Speed ➢ harry styles

Ch. 21 ~ Don't Jump

"SHE'S AS SWEET AS TUPELO HONEY!" I sang vociferously as I was seated in the armchair of my hotel room. "SHE'S AN ANGEL OF THE FIRST DEGR-" My ringing cellphone interrupted my jam-out session. Anella was calling me. I smiled and paused the song on my laptop to answer her.

"Hey," I said cheerfully hoping to hear her voice at the other end. 

"Um hey, it's Melissa," her voice sounded hurried. "No time to explain in detail, I just need you to help me right now. It's about Anella, she's been acting really strange lately and now she's locked herself in the bathroom. Please come over," she pleaded.

"I'm on my way," I assured as I began to put on my coat and hurry through the hotel hallway. Fortunately one of the elevators were already open when I got to them so I didn't need to wait. Unfortunately, the man inside had pressed the button for floor 24. I had to wait until we were all the way on the 24th floor until the elevator would take me to the lobby. 

Once the elevator opened it's metal doors to the lobby I rushed on out to hail a cab. 

"Where to?" The man asked. 

I told him the address Melissa had texted me. "And step on it." I asserted, feeling what I had said was a bit rude but the man just nodded and drove as fast as he could. The knot in my stomach got tighter as the taxi cab halted in front of the dorm building that Anella and Melissa stayed in.  I got out of the cab and paid my fares. Then, I briskly made my way over to the entrance to push open the front door.

The elderly woman at the desk, without taking her gaze away from her computer screen, asked who I was visiting. "Anella Delaney." 

"Hmmm." She scrolled on her computer until finally stating, "Okay, that's room E21, fifth floor." 

"Thank you." I said before taking the elevator. More like trying to take it. The buttons seemed to be not working. 

"It's out of order. Take the stairs." The woman muttered.

I groaned and jogged up the stairs as fast as I could.

After running up several flights of stairs, I finally found myself on the fifth floor. I walked at a brisk pace through the hallway until I found room E21. Melissa opened the door to let me in after I had knocked. "Thank God, you're here just in time. Follow me, she's in the bathroom and no matter what I say or do she won't come out," Melissa informed, her voice laced with utmost worry.

She led me to the bathroom door which I stood in front of and knocked on. "Anella?" I called out, speaking into the wood of the door. 

No response. 

"Anella? It's me, Harry? What's wrong? Are you alright?" I asked, my voice becoming shaky as my concern skyrocketed.

"Harry?" Anella finally called out. Her voice sounded faint and strained and not only because it was coming through a closed door.

"Yeah it's me. Won't you come out? Are you okay? Please open the door. We can talk this through. Whatever's bothering you, you can tell me. You can tell Melissa. We'll understand."  I didn't understand what had happened because just a few days ago at the party she seemed fine so I wondered what happened to change that. Was she stressed about college? Did she get into a fight with Melissa? I turned to face Melissa who was leaning against the wall opposite of the bathroom door. "Did you two get into a fight? Do you think she's mad at you?" I asked her. 

Melissa shook her head. "No of course not. I mean we might not always agree on things like whether or not we should have Mac N Cheese for dinner for the third consecutive day." She chuckled lightly when she said this. Then she became serious again. "But what I mean is, we're roomies and I definitely wouldn't say or do anything to hurt her. Anella is honestly the nicest person I know and right now I'm just so worried because this never happens. She's always so lively. Sometimes she gets sort of quiet and asks for alone time but nothing of this sort has ever happened before. My only concern is that..." She paused and her voice became low. "That she might try to kill herself."