Perilous (Harry Styles)

chapter 26

"The story of life is quicker than the blink of an eye, the story of love is hello, goodbye."

- Jimi Hendrix

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Zoey's POV

I was literally on the porch already and about to run down the stairs to get to Freedom's Park as fast as possible, when I tripped over a pair of shoes that I had all forgotten about and fell down the stairs and landed on my knees.

A shrill scream escaped my lips and a hot, white pain shot through my body. A string of profanities followed, ending in Phoebe and Adrian, who had arrived a while ago, to rush to my side.

"Zoey! What happened?" My sister worriedly asked, helping me turn around to sit on my butt.

"I fucking fell," I muttered in disbelief, not quite understanding how someone could be that stupid.

My hands burned from the crash, but on further inspection, I saw that it was only a scrape on my palms.

"Okay, can you get up? I'll drive you to the hospital," Adrian spoke up, hunching down next to Phoebe.

"I'm fine," I spat, irritated and annoyed with myself.

Phoebe opened her mouth to speak but hesitated. Her gaze dropped to my knees, forcing me to follow the trail of her eyes.

Blood smeared all around both of them, a trail of red running down my left leg to my ankle. Dirt mixed into all of this, and with just one look, I could tell that we wouldn't be able to clean it ourselves.

"Shit," I cursed, finally understanding why the two of them were worried – or at least wanted to bring me to the hospital. "Guys, I can't."

"What do you mean, "you can't"?" Adrian questioned, raising his eyebrows. He stood up to his full height and outstretched his hands, helping me to stand up as well.

Pain burned through my legs, but I bit my lip and pushed the thoughts of it out of my mind. "Harry's waiting for me."

"No way. I'll call him and tell him to meet you later," Adrian replied inhumanly fast and held up a finger when he saw that I was about to protest.

I turned around to look at my sister in panic, hoping she would understand. "Phoebe, I need to know what's going on. Now."

"No, you need to get that cleaned up." She clasped my hands firmly in hers, trying to calm down the shaking of mine that I hadn't noticed until now.

Adrian walked back inside, not even giving me the opportunity to listen to the conversation. Minutes later, he walked outside again with his car keys in his hands. "Hop in, ladies."

I knew that fighting them would be pointless, Adrian would probably just carry me to the hospital. Besides, as far as I was concerned, he had already cancelled my planned meeting with Harry.

Again, I cursed myself for being so stupid and tripping over goddamned shoes that had always been on our porch.

Phoebe sat down behind the passenger's seat, allowing me to outstretch my legs. I winced a little as the stinging pain got more urgent, but tried to play it down nevertheless.

"What did Harry say?" I asked Adrian once he had started the car.

"He wanted to come to the hospital, but I told him you weren't in a life-threatening situation," he responded, rolling his eyes at Harry's concern. "And, before you'll ask, no, he didn't sound mad or angry at you, rather worried for a loved one."