Artwork [h.s]

thirty-one

All of sudden I heard a whistling sound coming from somewhere behind me.

"And down he goes!" Someone exclaimed cheerfully, a short but loud laugh following.

"Someone drank a little bit too much!" The boy next to Noah said, getting another beer from somewhere on the other side of the couch. "Classic."

Noah chuckled at his words, turning to look at me just in time to see the confusion written all over my face. "Nothing to worry about Sierra, this stuff happens a lot at parties. Someone drinks a bit too much and goes down."

I gave him a little nod, a feeling of uneasiness settling into my chest when my eyes drifted to where Harry was lying. "Harry?" I called him hesitantly as the other boys went back to chatting amicably, their drunken state causing them to laugh at the most random things, that they kept addressing as if they were the funniest in the world.

Harry didn't move or give any sign of having heard me, so I leant forward slightly and called him again, but with the same result.

"Harry!" I said louder, standing up and reaching him in fast strides, nervousness starting to lace my words. I fell down on my knees, putting my hand on his shoulder and shaking him lightly. "Harry?" I called him, taking advantage of our closeness not to shout his name again. I studied his face carefully, waiting for some kind of response that didn't come. I widened my eyes, the nervousness that was bubbling up in my chest blooming into pure panic at his lack of reaction. "Something's wrong!" I shouted to overcome the sound of the music, turning my head to look at the cheering boys sitting on the couch.

The majority of them gave me empty stares, far too drunk to even realise the danger of the moment, but the brown haired boy that was sitting on the armrest shot up and slid next to me fast, the look in his eyes matching mine.

He turned Harry's body around so that he was laying on his back, his fingers hurriedly pressing against his neck to check his heartbeat. "Is he breathing?" He asked fast, grabbing the beer bottle from one of the sitting boy's' hands.

I hovered over Harry's face, trying to remember what I was supposed to do from that one class I'd had a couple of years before. "A bit?" I said, the words feeling stale as soon as they came out of my mouth. "I don't think he's breathing right" I added, hesitance mixing with apprehension in my voice.

"Someone call 999!" The boy shouted while wetting his hand with the beer that was left in the bottle, glaring at the boys on the sofa when he noticed nobody was doing anything. "For fuck's sake Noah, get off your ass and call 999!"

Noah looked up when he was addressed directly, confusion into his light grey eyes as he took in the boy's worried state, the message finally making it through the cloud of leftover excitement and drunkenness as he stood up with his phone in his hand and disappeared in the other room.

The brunette patted Harry's cheek with his wet hand, frowning when he still got no reaction. "For fuck's sake, Harry" he huffed, checking his pulse again.

I stared at Harry's closed eyes, unconsciously waiting for them to open, a frown on my face as I went over my memories of the whole night to understand when it all had gone wrong. But they didn't open, and I was left to stare at him, the sounds all around me becoming muted as I waited for something - just something, to happen. Anything that could've broken the trance everything seemed to have just fallen in.

All of sudden my forearm was grabbed harshly. "Sierra!" The brunette boy shouted, getting my attention as we hovered over Harry, on opposite sides of his waist. "Did he take anything? Did you see him take anything?" He asked fast, and I shook my head.

"No" I said, starting to doubt my own words.

He let out a nervous sigh as soon as I spoke. "Were you with him for the whole night?"