More than a Melody (H.S) ON HOLD

44

forty four

I stumble, one foot falling beneath the other in unison to the buckling of my knees. I wasn't sure if relief was the correct word to use, but it wasn't Silas exiting the car and running towards me.

I recognize the blue eyeshadow. The boots. The blonde hair that has faded strips of color mixed inbetween the locks.

Cora.

"What the fuck? Are you okay?"

She reaches for my arms and rubs the sides, eyes panicked and cheeks flushed as she takes in my appearance. Battered feet, bloodshot eyes, messied hair, a rod shaking in my right hand.

"Come on, let's get you in the car. We need to get you off the street."

My bloodstream is flooded with the pulsing flow of adrenaline, the remaining bits of fight or flight slowly trickling off as I walk with Cora to the car. I look down the street, both ways, quickly surveying each shadow and car and house on the block. I see nothing besides a lonesome cat prancing around the corner I just turned down, in the same direction I ran from.

It's a bit crazy how unpredictable life can be. Constantly tugging uncertainties in different directions, waiting for you to collapse. I fiddle with the door handle for several seconds, unable to control the shaking, before Cora eventually leans over and opens it from the inside. I jump at the click, the paranoia taunting my insides as I toss the curtain rod onto the floor of the vehicle and shut the door behind me. She immediately locks it.

"Wanna piece of gum? Helps calm me." Cora holds out a stick of spearmint gum, the blue packaging perfectly folded. I shake my head so she takes the piece instead, unraveling the ends and slipping its sugary contents into the pocket of her cheek. She rolls the plastic covering up into a little ball and then flicks it to the side, gradually creeping down the street.

I had no idea why Cora was here. The timing was perfect and I was fortunate but Cora wasn't Harry or Miles or Zayn so I was left unsure. I didn't feel entirely safe. I can't remember the last time I did.

"Who were you with?" She says, taking a right onto the main highway, merging onto the empty stretch of road. I was too distraught to pay much mind to where we were going. I just try and focus on not digging bloody holes into my thighs from clenching so hard.

"Silas."

"Hmm. What did he do?" She takes another right, fingers tightened around the wheel, white knuckles breathing out her unease despite her tone seeming relatively neutral.

"He was trying to get me to leave with him, to go somewhere, I don't know. It was so sudden."

We head for the bridge, which is more empty than the vast ocean that wades beneath it. Boats loiter in the distance but that is the only evidence of life in this quaint city.

"Did he force you? Did he hurt you?"

I wasn't sure how to answer. He was insinuating that I had no option, saying that I had to leave, using intimidating and manipulative tactics to get me to do so. Gripping my chin for morbid control and speaking to me as if my only responsibility was to be submissive. As if I had no say in my choices, as if I didn't know what was best for myself.

"He made claims about Harry, all lies, trying to convince me to go with him. He got angry that I refused and that's when he became more aggressive. So I ran."

Cora hums under her tongue, reaching for her phone as she steadily increases speed. She looks between the dial pad on her screen and the barely lit road ahead of us, the distant rumbling ache of the car pressing over the bridge the only bit of sound there is.