Page 7 of Love Will Save the Day
Chapter Six
As soon as I put the phone down I pull up Google on my phone and immediately type in Henry Byron. I mean, he looks posh and nice and he is clearly a very enthusiastic type of personbuthe could also be a criminal who plans to keep me locked in a room as a living doll. But as I scroll the results, all I can see are YouTube videos and Reddit posts about the spoken word romance poet Henry Byron. I click the image tab to check if it’s the same guy. It is. There are tons of snaps of him on stage, mic in hand, smiling the same wide smile he was smiling when I met him today. I do a little more digging and by all accounts he’s a pretty big deal, at least in the world of spoken word poetry.
I click onto Henry Byron’s YouTube channel to find lots of videos of him and every one with over 100,000 views. He’s got 300,000 subscribers too! No wonder he seemed so cheerful to a stranger. He looks like he looks and he has 300,000 YouTube subscribers. I’d be in a permanently good mood too! I click on a few of his live performance videos, and while I don’t quite understand the appeal of romantic poetry, I can’t deny that he is more charismatic than the average handsome guy and also excellent at rhyming words. I scroll through the comments. They’re crammed full of fangirls and fanboys expressing how much they admire his romantic posture in a world where so many men are afraid to express their emotions.
I notice a video that was posted about a month ago, the thumbnail is an image of Henry staring into the camera with tear filled eyes. The title of the video isBeyond Grateful to a Mystery Woman. Ooh, I bet this is about me. Well, you know, the woman hethinksis me. I push away the tiny flicker of guilt and press play.
Henry talks into the camera as comfortably as if he were talking to an old friend.
‘Wow. What a day, guys. I don’t quite know how to say this but… I almost died today.’ He presses a hand to his chest and shakes his head as if he can’t quite believe what he’s saying. ‘I was stuffing my face with a chicken taco which, as you guys know I am partial to from time to time. And then, to my horror, I startedchoking. Like actual, real choking. My goodness.’ He bites his lip, his voice shaking slightly. ‘I was starting to lose consciousness when all of a sudden I felt this yank in my belly.’ He mimes someone yanking on his belly. ‘A stranger was doing the Heimlich manoeuvre on me! They successfully squeezed the chicken from my throat.’ He leans forward into the camera. ‘By that time a small crowd had gathered. I was beyond terrified! I turned around to thank whoever had just saved my life. It was a woman and before I could even thank her, she saidyou’re welcomeand then just dashed right into the entrance of Ladbroke Grove tube station. I was too dazed to do anything but watch her go. What the heck?’
I gaze at the screen, eyes wide, rapt at the engaging way that Henry relays his near death experience. It really sounds like it was a horrid experience for him. Thank God that quick thinking woman was nearby.
Henry then goes on to say how desperate he is to find the woman who saved him from choking. He says all he knows is what she looks like and that he’s going to go back to Ladbroke Grove tube station everyday until he finds her. I shake my head in amazement. What a story. No wonder he was so happy to see me today. Maybe that’s why he mistook me for the hero woman so easily – four weeks of trawling around Ladbroke Grove in the cold would make you pretty desperate to find the thing you’re looking for. And desperate enough to make a mistake...
I grab another glass of water and attempt to sober up before scrolling down to the comments section where I find tons of messages from people thanking the heavens that Henry is alive and well. More than a few of them muse about who the mystery life saving woman is because she sounds incredible. They’re right. She really does sound incredible.
Another spike of guilt darts my chest and I shake it away immediately.
It’s only a little white lie I’m telling. And it’s only temporary. It’s not hurting anyone and Ireallyam desperate…
I look around my studio flat sadly. And then I pull out my suitcase and start to pack.
