Butterfly

41. Home Sweet Home.

Chapter Forty-One: Home Sweet Home.

♡ Jessica Washington ♡

It's some time later when I wake up. I don't recognise where I am. I'm lying on a small single bed in an unfamiliar room, and I have no idea how I got here. The last thing that I remember is River's dad picking me up off of the floor in the bathroom at the restaurant, then I don't remember anything else. 

I have no idea what the time is, only that it's still dark out, so it must me late at night. My mobile is nowhere to be found, but there's a phone on the wall. I groan, stumbling over to the phone and leaning against the wall for support, trying to think of a phone number that doesn't belong to my dad or River. Olivia.

I call Olivia, and I sigh in relief when someone picks up. It isn't Olivia, but it's close enough.

"Who is this?" Tyler asks, sounding tired.

"I'm sorry for waking you up. It's Jessica, and I really need help," I reply, my eyes watering in panic. 

"Hey, don't worry. Olivia left her phone at mine, sorry. Where are you and what happened?" Tyler asks, sounding worried.

"I don't know where I am, Tyler, somewhere in Oxford I assume. I came with River to visit his dad and he hated me and then I'm pretty sure he drugged me and I just woke up in who knows where and I want to go home but I can't face River or my dad right now," I explain, my voice cracking several times through my explanation. 

"Okay, I'm just leaving the house, I should get to Oxford in an hour or so. Are you in a hotel?" Tyler asks, and I look round the room to work it out.

"Something like that, yeah. It's quite run down, I'll just check too see if there's anything in the room," I tell Tyler, leaving the phone hanging on the wire as I stumble over to the desk, searching for any clue as to where I am. Nothing. What kind of hotel doesn't have advertising everywhere in the room?

"Nothing. I'll go to the reception and ask, then I'll call you back, okay?" I tell Tyler, before hanging up. I don't have any of my things, so I head straight downstairs to the reception. 

"Are you here to check out?" the lady behind reception asks, and I nod, handing her the keys.

"Sorry, this is a silly question, but could you tell me somewhere near here that is easy for someone to find? Like a landmark, or something?" I ask, thinking that it would be easily for Tyler to find if it is something he recognises.

"The Headington Shark is just down the street," the lady tells me.

"Okay, can I borrow a phone?" I ask, and the lady nods, indicating to the telephone on the wall next to the desk. I thank her, before calling Olivia's number again. 

"The Headington Shark, do you know it? I can meet you there," I tell Tyler.

"Yeah, I'll be there soon. Don't leave until the last minute, it's cold out," Tyler tells me, before I hang up.

Soon later, from where I'm stood on the street outside The Headington Shark, a monument of a shark in the roof of a house, Tyler's car comes into view. I sigh in relief, sitting down in his car and turning to Tyler, aware that I must look a mess.