Troubled Love

Chapter 5

Wow, where has the day gone? I can't believe I was at the park for almost 4 hours with Brody. It's already 7:15! It seems as if I had just left my house to meet up with him. I give a quick text to him saying that I got home and I'm perfectly fine like I promised I would.

I exit my car and lock it twice, just to make sure. An old habit that my mom passed on to me, I guess. Growing up she would always say "it's better to be safe than sorry". My brother and I would just roll our eyes at her, but now it's warn off on me. Speaking of Lou, I wonder where he his. He didn't come home last night. I know he was with Niall, he must of slept over or something.

It has started to rain and it's already getting dark out. Thank god we didn't stay at the park any later than what we did.

The night air is cooler then what I thought it would be. Wearing this crop top and short skirt wasn't such a great idea. I'm not really even a big fan of crop tops. My friend tiff, made me buy it because she threatened if I didn't she would kill me. I actually think it's really cute, but I feel as if half of the shirt is missing.

My front porch steps creak with each step I take. We need to move houses, it's getting really old. I've lived here my whole life and we haven't done one renovation since! I know, it's crazy. I'm kind of surprised the house hasn't fallen apart yet.

I can't believe its already dark. As I reach the third step and start towards the door, I see a dark figure just to the left of me. I quickly turn and look, but theres nothing there except some bushes and a couple of flowers. My heart is racing 5 times faster than its normal pace. I gulp and take a deep breath to try to steady my pulse. I get scared way too easy. I try to ignore it, but I could have sworn I saw something or someone there. I know it was probably just my imagination, but it looked so real.

I close my eyes for a few seconds and open them back up. Nothing is there. I'm not in a horror movie, Scream isn't just going to appear in front if my face.

I'm just really paranoid and anxious I guess you could say.

I keep walking up the rest of the porch stairs and go to enter the key into the door. Just as I turn the knob, something grabs me from behind and covers my mouth with a rag. Oh my god! What's happening? Am I getting kidnapped? Are they going to kill me? A billion questions and thoughts are racing through my mind. I try to scream, but it only comes out as a muffled sound because of the rag. I need to get out of their grasp.

On the count of 3 I will elbow him really hard in the gut. Hopefully this will loosen his grip on me and I can run. I'm about to do my full-proof plan when he yanks me backwards and I fall down the porch stairs. I trip over my own feet and plummet to the cement, landing on my butt and hands. I regret wearing such big wedges today and such a short skirt!

I look up to see a tall, big man walking slowly towards me. He's dressed in all black with his hood up which makes it difficult to see his face.

I try to back away, but my car blocks me from moving any further. Oh god. Is he going to kill me? My thoughts are answered when he pulls out a small pocket knife. I'm going to die.

A single tear rolls down my cheek as he approaches me. I scramble my shaking body off the ground, so that I'm standing on my feet. Only a few feet away from me now and I don't know what to do. It takes me this long to realize that the rag is no longer covering my mouth. So I scream... As loud and as long as my lungs can possibly go for. I'm praying that someone will have heard me and called 911. He doesn't like this! He runs over to me and grabs me from the behind like how he did the first time.

He presses the knife to my throat, not enough to kill me, but just enough to create a small wound. I scream from the piercing pain that the knife has caused.

"Shut up!" He whispers harshly in my ear.

"P-please don't hurt me!" I sob.

"Hurt you? You haven't felt nothing compared to what I'm about to-" before he can finish his threat, a force pushes us both over.

He loosens his grip around me for only a few seconds, but I'm already out of arms reach. The pocket knife goes flying on the other side of the road and makes a clacking sound when it hits the ground.

What was that? I'm stunned, but am able to turn myself around to see who my rescuer was.

"Run", a guy yells at me. Oh my gosh, that's the guy I saw on the street earlier, dressed in all black! I don't move, I just sit and look at him in shock.

The kidnapper slams the guys face with his fist and he gets knocked over.

"No!" I scream.

I'm not sure why I'm so worried for this guy, but he did just save my life.

His hood comes flying off and I see brown curls flop out of it. If I hadn't known any better, I would think that's Harry. But it can't be.

He makes a quick recovery and then punches the other man in the nose. I can't move, I want to but I can't. What if that is really Harry? It looks exactly like him, but how is that even possible?

"Harry?" I whisper.

He looks over at me and judging by his green eyes, I know it must be him. I wish it was lighter out so I would know for sure.

"Go, quickly". I'm snapped back to reality and don't waste another second. I grab my purse that flew out of my hand, kick off my wedges and run down the street. I cut through my neighbours lawn and head towards the forest that runs along the neighbourhood's backyard. I don't stop running for at least 20 minutes straight.

My legs are shaking, knees are wobbling and my eyes are heavy. From sobbing, from exhaustion and confusion. A huge tree stands out in the crowded, but lonely forest. I give up and collapse on the roots of the tree. I'm further away from my house than I have ever been on feet in this forest and to be honest, I have no clue where I am. It's now pouring rain and I'm lost, confused and scared.

What if the kid napper comes looking for me? What will I do? I can't just give up that easily, I have to keep going. But as soon as I try to continue my journey to the other side of the forest my legs give out and I know I can't go on.

I remember that I have my phone in my purse. Shakily, I open up the latch and empty out all of the components inside. My black iPhone falls into the mud and I quickly grab it, hoping that the mud didn't affect it. When I press the power button, nothing happens. It's hard to see due to the rain but I manage to notice the power button indicating that it has died.

My vision starts to blur and my eyes begin to flicker shut. I'm going to pass out. I try to stay awake and I try to get up, but it's no use. My entire body is sore from fighting and running and my head feels as if someone is pounding on it with a large rock. I crumple back into a ball shape position and lay down on the muddy, forest floor.

I see the shadow of a man over top of my helpless body lying on the forest floor. I try to keep my eyes open, but they stay shut. I try to scream, but nothing comes out. I try to get up and run, but I can't move.

I'm helpless and have come to realization that there is no way I'm going to survive this night. I wish I could go back in time and fix this. Maybe if I had gone home earlier or gotten a drive or stayed later at the park this wouldn't have happened. Maybe if I had went to lunch with my mom and dad I wouldn't be in this mess. Maybe if I had gone looking for Lou, I would still be alive by tomorrow. Lou! Oh my gosh! I'm never going to see him again!

A tear rolls down my cheek as I feel strong arms wrap around me and lift me from the wet ground.

This is it. It's over. Everything I have, no, everything I've had is now gone... And I can't do anything about it.