One of Us (N.H | 1D)

Chapter 4 : Zayn

Liam was reading on his bed, while Harry was doing wheelies around the room when Louis can sprinting painfully in.

'GUYS!' he yelled, but his back and the strenuous movement caused him to collapse at Liam's feet.

'Jesus, Louis, are you crazy? You'll open up that cut again and bleed yourself out.' sighed Liam, now permanently off the breath mask.

Louis didn't answer. He lay on Liam's bed, trying to focus on his breathing and attempt to ignore the burning in his back.

'Lou? What's happened?' asked Harry, wheeling himself over.

'It's Zayn' Louis panted, gaining the immediate attention of his friends. 'He's awake.'

'Well let's go then!' cried Harry, starting for the door. Louis followed, finally able to move again.

'Uh, guys?' Liam gestured helplessly to the bulky oxygen tank.

'Oh. How long can you go without it?' asked Harry.

'Not long enough.'

'Where's the portable one?' said Louis impatiently.

'Over there...' Liam pointed to the corner, where a little blue tank nonchalantly squatted.

Louis grabbed it and handed it to Liam. 'Can you connect yourself to it?'

'Yeah.'

Liam fiddled with the tubes and the tank for about a minute. 'There!' he said triumphantly.

'How fast can you run with it?'

'Umm...'

'Here, put it in my lap' Harry said.

Liam chuckled, swinging himself out of bed.

'Just call me a trolley' snorted Harry.

'Come ooooooonnnnnnn' moaned Louis, but he was smiling. Even while they were hospital, they still tried to take the burden of each other with humor. Because that's what Niall would do.

The three of them made a strange sight, sprinting through the hospital. Louis was in front, but whenever they stopped, he would actually cry out from the pain. Liam puffed along behind, pushing Harry, who hadn't been able to keep up no matter how hard he tried.

Needless to say, they were all extremely relieved to reach Zayn's room. Louis reached the door first, holding it open for Harry.

'VAS HAPPENIN!' Zayn was sitting up in bed, beaming at them.

'Zayner!' said Harry, wheeling himself over, Louis behind him.

Liam, however, was slumped against a wall, desperately trying to catch his breath.

'Right, first things first' said Zayn, still overjoyed with the fact that he was surrounded by his friends. 'One: Harry, why are you in a wheelchair? Two: Louis, thank you for being there when I woke up. Three: Where the heck's Niall and Five: Liam, you look like you're gonna pass out.'

'Ahhh... I'll be fine' Liam gasped, still trying to force air into his reluctant lungs.

'No you won't. Sit the hell down.' Zayn said cheerfully. 'No offense, Haz.'

'None taken' laughed Harry as Liam fell onto a chair.

'How are you, Zayner?' asked Louis. 'What's the doctor's report?'

'Fine actually. I was wedged between two padded seats, so all I got was aa shit load of bruises and a thwack to the head.' As Zayn spoke, he lifted up his shirt to reveal the nasty purple-and-black bruises that covered his entire chest and disappeared into the waist band of his pants.

'Ouch' Liam (he'd regained his breath by this time) said sympathetically.

'I'll be right. How long have I been out?'

'Just over two weeks.' Louis said.

'Oh.' There was really nothing more Zayn could say to that. 'And to return to my original questions: Hazza. Wheelchair. Why?'

'My leg got crushed. I'll walk again, but it'll take time.' Harry said it matter- of-factly, but they all could see the very thought killed him.

'Ah. Lou? What about you?'

'My back. And I can't remember the crash.'

'And you, Li? You're face was going all blue back there.' Zayn knew that trying to console his friends would make there suffering worse. For now, they could just be happy, and he could let the bubble of euphoria in his chest expand.

'My lungs won't act like proper goddamned lungs. So I'll have to have this thing with me for a while.' Liam hoisted the oxygen tank onto his lap.

'...Shit...' which was really all Zayn could come out with. What could he say when his best friends were in wheelchairs, on oxygen tanks or crippled by back wounds?

'Yeah, you got lucky.' But there was no malice in Louis' voice.

Lucky...

But Zayn was a million miles away when something hit him.

Lucky.

'Oh!' said Zayn loudly, interrupting his friend's rant about the hospital food.

He reached into the chest of drawers where his possessions had been put while he had been sleeping. 'I forgot I had this!'

'What?'

The boys leaned in closer for a look.

Zayn was holding a leather thong with a silver four-leaf clover pendant. 'It's Niall's' explained Zayn. 'His lucky charm. He gave it to me after that run-in with my ex at the party...'

But Liam, Louis, and Harry's faces had completely drained of color as they stared at the silver charm, like it was a hypnotist's tool.

'What? Guy's? Where's Niall?'

'Oh God...' groaned Louis dropping his head into his hands.

'What!'Zayn said loudly.

Harry had tears coursing silently down his face.

'Fuck. Fuck' Liam breathed.

Zayn knew it was bad when "Daddy Direction" started swearing. Like the time Liam broke his arm, and he was all "Oh, I'll be fine" and "Maybe I can get people to sign my cast!" But when Harry broke his toe, Liam kept calm, but managed to get a swearword into every third sentence.

' WHERE'S NIALL!' yelled Zayn, making them jump.

'Niall is... He's...Oh shit' said Louis, breaking down into tears.

Zayn turned desperately to Liam, horribly conscious that this was one of the rare times he had seen his band mates cry.

'Li...' he said softly, seeing the tears glaze his friend's eyes. 'Whats happened to Niall?'

And Liam told him. Zayn felt his euphoric bubble turn to fragile glass and shatter into a million tiny pieces.