My Best Friend // Niall Horan

Chapter 7

Niall

I quickly sprinted down the hall to see what was going on. Michelle was talking with the nurse who had come out of the room to help her. I waited, patiently, before guiding Courtney's mom down the hall and we sat down in the uncomfortable green chairs.

"What happened while she was changing?" I asked while all the boys leaned in further to hear her response.

"She asked me to help her change into sweatpants so she would be more comfortable." She had moved her gaze from my face to the rest of us.

"I heard her whispering what I thought was my name, I quickly turned around and before I knew it she was falling. I had no idea what was happening, so I froze in place. Thankfully the nurse that was standing in front of her caught her."

I have never seen her be so stressed, not even when Courtney's dad ha-.  I couldn't finish. For all these years after Courtney's family found out, no one understood how it could happen. They hadn't even seen a diagnosis like that coming.

 It was about five months after her family moved to Ireland, and her dad got sick. It got really bad, really fast and they couldn't figure out why. That's when they found out he had stomach cancer. Everyone was shocked at how far along it had progressed without anyone knowing any of the signs. He progressively got worse until the end. 

Then one night Courtney went home after spending the day with me to find her dad slumped over in his recliner. She didn't want to believe he was gone. I heard the scream over at my house.

(*Flashback* -Courtney P.O.V*)

"Niall it's nearly 10:30, I need to go home. If you forgot we both have school in the morning!" I tried getting up knowing he wouldn't let me go. But surprising to me, he let go without much of a fight.

"Fine! But I am going to watch you over, so I won't be responsible for someone taking you. Although I am sure they would bring you back in like five minutes because of your sass." He said jokingly. We always joked around. As we walked out of his room I got this weird feeling in the bottom of my stomach.  We reached his front door and like he always does he hugged me. I looked up at him because I was a good couple of inches shorter than he was.

"So you'll meet me on my steps before we walk to school like we always do?" I asked

 "Sounds like our usual plan." He said. He hugged me one last time before I walked across the street to my house. Once I walked into my house I hollered for my dad, my mum was still at work. He didn't answer back. Strange.

I walked over to the fridge to get me something to drink. I found a bottle of water in the door and started walking into the living room and found something no one should ever see. I let out a scream that would wake everyone who lived close by. Most likely doing just that too.

Every single one of my fears had come true. I never wanted to be the one to find my dad gone. I didn't want to be home alone when it happened and I didn't ever want my dad to die.

I ran out of there and fell to the floor by the door in broken sobs. He was gone was all I kept repeating. I didn't know until I heard them that someone was there with me. I looked up to see who was there. "Niall" I cried out through my sobs. He sat down to me and just held me, telling me that everything was going to be okay, as he called my mom.