L a c y L e a t h e r s

00:11

.

Valerie

.

I felt the tug on my hand and it quickly snapped me out of my trance. Perrie was gazing up at me, her eyes shining with realisation and complete sadness.

"Oh Valerie, I didn't know." She whispered, dropping her petite head on my arm. I smiled at her head and just shrugged.

Just as I was about to whisper "it's nothing," back at her, I heard Andy's voice exclaim Perrie's name and a dreadful feeling planted itself within my stomach.

Darn it, I thought I could possibly sneak away and pretend I didn't see their little exchange. But nope, nope. Not today.

I looked over at Andy but stupidly landed my eyes on a withdrawn Shar. He was glaring at me with hard eyes. What the hell? He looked beyond mad.. For what? Interrupting his moment with his lover?

Screw him.

Andy stepped out of Shar's arms and jumped on Perri, embracing her tightly. I took a step back and questioned myself as to what I was doing here. Obviously these people all knew each other and they seemingly all had someone they held close in a critical condition. The boy with the dark hair, Ghost and the blonde haired one, Karl looked immensely effected.

I turned my head and saw that Ghost was trashing around in Ellie's hold and I don't know what came over me but I turned on my heel and walked over to him.

Nate had tackled Ghost into a seat and Ellie was holding down his hands. When I was near enough, Ellie raised her head and spotted me instantly.

"Valerie?" She questioned and I nearly reared back. I knew of Ellie but I never had the chance to introduce myself and for her to greet me so openly with familiarity kind of surprised me.

I nodded at her and glanced at Ghost. He had his head down and his chest was moving up and down in a rapid pace. "I can try to help." I told Ellie.

She looked at me, slightly uncertain but she still pushed Nate away from Ghost. It's his girlfriend, Ellie mouthed at me and I nodded at her in acknowledgment. I stepped in front of him and dropped down to my knees.

"Ghost?" I asked, craning my head lower so I could look at his face. His eyes were tightly shut and he was breathing heavily.

"Ghost, you have to listen to me." I said, locking my fingers into his hair. I tugged on it lightly, hoping he would want to see this stranger with confidence to tug on his hair.

Which he did.

He lifted up his head and met my eyes with his own bloodshot pair. I quickly dived into a conversation. "This is going to do you no good when she wakes up. She wants to see your handsome face and be happy that she's back."

Ghost frowned at me, his forehead creasing into tight wrinkles. I saw the edge of his eye twitch before he opened his mouth to speak. "She's gone."

"Even if she is gone, she'll never leave you and if she's with us right now, she really doesn't want you to be like this. This is where you prove to her that you are proud to cherish her memories and you are meant to spread the happiness she left. She would want that."

"I—I can't spread nothing when I have no happiness in me anymore," he replied back in a broke voice and something heavy landed at the back of my throat. I swallowed it down audibly and carried on.

"Find it in yourself. Find the happiness and be strong."

"She was—"

I cut him short sharply. "You don't know for definite if she's gone or else you wouldn't be waiting. Come on now, chin up and wait for your girl to come back to you."