number 12. (l.s.)

Chapter 64.

Whoops, previous picture was actually meant for this chapter..... personally, I really like this chapter. Hope you do too!! xx

S I X T Y  F O U R
-brutal-

Louis' hand was in his mother's hand. They walked through the tall blades of grass. It tingled his ankles. Luckily, he had followed his mother's advice who said to wear sneakers instead of flip flops. He often found himself walking barefoot, though. He liked the feeling of sand beneath his naked feet. Especially on the beach. Warm and soft. He narrowed his eyes, looking out to the bright sun in front of them.

"Mom, I think I know what I want to be when I grow up." His mother looked down to him, smiling gently.

"Tell me, Louis."

"I want to be an astronaut," he said with pride, nodding as his chest was puffed. "Then I can see the stars from up close. Do you think they're as beautiful as they seem?" His nose was cranked up because of the way he tried to cover his eyes from the sun.

"I think they're even more beautiful. With a bright soul like yours, I'm sure you'll be a great astronaut." Louis smiled, breathing out gently. "How may I not miss you when you're so far up?"

Louis shrugged simply, looking down to his white Adidas sneakers. "You won't miss me, because I'll wave every night to you, dad and Nora."

"Every night, is that a promise?" Her brown, wavy hair fell just over her shoulders.

"That is a promise indeed. But you need to promise me you'll wave back." She smiled, a single dimple appearing in her right cheek.

"I promise you, astronaut Louis."

A gentle smile was formed on Louis' lips, and when his eyes slowly creaked open, the first thing he noticed was the calm ambiance. Everything around him was bright and light. The soft sheets tingled his body in all places, and he just smiled. Everything seemed so beautiful. His breathing was slow and gentle through his nose, as he took his time in opening his eyes. The same beep kept repeating itself constantly. It brought a rupture in the utopia he was in. He squeezed his eyes shut shortly, and then opened them fully, being torn out of his peace as his smile faded.

His eyes first fell on a grand device on his right. It had different lines on them. The peaks and valleys showed him that it was an EKG chart. It showed his heartbeat. He followed the lines, but saw it was stable. Four cords ran out of the machine and Louis traced them until they crawled under the sheets. Only then he realized there were four cold metal magnets pressed against his chest. He still hadn't moved, but by the soft tension on his chest, he knew his upper body was naked, only covered with the sheet above it.

"Don't worry, we didn't see you." The voice was gentle, sweet and careful. His gaze went to the left, where he saw Scarlett and Dan sit on chairs about a meter next to him. Behind them was a large window. It was basically dark outside. The only lights were the few buildings where the light was on in some rooms.

"What time is it?" He cracked, and he coughed then. His mouth was bone dry. Dan stood up and handed him over a glass of water, which Louis gracefully took a sip of with a weak 'thanks'.

"It's one am."

Louis' eyes widened, trying to sit up straight from the bed, but he let himself fall back, when he started to feel dizzy suddenly. His head hurt. "How long was I out? What happened?" He was oblivious, but he tried to remember. The last thing he remembered was being in the hall with Mr Adams.

"Erm, this afternoon, Zayn suddenly was at the door. He said that something was wrong, and it wasn't even 5 minutes or we got a call from Mr Adams. He said that you had problems swallowing and it wasn't long until you collapsed." Louis could see the dried up tears underneath the eyes of Scarlett. There were strains of mascara on her cheeks. She looked tired and worried.