Amazing Grace
Chapter 8
Harry’s POV
Grace had been gone almost 10 minutes now. I know girls needed time to beautify themselves, but I was starting to get worried. Maybe Grace was right, maybe I did baby her. I decided to wait another 5 minutes. She’d come back, she was probably just fixing her hair or something. I came up with a dozen excuses as to why she was taking so long, but none of them made sense. Grace was never the kind of girl who took extra time to fix her hair or reapply her lipstick.
Now 15 minutes had gone by and she hadn’t returned. My stomach turned in anxious knots and I got up, throwing money on the table and moving quickly towards the ladies room. I barged in, not caring who else was in there, but all the stalls were empty. There was no window in the room so the fluorescent lights shined obnoxiously in my face, like a hospital, and that only made my stomach turn more. I went back out to the bar part of the building and leaned over, asking the bartender if he’d seen a girl with reddish hair and red shirt walk this way recently. He said yeah, and pointed towards the back door.
“She left that way with her boyfriend” he said grunting. I thought I was going to be sick.
“Her boyfriend?” I spat, my pulse quickening.
“Yeah buddy, he was holding her by the waist and they left out the back door. Now scram I got a bar to tend to” he said walking away. By now my stomach was in the basement, my heart hammering against my chest. How could I have let this happen? I told her I would protect her and now God knows what happened to her. I sprinted out the back exit, my eyes scanning the parking lot desperately for any sign of her.
“Grace! Grace where are you?!” I shouted. My echo was the only answer to my pleas. What was I going to do? Then it dawned on me. There was one person who would know how to help. Helene. I ran back to my car and sped to her flat. I turned the half hour drive into a 15 minute one, my adrenaline pumping through me. No one was going to hurt her, I promised her that. I screeched to a halt in front of their building and sprinted up the stairs. Banging on the door I prayed that she was home. Within seconds a small blonde girl answered the door, her hazel eyes shone with worry.
“Hi Helene. I know you don’t know me, but my name is-“
“Harry Styles” she said flatly. “I know exactly who you are. Come in. I’ve been expecting you.” I walked into Grace and Helene’s apartment. I didn’t pay much attention to the appearance, just sat down across from Helene in an armchair and waited. She already knew why I was here, but how? “About a half hour ago I got a phone call from a blocked number and I let it go to voicemail,” she said while unlocking her phone and opening the voice mail. The voice on the other end of the phone made me sick.
‘Hi Helene, it’s your good friend Aiden. Long time no see huh? Let’s just cut to the chase. I’d very much like you to do me a favor and send Harry my way, since I’ve no way to reach to him. He’ll know where to find me since I did deliver LIVING room furniture to the place where he’ll be DYING in. I’ll take verrryyy good care of Grace until he arrives.’ – Click.
My fists were balled so tightly my knuckles were white. I couldn’t think straight. All I could think about was tearing that monster limb from limb so he could never touch my Grace again. I couldn’t live with myself if I knew that I’d let her get hurt. I stood up and walked toward the door.
“Wait Harry. We both care about Grace a lot but I don’t want you to run into this situation and get both of you hurt. I’m a federal agent, we can call the hostage team.” Helene said, reasoning with me.
“No.” I said angrily. “I started this, and I’m going to finish it. He wants a fight, then I’ll give him one.” I slammed the door behind me and all but sprinted down the stairs. Just as I was about to get into my car, Helene’s voice came again from behind me.
“Then at least let me come with you.” As she said it she lifted the side of her jacket to reveal a handgun tucked into the waist of her pants. I nodded and waited for her to hop into the passenger seat before spinning the tires and speeding off towards Grace & I’s apartment.
Grace had been gone almost 10 minutes now. I know girls needed time to beautify themselves, but I was starting to get worried. Maybe Grace was right, maybe I did baby her. I decided to wait another 5 minutes. She’d come back, she was probably just fixing her hair or something. I came up with a dozen excuses as to why she was taking so long, but none of them made sense. Grace was never the kind of girl who took extra time to fix her hair or reapply her lipstick.
Now 15 minutes had gone by and she hadn’t returned. My stomach turned in anxious knots and I got up, throwing money on the table and moving quickly towards the ladies room. I barged in, not caring who else was in there, but all the stalls were empty. There was no window in the room so the fluorescent lights shined obnoxiously in my face, like a hospital, and that only made my stomach turn more. I went back out to the bar part of the building and leaned over, asking the bartender if he’d seen a girl with reddish hair and red shirt walk this way recently. He said yeah, and pointed towards the back door.
“She left that way with her boyfriend” he said grunting. I thought I was going to be sick.
“Her boyfriend?” I spat, my pulse quickening.
“Yeah buddy, he was holding her by the waist and they left out the back door. Now scram I got a bar to tend to” he said walking away. By now my stomach was in the basement, my heart hammering against my chest. How could I have let this happen? I told her I would protect her and now God knows what happened to her. I sprinted out the back exit, my eyes scanning the parking lot desperately for any sign of her.
“Grace! Grace where are you?!” I shouted. My echo was the only answer to my pleas. What was I going to do? Then it dawned on me. There was one person who would know how to help. Helene. I ran back to my car and sped to her flat. I turned the half hour drive into a 15 minute one, my adrenaline pumping through me. No one was going to hurt her, I promised her that. I screeched to a halt in front of their building and sprinted up the stairs. Banging on the door I prayed that she was home. Within seconds a small blonde girl answered the door, her hazel eyes shone with worry.
“Hi Helene. I know you don’t know me, but my name is-“
“Harry Styles” she said flatly. “I know exactly who you are. Come in. I’ve been expecting you.” I walked into Grace and Helene’s apartment. I didn’t pay much attention to the appearance, just sat down across from Helene in an armchair and waited. She already knew why I was here, but how? “About a half hour ago I got a phone call from a blocked number and I let it go to voicemail,” she said while unlocking her phone and opening the voice mail. The voice on the other end of the phone made me sick.
‘Hi Helene, it’s your good friend Aiden. Long time no see huh? Let’s just cut to the chase. I’d very much like you to do me a favor and send Harry my way, since I’ve no way to reach to him. He’ll know where to find me since I did deliver LIVING room furniture to the place where he’ll be DYING in. I’ll take verrryyy good care of Grace until he arrives.’ – Click.
My fists were balled so tightly my knuckles were white. I couldn’t think straight. All I could think about was tearing that monster limb from limb so he could never touch my Grace again. I couldn’t live with myself if I knew that I’d let her get hurt. I stood up and walked toward the door.
“Wait Harry. We both care about Grace a lot but I don’t want you to run into this situation and get both of you hurt. I’m a federal agent, we can call the hostage team.” Helene said, reasoning with me.
“No.” I said angrily. “I started this, and I’m going to finish it. He wants a fight, then I’ll give him one.” I slammed the door behind me and all but sprinted down the stairs. Just as I was about to get into my car, Helene’s voice came again from behind me.
“Then at least let me come with you.” As she said it she lifted the side of her jacket to reveal a handgun tucked into the waist of her pants. I nodded and waited for her to hop into the passenger seat before spinning the tires and speeding off towards Grace & I’s apartment.
5/31/13