Don't Let Me Go

Liam?

The hospital was as busy as rush hour traffic, nurses and doctors running around with patients and gurneys almost crashing into you every turn you took. The hospital never seems to sleep, and it still didn't when Alyssa was a patient here.

I ask the woman at the front desk what room Liam Payne was in. She looked it up on the computer and said "34" and when she looked up at me, I could tell she knew Liam's condition and felt sorry for me. Sorry that my friend will die. I didn't want anyone's pity, I wanted the world to stop crashing down all around me with everyone I love getting injured or ending up dead. Liam is now the second person I loved that will die and leave me. This is a cruel world, isn't it?

I reach room 34 and find my hands shaking as I am about to open the door to his room. I look down at them and see blood, everywhere, and there's glass in my hands that's dug into my flesh so far it touches bone. I almost scream when I blink and see nothing but my normal, non-injured hands. This place brought me too close to a night I just wanted to forget.

I get the courage to open the door and see Liam lying there on the hospital bed with tubes attached to him and an IV in his arm. He isn't facing me but when he hears the door open he weakly turns his head towards me and smiles.

"Hey Harry, I've missed you," he says in this weak and strained voice. Hearing it breaks my heart into a million pieces. Liam's really dying.

"Hey Liam, I've missed you a lot too," I wanted to hug him but I didn't want to hurt him. He was so weak, so fragile.

"How'd you know to see me?" his smile dropped and he started in on a coughing fit. I could feel tears sting my eyes.

"I uhm.. Louis told me when I saw him yesterday," I paused so I wouldn't cry, "why didn't you tell me so much earlier?" I had to slow my breaths to hold it all in.

"I didn't want to hurt you, Harry, you had lost Alyssa this year and I thought I should give you time to heal before you found out about another person who was on the verge of dying," his eyes swelled with tears. I could see, deep in his eyes that he was scared, scared of dying. All of this was too much. I wanted to be with Liam every moment until he was gone, but I also didn't want to be around him at all. He was scaring me, and all the walls around me were closing in.

"I... I can't do this... I can't be here... But I want to... But I can't... I'm sorry," is all I could mutter before sprinting out of this cursed place. I couldn't believe I was leaving a dying Liam alone and wasn't staying with him, I couldn't believe another person was leaving me for good.