Finding Harry - A COVID Story

Once In a Lifetime

In the dead of the night, Ava huddled amongst her friends, hoping one of them would figure it out. The wind thrashed against the trees, howling at midnight and inhibiting the four from any progress. "Wait," Maitri started off, rolling her eyes as she opened up Safari on her phone. "Did any of you guys even bother to Google the Vicarage yet?"

"Yeah, duh," Ava stated confidently. "Ava (D) and I both checked and all we found was some stupid Wikipedia article about a horror book."

"Oh, okay," Maitri paused, the gears in her head turning. "Swetha can you not breath on my neck?"

"Fine, sorry," Swetha huffed, taking a step back. "I was just reading the other links. There's something about the Vicarage in Cheshire? What's that?"

"Wait," Ava's eyes gleamed, a smile of relief manifesting on her lips. "Did you just say Cheshire? Like, how Harry Styles was born in Holmes Chapel, Cheshire?"

"Maybe?" Ava D offered, pulling up Google Maps on her own phone to research. "Yeah, there's a place called The Vicarage in Cheshire, England, and it's like a inn or something."

"That's perfect," Ava declared. "Of course these kidnappers would make it something related to Harry, I should've known." Taking a minute to calm down, she noticed the eyes of her friends all looking at her, to which she responded with, "What?"

"You don't... like, actually expect us to go to England, do you?" Ava D gave her a flat, questioning look.

"I-," Ava began.

"No offense but you barely convinced me to get out of my house," Maitri added.

"If my mother ever found out that I sneaked out..." Swetha trailed off, a neutral look on her face.

"Guys, we've gone so far already, we can't just give up now!" Ava pleaded her friends. "Swetha, please! You never do anything besides study, this is the time to have an adventure and get a life. Like, even if you're a bit of a pussy sometimes, I know you can help us. And Ava (D), I know you don't want to go back home."

"That is true... How would we even get to England, though?" Ava D crossed her arms.

"First of all, Ava, back to what you said," Maitri furrowed her eyebrows. "We haven't gone that far- we've barely moved from Ava (D)'s driveway! And what? Do you have nothing to say to me? Notice how you didn't address me at all in your mini speech."

"Maitri," Ava turned to her, an honest expression on her face. "You're just a bad bitch like me, so you have to do this."

"Pffft," Ava D laughed. "Okay ladies, Noah (no offense), but if we're gonna do this, we have to figure this out quickly. It's ... 12:13 PM."

"Well, the obvious route is to go to Newark Airport, right?" Swetha queried, tapping- literally tapping- on her phone to search for flights.

"Yeah, but where are we supposed to get money for those tickets?" Maitri yawned, leaning back on her bike.

"Ava probably has enough to buy us all round trips to England in her gift card stash," Ava D added.

"Shit, you're actually right," Ava murmured. "But I didn't bring those- or my passport and identification for that matter."

"Neither did we," Maitri admitted. "That rules out any mode of transportation to England. Welp, let's all give up and go-."

"Bitch, shut the fuck up," Ava slurred. "Nobody said we had to buy tickets anyway!"

"What, you expect us to just break into the airport and get on a plane?" Ava D scoffed.

"Um," Ava looked around sheepishly. "Yes?"