Caught | 1D AU

4.

(Dedicated to Dreamer319 for being the first person to add this story to a reading list. thankyouthankyouthankyou)

We were still driving when the sun started coming up, lighting the sky into a deep blue. My head hurt, pounded, and everything looked too bright. My nose felt numb. I was leaning against the window, feeling every bump of the road. Cornfields went on for miles, I sat up and wiped my mouth when I realized I had drool all down my chin. My hand came away with crackling dried blood. The man glanced over at me when he noticed I was awake. He looked tired himself with dark circles under his eyes, but he had a gas station coffee in his hand. I could see the steam rising from it as he blew into the hole on the lid before he took a sip. There was something familiar about his face, but I couldn't quite my finger on it.

"How are you feeling?" he asked. I stared at him without answering. "I think you have a concussion," he said after a moment.

"I need to use a bathroom," I said.

He took a moment, "Can you hold it?"

"I need to go now," I said.

"Are you sure?"

"I need to go now."

He looked over at me, and I could see his entire face now, no shadows, nothing. His green eyes were calculating before he said, "I'm going to pull the car over, and you can go on the side of the road." He waited for me to say something, but I didn't. "Please don't run," he said, "I don't want you to get hurt like last night. I'm sorry about that by the way, I could have handled it better, but I need you to trust me. I'm not going to hurt you if you trust me."

I hesitated, and then nodded as we hit another bump in the road and my bladder threatened to break. He slowed the car to a stop, and I slowly put my hand on the handle, opening the door, and I put my foot on the gravel, and I was outside the door, and he wasn't pulling me back in yet. I walked a couple feet away, stumbling in stiletto heels, and looked around. All the way to the horizon was cornfields and a straight road. The man got out of his side of the car and looked over the roof at me.

I squatted down, holding onto the back tire for balance, and did my business as best I could, trying to hold my underwear taught around my ankles so I wouldn't get it wet. If I had anything sharp I could cut his tire, and then he'd have to call someone to change it, and then I'd be able to get away from him. But I didn't have anything sharp, so when I was done I stood up, feeling gross as I pulled my underwear on without wiping.

"All set?" he asked, hitting the top of the car with his hand as he made to get back in the car. I didn't move. He stood back up and crossed his arms over the roof of the car. "There's no use in running," he said.

"I realize that," I said.

"So what are you doing?" he asked.

"I don't understand what's going on," I said.

He pierced his lips and looked over his shoulder then back at me. "I'm kidnapping you."

"Why?" I asked. The sun was getting higher in the sky, turning the deep blue's lighter, making the greens and yellows of the tall cornstalks pop.

"Because I'm in love with you, Finley." He sounded so serious, there was no sign of joking in his voice.

"Who the f.uck are you?" I asked. I put my arm up over my head to hold it down and make it stop spinning. He took a step to walk around the car, but I matched it so that we were still the same distance apart.

"Finley..."

"How do you know my name?" I asked.

"We've met before," he said. "A couple years ago. Me and Zayn were in the same band. The band broke up right after you met... I guess you never bothered to remember me." That made sense. Probably why he looked familiar. I shrugged. He continued, "My name's Harry, by the way."

"Why did you kidnap me?" I asked.

He looked down, "Because you never looked twice at me."

"That doesn't mean you can just kidnap me," I said.

"Look, I know this is a crazy way to go about it, but I saw how sad you were, and how terrible Zayn has been to you, and you can't see how mean he is to you, so when he broke up with you, I knew I had to do something. I had to get you out of there so you could get some perspective. I can make you happy, Finley, just give me the chance, just look at this as an all-expenses paid impromptu vacation."

"Were you stalking me?" I asked.

He shook his head, "I've just been keeping an eye on you... Just to make sure you stayed safe. There's a lot of creeps out there, and you worked late hours and I just needed to make sure you were safe." I took one step away from the car. "Finley, please. You're not going to be able to outrun me."

I darted backward, turning, and running into the cornfield, digging my high heels into the sandy dirt, twisting my ankles in weird ways as I shoved my way through the walls of corn. The stalks were above my head. They whipped my shoulders and bent whichever way I pushed them. I had a head start so it should be fine. If I can get far enough, I pushed on, whacking the cornstalks out of the way, and then I turned to run sideways down the small alleys. I pushed through another wall, and continued running the alley, and then further up I pushed through another one hoping to lose any trail. I stopped and tried to listen. I couldn't hear anything except for the whispers of corn on the wind, crickets chirping, the sun beaming down, and my own loud breathing that I couldn't control.

NOTE—

Have you ever read Death is my BFF? It's pretty old, man. I think it's being made into a real book now, and also like turned into a movie or something. You know how that is... your good old favorite wattpad stories getting turned into real classics. It's the best. I never actually finished the story tbh, I read a lot of it, and I tried, but honestly, it got really confusing after it was edited a bazillion times, so I'm just waiting for a finalized version now... But I've never forgotten about that story. It's really stuck with me, especially the Halloween festival with the corn maze, and the cookie throwing off your front porch at that dark looming figure watching you from the sidewalk... Yeah, that atmosphere is just extrinsically connected to Halloween for me now. Like, if I want to feel the true calling of fall, I always think of DimBFF.

also I promise this was the last time I'll change the name of the story again. Promise promise promise

Also also also when you keep an eye on your story ratings and see that it's number 4 in "Mailk" (sic)... yup. Good old me, misspelling my favorite boys names... can't get enough of that mailk...