Running; Zayn Malik & Me

My mouth opened and closed, gasping for air as my body tried to keep up with the sobs now coursing through my body. 

"You-you bastard" I whispered, "It was me and you or me on my-my own Louis, how c-could you? How dare you" I tried as hard as I could to try and get some strength behind my voice, but the longer I talked, the less conviction there was. Everything was aching. There was a dull pain setting in right behind my eyes and it was getting worse and worse. He was supposed to be my friend, I had trusted him. 

"I'm so so sorry Beth, but we're worried, we know what happened.. Last time, how he reacted, what he did, does to himself" Louis said desperately. 

"No, forget it, I'll find him without you" I said and hung up. 

Robert shook his head at me and scowled, I know that he was less than impressed at the scenes unfolding before him, however, he didn't say anything, he just grabbed some keys and stood up. 

"He can't have got far, let's go" 

I followed him numbly as we rushed back down the corridor, into the reception of the hotel and back onto the main street. It felt like an age since I had last been outside, when in reality it had been less than 24 hours. 

"Does he know anyone in France? Is there anyone he would go to?" Robert asked as he flagged down a taxi. 

"Huh? Um, no, I don't think so, his family are all in England, except for some distant relatives in Pakistan, but he's never met them.." 

Robert nodded and hauled me into the taxi behind him. "Gare s'il vous plaît, et vite, merci" He turned to me, "We'll go to the station, I have friends in security, they’ll let us look at the footage” 

Robert made some phone calls during the journey, all in French so I didn’t know who he was talking to, not that I was paying that much attention anyway. The taxi slowed outside the station, the one Zayn and I had left only yesterday, it all seemed like a life time away now. 

“Come on” Robert coaxed as he leaned over me to open my door. I wiped my hands over my face and nodded, “It’ll be okay, we’ll find him” he reassured me. 

It seems as though Robert had been contacting his friends in security on the drive as we walked straight through some double doors marked Privé and marched through some thin corridors until we ended up in what looked like a control room, there were many monitors covering a wall and there were four large men all dressed in black scanning through the images that could be seen on the screens. 

“Dylan?” Robert asked touching one of the men on the shoulder. 

The other man spun around and a smile erupted onto his face. Dylan was around 25 years old, very tall, very muscley with a shaven head, despite his big cheesy grin he still oozed fierceness. 

“Well hello, so what’s this now then? The ..” Dylan who was very obviously from London paused to count on his fingers, “Three favours you owe me now bro, I might have to start cashing them in,” he paused again and looked behind Robert towards me. 

“Hi love, we’re doing the best we can to spot him, we’ve gone back through the footage to 30 minutes ago and we’re about halfway through, and Julien is watching the current, we’ll find him”

Robert nodded and patted Dylan on the shoulder, “Thanks bud, just give me a shout when you want those favours cashed yeah? Can me and Beth stay in here while you search?”  

“Sure, can even have a look-” 

“Écran 33!” Dylan was cut off by a shout in French, suddenly all four security guards and Robert were fighting to get to a montior on the right of the wall. I squinted and tried to focus in on the picture, but it was just a blur, there were too many people moving and the screen was too grainy. 

“Black hair? That’s the one, yes? Rob?” 

Robert leaned in closer and nodded slowly. 

“What platform is that? 9?” 

Dylan glanced at a notice stuck to the wall, it looked like a list showing which cameras and screens were linked to what part of the station. He ran his finger from top to bottom and nodded. 

“So are we grabbing him and bringing him back here?” 

“Yes I think so, don’t be too obvious, he’s, um, he’s into drugs and his temper isn’t the most reliable. And he must already be on edge incase he gets spotted.” Robert said carefully watching me and my reaction when he mentioned the drugs/

Dylan nodded and grinned, “So no tazers or rubber bullets?”

I felt my eyes fly open and I suddenly found a voice, “What?” 

Dylan laughed, “I’m joking my love, I’ll just go and get him and then we can put you two in one of the private interview rooms so you can talk okay?” 

“Wait, no! I want to go and find him, I want to go, on my.. own?” my voice was quiet and it came out as more of a question than an answer, but oh well. 

Robert and Dylan briefly shared a look. 

“I don’t know if that’s a good idea Beth, at least if Dyl and the guys grab him he will definitely listen to you, you’ll be locked in a holding cell for Christ’s sake” 

“Rob it’s a private interview room, not a holding cell” 

“Same thing” 

“Just because you’re older than me doesn’t mean that-” 

“Sorry to break this up guys but I’m going to find Zayn before he gets onto that train, I’ll see you shortly” I spoke loudly and impatiently then I turned on my heel and started running my way back through the slim corridors myself and Robert had come down in the first place. 

Platform 9.

Platform 9.

Platform 9.

I kept repeating it to myself as I ran back into the main body of the station and followed the arrows for the departing platforms. 

1 & 2 

3 & 4, 5 & 6

7 & 8

9 & 10

I didn’t stop running, I kept my pace as I made my way up the stairs and onto the platform. 

It seemed less busy now than it had when I was glancing at it in the security room on the monitor. 

What if he was already on the train? What if the train had left and a new one had a arrived in the time it had taken me to get here from security? What would I do if iI couldn’t find him? I’d only just got him back into my life, I couldn’t lose him now. I mean, he needs me. I’m his only hope, he’d practically said so himself. And some of the old Zayn was still in there, we just needed to break him out. 

I ran down the outside of the train and stared through all the windows trying to see if he had already taken a seat. First Class was blacked out and when I tried to get onto the train to investigate further, a very fat man in a hat pestered me for my ticket in French. I shook my head and got off the train. 

I looked left and right, the amount of passengers was diminishing even more, this train was due to leave soon.