The Accident (One Direction Fanfic)

Chapter 29: Tsunami Tides in My Eyes

I took her outside and sat her down on the couch while Anne flustered around her, checking her cuts and even having to pull some of the larger shards of glass out of her hands while she cleaned the wounds and bandaged them neatly. The others clearly wanted answers as they nervously waited around but I stayed firm with waiting until Nora was asleep again so that they didn’t make her any more distressed than she already was.

After waiting with her still she was back in a peaceful sleeping state I shut the door behind me and braced myself to answer to hoards of questions that were waiting for me in the other room.

I was shocked however when I saw them all standing there and Niall holding the stained paper in his hands as the others crowded around him. Grateful not to have to be the one to deliver the news I shoved my hands into pockets and stepped forward, attracting their attention.

“Oh Liam how’s she doing?” Anne rushed forward clearly worried like the others were but I reassured her that she was doing as well as could be expected. We all sat down to discuss what we should do next and while some suggested that she shouldn’t go, or that we shouldn’t go with her, in the end it was decided that all six of us would go to pay our respects. Harry had just come back from checking on her when a huge crack of thunder shook through the Bungalow and Louis’ phone began to ring, stopping our previous conversation.

After only hearing one end of the conversation it was still clear to me that we wouldn’t be leaving here any time today. Due to the severe storms and road blocks the car couldn’t come to get us until late tomorrow morning and while it was a bit of a hassle I preferred to look at it as a blessing in disguise; giving Nora that extra night here that she so desperately needed.

The rain and storms didn’t let up until the next morning and we trudged through the muddy puddles across the yard to get to the car. We decided not to wake Nora up till the last minute and I volunteered to get her ready. I tentatively pushed open the door only to find her sitting up, legs crossed in front of her and the same blank, lost look in her eyes. I helped her slip into some old gumboots and I carefully slid her arms through a warm jumper, other than that though I couldn’t do anything else to help her.

“Come on love, the car’s here are we have to go say goodbye to everyone before we go.” I held my hand out to her and she hesitantly laced her fingers through mine as I helped her up from her seat on the edge of the bed. The others had finished loading the car and we all met up main house to say goodbye. We walked in to the kitchen and Harry was comforting his mum and reassuring her that he would come visit soon as she held him close. All of us guys went over and shook Robin’s hand and gave Anne and Gemma hugs, thanking them again for letting us all come stay.

When I leant down to hug Anne she pulled me in close and whispered in my ear, “Just promise me you’ll take good care of her?” I pulled back and she gave me an ‘all-knowing’ motherly look that I couldn’t ignore so I nodded and sincerely said, “I will.” She seemed satisfied with this answer and let me go but as I turned around I saw that our little exchange had attracted Niall’s attention. He raised his eyebrow questioningly but I shrugged it off and he turned his attention back to what Robin was trying to tell him.

After that the guys slowly made their way out to the car but I waited behind as Nora said her last goodbyes. When she was finally ready to go we rushed out to the car through the heavy sleets of rain. By the time we had made it down the short driveway to the car our hair was dripping wet and our clothes were nearly soaked through to the skin. Luckily Harry was waiting for her with a warm jacket and he helped her into the van as I ran through to the other side and got in up front.

“Bye! We’ll miss you! Thank you!” We called out the window as the van pulled away from the curb and left Anne, Robin and Gemma standing in the doorway, trying to stay dry from the pouring rain. It was a fairly long drive back and Zayn sleep most of the time while the rest of us either talked, listened to music or, of you were Louis, complained non-stop about hating long car trips. Nora sat in between Niall and Zayn in the back seat; Harry and Louis were in the two separated bucket seats in the middle while I was riding up front. The driver was nice enough and he was actually the one who had taken us around the night of Louis’ party. Looking back on that night it seemed so long ago and we had all changed so much since then.