Waves (l.r.h)

Part 41

Michael's POV

Another agonizing sound came from the room, making the decision of where to go pretty easy. We rushed in the the room, the light too bright against our sleep-filled eyes. My hands shot up to cover my eyes, my gaze finally glancing at the time: 3:38 AM. I looked to the bed immediately and noticed the two girls. Greyson was still lying down, her right hand clapped over her eyes, though I could tell they were clinched in pain. Her teeth were grit, trying and failing to hold in another shout of pain. Her back arched in pain, her right arm leaving her face and clutching her side. I took a good look at her face, wet with tears and red with heat and frustration. 

Sadie's low grunt caused me to tear my gaze from Greyson to see what was wrong. Sadie, unlike her sister, was sitting up with her leg crossed on the bed. Her right hand was holding Greyson's left, and her other hand lazily tried to wipe the sleep from her eyes. Her hair was tied up haphazardly in a bun, though most of her hair was loosely falling into her face rather than being tied back. Her face contorted in pain as Greyson started clutching her side again, and I noticed that it was because Greyson was clutching her hand so tightly. "Phantom pains," Sadie said carelessly, somehow not phased by the pain her sister was in. 

The rest of us stood in the doorway helplessly, not knowing how to answer or what to do next. "Can we help?" Luke finally spoke up from the back of our little pack. We looked to Sadie, waiting for her answer, which was simply a shrug. She patted the bed next to her, asking us to join her. 

"There's not much we can do," she paused as Greyson gripped her hand tightly again. "This just happens sometimes."

"Now you see why we didn't want to stay over," Greyson spoke up, her voice was strained and tight, trying to keep the pain out of her voice but failing miserably. 

"Yeah, sorry for waking you guys," Sadie sighed out, but we all shook our heads at them, knowing they couldn't prevent this. 

Calum walked in a moment later, holding a few bottles of pills. "Okay, so we have some regular advil or we have some of Luke's painkillers from when he hurt his knee."

Sadie gestured with her free hand for the bottles, reading the prescriptions before deciding on the painkillers that Luke was taking. She helped Greyson sit up, before handing her the pills and a glass of water. I watched on with worry as I noticed that Greyson was having trouble even holding the glass. Her hand shook uncontrollably, and I imagined the shattering of the glass if a wave of pain were to hit and cause her to drop it. Luckily, she managed to swallow the pills, and Luke-probably thinking the same thing I did- grabbed the glass from her hands. He took a seat right next to Greyson, lying on his side and using his right arm to prop himself up. His legs were bent so he didn't hit Sadie, and next to Sadie, Ashton sat by Greyson's feet. I had pulled a seat over from the corner of the room and pulled it next to Greyson on the side of the bed opposite of Luke, and Calum was now joining me to do the same. 

We sat there in silence for a few moments, the only sound coming from Greyson's weak cries of pain. At first, every cry would cause each of us guys to cringe, but by now we were numb to it. Now it was just a matter of waiting for it to be over, so that we could all go back to sleep, but by Sadie's expression, I had a feeling this wasn't ending any time soon. 

And then an idea came to me. I got up out of my seat without a word and walked out of the room. Calum and Ashton gave me an odd look, silently asking what I was doing. Sadie and Luke were too focused on Greyson at the moment to notice me, though. Regardless, I ignored the stares and made my way into Calum's room and then mine. 

"What're they for?" Sadie asked as I reentered the room with our guitars in hand. 

"Well if we are going to be chilling here for awhile, we might as well make it enjoyable," I said handing Calum his guitar and throwing mine over my shoulder. "No offense, Grey, you are very enjoyable to be around but... you know," I said jokingly, earning a small laugh from her. 

We began playing fun songs like "I'm Yours" and "Free Fallin'"- songs that had everyone (except Greyson) singing along and laughing. It definitely helped in removing the awkward and depression mood in the room, and it made the fact that we were all awake at 4 in the morning a little more bearable. But by about 5AM, Sadie and Ashton had managed to fall asleep as Calum lazily strummed the chorus of "Cecilia and the Satellite" and hummed along.  

"I love that song. It's one of my favorites," Greyson lowly mumbled, taking Calum by surprise and causing him to stop strumming. That was the first time Greyson had spoken since we'd started playing nearly  2 hours before. "Don't stop," she urged tiredly as she rested her head back on the pillow, the pain weakening her to the point that even lifting her head was a feat. Calum obeyed her request, beginning to strum the song again, this time singing the lyrics quietly rather than just humming. 

Luke was still half-lying next to Greyson, and I watched silently as he stroked her hair softly, whispering something to her every few minutes. Luke began singing along with Calum, and I figured I might as well too. We ended up singing the song, and Greyson had somehow fallen asleep. "How long you think that's going to last?" Calum whispered barely loud enough to hear, probably fearing that if he spoke any louder, he would wake her up.

"I don't know, but we should probably start boarding up the windows," I said as a clap of thunder was heard in the distance. The rain had already been pouring down for a few hours, but the creaking of the bungalow from the wind was signalling that the worst of the storm was finally arriving. 

"Yeah, Calum sighed in agreement running a hand through his hair, planning what he wanted to say next. "Luke, you stay here in case she wakes up and needs anything. And I say we leave Ash, he's been working a lot lately. He could use the extra sleep." I nodded as I stood up and followed Calum out of the room. 

The storm was worse than we'd thought. As soon as we stepped outside onto the deck, the wind nearly knocked us off our feet, and the rain stung against our cheeks, preventing us from even opening our eyes wide enough to see where we were going. Luckily, we knew the property like the backs of our hands, and we were able to sprint to the shed to grab the plywood to board the windows.  The massive streaks of lightning offered us a majority of our lighting to see what we were doing. 

After about an hour, Ash came out after being woken up by the storm. Even with his help, we were moving slower than ever, struggling tirelessly to get the boards up. The fact of the matter was we were tired and drained both emotionally and physically, and we were battling Mother Nature, who didn't seem to be on our side.