window and I groan, rolling to my side, trying to block it out. When I hear banging on the door, I turn and scream into the pillow, muffling the sound.
Urgh!
One thing I dislike about being pregnant is not being able to lie down on my stomach. I won’t even attempt to do it, but the urge is never too far from my mind when I’m lying in bed. Especially when it’s the best position to be in when you want to block out unwanted noises, like someone knocking on your door at God knows what time in the morning.
Sliding my legs off the side of the bed, I look down at my crinkled dress I didn’t bother to change out of last night and silently curse. When I look in the mirror at my wild blonde hair, I try to tame it down as much as I can before heading towards the door. On the way the knocking gets louder, so picking up my speed I end up stubbing my toe on the corner of the sofa.
“Argh, fuck! Owe,’’ I cry out, really wanting to jump up and down in pain, but my large stomach prevents me from doing anything, so instead I have to grit my teeth and wait for it to subside. I try until the banging continues to become much louder.
“Alright, alright,’’ I shout through the locked door.
Opening the door, I’m surprised to find Harlow on my doorstep looking nervous.
“Hey,’’ she waves, her bottom lip trembling.
“Hey, what’s wrong?’’ I ask looking behind her for Malik. Since the attack a few months back Malik hasn’t left her side from what she’s said on the phone. When I went to live with my Nan we spoke a few times over email and text, but for the most part I distanced myself from her and everyone else linked to Mason, scared of how much harder it would be for me to hear that he had moved on.
“We need to talk.’’
“Okay, come in. I’m sorry it took me a while, I’ve only just got up.’’
“I’m sorry, did I wake you?’’ she asks taking a seat on the sofa.
“Nah,’’ I lie. “Would you like a cup of tea?’’
“Sure.’’
After making a cup of tea and a piece of toast for myself I head back into the front room and sit on the comfy, thick armchair, pulling my feet under me.
“What’s wrong?’’ I ask after taking a bite of my toast.
“Gram’s has been asking why the court case has been taking so long to go to trial. We found out today after the police finally released the information that the case is still ongoing.’’
“What do you mean ongoing?’’ I ask her confused. The case should be straight forward. Davis drugged her, took her against her will and was going to rape her. Not to mention the physical scars she will carry for the rest of her life.
“Can you remember the day you left?’’
“Yeah.’’ Like I could forget the day I left. I never thought I’d be able to breathe again when Nan and I drove away.
“Hannah left that night getting into a car...’’
“Yeah, with some woman wearing scrubs,’’ I finish, wondering where this is going. I hate talking about that bitch and what she originally planned to do to Harlow. I should have beaten her ass harder when I had the chance. Hannah has always been the school bitch, but what she was going to do to Harlow went far beyond ‘bitch.’
“That’s it. I couldn’t remember...,’’ she says trailing off. The look on her face has me worrying. She’s paler than normal and is hesitant to talk to me about whatever is bothering her, which just makes me all the more curious.
“Harlow, please just tell me what is wrong, you’re worrying me now.’’
“She’s disappeared. Her mom said she got dropped off at home before she went to work and no one has seen her since. At first her mom thought she went to stay with her dad in London, she’s been known to do that during the Holidays, but when she called Hannah she never answered.’’
“She’s probably hiding because she’s ashamed of what she did. She’s going to get in trouble and she knows it.’’
“That’s what I said, but then... then the solicitor called this morning telling us why the trial has been postponed for so long and it’s because she was one of the main witnesses to the case. They found a bloody jacket, the same one she’d been wearing the night her