Speed ➢ harry styles

Ch. 16 ~ Wait There's More

The five clippings remained pinned on the cork board in their specific orders. The unnerving headlines remained stationary on each newspaper, their bold black font emphasizing the horror of the incidents causing me to envision a dark body of water.

This wasn't just any dark body of water. It was the Hudson River. It's waters were murkier than ever. So murky that the water appeared black and I was no longer able to see the bottom of the river. It wasn't visible from even the shallowest parts of the river either. 

And then I saw the bottom. The black water cleared up just enough for me to make out what lay on the bottom. It wasn't long before I realized that the grayish blue color I saw was the skin of a young woman who had been long dead. Soon the water cleared up more and more to ultimately reveal five corpses.

My heart rate increased and I turned away from the water only to be face to face with a young woman whose jet black hair was matted to her scalp and her clothing was torn. Her mascara was running for she'd been crying. She glared at me for what felt like hours but likely it was only for a few seconds. I jerked away from her in fear. She was unfazed by my frightened reaction and she continued to stand and stare in the same spot where I was previously standing. 

I realized she didn't see me. Or if she did she was ignoring me. I watched her stride over to the edge of the Hudson. She was dangerously close to the dark waters. She turned around once to give me one last sorrow ridden gaze before jumping to her death. I saw her face clearly this time.

For some reason it looked familiar.

                                                                                           _

"Harry!" I was being frantically shook back and forth by a concerned Leo. "What the hell happened to you?" 

I looked at him confusedly. "What do you mean?"

"Dude you just disappeared. Not physically but mentally. You sat down and then you were in some sort of daze and you wouldn't talk to me. Are you okay?" 

I ran my tongue over my chapped lips. "Y-yeah. I'm alright," I breathed.

"Are you sure?" 

I nodded but Leo wasn't buying it.

"I think you should go home. I know this is a lot to take in and I don't want you to worry too much about it."

"But Leo..."

"Stop right there Harry. Go home and talk to Amelia. Maybe go on a date. You didn't come to New York to help your crazy friend play detective on a potential murder case. You came here to find Amelia and now you two should go hang out or something."

"It's Anella not Amelia."

"Same difference." He brought me my coat. "Here. Now get going."

"Leo hear me out..."

"I'll be fine. Don't even worry about me."

"No Leo I have something to say. It has to do with the five drownings."

"What is it?" He sat down next to me. 

"You have five clippings but can't you see that you're missing one?"

"What am I missing?" His brows furrowed as he stared at the five clippings pinned on the cork board. He looked at me and waited for my response. 

"You're missing the woman whose body was discovered today. That makes six."

"Jesus Christ, Harry. You're right. I can't believe I let that slip past me." He got up and grabbed his MacBook off his desk and then plopped next to me again. He opened up the NY Times website and located the news on the woman that drowned today. We soon discovered that the woman was only 22 years old. 

There was also a picture of her. I realized that I had seen it before. Not once but twice. The first time being when they showed it on the news this morning.

And the second time being while I was in a daze. No wonder the face looked oddly familiar. 

"This doesn't make sense." Leo muttered with a hint of frustration in his voice. 

"Tell me about it." I sighed.

"No I meant how the newswoman said this is the fifth occurrence of this sort in 8 years. I mean I got a B- in Algebra in high school, therefore it's safe to say I know how to count and clearly there's been 6 occurrences of the sort."

"Maybe they haven't noticed the pattern that you noticed yet. Maybe it's just a coincidence and they're leaving it at that. Authorities would've conducted further investigations if there was enough evidence to indicate that these drownings are connected. To be honest Leo I think you're the only one keeping track of this and making all these connections. If you could gather enough evidence you could present it to the police and they could look into it in more depth."

Leo nodded. There was a look of determination on his face. Leo was the kind of person to set goals for himself and stop at nothing to achieve them. He wasn't one to give up. 

I watched him. He was deep in thought. I could practically see the wheels turning in his head. Right then my cellphone beeped notifying me of a text message. I was expecting it to be a text from Gemma, my mum, or even Niall.

When I pulled out my phone I realized it was a text from Anella. I had almost forgot that I had texted "Hiiiiiii" to her yesterday just after getting her number. I was just testing it out. 

"Who is it from?" Leo asked curiously.

I was smiling. "No one. I mean it's just my cell phone provider reminding me to pay my bill. Nothing special." I lied but my face gave it all away.

Leo rolled his eyes. "Yes because getting that reminder was enough to brighten your day. Look at you! Grinning ear to ear, dimples and all!" He snatched my phone from me. "Let's see here."

"Leo stop it mate. Just give me back my phone." I reached out to grab it from him but he was quicker than me.

"Message from Anella D. huh? Let's see what it says. 'Hey there Harry, smiley face emoji, what are you doing tomorrow? I was wondering if you wanted to go to my friend's party with me tomorrow night at 8 pm. I'll pick you up.'" He read aloud with an embarrassingly squeaky voice that was supposed to represent Anella's voice.

Leo tossed me my cellphone and I narrowly caught it, being the butterfingers that I am. I looked at the screen to see that Leo had already responded on my behalf. "That sounds good btw you're really pretty you make me weak in the knees."

I gaped at him. "Leo! What the hell, mate? I can't believe you right now. That was uncalled for." I frowned at my cellphone screen.

Leo noticed that I was genuinely upset. "It's no big deal man. Chicks love compliments. She'll be flattered."

"I know but the whole weak in the knees part was unnecessary."

Leo shrugged. "She'll probably just take it as a joke. Chill man. I want you to forget about this drowning young women ordeal for now and go have fun with Anella at that party tomorrow."

"Fine but she'll think I'm a dork because of the message."

"Harry." Leo said putting his hand on my shoulder. "You are a dork and I'm pretty sure she already thinks you are. After all, she grew up with you."

He began to chuckle and then I did too because Leo's loud booming laughter was exceptionally contagious.