Chapter 26 ~ Landslide

 Disclaimer: Bex, the girls and the plot of this story are mine. All rights reserved to 1D and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go". This is 95% fiction, 5% real. Some of the names have been changed to protect the innocent. The places are real. Please remember that we, fanfic writers, take time out of our lives to write for enjoyment. To make others laugh, cry and smile. Please leave love for your fave writers, no matter who they may be. And please, don't steal their work. Thanks to my beta and concert buddy, C! As always much love to her, my girls and you...the people who take the time to read my indulgence. For T...you've waited so patiently. xo. Landslide

Chapter 26

April 24, 2015

9:45 pm

I finished my packing and excitedly went to find the girls. Em was off from the bar. The three of us agreed we were going to eat our weight in junk food, drink and dance to our hearts content. 

We hadn’t had a proper girls night like this in ages.  Emily was preparing bowls of popcorn, Cheetos and chips.  A pan of poppers and mozzarella sticks sat on the stove waiting to go in the oven. Gray was in the backyard building a fire and setting up chairs. 

I stepped out on the patio and looked straight up into the clear night sky.  My friend was out. The Sisters of the Moon would be bonding under its light.

We talked about our week. Gray complained she had to go back out to New York for a few days while I was basking in the L.A. sun. Emily promised her she could drink for free every night after she got off the train. I confided that I was nervous about flying out to see Harry. 

“Why on earth are you nervous?” Gray laughed tossing a cheeto at me.

“I think I might tell him.”

“What? That you’re in love with him? Don’t be nervous about that. He’s into you. No worries!” Em hugged me to her. 

“What if he doesn’t feel the same? Talk about making it awkward.  Maybe I should book a hotel or call Cal and see if I can stay with him if it all goes wrong?” I downed the rest of my beer.

“You could, but I don’t think you’ll have any issues. He’s head over heels for you,” Gray smiled at me. “Honestly, you two need to just make your feelings known and have a good shag.”

I tossed the bottle cap of the newly opened beer in my hand at her, “You two are so sex obsessed.”

“One of us has to get some!”

The three of us loved the movie Practical Magic. We pulled the chairs away from the fire and blasted Harry Nilsson’s “Coconut”.  We were dancing around under the bright beam of my old friend the moon when Grace’s phone started going nuts. 

Then my phone started ringing. 

“Hello?” I answered out of breath.

“Rebekah, it’s Mason from the London office,” the man sounded panicked.

“Yes, what can I help you with?”

“There’s been a 7.8 magnitude earthquake in Nepal. I know you’re on some well deserved time off, but...”

“Mason...oh come on!”

“I wouldn’t have called but we need all hands on deck. Please?”

“I have to switch around some things. Let me call you back.” I could tell this was huge. Gray was on her cell and Emily’s as she ran past me into the house.

“Please...as soon as you can,” he practically begged me before hanging up.

“What’s going on?” Em asked with wide eyes. 

“Major Earthquake in Nepal,” I answered. My heart was breaking. I couldn’t tell them no. This was a natural disaster. It was my job. It was what I was paid to do. My hands were shaking as I tried to find Harry’s number.

“Here...stop and breathe a minute,” Emily said taking the phone from me. “US cell number, yeah?”

I nodded as she handed me the phone back. 

“Hey Love!  I was just talking about you with the gang. Shouldn’t you be sleeping? Someone’s waiting for your arrival.” I could hear the anticipation in his voice. 

“H...”

“What’s wrong? What happened?” 

“I’m not coming out to L.A.  There’s been an earthquake in Nepal and...” I swallowed back the lump in my throat, “I have to go.”

“What?!?!  They don’t have anyone else to cover it?” I could hear the frustration in his voice.

“It’s all hands on deck. I have to, Harry.”

“Fuck,” he growled.

He’d promised me that he wasn’t going to be upset when I had to jet off to an assignment. 

“H...we talked about this,” I said gently.  

After a few minutes of silence, he finally took a deep breath, “Alright. It’s okay. You have to do what you have to do.  Please let me know what you can, okay?”

“I will send you all the details as soon as I have them. I’m so heartbroken over this. I wanted to see you.” I couldn’t hold back the break in my voice.

“Me too, love. Me too. Promise me you’ll be careful,” he said softly. 

“I always am. I’ll get in touch as often as I can. Service might be shit for a bit. Harry, I...”

“Bex, please don’t make this harder. It’s still see you soon, yeah?”

“Yeah. See you soon,” I cried into the phone. 

“Go on then! Get your story. Don’t forget there’s a pop star waiting here for ya.” 

“Ok. Don’t forget there’s a photographer out there dreaming of you.” I wiped a tear from my cheek as I hung up. 

The next five hours consisted of travel back to the Time office in New York and waiting for my departure time. At exactly 6:30 am, coincidentally the same time my flight was scheduled for Los Angeles, I flew out of JFK.

I was just getting ready to shut off my phone for the flight as a notification came through.  It was a photo of a man-bunned Harry looking particularly unhappy. The message under it read, “Someone’s grumpy. Jeff”  I snapped a selfie and sent it back.

That makes two of us. Please hug him for me. Bex.

I received a response almost immediately. 

Fuck. Be careful Angel. H.x

I tucked into my seat and dreamt of him through the first six of our nineteen plus hours of travel. The time difference of almost ten hours was going to wreak havoc on all of us. I was woken up by my seat mate, who happened to be Mateo’s best friend from CNN.  

“Rebekah...” he whispered softly as I opened my eyes.

“Yeah Josh?”

“You were crying. Are you alright?” he handed me a napkin.

I wiped my cheek. ”Um. Yeah. I’m okay. Thanks,” I said taking it from him. 

“If you need to talk or anything, I’m here. I know you see me as a friend of Mat’s, but I was yours too.”

While I appreciated the offer, there was no way I was going to confide in him. Most of my issues were because of his best friend. 

“I appreciate it but,” I shook my head at him.

“We all work in the same industry, Rebekah. We’re going to end up working side by side on stories. I don’t want you to feel like you don’t have anyone to talk to if there’s things going on.”  I knew he was being honest.  I decided to be honest as well.

“To be fair, Josh. You’re Mateo’s best friend. He’s not entitled to know what is going on with me. For that reason, I wouldn’t feel comfortable talking with you about anything personal.  If it’s business, I’m fine with discussing anything you’d like.” I smiled to show I didn’t have anything against him. 

“I just want you to know,” he looked down at the notes on his tray table. “I don’t agree with how Mat treated you. We all knew something wasn’t right.  A few of us tried to talk to him. He...he just wouldn’t listen. I’m sorry for that. I’m sorry I didn’t try harder to get him to see.” I could see the remorse in his eyes. 

“No one could talk to Mateo,” I said as I looked away ending the conversation.

After we’d finally landed on, I knew I had just a few moments of phone reception before I would be headed to the devastation. There was no caravan to an expensive hotel. We were headed directly to the story.

I quickly text Doc and Emily’s cell numbers to Harry.  Then I waited on the line for my last call for at least a few days to go through.

“Bex?”

“Hi, H.”

“Hell, love. I was hoping you’d call. Where are you?” He sounded anxious.

“We just landed in Nepal. I just wanted to hear your voice. I don’t think I’ll have any real service for a while,” my voice cracked.

“Please do what you have to and be safe,” he paused for a second,” I just got your text. You didn’t call the girls?” 

“No,” I sniffled. Just hearing the surprise in his voice made me realize I needed to tell him how I felt.  I looked around to see who was near me. “H...I...I just wanted to talk to you. Please let them know I landed and I’ll call when I can.” I chickened out again.

“Yeah, I’ll tell them. I’m glad you called. I...” 

“I gotta go. The trucks are here. Just remember I’m out here dreaming of you,” I said not really wanting to let him go.

“And I’m over here dreaming of you. Please be careful, Tog. Keep me updated when you can. Je te vois bientôt amour.”

“See you soon, H.”

I wiped my face with my sleeve and turned off my phone. I tossed it in my backpack and boarded the second truck. As I pulled the bag off my shoulder to place it in my lap, I heard the laugh.

“Well...guess we’ll see who the better photographer is,” the last voice I wanted to hear came from behind me.

I turned my head slowly, hoping I was just imagining it.  The smug bastard had the nerve to smile and wave at me. 

Mateo. 

“Yeah, then maybe they’ll fire your ass,” I spat at him. 

“Oh Sugar, you really should have stayed on that tour. By the way... Who’s dick did you suck to get that job? Oh...that’s right...it’s a boy band. Guess ya like ‘em young huh?” He snarled behind me. 

I could feel the red rush up my cheeks. 

“Just back off.  You’re just pissed off that you got knocked on your ass by a woman.” Josh yelled from the seat two rows in front of me. “ Don’t listen to anything he says, Oliver. He’s just a prick.”

“What?  Don’t tell me she’s sucking yours now too? You get around Rebs,” Mateo said. The sound of him using my father’s nickname made my skin crawl. 

“Sandoval!” The deep voice startled all of us.  “We’re here on an assignment. Keep your personal shit at home. If I catch you near Oliver, I will personally make sure Time fires you.” 

I shoved my ear buds in my ears as Stephen patted my shoulder making his way back up to the front of the truck. Stephen Hills was a managing editor for Time in London. He was with me when I was injured and called Mateo from the Hospital. While we didn’t work together often, I considered us friends. His admonishment of Mat was surely going to cause more issues than it was worth. Mateo Sandoval didn’t like to be called out. 

I spent the rest of the ride to our base location tuning out the talk around me.  I checked my cameras, lenses and memory cards. I took some shots out the window to get back into work mode. As I looked at each one, I noticed my perspective had changed. The shots focused more on the living things, instead of the destruction. 

As we got closer, we were stopped for a few moments as a caravan of emergency vehicles passed us. I opened the window and leaned out. A woman was sitting a hundred feet or so from the side of the road. She was cradling a small child in her lap. I continued to snap pic after pic as a man approached her. He knelt down beside her and placed a stethoscope in his ears. 

“Oliver, back in your seat! I don’t need an injured photographer on this trip,” Steven said as he pulled me from the window. He leaned in, “I’d rather not have a repeat of our first assignment together. Feel me?”

I nodded, “No worries.”

                                           ~</3~

April 28th, 2015

“Woah!” I grabbed onto Josh as another aftershock rocked us. 

The “Gorkha” earthquake happened at 11:56 am Nepal time three days ago. The 7.8 magnitude quake’s epicenter was Barpak, Gorkha.  It was the worst thing to happen to the country in 81 years; since the 1934 Nepal-Bihar earthquake. It lasted 50 seconds. Tremors were felt in Pakistan and Bhutan.  

Experts said the quake was caused by the Indian plate, which carries India, pushing under the Eurasian plate under Europe and Asia. It took 10 seconds for Kathmandu to shift 3 meters south. A 6.6 aftershock happened a little over a half an hour after the first. 

An avalanche was triggered near Mt Everest, killing 21 people. It was the deadliest day in the mountain’s history.  There were 250 missing in the Lang tang Valley due to another avalanche. 

We were currently in Kathmandu valley.  The group had been dispersed in teams. My team consisted of Josh and four others. There was no pitching tents. We were stuck in the elements. Landslides due to heavy rainfall were a concern. We took turns sleeping under a tarp in 2 hour shifts so that someone was always awake and aware of our surroundings. The rugged terrain on little sleep and the elements made it exhausting. 

“Maybe we should sit and wait it out,” Paul, a photographer from Newsweek, suggested as the tremor subsided. 

“They’re happening every 20 minutes or so,” Josh answered. “I don’t think sitting is gonna do us any good.”  There had been so many; I’d lost count after 100. 

“You can sit if you want. I’m gonna continue. We’re here to do a story and get out. They won’t keep us here if it’s too dangerous,” I said pointing my lens out in front of me. I continue to shoot the rescue teams digging through rubble, advancing slowly toward them. 

“You really have no fear, do you?” Paul asked as he came up beside me. “Weren’t you injured before?”

“It’s my job. There’s no room for fear.” I shook my head and continued my way through.

Buildings hundreds of years old had been destroyed or damaged. A number of them -  UNESCO World Heritage sites. UNESCO stands for United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization. The organization was founded to protect natural areas or architecture deemed as important to society. Other places named as world heritage sites are Yellowstone Park and Stonehenge.  Nepal is home to eight of them.  Lumbini, said to be the birthplace of Buddha, came away unscathed.  

The stairs were the only thing left of a temple in Durbar Square.  

The Dharahara Temple, which stood tall over Kathmandu for 183 years was only a mound of rubble. 

As the days progressed, we found villages flattened. Churches in the Valley collapsed.  Five hundred people were killed in the collapse. The earthquake hit on their day of worship, Saturday.

Growing concerns about epidemics due to lack of toilets, no fresh water and the makeshift nature in which people were forced to live. Rainfall and the continued aftershocks hampered rescue. 

Helping any way we could, we tried to take care to keep ourselves healthy.

Author note: For those who have stayed, I cannot express my thanks enough. For those who may be new, I hope you enjoy the ride. All I can do is apologize for the long wait. Real Life can suck the creativity right out of you. All the Love, LadyH x.