Farfalla

9.

The air is thick and makes breathing more of a job than anything else. Moist sweat forms and sits in my pours while I start to peel open my eyes that feel like heavy curtains. My head pounded against the flat pillow they laid under me for comfort but it didn't help much. The mattress was flatter to the floor then I would have liked causing an ache in my back to throb up and down my spine.

My body so weak that keeping conscious was proving to be difficult. My muscles were paralyzed from any movement no matter how hard I tried to move just my finger. Muscles unmovable and the headache pulsing against my skull brought a sickness that festered in my stomach.

My mouth was dry from the heat outside of my body causing me to sweat. Looking down at my arms I saw the same IV inserted into my skin. My eyes trailed up the tube that was attached to a bag of clear fluid that I no doubt knew was the host of my sickness.

Voices that were blurring together conspired a few inches from the closed curtain that served as a door. I did my best to concentrate on what they said but was only getting parts of the conversation. I couldn't keep the two voices straight and was frustrated by this. Why was it that I couldn't concentrate or differentiate one voice from another?

"She needs to be transported to the showroom by tonight." One voice spoke that was gruffer than the other.

Mustering up as much strength as I could I output a small whisper, "Harry!" The attempt to call out for him was small and pathetic. Again, I whispered out his name hoping that even though it was impossible that Harry would hear me.

"How long do we have?" The other voice asked, this one more dark. This showroom they were speaking of put me on edge knowing that I could not fight against them. I was confined to my mind because of the lack of control I had over my body.

"We are leaving here at seven with a load." The more gruff sounding voice spoke. Able to zero in a little more on the two voices I did my best to fight the symptoms I was experiencing. Concentrating heavily on the conversation happening outside of the curtain my nerves only became more escalated.

My stomach churned at the words. I couldn't be transported to this so-called showroom, Harry had to find me. I had no concept of time from the lack of a clock or windows and as a result wasn't sure how much longer I had left. As a matter of fact, I didn't even know how long I had been here, it could have been hours or days and I wouldn't have known the difference.

Closing my eyes fully I took in deep breaths the best I could in efforts to hold down the vomit I could feel biting in the pit of my stomach. There was no time for me to be emptying my stomach all over myself from being unable to move, I needed to keep breathing.

Curtain rings were being pulled open from the sound effect it was making. Startled noises coming from a few when the curtain was pulled to the side. The steps came closer and closer to where I laid in pain. My heart picking up from the person just outside my curtain, I wasn't ready to be taken away. Then again I don't know if anyone is ever ready to be put in a situation that I was in.

The rings of the curtain slid across the rod holding the fabric up to reveal a pair of pale green eyes and messy brown curls. He comes in close getting on his knees to the side of my bed, about to pull the needle from my arm.

"Harry!" I whispered to him with tears brimming in my eyes. Relief coming over me like a wave, my stomach becoming calmer to the sight of him.

"Hey!" Someone called from behind Harry as he was about to pick me up. I looked from behind Harry to see a man in a leather jacket with a bald head about to pounce on Harry.

Not even giving it a second thought Harry turned around before the security guard was able to reach him. Hand reaching for his gun tucked under his waistband Harry pulled the trigger on the man who threatened his rescue attempt.

"Harry." I said again whispering his name in relief that he found me. It was comforting to see a familiar face after all these people with no names.

Harry said nothing but quickly unhooked me from the IV, throwing the needle without any care. His left arm hooking under my legs he slid his right under my back picking me up with effortless strength. My head laid limp in his chest fighting the urge to fall asleep once again.

"s**t!" He swore coming up against a wall for cover. Laying me down I began to hear what Harry was swearing about. Men began piling in from the entrance from hearing the gunshot earlier when the bald-headed man tried to lunge at Harry.

"Stay here!" Harry propped me up against a wall where he would take cover. The wall assisted in keeping me upright while my head fell to the side. I was shielded from the rapid-fire coming from the other side.

Bullets bounced against the walls going back and forth. The shots being fired sharp in my ears when leaving the barrels. Shutting my eyes when I saw the first blood drawn by a hit I flinched to the scream heard from one of the men. Blood pooled on the floor making it visible to me when it streamed towards where my sight of vision was. Less and less was being fired as I saw Harry back up for me to see him once again.

My eyes droop from the tiredness catching up to me once again. My head tilts even more to the side until I see Harry come for me, picking me up bridal style. My head then again falls against his chest while I am jostled a little from his running pace.

"Stay awake Mia!" Harry instructed to me. I knew I was supposed to follow through with orders but I found this one particularly hard. My body was tired and my eyes begged for darkness.

The drugs flowed through my bloodstream. My body is weak and unable to form full sentences from being completely doped up on whatever was in that IV bag. Being jostled around in Harry's arms I groaned quietly when a rush of cold outside air hits my bare exposed skin. I began to shiver from the lack of clothing to keep me warm, only my bra and panties to cover me up. Leaning into Harry's chest I huddled into him to find warmth while I closed my eyes fully. Harry's body heat helping to regulate my dropping temperature. The grimy sweat had been sucked up by the cold outside air causing me to go from one extreme temperature to the other.

In a quick motion, I was placed in the front seat of a car that I was unaware of who it belonged to. Harry clipped a buckle over my chest knowing that safety needed to be insured in these next moments. I could hear others cuss out towards Harry, engines roaring in the dark of the night. Harry twisted the key and sped off not wasting any more time; he wanted to put as much distance between us and the others coming for us as possible.

"Mia! You have to stay awake!" Harry furrowed his brow touching my arm and shaking it while his other hand was fastened to the wheel. The pressure on him was high with the other cars following behind us, I was hardly able to express an emotion.

"I..." I trailed off not even knowing what I was going to say in the first place. I had no words to connect together to make a full sentence, everything was still jumbled and tossed around in my mind.

"Listen to my voice." Harry began taking his hand away from my arm to better focus on the road in front of him. My sloppy gaze moved to the rear view where I watched headlights follow us no matter where we turned. The Paris streets were busy but that mere fact didn't stop Harry from driving recklessly. Car horns blared in my ears a few times from Harry making turns he shouldn't have but this didn't bother him. He didn't show an ounce of stress or strain from any of this.

I groaned lightly having the urge to close my eyes fully again but decided to keep fighting a little longer. I moved my eyes slowly to Harry, he was becoming blurry from my efforts to keep my eyelids from falling. Usually, I wouldn't be on the brink of sleep during a car chase such as this but circumstances were different. I didn't worry or feel any stress when Harry would turn all too sharply and bring force to push me against the side door.

"I need you to stay awake for me." Harry's voice spoke again in a raspy tone that wasn't demanding but instructive.

"I...I'm so...tired..." I formed slowly breathing slower at the sleep that pulled and tugged at me.

"I know you are but you need to keep your eyes open." He explained to me. He knew this was harder said than done and recognized I was on the brink of being unconscious.

"Harry..." I mumbled before the light went out in my head. It felt like I had been awake for days even though in reality it had only been about an hour or two.

+

9:31 PM

"She's asleep." I heard Harry's voice in the quiet room.

My temperature was beginning to climb again from the blankets covering over the top of me. The bed that I resided on brought more padding to my back ultimately eliminating the coursing pain up my spine. Everything was calm and although I didn't have a clue as to how I got here I could put my best guess that Harry carried me.

"They are watching our every move, they are everywhere." Harry's voice was raspy and hinted towards stress when he spoke. This job had proven to be more than he bargained for I can only guess. I hadn't seen Harry sleep a wink in the few times we had interacted at night which worried me. He needed to be healthy in order to protect me to his fullest extent and I was depriving him of that.

"I want to get her out of France as soon as possible but, right now I don't think she is well enough to travel. I found her in bad shape." Harry continued to talk openly with the person on the other line. I didn't know exactly who he was conversing with but guessed it was my father or the agency.

I was in and out the entire time, fading from consciousness. Whatever those men did to me was affecting me even now laying in this bed. The only thing I could do was let their injection run its course.

My body ached and began sweating from the heat I was buried in. Laying on my back while my breathing steadily improved. It was no longer hard to breathe since the air was clean unlike the thick hot humid air inside that building with the black door. The pain had lessened being away from that place where the conditions were harsh and unsanitary.

Shifting slightly on the bed, the bedside lamp lit up behind my eyelids. I tracked Harry with my eyes that were only small slits, I saw him sitting in a chair beside my bed. He reached out and touched the purple bruises on my arms from the IV's the others had injected me with. Rubbing his thumb over them he moves his gaze up to me causing me to close my eyes completely in case he saw me peeking.

I heard a sigh part from his lips once he let go of my arm. Eyes opening slightly once again to see what was going on I saw his hands in his hair, his elbows bent supporting on his knees. This was a sign of stress from everything that had happened to us so far on our journey to Italy. He had been gentle with me even though I was supposed to be unaware of this.

Harry was someone who didn't have a gentle bone in his body, or so I thought. From the way, he had talked to me and treated me I would have never thought this small gesture of rubbing my arm would have ever been a thing. I would keep this to myself however, bringing it to his attention would only make him deny it.

3:42 AM

Shooting open my eyes I jerk my head to the right to see an IV stand holding a bag of clear liquid. Trailing down I see there is a needle inserted into my arm just like before.

My eyes became glassy in an attempt to pull away from the needle that was pulsing unknown fluids into my body. Going to rip off the medical tape and needle a hand stopped me from doing so.

I jerked my head up to see Harry, his lips parting to calm me down. "Stop! Stop its okay, it's fluids to combat the drugs."

I look into his eyes that are shaded by the dark room. The green pigment harder to see from the lighting of the night that seeped in around us. Slowly my hand drew away from my arm where his hand hovered over the needle.

"You're okay. You're fine." He soothed being more gentle with me then usually. I liked this side of Harry and wondered if something like this would ever last.

After a few minutes of regaining a steady breathing pattern I become less tense. Settling back into the bed and loosening my muscles I adjusted my position to find comfort.

"Harry?" I whispered hoping that he would answer my call to him.

His eyes met with mine for a response. Swallowing I opened my mouth to ask him yet another question, I saw an opportunity to get a few questions answered. Seeing this more gentle side I figured Harry would be more forthcoming with answering the few questions that ran in my mind.

"Why are these people after me?" I breathed keeping my eyes on his as he did the same. I watched him shake his head and run a hand through his hair.

"It's classified information." Was all he said, even though he was still closed off he didn't raise his voice or roll his eyes at me.

"I'm afraid." I whispered again in the moonlight that spilled through the window. I was afraid of what I didn't know.

"I'm not letting you out of my sight." His hand touched my IV placement once again lighting a fire inside of me. He was being so kind and gentle, roughly reminding me of Louis.

"Now get some sleep." He instructed pulling his hand away after a few seconds. Sinking fully for the bed to engulf me I fluttered my eyes letting the sleep come over me, not fighting it.

-May 15, 2017