subside. // haylor au

thirty four

The eruption caused trauma. I froze. 

The effect from the bomb affected us all, but the smoke smothered our vision and made it nearly impossible to see clearly.

I managed to slither my hands across the floor to find Harrys. We reconnect and slowly stood up together.

The smoke that inhaled made me choke - my lungs ran out of air and I felt like I couldn't breathe. My breathing pace increases and my heart starts to pound, panicking in fear.

Harry's hand moves to my mouth and a little sliver of oxygen managed to slide through my nostrils, easing it out for me a bit.

I look over to Harry's expressions and saw a peep of his face through the thick black smoke. His face is covered in black thin patches of ashes and he seems to have the same trouble breathing as I am, but he's not as afraid.

"Breathe," He mouths with his pale lips as I nod in response.

After several minutes of gathering people to smoke-free areas, I scan the room to make sure everything's alright. But what I saw was horrible - people screamed from different corners of the room and many people screeched at the sight of their office. Everything burned down in flames, different parts of the walls came crashing down and the fire drill rang in our ears. Sooner or later, water splashed from the water faucets in the ceiling and the smoke slowly and smoothly faded out before we knew it. 

My hair is soaking wet and everyones whining dimmed down, but their facial expressions explain everything.

"IS HE ALIVE?" A sweet tone shatters everyones senses as all eyes turn on a sobbing Eleanor. Little drips of water drops down from her messy hair, her eyes are filled with redness and her face is as pale as the dead of night during a winters day.

"We're not sure, we're trying!" A guy who seems to be in the medical department responds, his eyes dilated, horrid written all over his face.

"Well try harder, he's not breathing!" Her thick British accent echoes around the room.

Harry quickly rushes to the site and I follow him instantly.

Before I see the situation, my mind rushes and races at every thought that could possibly come true. Every possibility and every ounce of chance surfs through my messy mind like tangled pieces of hair being untied.

What I see is a body. A pale body, with blood oozing out of his stomach. 

My heart pounds.

Sweat drips down my face and the blood in my face dries out by the minute.

"Shit," Harry breathes, worry laced in his voice.

Louis lays there, skin pale and not moving an inch. The only part of him thats moving is his chest, erratically up and down from the effect of the defibrillator, pressing on it every second to keep his heart pumping at a normal pace.

Eleanor cries even harder and the least I could do is comfort her, my hands quickly move to her back. Rubbing it and soothing her, reassuring her that it'll be okay, when I don't know the answer myself. It's so unpredictable - everything is just so uncertain that it becomes scary at this point. Can I walk to the get groceries without having an overwhelming amount of overthinking and self aware-ness? Can I walk on the streets without constantly looking out for bombs or weird strangers following me on the streets? 

"I'm so sorry," Tears soak into my eyes as I look at the limp body on the floor.

"We're taking him in the ER department, I'm sorry, but you're going to have to leave-"