Closer (Niall Horan)

Chapter Four.

Kiera's hand wrapped around the silver doorknob, about to push open the door, when it suddenly opened. Two pairs of eyes widened with shock.

"How is he?" Kiera was the first to ask when Liam revealed himself.

"A lorry hit him when he was on the phone," Liam sighed, "he already knows not to. Urgh!" He started to mutter some words that were very unclear to Ashlee's ears.

Kiera asked him what's wrong and immediately brought him away from the younger one and left her alone in front of her supposed best-friend's room. Ashlee stayed and watched the two of them walking further into the hallway until she saw Kiera turning around and jerked her head to Niall's room.

Ashlee took a deep breath and finally entered the room. Zayn, Harry and Louis sat near the bed. Zayn and Harry practically crying their eyes out beside Niall. Louis was trying to comfort both of them, but it looked like he failed. The sound of the door clicking made three pairs of eyes flick towards the source. "Uhh..." Ashlee started, "how is he?" She didn't want to look at Niall at the moment. She was scared of what to see. She was scared his appearance would remind her of her brother years ago.

"He was driving when the lorry hit him," Zayn stated then sniffed.

"Liam told me that," Ashlee smiled half-heartedly at him. He was probably tired to answer her thoughtfully.

"He was talking on the phone with Barbara when suddenly they started to shout at each other about something and he just lost it," both of Harry's arms went up to his curls, soothing them, in attempt to calm himself. Ashlee absolutely did't know what to say or do. Should she ask what happened between 'Narbara'? But it seemed like she didn't have the right to..

"What happened between them?" Darn it, Ash. She thought to herself.

"I don't know. When we arrived here, this dumbass was being treated by the doctor and now he can't wake up or anything," Louis put his thumb and index finger on his forehead, soothing the furrowed lines.

"His car flipped and somehow he hit his head. Now, he can't wake up for God knows how long," Zayn stared longingly at the blonde. Until now, Ashlee still hadn't looked at him.

"Any concussion?" She picked up the fact about him hitting his head, so she asked a safe question.

"It's possible," or not. The three of them lost it again. Tears were streaming down their faces, scared of the thought their bandmate, or maybe best friend, or maybe brother, forgetting them. Forgetting all those years they had spent with each other. It was silent after that. Nobody wanted to say anything. Nobody was brave enough to break the silence they were having for the Irish lad.

The familiar sound of the door clicking caught their attentions. Liam and Kiera came in quietly. The Royals' older half ran to Niall's side and started to touch his face slowly.

Ashlee finally looked at him.

He was so pale. There was a stitch below his right eye. His hair was messy, sticking out to all direction possible. He reminded her so much of her brother.

~~~~~

"Come on, Ash!" Little Ashlee was running towards Damian, her little legs were trying their hardest to make her reach her brother faster.

"Damy!" She leapt into his arms.

"Wanna go to the toy store?"

~~~~

And everything after that was a blur. All she could remember was her brother being carried into an ambulance, her visiting him at the hospital, her playing board games with him, her singing for him whilst he smiled and sang along. Then, the weather seemed to darken. Her mother didn't let her visit him as often, she had to be at home praying for him to be better. Finally one day, exactly after two months of not seeing him, she was given the permission to visit him. There he laid, breathing so slowly. She remembered her watching him slowly dying from the impact of the accident, her attending her brother's funeral, her wearing his favorite black T-shirt attending it, her crying every single night for the next few years after loosing the one she loved the most.

Middle
school started and she met Kiera. The person that helped her go trough so much.

She risked another look at Niall. Ashlee Kheenz wasn't the one to show emotion. She never cried in front of all of them except for Kiera, but those were only on a few occasions. His slow breathing made her choke by the lump creating in her throat. Teas were slowly starting to form in her eyes.

Niall was such a great person, why did he have to go through this? Even though they rarely talked with each other, she knew he had an effect towards all of the people currently in room. Including her. Niall always made her light up on her darkest days during the tour. He lit her up indirectly from his smiles and laughter.

"Ash, you okay?" She didn't realize the tears had escaped from her eyes. Ashlee nodded her head slowly before shutting down her eyes. She lowered her head and curled her fingers, making a fist.

"What is she doing?" Louis wondered quietly at Kiera.

Kiera looked at her bandmate's reaction and sighed, "she's trying to calm herself down."

"Why?"

"It's nothing. She can handle herself," Kiera walked towards the younger one, leaving a confused Louis behind. She held Ashlee's shaking fists with her hands. Ashlee opened her eyes and looked at Kiera. "What's wrong, Ash?" She asked softly.

Ashlee took a deep breath before whispering with a hoarse voice, "Damian," and then she lost it. Ashlee fell to her knees and cried on the floor.

"Ash, this is not the time," Kiera lowered her body, and rubbed the younger one's shoulder. "Ash, stop," Ashlee hugged her knees to her chest, rocking herself, trying to take in deep breaths.

"Kiera, what is wrong with her?" Zayn hastily went beside Ashlee and rubbed her back.

"I don't know. She have never cried like this ever since...," then she looked at Niall and looked at his profile more; blonde, pale, stitch under the eye; and looked back at Ash, "oh no."

"What?" Zayn asked, "what's happening, Ki?"

Kiera ignored Zayn and grabbed Ashlee from the ground and let her settle on one of the chairs. She let her to cry out for some time.

"Niall reminds her of Damian," Kiera walked towards where Louis, Harry and Zayn at.

"Who's that?" Harry was the one that asked.

"Her brother," all of them looked at her, not understanding her point, "she lost him when she was just nine years old. He was everything to her, until he got into an accident and died." All of them gasped at that, "not instantly though. His death was slow. He couldn't get out of the hospital for months due to his lack of something in his body...," she explained more to them.

"So Niall reminds her of someone dearly to her?" Kiera nodded at Louis' question.

"But he's not that close with her. How can someone have such an effect by that?"

Kiera shrugged, "Ashlee doesn't really spend that much time with people, but if she does, even if she doesn't talk to them much, she really cares about them. She would cry over the littlest pains they would go through. That's Ashlee."

Zayn looked at the girl in the corner, bawling her eyes and sighed. He walked towards her, "Zayn, don't," Kiera's eyes warned him when he looked behind. He shrugged her off and sat next to the younger girl. Ashlee peeked to her side and instantly hugged him.

"It's gonna be okay. Niall's gonna be okay," he kept on repeating soothing words for her ears whilst rubbing small circles on her back.
___________

A/N

Some stories about Ash's past, ehh?
Hope this chapter is enough to make it up for those months! >.<

Currently working on the fifth chapter... Be patient peeps!

P.S,
My deepest apologies if there's any errors; grammatical or spellings.

- black_curls