The Second || 𝘩.𝘴.

『16』| 𝚃𝙷𝙴 𝚁𝙴𝙻𝙴𝙽𝚃𝙻𝙴𝚂𝚂 𝙷𝙴𝙰𝚁𝚃

I sobbed silently by the end of the letter, a sad smile quivering upon my lips. I exhaled unsteadily after a constricting inhale, flipping to the next letter.

February 14th, 2022

Dixie Jane,

It's a new day. The day of lovers, I always called this one in particular. Vera and Max having some hardcore sex in the platform above the hideout has been this new counting game the rest of us have gotten to know the past twenty-four hours, and it's been about eleven now. Ace called ten, but I guess he missed it. The lucky eleven was what the two lovers called it. Eleven rounds, could you believe that? I wish you were here to feel it with us, just this feeling of being a world away from the world we were yet to venture into after the heist, having nothing to do besides aimless waiting and well a game I just knew we were soon to grow tired of. Meanwhile, we've been trying to find a signal to this old  As we all knew, that world would be nothing like the bank, perhaps with a hint of doubt that it couldn't be anything of prediction's reach. We've been trying to get this old CB radio we found up and running, and the plan's to reach Zayn. Of course, he couldn't stay with us for long, we couldn't risk any loose ends from him being exposed if the cops were to ever be on his case, or if people around the reef where he worked were to wonder where he was and began to talk the talk. Word got around indefinitely, and if anyone saw me and knew my name it just wouldn't be safe. Not yet is what I suspected. It was a lot of guessing then second-guessing, then searching for another solution, but Times Square before the breach had to be our very anchor. I knew that for certain. It just had to be. Perhaps we were the paranoid bunch in this abandoned shed wondering what the next move would be, but it was our lives at stake. And perhaps being surrounded by the authorities took its toll. Anyhow, I'm thinking about what you'd do; I think waiting out would've been something you would've wanted to do. The lima beans are nauseating. I hope you're safe.

- Harry S.

My cheeks were rosy and felt quite warm, as I pressed my palm into my green knit sweater. Harry revealing things to me always enamored me in a way so effervescent to my very essence. As he wasn't one to be in the heart of revealing anything when I first met him, it has me feeling quite deeply that he's grown close to me and that he was mine. He was mine.

February 15th, 2022

Dixie Ryder, baby,

I miss you. I had a nightmare, this nightmarish fear that ate me alive that you caved into the detective and his intimidations, that he convinced you to uncover our very story. I know I've never said this myself, but I'm scared. I trust my fears diminish when it's with you. I woke up angry, though the emotions engulfed me, that you felt like this ghost I could not reach. I just fucking miss you, I miss the solace in your arms wrapped around me, and I miss that aroma of candy melon in your hair. I want to come home, and it's you that's home. Please be safe. Please stay strong. For me. For us. Dixie. Baby.

- Harry Styles

Before I knew it, the familiar adrenaline overcame my veins, as I felt this whirlwind of a rush. It was much clearer to me now. Everything. The love I had for him never died, perhaps this love was just lost in motion, lost in translation as we were torn apart, as I bled onto the ground. Even as they sailed away. I hurry to grab all of my things, tying my hair up into a messy ponytail just as swiftly. Running as fast as the speed of light it felt like, I end up running into people clumsily. Without a word or even an apology with intent, after opening the sliding door into the next corridor, and then running into the next, I'm at the train's very cockpit. I pounded on the door with both my hands, which soon balled into fists with such insistence. When there was no response, I pound on the door relentlessly once moreover.

My fists froze in place when the door slid open, a middle-aged woman in her thirties looked at me with an eyebrow raised. She was inconvenienced.

My hands drop to my sides. "Stop the train please," I said with just a spark of madness.

"Excuse me?" She stared at me, utterly appalled.

"Stop the train," I repeated with more force quite bluntly.

"We're reaching the tunnel soon. And if anything, I can't just take your word for it. I can't stop the train for a single passenger, people are trying to get to the next city ma'am. So please take your seat."

"I..." The hope slightly faded from my empowered gaze, before I realized just the solution. "How about a thousand dollars? To get this train to stop. Just for a moment. Please. I have to get to my boyfriend."

She narrowed her eyes in disbelief. "What?"

"Yeah." I chuckled with a hint of cynicism.

I reach into my duffel bag, sighing in frustration as the rummaging felt endless. Finally, I grasped a wad of cash bound together by a rubber band as I placed it in the train conductor's hand.

"David, stop the train. Emergency stop for a quick wheel inspection on car three." She said as she counted the hundreds in her grasp.

It wasn't long until the train gradually came to a stop, people in the train scattering words of contemplative gossip.

"Thanks, kid." She said lowly, just so I could hear.

I nodded once, raising an eyebrow insistently at her, while I waited by the double doors.

The doors slid open seamlessly. I quickly trampled down the stairs and onto the gravel rocks with a stumble. I was faced with a solemn landscape of prairie greenery, as I blocked the sun from getting into my eyes.

Going through my pink duffel once more, I search for the tracker device that Max got me. Without a single hesitation, I tap at the sensor dead center, sending through a signal that would most likely reach the mystery machine.

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