"THIS IS BECAUSE OF YOU!" Ed screamed, slamming Niall up against a wall. "She's going to die, Niall!! Because of you!" He continued to scream.
"Mate." Niall said calmly.
"Don't 'mate' me!" Ed screamed. "You killed her!"
"Good lord Eddy." A whisper came from across the room. A whisper that sounded tired, scared, and sarcastic all at the same time. "Pipe down a tad, will you?"
Ed whipped his head around to see Hope, or what was left of her. Her now painstakingly skinny body seemed to bring even more attention to the bruises and cuts all over her body, and as she bent down to grab her wig, he could see the large jut in her head, deep and ugly standing out on her now bald head. As she realized Ed was staring at her mark, she smiled sadly, the smile not traveling to her eyes, and put on her wig as she said quietly, "You should see the other guy."
Ed smiled, slowly letting Niall down of the wall to gasp for breath as he ran towards Hope, grabbing her up in a bone-crushing hug.
"Easy there tiger." Hope said, chuckling.
"Hope, I heard-" Ed started to say, before getting cut of by Hope wheeling her wheelchair over to Niall.
"Ni, you okay?" She said. He nodded softly and stood up.
"Just a bit out of breath Hope." He replied before turning to Ed. "I'm sorry mate. I truly am and I-"
"Ed." Hope said. "Say sorry to Niall for pushing up against a wall and yelling."
"What?!" Ed yelled, earning a glare from Hope. "Okay. Fine. Sorry Niall." He mumbled, not looking at him.
Hope smiled, at least with her mouth. "Good. Now Ed, why don't I show you my hospital room? It's all spiffed up, I mean it's not reality show quality but it looks better than the average hospital room."
"Okay." Ed said slowly.
"And as for you Niall, go home sweetie. Get some sleep and hang out with the boys for a while. I'll call you when I can okay?"
He smiled and nodded, shooting one more apologetic look at Ed before leaving.
As soon as they arrived at Hope's, Ed started talking again. "So I heard."
"Oh?" Hope casually said, getting out of her wheelchair and slowly walking shakily towards her chair. "You mean the one about me being the hospital?"
"No Hope. Well, that one too. But I also read the one that said you're going to die."
Hope breathed fast. "Oh. I was sort of hoping that I'd have a few more days before you found out."
"A few more days of what Hope?!?" Ed yelled back.
"Of you treating me normal Ed!" Hope whispered. "Harry feels like it's his fault, he's always here, making sure I'm fine, Niall refuses to talk about anything that has to do with my condition, instead he talks about the hottest girl he'd seem that day or jokes around with me. Liam is the most protective, at least Niall and Harry can joke around with me, he sits outside all day, giving me apologetic looks and talking to the doctors. Louis only comes with Harry, and when he does, he flinches when I want to talk about my will."
"And Zayn?" Ed was afraid to ask, but he had to know.
"Zayn." Hope said, choking up. "Zayn is, Zayn's gone. And I don't know if he's coming back." She looked down at her hands, as if they would bring him back.
Ed sighed, and looked down. "I won't change on you Hope. I will never change on you."
She sighed out. "That's great Ed. It really is. I just want a person who I can talk to about the funeral."
