Hostages

twenty one

- Harry -

I awoke silently, rubbing my droopy eyes. The soreness in my throat tightened, choking me, forcing me to cough. My brain was still asleep but managed to realize why I was in the bus. Even when I'm not with the other boys, I still feel the loss of a member. The feeling I was always terrified of.

My best friend was taken hostage yesterday morning. We looked for him for several hours, running around the city like madmen. I remember bumping into some random girl who apparently claimed she knew where Louis was. My first instinct was to follow her out of desperation. However, Niall, of course, wasn't as easily persuaded. There was a gut feeling I had about her though. A gut feeling telling me I could trust her. We followed her and when she brought us to the house, Louis was gone. He wasn't there like she said he was. I got paranoid. What was she doing? What was she planning? That's where all my trust was gone. Niall and this stranger argued for what felt like an hour. Niall pointed out every move she made as if it was all a scheme. At first, I was proud of my best friend for realizing all of this, watching her plan fall apart right in front of her. That was until she came back harder. Louis only owned one thing that no one else knew about but me. His medallion. He gave it to her. This stranger was telling us the truth. I felt like a total asshole.
That's when it all fell into place. This stranger told us everything she knew, picking apart the tiny details. We found that son of a bitch. We surrounded the place with police, armed and ready. The killer hauled out Louis. Oh my, he looked so wrong. He looked so hurt and so broken. It crushed me. It brought tears to my eyes. Louis was shot and everything we had worked for in just that one day fell apart. What do we do now? What's happening to us? What's happening to Louis?

I slipped out from my top bunk, that was over Liam's. I took a peek at the lad, watching how he slept peacefully. How could he have slept at all? I was tossing and turning all night. I tiptoed down the hall, sneaking into the bathroom with the squeaky door. I quickly changed into some sweats and a white T-shirt. Taking a look in the mirror, my hair was not cooperating, so I threw on my snapback and gave it a shot.

By the lighting that was beaming in through the bus windows, it was early in the morning but not too early. I glanced at the clock on the stove and saw it read 8:38AM. Struggling to keep my eyes open, I made a quick cup of tea before sitting on the couch and turning on the TV. I flipped through the channels until something caught my eye.

"Yesterday evening," the reporter spoke, her bright red lips contrasting with her dark and heavy eye makeup. "Andrea Chalmers and Louis Tomlinson were both found in a barn at a farmhouse located just outside of town. Chalmers escaped safely with very minor injuries. As of Tomlinson, police say he was shot taken to hospital immediately."

I turned it off. It aggravated me already. I couldn't sit and watch this unfold to the world. How dare people become so nosy and pry into people's lives like that. That wasn't even the real story.

"Morning," a raspy voice spoke, interrupting my thoughts. I looked up to see Zayn in the kitchen in only his boxers making a tea. He turns to lean against the kitchenette counter. His hair was sticking up in all different directions and it looks as though he didn't get a very good nights rest either. "What was on TV?"

"Just the news." I told, fixing my gaze back onto the blank TV screen. My expression became concentrated on how they could be telling the wrong story. Who told them this? Why do they twist words like this? They're making Andrea sound like he let her get away. "The story of Andrea and Louis are all over it.

Zayn shook his head, pressing the cup to his lips, then sighed after taking his drink. "God, I hate the press."

I nodded in agreement. "Don't we all?" Suddenly, after watching that news story, my tea didn't taste right anymore. I walked to the kitchen and drained it into the sink.