Chapter 1

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Harry’s POV

“Dr. Styles, there’s a patient in Room 118 that needs a consult.”

“I’ll be right there.”

I removed my reading glasses and set them neatly at the corner of my desk before exiting my office.

I straightened out my coat, running my fingertips over the embroidered words on my right pocket, “London Grace Hospital”.

I knocked politely on the door to room 118 and entered. I smiled at the man lying in the bed. He looked small and fragile, but his eyes held a sparkle that made me believe he was a fighter. I could always spot the ones that didn’t last. They weren’t fighters.

“Hi, I’m Dr. Styles.”

“Patient is Louis Tomlinson. Twenty years old.” Nurse Ella began. “We are waiting to find a heart after his own failed when he

was 17 years old. He has a pacemaker, but it will not be enough to sustain life much longer.”

“Basically, I have a crappy heart and I need a new one.” Mr. Tomlinson sighed. “But I don’t think it’s right to take someone else’s.”

I pulled a chair to the edge of the bed and sat down next to him. He turned his head slowly to look at me. I couldn't get over his eyes. They were even brighter when compared to his pale skin. They were the most vibrant blue I’d ever seen.

“Mr. Tomlinson,”

“Please, call me Louis.” He interrupted.

“Louis, has anyone explained to you how you get a new heart. Not the surgical procedure, but where the heart comes from?”

“No.” He said quietly. “Why would someone  give up their heart?"

“Do you know what an organ donor is?” When he nodded, I continued. “Well, sometimes when people get into accidents the brain will be damaged, but not the body. We call that brain dead. They can breathe and their heart will beat, but they have no thoughts and they will never wake up. We keep them on a ventilator until the family is ready to let go, but if the person is an organ donor, then we will go in and surgically remove their organs to give to sick people like yourself.”

“So I’m not taking somebody’s heart that can still use it?”

“Correct.”

“Thanks for explaining that to me. I feel like people in these hospitals get tired of me.” His face fell and I frowned.

“Nonsense.”

I stood up and pushed my chair back into it’s place.

“I’d like to keep you here for a while, so I can get an idea of what’s going on. I’ll do my best to find you a new heart Louis.”

He smiled softly up at me.

“Dr. Styes is a very good cardiothoracic surgeon. You have nothing to worry about dear.” Nurse Ella patted his shoulder.

I closed the door behind me and went to check up on my other patients. Afterwards I went to the front desk to grab my charts, but I noticed no one was in Louis’s room. Normally my patients had family or friends with them, but Louis’s room was empty.

I stepped inside with my charts tucked under my arm.

“Where’s your family?”

He stared at me with a blank look . “They left years ago.”

“I’m sorry, what about friends?”

“Don’t have any, they all got tired of putting up with me. You will too.” He sighed. I noticed he sighed a lot.

I sat down on the couch against the wall and began checking my charts. I always double checked my interns’ work.

“What are you doing?”

“My charts.” I answered without looking up.

“Don’t you have an office or something to do that in?”

“Do you want me to leave?” I set my pen down and raised my head.

“No.” He said quietly.

“I thought you might get lonely, so I thought I’d do my paperwork in here. Keep you company and all that.”

“Do you do this for all your patients?”

“Just the ones I like.” I smirked. “There was a mean old woman who came here once. She kept calling me rude names and told me I was wrong about anything I said. I hated her.”

“What happened to her?”

“She died a few months ago from a heart attack.” I shrugged.

There was a beat of silence in which I resumed working on my charts.

“Am I going to die?” Louis whispered.

My pen stopped moving and I met his eyes that were now tearing up. “Not if I can help it.” I smiled sadly.

He sighed and rolled onto his side, closing his eyes. I stayed until he was asleep and I had finished my charts.

I was on call so I had to stay at the hospital. It was a good thing I did.

About 2:30 AM I had to perform an emergency ventricle repair on a thirty-five year old male who had been stabbed in the chest.

We almost lost him, but he came back and made it through the surgery. I told his wife to press the button on the wall if anything changed, then I went back to the on-call room and crawled into one of the beds, falling asleep, thinking of the sad blue-eyed boy.

I See You (Larry Stylinson) {Co-written with @uniquelyxlarry}Where stories live. Discover now