Chapter 53- Taunting Prayers

[] L E O []

The world was spinning.

Gemma's words were pounding through my skull.

"She's gone. Amelia... she's gone Leo."

I could barely register anything. I couldn't register that my phone slipped from my hands, or that I fell to the ground with a thud, my hands reaching for my head.

'It couldn't be. It couldn't be...'

That was all I repeated in my head.

'Abolutely not. Amelia isn't gone anywhere.'

After a few moments, a voice pulled me out of my reverie.

I looked up through my blurred vision to see Fatima leaning over me. Her face was pulled up in concern and she was saying something to me. It sounded disoriented and in a different language.

Was she praying for me?

She must be.

Maybe that was what I needed right now. Or maybe I didn't. Maybe a prayer couldn't save me right now.

Maybe nothing could.

I could feel myself falling. Falling into an empty hole.

My heart was aching.

'Where is she, where is she, where is-'

My heart fell to my stomach, and bile was rising up my throat.

'Amelia, Amelia, Amelia, Moonie-'

Another face broke out in my vision. I looked up to see Jamal looking down at me in concern. He suddenly reached a hand forward, and then it seemed like the world was spinning again. I felt taller now. Almost as tall as him. I took me a moment to figure out that he just pulled me off of the ground. He shook me using my jacket, and that caused me to only look up to him in surprise.

"Snap out of it, Leo! She's not dead!"

And that finally pulled me out of the void I was in.

And then he was pulling me.

He dragged me away from her room, and even though I wanted to fight him, I couldn't.

Jamal had wrapped his arm around me, and forced me to walk. It took great effort, and somehow, we ended up in front of another foreign building. Another dormitory.

We somehow made it into the elevator, and Jamal finally turned to me.

"It's okay mate. We'll find her. She'll be fine."

I swallowed back the tears at his words.

The elevator tinged and we stumbled forward. This time, I moved without Jamal's help, wanting to get to wherever we needed to right away. I wanted to find Amelia right now.

Jamal lead us to a door, and he made his way inside before knocking. I quickly followed inside and closed the door behind me.

Sobs wracked through the room. I swallowed and looked up to see Gemma sobbing, her face hidden in Andre's chest. Andre was sitting beside her, his hand in her hair to calm her down. When she heard the door, Gemma quickly whipped her head up. Her eyes quickly found mine, asking the question I had been wanting to ask her myself.

"L-Leo, where is she?" she asked.

I deflated. Gemma didn't know either. I sighed and took a step toward her.

"I don't know, Gemma," I croaked out, feeling an overwhelming amount of sadness coursing through me.

I sighed and took a step closer to her. I came to a stop in front of her, raking a hand through my hair.

"How do you know she's missing?" I asked.

"She called Leo."

My ears perked up at the news.

"She called me nearly 2 hours ago. And like and absolute idiot, I missed her call. I was still sleeping, and when I woke up, I heard the voicemail."

Gemma took a deep breath, wiping some tears away before speaking again. As bad as I felt seeing her cry, I couldn't stop her from talking. I needed to know where Amelia was too.

"She said some crazy things Leo. She said she had to leave. She had to leave before things got worse. She said not to worry, that she'll be back. But Leo, she sounded so, so scared. She kept saying it'll be fine, and when I called back, her phone went straight to voicemail."

I grabbed my hair in frustration and slapped the nearest surface I could find, which happened to be a desk. Everyone jumped at the sound, and I felt Jamal putting a hand on my chest to lightly push me back.

"Calm down Leo," Jamal said.

I let out a deep breath and pinched the bridge of my nose in frustration.

There was silence in the room for the next few minutes. Andre was next to speak, his voice breaking the tension in the room.

"Did you hear anything in the back Gemma? Any sounds, voices that were out of place?" Andre asked.

I turned to Gemma as Andre said this, hoping to hear a good answer. Gemma let out a staggered breath and quickly wiped away her tears.

"She was definitely in her car. She has that annoying bell on her dashboard and I can recognize it anywhere."

"Where do you think she went?" Jamal asked.

"I don't know Jamal. I don't know what could've possibly caused this-"

Gemma's eyes then widened. She let out a small breath, and then her gaze snapped to mine.

"Wait a minute- why are you freaking out Leo? You should know where she went. We left her with you," Gemma said, her tone accusing.

My eyes narrowed at her words.

"What happened between you two Leo? What happened that Amelia left you this morning?"

My heart fell at her words. I took a step closer to her, my eyes watering with feelings I couldn't contain.

"You think I fucking caused this, Gemma? You think I'm the reason she suddenly left without telling anyone?"

Gemma's eyes widened.

"No- that's not what I-"

"I've been going crazy ever since I came back to the apartment, only to find it empty. I feel like a piece of me was ripped out because she left without saying anything-"

"Leo," I heard Jamal say, but I couldn't stop.

I kept going.

"-I've been worried sick, thinking that Jackson got to her, or worse, that she finally realized that she should have nothing to do with me-"

"One second Leo-" Gemma cut me off.

"-And that she finally realized that I'm just not worth it. That my love isn't worth her."

Gemma gasped. Andre froze as he turned to me. Jamal took his hand off of my chest, which I didn't realize was trying to push me away from a startled Gemma all this time.

And all I could do was cry in front of the people who I came to know as my best friends, for the second time in the last 12 hours. I took a step away from them and turned to face the wall, not wanting to see their faces.

"I told her I loved her, and she... she just left."

I pressed my hands on the desk, slouching onto it, unable to contain my emotions anymore. Tears dripped down my face continuously, and I didn't try to stop them. There was no use. They'd end up betraying me anyways.

How can I feel love and heartbreak all in one day?

Last night with Amelia had been the most amazing night of my life. She kissed me. She didn't push me away like I thought she would. Then what changed? What happened as soon as I left the house?

"I'm sorry, Leo," I heard Gemma softly call out.

I couldn't respond.

I felt a hand touch my shoulder in reassurance, and that finally brought me out of my reverie. I quickly stood up straight again, the hand slipping off. I wiped away my tears and turned to face the rest.

"This isn't important right now. We need to find Amelia. I need to know what happened," I quickly said.

All three of them nodded in approval,  silent pity hanging in their eyes.

Suddenly, Gemma stood up. She took a few steps towards me, and brought a hand to rest on my arm. Her face was blotchy with tears, fresh ones still running down her face.

"I'm sorry, Leo," she repeated. "I know you could never do something to hurt her. And as her best friend, I know, I just know she didn't do this to run away from you. She's stronger than that. She's strong enough to fight for the ones she loves."

I sucked in a breath at her words, previous thoughts that Amelia might have run away from me because I confessed, slowly diminishing from my mind.

I slowly nodded at her, and Gemma squeezed my arm in assurance.

"It's okay Gemma. You're just worried about her as much as I am," I said.

She smiled slightly, both of us feeling a bit lighter.

"Okay guys, I think I have an idea then," Andre suddenly said, coming up behind Gemma.

Gemma's hand fell from my arm as she turned to Andre. Jamal joined us, and then we were all waiting to hear what Andre had to say.

"It seems like something else happened. Something we're missing," he started. "Leo, did you leave her alone at all?"

I nodded.

"I went to go get groceries this morning. I told her I'll be back soon and she told me she'd stay there."

"Then something definitely went majorly wrong. Gemma," he said, turning to her. "Do you have anyone you can contact back home for her? Her parents, or even John?"

Gemma's eyes widened in surprise.

"Yes, I do actually. She gave me her mom's number in case of an emergency. I'll call her right now."

Gemma then pulled out her phone, swiftly going through her contacts. Once she found what she was looking for, she dialled the number and held out the phone between our circle on speaker.

The phone rang three times before someone answered.

"Hello?" I heard a woman's voice on the other end.

"Mrs. Harrison?" Gemma mumbled out.

"Yes... this is me. Who is this?"

"My name is Gemma. I- uh, I don't know if you remember me, but I was a friend of Amelia's in high school. We recently connected here in college and are good friends again," Gemma explained.

There was a silence on the other end before Amelia's mom spoke again.

"Oh goodness, of course I remember you, sweetie. How are you?" Mrs. Harrison said.

Gemma let out a breath of relief, a watery smile gracing her lips.

"I'm alright. How are you?"

"Good. How did you get my number?"

"Amelia had given me your number a while back in case of an emergency, as I did with her and my parents. I just wanted to know, did she contact you at all today?"

I braced myself for her answer.

"I called her today. There was an... issue here we needed to talk to her about. Why? Is she upset?" She said worriedly from the other side.

My heart shattered at her words.

We all shared a look, finally understanding what was going on. Gemma sucked in a breath and spoke.

"No. Actually, she isn't here. We... we can't find her and now, I think she's on her way to you guys," Gemma said.

Mrs. Harrison gasped from the other side.

"Oh honey, I didn't mean for this to happen. I told her she can solve everything from where she is. Goodness, she's driving out here in this weather?" She said worriedly.

I couldn't help it at this point. I needed to speak to her. I turned to Gemma with a pleading look, and her eyes widened a fraction before she thrusted the phone in my direction.

"Hello Mrs. Harrison," I said, cutting into the conversation. "This is Leo. A... friend of Amelia's."

She was silent on the other side for a moment, before responding to me.

"Hello, Leo."

I let out a deep breath, trying not to break down again as I spoke to her mother.

"I just... I just wanted to ask if you can text us when she gets there safely."

Silence was heard from the other side. I waited for her response, my heart beating a mile a minute.

"Of course, Leo. I'll text Gemma to let her know. And don't worry, she's in deep trouble when she gets home," she said briskly.

I finally let out a small smile at her words, picturing Amelia getting scolded by her parents at this age. Which she should.

What she did was utterly stupid.

"Hey now, Mrs. Harrison go a little easy on our little one, eh?" Jamal said.

"And goodness, who are you?" She said from the other side.

"I'm Jamal Bronco."

"Any more of you there?"

"I'm Andre, last of the four very worried friends of your daughter," Andre said cheekily, despite the seriousness of the situation.

Mrs. Harrison let out a little chuckle at his answer.

"I'm glad to know you all are looking out for her. I'll have to leave now, but I will contact you when Amelia gets home."

We ended the call with goodbyes, and all sighed in relief once the call was over. Silence engulfed us once again, our thoughts everywhere at once.

"Home. She went home." Andre simply said.