Everglow | on hiatus.

everglow: six

The doctor says nothing and leaves them in the ward.

Zayn exhales and walks over to the bedside. He crouches next to Nia and waits for her to start explaining. That's the least she can do for him.

"Are you good?" he starts.

"Yes," she sighs.

"Do you think I deserve an explanation of what's going on?" he asks.

"I do, and I'm sorry I haven't been able to say anything since he woke up," Nia replies.

"That's fine. I know you're anxious and worried," Zayn mutters.

"I'm also a little angry at the universe right now," she adds.

"You're allowed to be. I can tell that there's a lot going on," he hums, softly.

Nia slowly nods in agreement to his words and breathes out, ready to speak.

"Harry's not the same person he was before the accident," she says.

"Isn't that a good thing?" He tries to joke.

"Very funny," she rolls her eyes and sniffs. "It's just really different, Zayn,"

"Tell me," he smiles at her.

"He doesn't speak the same way anymore and his limbs are always shaky when he tries to move too much," Nia struggles to explain through her emotions.

"Do you mean that his voice changed? Does he stutter more?" Zayn frowns.

"He never exactly stuttered," she replies.

"Okay but he had a slur thing going on, is it something like that?" he asks.

"It's called Aphasia." She says, plainly.

Like a brick, it hits Zayn and he's stunned to silence. He knows his medical terms and he's learned a whole lot about this.

As a part time speech pathologist, he knows what this entails and he's seen the struggle in person. He whistles out his shock and slowly stands up.

"Shit, what? Not Harry, come on," he manages to say.

"Same thing I bloody said," she replies.

"Okay - right, it's not always as bad as we think," Zayn tries to reason it all out.

"Everything has changed." Nia reminds him.

"Well, does he know who you are?" he asks.

Nia pauses and gulps.

"Yes, and he says he remembers everything about us," she replies.

"That's not a terrible thing," he says.

"It's not a good thing either," she states.

"Are you telling me that I have to be nice to this lad right now?" Zayn groans.

"You don't 'ave to. I mean he only survived a deadly accident and might take a long time to fully recover," she shrugs, sarcastically.

Harry softly groans out of sleep and flutters his heavy lids open. The two friends stop bickering and instantly turn to see him. Everything feels lighter than his post seizure self and he's grateful for that.

He blows out breath and puff his cheeks as he sinks his right side into the super comfortable private ward bed. The perks of his privileges come handy once in a while.

He smacks his lips as per instructions given by the nurse before he napped and he feels himself coming back to life. Gently, he pushes his hair out of his face and blinks upon seeing Nia right next to him.