The Unexpected Journey-A Prince Harry Fan Fic

Chapter 61

All at once, the earth was shaking under their feet. There was a creek, a loud groan of a sound that came out of nowhere as a light dust began to fall from the sky. Maddie would never be absolutely sure what it was that ultimately pushed her to move, the movement under her feet, the chunks of ceiling that fell from above. She would never be sure what it was that forced her to move, but she did. Holding tight to Ella's hand, they ran. It was sloppy and unsteady as the floor buckled underneath them, but they ran; pulling each other under the reception desk hoping against hope that it would be enough to keep them safe as the world came tumbling down around them.

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"This couldn't have waited until we were in the car?" Harry muttered to Thomas who shook his head.

"No sir."

"Fine." Taking the phone from his hand, Harry stepped off to the side as much as he could to prevent himself from being seen on the telephone at an official function. Moving away from the view of the crowd, he rounded a corner and, as he pressed the phone to his ear. "This is Harry."

It was his father; of course it was his father. Very few people would have the weight to push Thomas to hand Harry the phone when he was working. Even fewer would be on the other end waiting to deliver the news of what had just occurred in Bendal; crushing Harry in a blink of an eye.

"An earthquake, an aftershock." His entire face drained of color, his body of heat, as he took it in and let it register. It wasn't as powerful as the first one, but it had caused some buildings that were barely standing to crumble. Harry flinched; physically and emotionally.

His mind wasn't prepared for this. His mind had been ready to see her the next day, to hold her tight and close and hear about her trip—to reconnect and move forward. His mind wasn't prepared for the jolt to his system that came with this.

His voice broke as he asked. "Is she..." His heart was nowhere near prepared to handle this.

His shoulders slumped as he heard the answer. No one knew. It had just happened. There were no reports to be given. His father simply did not want him to hear about it on the radio, see it on a passing TV or—God forbid—be asked about it by a reporter while he was coming out. With a nod and the inclination to vomit, Harry passed his phone back to Thomas, fighting to breathe normally. Though he could hear Thomas talking, it was muted; all of his focus was on trying to control the spiral he was about to jump into.

Harry knew himself well enough to know that he had approximately two minutes of "together" left in him. Two minutes left of standing tall, two minutes left of his normal composure before total breakdown. Looking to Thomas with terrified eyes, his instructions came out as a plea.

"I need to be someplace else. Right now." Understanding in a way only Thomas could, he took the young man by the arm and led him back inside. As he directed him through doors, asking their hostess for a place to make a private phone call, he could feel Harry waver under his hand. He could feel the way his step faltered, the way his muscles tensed.

Maybe it was less than two minutes.

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"Oh my GOD!" Ella was yelling as the world rumbled around them. "Ohmygod. Ohmygod. Ohmygod...." She was scattered, panicked; her fingers digging into the flesh on Maddie's arms. The two women were huddled together, their knees touching, under the desk that seemed to be completely covered in debris. Though the shaking had stopped, the settling was working its way through the building. And Maddie was quite certain they were buried underneath brick and mortar and drywall.

"Ella," Maddie's voice wavered as she fought to remain calm. She could feel a giant slab of something wedged up against the desk, blocking them in. "Ella..."