I'm Broken but I'm fine

Part 21

"He's....he's stable for now" is all Andy says.

"What does that mean Andz?" I ask. I'm so worried about Louis I could seriously loose my shit right now.

"It means" Andy sighs.

" Louis has severe hyperthermia. He spent eight hours out in the open with no food or water in extremely low temperatures. We all know he drowned in below freezing water, even though we brought him back, he wasn't monitored properly afterwards and he has suffered something we call 'secondary drowning' where even though he isn't in the water, fluid was left in his lungs and he was drowning from the inside. Because his body temperature was so low it made it a lot worse. We had to drain the fluid and he has been put on a respirator to insure he doesn't suffer any damage to his lungs and brain. We had a very hard time bringing his body temperature back up, his body shut down and it was not easy getting him back. We did though, he is in intensive care and we will be monitoring him closely. He is stable, but that could change, we just won't know the damage until he wakes up" Andy finishes.

I can hear Jay breaking down and my mum trying to comfort her, I don't care though, they are the reason Louis is here, that Louis nearly died. If they had just listened to me.

"What other damage could there be Andy?" Liam asks, obviously seeing I'm in no state to ask.

"He could suffer prolonged kidney and lung damage, he could develop pneumonia and have brain damage, we don't know. We don't think he will have any damage to the Brain, we are sure we treated him in time but, until he wakes up.....if he wakes up, we wont know until then"

"If?? There's an if?" Zayn asks panicking.

"I'm afraid so, I'm so sorry boys....I did my best I'm sorry" Andy tells us. He looks so guilty and I hate it, I rush forward and take him into my arms we all draw each other close.

"You are one of the reasons he is still here with us Andy, if it wasn't for you that wouldn't have been possible. You have done everything for Louis" I tell him.

We hug for a while until Jay breaks the silence.

"Can we see him?" She asks.

We pull back and wipe our tears.

"Yeah, yeah sure...you can all stay if you want. There are two recliner chairs and I can organise a bed, but there is the floor too. I'll okay it and we can all stay with him" Andy tells us.

He leads us to the lift and up to the intensive care floor, we are lead to a private room and when Andy opens the door it's dark. He flicks on a side light and we see Louis on the bed, connected to a dozen machines. He is covered head to toe in thermal blankets and heat packs that are keeping his body temperature up. I make my way over to the bed and bend down to kiss him on the forehead. His body is so cold. I pull up a chair next to the bed and I don't plan to move, I grab Louis small cold hand and hold it In mine. Andy brings some pillows and blankets in and we all get comfortable. The boys on the floor and mum and Jay in one of the recliners. We sit in silence, like we are just waiting for Louis to open his eyes and be okay.

"I didn't mean for this to happen, I was trying to protect him" Jay says to the silent room.

"What do you think I was doing?" I spit back. I can't help but get defensive.

"You can't blame me for being cautious Harry, he is my son. You are six years older than him and I was worried" Jay says back.

"If that's what you were worried about, you clearly have no idea!" I can't help but yell.

The boys all remain silent watching our encounter nervously.

"Louis came to us a complete wreck, he was underweight, not eating, being abused and was harming himself. None of which you knew about. He told us, confided in us and we helped him overcome so much shit, only for you and mum to bring it all back on top of him again. And why? because you were worried about the age difference?" I scoff.