Poker Game |H.S|

19

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Estella Williams

"OH, FUCK!"

I was jolted awake from my sleep by the sound of someone shouting in a husky voice.

Sitting up abruptly, I felt my heart racing with surprise. My eyes widened in shock at the sudden scream that had startled me. While I had been peacefully sleeping, the shout had woken me up. Rubbing my sleepy eyes, I remembered that I was in a motel with... Harry.

Looking around the dimly lit room, I saw that Harry was not there. The lights in the bedroom were off, but the bathroom light was on, casting a faint glow into the room. I realized that Harry must have been in the bathroom when he shouted. My heart was still pounding as I tried to calm down.

I felt stiffness in my back from the hard mattress, which was causing me pain. Clearing my dry throat, I reached for my water bottle in my bag next to the bed and took a sip. After refreshing my mouth and putting it back in it, I called out tiredly, "Harry?" My voice was hoarse from just waking up.

I had pulled the hood of my hoodie over my head to protect my hair from dust before falling asleep. So when I realized it was still covering my hair, I removed it.

"What?" I heard Harry respond in a strange deep tone. I wondered what was wrong with him. Sliding my feet to the floor and putting on my running shoes, I asked, "What's the matter? You startled me awake."

As Harry emerged from the bathroom with an irritated or disgusted expression, he grumbled, pointing towards the bathroom, "someone left his smelly shit in the toilet!"

My eyes widened in realization of the source of the unpleasant smell from the night before.

"Goodness," I whispered in shock at the level of filth in our motel room.

Putting on my shoes, then tying my shoelaces and standing up, my heartbeat began to slow down. Harry turned off the bathroom light and headed towards the bedroom light switch to turn it on. "What time is it?" I inquired to the annoyed man.

"Five o'clock," was his brief response.

I watched as he retrieved his phone from his pocket and made a call. Putting the phone to his ear, he said, "Niall?"

I could hear murmurs from the other end of the line, but I couldn't make out what was being said. I assumed Niall was speaking since Harry had mentioned his name.

"We are in the room," Harry continued, looking at me briefly before adding, "Yeah, we are coming." He then glanced at his phone in his hands, ended the call, and put his phone in his back pocket. Looking back at me, he said, "they're waiting at the reception."

"Already?" I asked.

"Yes, we need to leave." Harry walked towards the shelf behind the bed to grab the key, while I put my backpack on my shoulder. We turned off the lights in the room and exited, with Harry locking the door behind us as we descended the stairs. Not far away, I saw a van.

It was still five o'clock in the morning, and the sun was shining weakly. Its low golden light reflected off the shiny black van, and the yellow sand on the ground turned cool in the sunlight.

As we arrived at the other side of the reception, Harry instructed, "Get in the van I'm handing over the key."

I nodded, and I made my way towards the van. Seconds later, he was behind me but slightly farther away. Opening the backseats' door, I saw our four team members inside. Harry followed closely behind me and sat next to me on the empty seat. Everyone looked surprised as we got in. Then, I witnessed the last two, Rudy and Zayn.