Save Her Tonight (A One Direction Fanfiction)

Merry Christmas, everyone.

And a Happy New Year.

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Naomi’s Point of View

I went downstairs after I heard my Mom come up. It was about 2 in the morning, but I couldn’t sleep. I go to get food, but I see someone else is already raiding the refrigerator.

“Hey there, couldn’t sleep?” I ask.

Niall jumps, then turns to face me, looking guilty.

“Yeah, I was hungry…” he says.

His eyes flash guiltily over to the end table, where Santa’s milk and cookies were left. And the plate was empty.

“Did you eat Santa’s cookies?” I laugh. He grins sheepishly.

“Guilty. But they were good. Too bad Santa’s missing out on them,” he says with the whisper of a smile playing on his face. I open the doors to the pantry, and pull out my secret stash. Yes, I stole at least fifteen cookies this year. The cookies are good, so how could I let them go to waste either?

His eyes light up.

“How did you---?” he asks.

“I take them every year,” I shrug. “Can’t let Santa have them all, can I?” I wink with fake nonchalance, walking over and poking his stomach, where the cookies that were meant for Santa are now. He laughs, and I offer him one. We both sit at the booster chairs at the counter. Niall and I each take a cookie, and sit there, awkwardly eating.

“So, how’s life?” he asks, in an attempt to break the awkward silence.

“Oh, it’s okay. How ‘bout you?”

“It’s good. I can’t believe we’re only staying here a few more days.”

“Yeah, neither can I,” I say. It’s the truth. I had grown fond of them. After all, they helped my sister, made her happy, and helped my whole family, too.

“I’m glad I came, though,” he says casually, “I felt like I was called here, ya know? Or does that seem weird? I felt like I had a deeper purpose for coming to see Rose, and you and your mom, too. It’s been a while since… since…” his sentence leads off as his eyes become more distant.

“Since what?”

“My cousin, Ava,” he says. His eyes well up with tears. I should try to make him feel better, but I shift in my chair, waiting for a better explanation. How can I comfort him when I don’t know what’s wrong?

“She got sick, too. This was before the X Factor, so not long ago. Only a few years. But at the same time, it feels like it’s been forever… It was a brain tumor. But the doctors said it was huge. She had treatments and a surgery to remove it, but they took off pieces at a time. But one of the doctors made a mistake. In a surgery, they hit a wrong spot, and it killed her. Her brain bled, and she died. She never even woke up,” he slowly leads off, and buries his face in his hands.

He shakes with tears. I wrap him in a hug, and he weakly holds me. I don’t know what to say. I know exactly how he feels, but I can’t comfort him.

I can’t tell him it’ll be okay, because it wasn’t.

There was a slim chance of Ava even getting a brain tumor, and she did.

And there was only a slim chance of a doctor messing up.

And there was an okay chance of Ava surviving, but she didn’t.