Caged Birds Don't Sing

Chapter 5

The moment the plane landed, the six of us scrambled off and practically dove into the cars that would drive us to where we needed to go. Niall had his arm around Liam, who was visibly shaken up and not saying much. I completely understood that. All the four of us had gotten out of them was that Louis had picked up the phone, and Liam had talked to Harry, so they were alive, which was good. But then...something happened. There had been other voices and then the line went dead. I knew that Niall and Liam were scared, and therefore, I was absolutely terrified.

"OK, here's the plan. Selina and Roni will go to the bathrooms in the first hallway, then Vanessa and I will take the stairs to the second floor, and Liz can go with Niall and search the ones near the stage. Sound good?" Liam asked, and we all nodded, not saying much. This wasn't just a game of hide and seek...this was a rescue mission, and we had to act quickly.

The vans pulled up right next to a large building and dropped us by the door, going down an alley to wait on us. Lucky for us, the door was open, and the building was silent...no one was in there.

"OK, we've all got a number of one person in another group...call if you find anything, and meet back down here in 30 if we come up empty, yeah?" said Liam, and we all made noises of agreement before splitting into our groups and hurrying off.

I didn't say much as Niall and I walked down the hallway. I mean, I was walking down the hallway where One Direction started with Niall freaking Horan...what was I supposed to say?

"Umm...are you doing OK?" I finally managed to say, my voice coming out as a slight whisper. Why the hell I was choosing now to get nervous I didn't know. Niall looked down at me and sighed.

"No...I'm not, Liz. They have Harry and Louis...my best friends...I have never in my life heard so much fear in Louis' voice. He was fucking terrified, and I can't do anything to help him...I don't know what to do...and Liam is scared too but I don't want to show him how scared I am. As manly and strong as he seems, he's just a big softie..."

I stopped walking and grabbed Niall's arm to stop him from walking as well. He looked away, wiping at his eyes furiously. I couldn't think of anything else to do, so I just pulled him into a gentle hug. He hesitated before hugging me back, and I could feel him shaking ever so slightly.

"We're gonna find them. I promise, they will be OK. There's six of us...we are bound to find them if we all work together. Everything will workout." I whispered, trying to comfort him. He nodded against my shoulder and then pulled away, sniffing slightly.

"C'mon...we have a clue to find."

Twenty minutes and six bathrooms later, we had gotten nowhere, and both of us were getting a bit overwhelmed. I was just trying to keep Niall from breaking down, because he continued to look on the verge of tears the longer we looked. We walked into the seventh and final bathroom and sighed, heading over to the urinals lined up on the walls. We looked everywhere, under them, between the pipes, and even by the sinks and in the paper towel dispenser. Niall put his forehead gently on the tile wall and closed his eyes, sighing shakily.

"How...fucking...hard would it have been...for Harry to just tell us where he was?" Niall whispered, and I didn't know what to do.

"What did Harry say to you?" I asked timidly, not wanting to upset him even more.

"According to Liam, he told us that we had to follow the clues. He couldn't tell us where he was, because...well, we don't know. The call ended right after that. And it didn't sound good either."

"Well, Harry would have a very good reason for not telling you where he was. He wouldn't hide something like this from either of you unless he was protecting you. So I think we've got no choice but to trust him." I said, and Niall nodded, straightening up and rubbing his temples.