Better Together

Chapter 5

Chapter 5:  Who knew?

I walked slowly away from the girls looking back often and waving.  As I approached the stranger he must have felt my presence.  He turned to look at me and my breath caught in my throat.

How was this possible?  What happened?  How was he here?  Of course I recognized him right away, my shock was that no one else had!

“Harry?” I asked gently.

He looked right at me.  His gorgeous green eyes filled with tears and he looked at me like I was his long lost puppy.  “mom?” he said.

Mom?  Me?  What was wrong with him? Again, I thought why was he here?  And why was he calling me mom?

“Harry?  What are you doing here?  Are you ok?  Do you need medical attention?”

“I don’t know.   I don’t remember how I got here.  Something terrible happened, but I don’t know, I just don’t know!”

Then he flung his arms around my neck and started crying.  Sobbing really,  I was shocked.  He called me mom again and seemed genuinely confused about his surroundings.  I was at a loss.  Standing here in the stadium parking lot crying uncontrollably on my shoulder was Harry Styles.

I let my mom instinct take hold and hugged him back and tried to comfort this extremely distraught Harry.  I looked over at the girls and both were staring back at me wide eyed.  I wasn’t sure how to proceed, but I knew now what was going on near the tour bus area.  They were searching for Harry!  How had he gotten away from so much security?

I pulled away from him and looked him in the eye, “Harry, we need to get you back to the buses.  You need to see a medic.  I’m sure everyone is frantic that you have walked away.  Let’s go sit down for a minute and I will go get a volunteer to notify your security team ok?”

“OK Mom, but I want to stay with you.  I’m scared.  I can’t find Louis.  I’m really worried, I don’t understand what has happened.  Are we back in England?”

Now I was totally baffled.  Did he hit his head in the fall?  Harry is known to be a bit clumsy, but I don’t recall seeing him hit his head and he was standing after the stage collapsed.  I decided it was best to play along for the time being, let his security and doctors sort him out.

“No honey, we are in Phoenix Arizona in the USA.  Come sit down, I will get you some water.”

I led him over to where Lian and Lizzy were sitting and watching.  As we got closer I saw the recognition register on Lian’s face but Lizzy was only focused on me.  Lian jumped up and came over to help me.

“Mom, it’s Harry! What the hell?”

“Mom?  Why is she calling you mom? I don’t understand, this isn’t Gemma.”

“I know Harry, it’s very confusing, try not to think about it.  This is Lian.  Lian this is Harry.  He is confused about the night and believes I am him mom.  Why don’t you take him to the blanket with Lizzy and sit down.  I’m going to go get a volunteer and some water, ok?”

“Of course mom.  Come on Harry, we are sitting right here. “

“Hi Lian.  Have you seen Louis?  I can’t seem to find him.  Did mom say we are in the USA?”

I left Harry in Lian’s capable hands and headed over to the volunteer table.  Lizzy was having nothing to do with that and jumped up to run after me.

“I’m going with you!  You promised to not leave me.  I’m going!”

“That is fine Lizzy, I need to go to the volunteer table to get help for Harry, you may come with me.  We can ask about your mom while we are there ok?”

With that she grabbed my hand and we walked to the table.

The line had shortened down to only a few people.  I went up to the nearest volunteer and told her we needed a member of security.  She looked at me like I was crazy and asked why.

“I found Harry, security needs to be notified.  Someone needs to come over here and get him, he needs to see a medic right away.”

“Harry?”

“Yes, Harry Styles, you know 1/5 of One Direction?  He is sitting over there with my daughter.  He is having some memory issues and needs a medic.  Please, can you contact his security team?”

“Oh my, we received an alert he was missing, I never thought he would just show up here, oh my, oh my”

“Lady!  Snap out of it.  Please you need to contact his security team right away, he needs help!”

“OH!  Yes of course, I’m sorry, long night, I will get a message right away.”

“Thank you.  When you’re done with that, can you please check for an update for Lizzy’s mom?  She is getting very concerned that we have not had any news yet.”

Of course dear.  I’ll send someone right over there to update you on both situations.”

“Thank you.”

I took Lizzy’s hand and went to the water coolers and grabbed four bottles and we walked back over to Lian and Harry.

He was sitting on the blanket looking at his lap.  I could see tears falling from his chin.  Lian was rubbing his back and looked at a loss, which I understood completely.

I set down the water bottles and sat on the blanket next to Harry and Lizzy sat on my other side.

“Harry?” I gently coaxed “Your security team has been notified you are here and safe.  They are coming for you shortly to take you to the buses and get checked out by a medic.”

“Louis?  Is he there?  Is he ok?”

“I don’t know honey.  I am sure they can tell you when they get here.  I haven’t heard that anyone was hurt, so I’m sure he is fine back at the buses.  Try not to worry.  Have a drink of water and try to eat some of this candy.  You look like you could use a little sugar.”

He took the bottle and had a drink, then ate the candy bar in three bites.  Tears rolling down his cheeks the whole time.  I looked at Lian and she looked at me and I knew we were thinking the same thing.  Harry has gone round the twist.