H A R R Y
I woke up to the sound tapping beside me. It wasn't overly loud but enough to break me back into consciousness. However the struggle to open my eyes was so great I began to think I was in sleep paralysis again.
"Sorry to wake you sweetheart," a soft voice whispered that I could recognise belonged to my mother. I managed to open my eyes and turn to look at her by the night stand.
"How are you feeling?" She placed a hand on my forehead examining my temperature. "You gave us quite a scare last night."
I recalled the nightmare I had last night that woke mum up, but I couldn't quite remember exactly what it was about.
"No I'm fine, mum; just a bad dream is all." I sighed, sitting up but wincing from current injury. "I think I'm good to go downstairs."
"Oh Harry, don't you think you would be better up here?"
"Mum," I chuckled at her worrisome. "Doctor said I should walk so I can release the blood clots."
She sighed and placed a kiss on my forehead, finally agreeing to let me get up. "I think I'll take a walk to Lana's. Her dad isn't home so..."
"Okay okay," she giggled, causing me to furrow brows at her. "I get it, you're in love."
I felt my heart skip a beat at the mention of the word. Why on Earth would my mum think I was in love? We'd really only been dating for a few weeks. Heck I hadn't even asked her officially to be my girlfriend.
"I'm not in love," I mumbled.
"Harry, I know you better than you know yourself. I also know love when I see it." She giggled once more before exiting my bedroom and leaving me more confused than I ever was.
Did I really love her? No way.
Maybe.
Even if my mum was supposedly right, I wouldn't even have a clue as to what love feels like, so I wouldn't know if I was in love with her or not.
The air was colder than I had remembered it to be 2 days ago, but I quite liked the feel of the chill on my wounds. It was soothing and lessened the stinging sensation. I didn't even get the chance to knock on her door before it was opened by someone inside. I was surprised and a little scared to find Mrs Gray.
She looked at me just as confused with her handbag wrapped on her shoulder. "Harry? I'm surprised to see you here. How are you feeling honey?"
She didn't hate me?
"I'm getting there, just got to be patient."
"Well get well soon lovey. Is Lana not with you?" She asked, looking behind me to see if she was there. I looked beyond her towards the staircase, surprised she was asking me.
"Uh no. I actually was coming here to see her."
"What? She didn't come home from your place last night." I looked at her with even more confusion because I was certain she left last night.
"She definitely left my place after mum came home. Have you tried ringing her?" I pulled my phone out, wincing slightly at my abdomen.
"Only about a million times. Come in, it's chilly." She gave me her arm to support, directing me into the warm room. I spotted El seated on the couch with her computer on her lap. She looked up at me and grinned widely, jumping up from her seat.
"Harry!" She went to dive for a hug but the quickly dropped her hands as realisation hit her. "Oh sorry, I forgot. I just got really excited to see you."
"I'm glad to see you too." I grinned, wrapping my arm around her in a side hug. "You haven't seen Lana either have you?"
She shook her head no, mentioning that she was up till 2 and Lana didn't come home. If she left at 11, she's been missing for more than 13 hours. Mrs Gray rushed to work a few minutes later, saying she was going to call everyone and ask about Lana, if no response, she was going to call the police.
"Should I be worried?" El asked, handing me a bowl of spaghetti. I didn't have a great appetite because my mind was solely focused on Lana, worry etching in my brain at every passing minute.
"I don't really know. It's not like her to do this and she definitely wasn't upset last night." I took a small forkful of the pasta and put it down on the table.
"Gosh I hope she's oka-"
Both our heads turned to my phone lying on the table that interrupted her statement. The screen read private number, making me wonder who it could possibly be. I swiped across the screen and put the phone to my ear.
"Hello, Harry speaking."
There was nothing but heavy breathing on the other side, making it appear as though this was just a prank call.
"Harold Edward Styles, pleasure to meet your acquaintance again." The deep voice said slowly, which sounded almost robotic and wicked. I put it on loud speaker for El to listen along. She sat down next to me quietly and leaned closer to the phone.
"You will soon find out when you come looking for your precious Lana." He sneered, breaking out into a monotone laughter. My heart rate increased and I felt the heat rise to my face in anger and confusion.
"What have you done with her?" I snapped, balling my hands into fists. El clasped her hand over her mouth in shock.
"Relax, she's not hurt...too bad."
"What the fuck." I rose my voice, scaring El who flinched in her seat. "Who the hell are you and what have you done with her?"
"We'll bring her back home tonight."
I stood up abruptly and clutched my phone in hand as he ended the phone, making my way to the door. I could feel my body crying out for rest and for me to stop putting it through torture, but I wasn't about to stop now if it meant saving Lana.
"Where are you going? We need to call the police." El jumped in front of me to stop me from leaving.
"Not yet El," I said sternly. "I need to get her myself."
"Oh really now." She folded her arms across her chest, exactly the way Lana did it. "And how do you think you're going to find her? Especially since you can barely walk."
I groaned in frustration at how right she was. I could walk out of here right now but where would I really go if I had no idea who was even on the phone.
"So what, we just sit here and wait for her to come back?" I clutched my stomach, feeling a sudden dampness on my shirt. El's eyes trailed down to my abdomen, her eyes widening. I followed them to see my grey shirt soaking in blood. I lifted my shirt up where the dressing I had were oozing in blood.
"Oh my- we have to go to the hospital H-Harry. I'll call the ambulance-" she rushed to the phone in the kitchen and took a hold of it, but I was quick to follow after her despite the pain.
"No you can't do that. My mum can't know about this, nor can your dad. I'll just clean it up a-" I tried to brush it off in hopes to move on from me and focus on what to do about Lana.
"What if you bleed to death?!" She shrieked, pulling down stacks of serviettes and giving me to press to my stomach. "What about Lauren? She's studying to be a nurse."
"El, I'm fine."
"I'm calling her, she won't tell. You just can't continue on like this. It could be more serious than you think." She explained, and despite how annoyed I was getting at her, I knew she was right. It took Lauren nearly an hour to come back, and she had left her boyfriend and her baby at the mall. When she took my dressings off, she didn't hesitate to have a fit at me.
"Harold Edward Styles." She shook her head, her lips curved into a deep frown.
"Why does everyone feel the need to use my full name."
"This is going to hurt and this is only going to be temporary. You're going to have to go to the hospital in the next 2 days." She explained as she cleaned the area. I clutched the towel in pain and closed my eyes to refocus my attention elsewhere.
"Where's Lana?" She suddenly asked after she had replaced my dressings from the first aid kit.
"No one knows. We're calling the police if she doesn't come back by 10." I answered before El had the chance to. She looked at me as if she was going to murder me at any given second but I couldn't quite understand why she gave me that look.
"You're kidding."
"No, he's really not. But Dad doesn't know, will soon find out though."
7pm, their mum came back. The stress lines across her forehead were more defined than usual. She looked as if she was going to break down at any given second. She had just gotten off the phone with their dad who was on his way home right now.
"I should probably get going before he gets here." I stood up, hissing at the aching in my back. It was as if every part of my body was rejecting me.
"Lay down Harry," she instructed, giving me a dead glare. "I can see the pain in your eyes. I'll get you some medication."
I followed her instructions, not wanting to upset her anymore than she already was. She handed me two Panadols and a glass of water. "I've called Anne by the way, she'll be over soon."
"Please tell me you didn't." I groaned. I knew the minute my mum knew about all of this, it would become more dramatic than it needed to. The last thing we needed was for everyone to panic.
"What is going on here?" I followed eyes to the should of the voice at the door of the lounge. I met eyes with none other than Lana's Dad. He looked at me for a brief moment before looking at his wife. "Where is she?"
"We don't know. No calls, no messages, no one has seen her." Mrs Gray's voice broke at the end of the sentence. Mr Gray wrapped his arms around her in comfort. El looked to me and I could see the fear on her face. If I would be allowed to get up, I would go looking for her myself. I know whoever was on the phone said they would bring her back but who knows what would have happened to her beforehand.
"Someone called Harry and said they had Lana." El blurted up, obviously not being able to keep our little secret any longer. I snapped my head to her and rubbed my face in frustration.
"Eli." I groaned, feeling the glares on me from her parents.
"Who?" Her mum said harshly, obviously not intending it at me but at the person who supposedly had Lana.
"I-I don't know. It was a blocked number, and they used a robotic voice." I explained, finally realising how stupid it was of me not to call the police. I wanted to the the one who found her and brought her home safely, but I should have considered what could possibly be happening to her.
"Oh Harold." Her father ran his fingers through his hair in frustration. Mrs Gray went to retrieve the phone to call the police, but a sudden ringing stopped everyone's actions. We all followed into the kitchen where she stood still unsure of what to do. She slowly pressed the record button and answered on the receiver for loud speaker.
"Hello?"
It was silent for a brief moment before crackling could be heard on the other end. I felt the familiar dampness and the feeling of something oozing on my abdomen. However this time I ignored it and was thankful I was wearing a black shirt.
"Hello who is this?" Her mum repeated sternly this time.
"Hey mum?" The voice was soft and almost overly enthusiastic to be real. I could recognise that voice anywhere. "It's Lana here!"