We Met On The Road To Recovery

34.

Shawn Mendes
Something wasn't right.
I knew it as soon as I saw her.
I saw her face first.
Full of panic, and tears streaming down her face.
Next I heard the gasps of people.
Then I saw him, holding a gun to her back as his hand wrapped around her neck.
"Oh my god" I said quietly as I rose from my seat.
"No one gets hurt! I don't want to hurt anyone" the man, whom I recognised as Faith's dad said.
"Then let the girl go" a waiter said. Faiths father closed his eyes and shook his head harshly.
"No! No, no, I can't do that. I can't do that" he said.
"Why are you doing this?!" I yelled and he made eye contact with me, but I quickly dropped eye contact with him to look at Faith who mouthed something to me.
'Call Charles'

My eyes widened and i discretely took my phone out of my jacket placing it on the table. I clicked the phone onto the number pad and pressed the number 1.
I had Charles on speed dial and I knew that whenever I rung, even if I didn't say anything I needed him.
When I saw the phone was ringing I looked back up to Faith and her father. Everyone was confused. No one in the restaurant knew what to do.
"Please let me go" Faith said but again her father just shook his head.
"I can't! I need the money! I'm broke. Completely broke!" He said and I saw her close her eyes.
"What money do you think we have? We don't have money!" She argued.
"His money! You have his money now!" He said and aimed his gun at me.
"No! No!" Faith cried. "I don't! I don't have any money!"
"W-What are you talking about? If you two are married then-"
"Married?! We're not married! We're not even together!" She said with tears streaming down her face.
"Then why was it in the paper?!" He yelled pressing the gun now to her head.

"Sir! We aren't together. But if it's money you want I can give it to you. Just. Let her go" I said and her father now had tears running down his face.
"I can't. No. I've come too far now. They know. They'll lock me up. I will not be locked up!" He yelled and took the safety off the gun.
Faith was shaking and I couldn't help but yell.
"Sir you need to let her go now" I heard from behind Faiths father.

I looked and saw three armed men behind him. One, in the middle, was Charles.
"Stay the fuck back!" Her father yelled and evidently held her neck tighter.
"Come on. Let her go. You don't want to hurt your own daughter. Look at how frightened she is" Charles said.
She looked like she was about to pass out any second if he held her neck that tight for much longer.
"Come on. Drop the gun. We know about everything. Just let her go. There's no reason to hurt her" Charles said and I could see that her father was going to crack.
"I'm sorry" he said quietly and shoved her away from him.

As she fell to the floor he raised the gun quickly to his head.
No space in between the two actions.
"No!" Faith yelled.
I quickly stepped in and grabbed her, dragging her away quickly from the scene.
"Don't do it. Drop the gun. No one has to die tonight" Charles said.
After a few moments her father dropped the gun and slid it over to Charles. The two men either side of Charles grabbed her father and quickly dragged him out of the restaurant.

When I looked down at her she was breathing heavily. Through all the commotion going on around us, I just focused on her.
This was supposed to be the perfect night for us  and it had turned into one of the worst.
I had planned on asking her to be my girlfriend this evening, but now I had no idea what would happen.

Charles came over to us and looked over Faith. He sighed and bent down to her.
"Hey. You're ok." I said and stroked her hair.
"Oh god." She said and tried to take a deep breath.
"It's ok. You're safe now. He'll be locked away and crisis has been avoided" Charles said.
We both nodded. "We will leave you both alone now. You don't need us but just be on the cautious side for a little while. I wish you both happiness and safety" he said before shaking both our hands and walking away.

What happened could have been so much worse, so much more climatic, but with every inch of my being I was glad it wasn't.
I was happy she was safe.
And yet although she was safe, I knew she wouldn't be ok.