Detention (Niall Horan One Shot Series)

Part 10 (2/3)

    Waiting for the ambulance felt like hours. Your heart was pounding so hard that it hurt, and your breathing was out of rhythm as the room seemed to spin around you. The paramedics burst through the double doors to the bedroom with bags and equipment but you knew there was nothing that could be done. Niall’s mother was a pale, almost blue color and there was not a trace of life left in her. But none of that mattered to Niall as he hovered over the EMTs screaming at them to go faster, work harder, bring her back. You forgot a lot of the details from that night, but what you remembered hearing the most was “bring her back.”

                  It didn’t take them long to declare her dead, but what took the longest was convincing Niall. Harder still was to get him to calm down and just stop moving. His supra-clad feet stomped around the room as he paced back and forth, fingers tearing pieces of blonde hair to the floor. You stood there for who knows how long and watched his long arms sweep across dressers, sending every one of his mother’s belongings flying across the beautifully decorated room. The thing you remembered most was hearing his fist collide with the wall and watching drops of blood mixed with dust drip onto the hardwood floor. His words were harsh, tearing into the paramedics like knives. “Useless fucking pricks,” you remember hearing him scream at them, “what good are you if you can’t even save a fucking life!” His voice boomed and shook you to the core as you watched them try to explain that there was nothing they could have done without a miracle.

                  Once the initial rage had left Niall’s body he sank to the floor in a sea of tears and within seconds you had sunk right next to him, wrapping your arms as far as you could around his broad shoulders. His body shook against yours and the two of you cried until your eyes burned.

Most of the time you and Niall were on two different levels, him being carefree and not letting anything bother him while you were more conscious of the things around you and their effects. But tonight the two of you were the same. Scared, helpless and confused. You’d never seen someone die before, but there was a first time for everything.

When everyone had left the house it was just the two of you. Niall didn’t want to go to the hospital and filled out all the paperwork as fast as he could. His dad had gone to the bar and Niall assured you he wouldn’t be back any time soon. You asked him if he wanted you to stay the night so that he wouldn’t feel so alone, but he declined. His argument was that he needed to get used to being by himself from now on. To hear that shattered your heart into a million tiny pieces. Obviously his dad wasn’t much company and you wondered what it must be like to feel like you had no one. The two of you sat in the kitchen in silence, with the only sound being the ticking of a giant wrought iron clock that hung over the archway. Your legs dangled off the bar stool as you looked over at Niall, whose eyes were puffy from crying. “Well you have me,” you offered. Your hand shakily found his and he didn’t respond verbally, but you know that he had heard you by the squeeze you felt as his hand tightened around yours.

“You’re sure you don’t want me to stay over?” you asked again. Niall was quiet again before nodding. “You’re sure you’re okay?” No matter what he did you knew no one who had just lost their mother would want to be alone at night. His head moved again but this time it was moving side to side instead of up and down. “No,” he choked out before another tear slid down his cheek, “please stay.” It was amazing this level of trust Niall had put into you. Never would you have expected someone like him would accept any sort of help offered to him, especially from a girl.

After sitting and letting him cry as much as he could, you went into the next room and called your parents, explaining the law-and-order-like situation. Thankfully they were alright with you staying over and the fact that you probably wouldn’t be attending school the next day. When you came back into the kitchen you found Niall emptying the liquor cabinet into his arms. Without a word he motioned for you to follow him as he grabbed his keys and made his way outside. You knew he was trying to cope but drinking and driving would just result in another death that you weren’t prepared for. “What are you doing?” you asked, arms crossed as you stood on the front steps, refusing to follow him any further. “Going to a hotel,” he answered bluntly as he tossed the bottles into the backseat. “You really think I’m gonna sleep in the house that my mother died in?”