followed was uneasy when they said, "Hey, hey. Uhh... it's okay. You're alright."

The man turned me around to face him slowly, ducking his head slightly to peer down at my face and my eyes drifted down to his feet with humiliation. "Did he h- ... you have to be kidding me. Jessica?"

At the mention of my name my eyes shot back up with shock and it took me a moment to process who was standing in front of me.

"H-Harry?"

I hadn't recognised him for the split seconds I'd actually managed to get a glimpse of him, I didn't even recognise his gruff voice - it all happened so fast and my mind was swimming with fear so much so that trying to think back to the train of events was impossible and nothing was making sense. I guess the immense sensation of so many feelings all at once got the better of me because I started to cry and I just couldn't stop, leaving Harry standing anxiously watching me. He fidgeted and his mouth opened and closed multiple times, hands twitching as if he was trying to think of what to say or do but he remained frozen and looking so uncomfortable like he'd never seen anyone cry before. I just stared at him with tears cascading down my cheeks as if I was silently pleading for him to do something.