Darcy // h.s

34: Rescue

  "This is it." Paul said. "Let's go."

  With his command, Louis unbuckled him and I as I tried to dry my eyes. Paul had already gathered himself and hid his gun in his shirt, opening the car door and exposing me to the frigid wintry air. Louis gave me a sympathetic smile and squeezed my hand. Normally I'd give him a look for that, we weren't allowed to do anything that might have people wondering, but I smiled back as I pushed the lump back down my throat.

  This was happening, and it was happening now.

  I quickly cam to my senses and hopped out of the car, pushing my feelings behind me and focusing on what I had to do. The hot tears that I'd just cried dissolved from the gust of wind that came when I stepped out. Louis gave my hand one last squeeze, and then it was back to the normal 'standing two feet away' rule that management set up for us.

  Paul pushed the front doors open with one forceful push. We walked into the building casually, and luckily there was nobody at the front desk. Louis gave us a nod and headed off in another direction,, screwdriver in his pocket and ready to go in the air vents. From there, he'd find the room they were in and text us when we should go in.

  Right as Louis disappeared in the nearest hallway, the woman at the front desk appeared. Our whole plan was molding perfectly, and it gave me a little bit of hope that things were going to work out. I just hoped that things would work out right in time, because Darcy didn't have much time left. A sudden pain stabbed me and the chest just thinking about someone hurting her, but I put a smile on my face as we approached the woman at the front desk.

"Can I get a room, please?" Paul asked. The woman behind the desk appeared to be around forty, and luckily she didn't recognize me or Paul. Her blonde hair appeared to be fairly greasy and her fingernails were caked with dirt, so I kept my distance as Paul retrieved our key.

  "Room 12B, second floor. Let's go." Paul commanded, taking big strides as we went down the hallway where Lou had previously gone. I wondered where he was right now, was he in the air ducts already? I checked my phone, but there was no message. Maybe he hadn't seen anything yet.

  After climbing a flight of stairs, we approached room 12B. Paul unlocked the door and shut it behind us as quickly as it opened. All that could go through my head was Darcy, mental images from when we were little, the time we went to KFC and I remembered how frail she was. The time when we thought we got busted by the cops, when I realized that I loved her as I lied in my tour bunk. We had so much memories from such a short period of time, and it scared me to think that we wouldn't make any more.

  I couldn't help myself. I crumpled down on the bed and cried my eyes out. Never in my life have I suffered through so much hurt and pain, and I just wanted to hold her tight. I honestly didn't care that Paul was probably staring at me right now with a blank expression on his face. I felt like a part of me had been taken, like my life was empty and meaningless, because I wasn't sure if she was alright.

  "Harry, it's alright bud. We're going to get her." Paul said, rubbing my back. I nodded and sniffed rather loudly, snatching a tissue from a box beside the bed and rising to my feet. I couldn't get myself to believe that this was actually happening. If she was dead, what would I do with my life? How would I be able to carry on without her?

  Not a single beat later, Paul's phone buzzed and then mine did. It was like on that creepy girl show that I'd sometimes seen Darcy watch, Pretty Little Liars. Except instead of some dead girl coming after us it was just my cheeky best friend Louis texting.

  I dug through my pocket and scooped up my iPhone, my heart drumming as fast as a hummingbird's wings in my chest. At any moment I could puke.

  From: Louis