Room 317

Chapter 14

“Hey mate,” Zayn’s head appeared next to Liam’s overhead and Louis couldn’t help but smile.

“Hi,” he whispered. For a moment, he let his eyes drift shut, fighting sleep, but then he forced them open again and looked up. “What happened this time?”

“You got punched in the gut,” said Zayn softly, leaning down to brush Louis’s fringe out his eyes, “and it caused the artery in your kidney to burst, like before.”

“They’ve temporarily secured it again,” Liam added, “but they’re going to give you another operation, tomorrow I think, to put a thicker lining around it so that it won’t burst so easily. In the meantime, you are not allowed to move, at all. They say the slightest impact could cause the temporary closure to rupture.”

“What do you mean again?” Louis asked, closing his eyes again.

Liam and Zayn looked uneasily at each other, “Um…” said Liam, “they had to perform surgery when you got here but uh… later on, when you were recovering, you went into cardiac arrest. The shocks from the paddles ruptured your artery again so they had to rush you back into surgery.”

“Oh,” Louis murmured; that explained why his chest was so sore as well as his abdomen. He looked from Liam to Zayn and back again, why did it feel like something was missing…?

“Where’s Harry?” He croaked, suddenly realising what it was. He was disappointed that Harry wasn’t here this time – he had always been before...

“He’s in casualty.”

“What?!” Louis’s eyes snapped open fully; alarmed.

“Zayn!” Liam whined, smacking his friend in the chest for being so blunt.

“What happened?” Louis asked urgently, making a feeble grab for Liam’s sleeve.

“Um…” Liam hesitated, “uh… well… see the thing is… Harry was there when you went into cardiac arrest and… the um… doctor kept shocking you but you wouldn’t respond and she… uh… started to call time of death and Harry, well he didn’t take that well at all, as you can imagine. But then your heart just started beating again and I think the relief was just to much for him. He passed out.”

“And brained himself on the floor,” Zayn finished, rolling his eyes.

“Zayn!” Liam groaned, smacking him in the chest again.

“What?!” Louis cried, starting to sit up in panic but four hands immediately shot out to hold him down.

“Whoa!” Zayn cried, pushing his right shoulder back firmly to the pillow.

“Louis, you can’t move,” said Liam urgently, holding down his left, “you can’t afford to rupture your artery again!”

“But Harry…” Louis protested, fighting against them.

“Is okay,” Liam said firmly, “He’s just sustained a concussion, that’s all. Niall’s with him right now. The doctors are going to keep an eye on him over night – like they do with all concussion cases. Worst case scenario he’ll spend the rest of the night nursing a thumping sore head and occasionally puking his guts up.”

Louis swallowed thickly, “Less of the talk about spewing please,” he begged, closing his eyes and willing his own stomach to settle.

“Sorry,” Liam apologised.

“So, how on earth did my heart start beating on its own?” Louis asked, changing the subject.

Liam chuckled, “Nobody knows. The nurses are hailing it a miracle. The doctor, on the other head, went kind of mental. She practically threw the heart machine out into the hallway, shouting about people not checking the equipment properly and potential lawsuits. I don’t think she believes in miracles.”