WILD // (Harry Styles)

T H I R T Y N I N E

CHAPTER 39

CLAIRE

"Hello. Yang, is it?" I ask the woman sitting behind the desk. I remember her eyes, and I recall the time when I woke up after what felt like a heavy sleep. The first thing I saw were those stunningly narrow, slanted eyes.

"Claire," she says, a seemingly forced smile appearing on her face. She puts down the pen she was holding, standing up to greet me.

"What can I do for you?" She asks after shaking my hand. I am still shivering.

When I realized that Michael never got on the plane, I must've called him 30 times. After half an hour messaging him on every platform, trying ever possible way to reach him from my phone, I knew I had to go to further lengths.

But it was close to midnight, and I had to wait until the next day. It's 8 o'clock, and I haven't gotten a minute of sleep.

I hate to think of the possibilities of his disappearance, because all the scenarios that have played out in my mind are those of horror. But I always come back to one, that he was taken and that... He's not safe.

"I wanna report a missing person," I breathe as I close my eyes. What could have happened to him at the airport? I saw him walk in, but I turned away and got in the car before he got through security. Something must have happened him before, because it's close to impossible to abduct someone beyond that point. Plus, the person who took him couldn't have gone through security. I open my eyes, and Yang's eyes are wide.

"Is it Harry?" She asks in a sharp exhale.

"No.. It's Michael Bretman, my best friend," I tremble, my voice breaking. I feel Niall's hand slide over my shoulder, and he kisses my temple.

"It's gonna be alright," he whispers lowly, and I try to believe him. Bit that seems unlikely right now.

"What happened to him?" Yang asks.

"I dropped him off at the airport two days ago, but his mum called and she told me that he never got on the plane," I explain, and I sit down not to lose balance. I'm starting to get dizzy.

"He's still in New York, and I don't know where, or... who with," I say, my face darkening as I bob my head down. I catch a glimpse of Yang's eyes before I close mine, and I get a feeling that her thoughts all go to the same person who I've been thinking about ever since I realized he was missing.

"Zayn," Yang nods, sitting back down in her chair and types something into her computer.

"He was spotted two days ago, walking into a drugstore" she says, getting a focused look in her brown eyes.

"I've got a copy of the receipt," she says, pulling out a small piece of paper from a drawer under her desk. She slides it towards me, and I pick it up.

On it, are various over-the-counter drugs and medicine, and my brows furrow as I reach the bottom of it. What is this supposed to do?

"These are harmless individually," Yang says, and a few seconds pass before I realize what this means.

"But we've consulted a drug informant, and he told us that these mixed together a long with a few other illegal drugs, creates a powerful tranquilizer." She reveals, and my gut slowly sinks. He used that on Michael.

"That's most likely what he used on your friend, and I fear that if that's the case, Michael is in grave danger," she confirms and I have to clench my hands around the arms of the chair to not pass out.

"How do we find him?" Niall asks, rubbing my back. I think he notices that I can't talk. I am so scared.

"We have tried for weeks, he's good at covering his tracks," she sighs, rubbing her eyes.