Chapter 11: Up in Flames
As soon as Harry parks his car outside of the hospital, Niall and Zayn jump out of the car and head straight into the building without even waiting for the youngest lad. Not that he minds, since they just really need to make sure that Louis is okay, and not actually dying right now. Because that's what matters at the moment, and they can figure out who did this to Louis later.
But Harry has somewhat of a bad feeling about who might be responsible.
Worry about it later, he scolds himself before following Niall and Zayn inside. When he gets there, Niall is already causing a commotion, yelling at the nurse to let them see their best friend.
"I don't get it! Why can't we see him? Can't you see that this is an emergency?! He might be dying right now!"
"I'm sorry, sir, but your friend might be in critical condition and most likely needs time to rest. If you could just take a seat and we'll let you know when - "
"No! You know what, nurse, we have every right to see him, so just tell us which room he's in! Man, I'm hungry!"
Harry makes his way to the counter, pulling Niall back and apologizing to the flustered nurse. "Sorry about him. But we'd really like to see our friend. We just want to make sure he's fine. He got into a car accident, and he called us earlier so we could visit him. Could you, by any chance, tell us which room he's in? We'd really appreciate it."
"Yeah. Use your freaking charm on her," Niall mutters under his breath in irritation.
"I'm trying to get us to see Louis, so just shu- "
"Miss, we know you're probably really busy right now, but we just need his room number, then we'll be on our way," Zayn cuts in, smiling softly at the now blushing nurse.
"Oh my god. He's actually flirting with her now," Niall groans.
"Uh, s- sure. Mr. Tomlinson is in room 312, on the third floor. The elevators are just down the hall and around the corner," the nurse surprisingly replies to Zayn, pointing to the direction they should be going in. "I think he already has a visitor, a young lady, but you should be able to go in and see him too."
"Thank you," the black-haired lad says with a smile, pulling on Harry and Niall's arms to the direction of the elevators quickly.
Shaking his head in amusement, Harry teases, "Of course she would do as you say, Malik."
"Oh, shut up."
"It's all because of his jaw and Greek god-like features," Niall adds as they step into the elevator.
"Well, I got us Louis' room number and we're going to see him now, aren't we?" Zayn snaps, crossing his arms over his chest. "Just shut up. Both of you. You're almost as bad as Louis would be right now."
The other two lads chuckle and step out of the elevator once it stops on the third floor. They head to room 312 just a few doors down and knock on the door before slowly pushing it open and poking their heads in. Upon seeing Louis sitting on the hospital bed very much alive and as good as he can look after that car accident, they smile and walk in to greet him.
"Boys! You're finally here!" Louis cheers, waving his arms up in the air as he's holding onto Eleanor's hand. "El, look at them! They're here!"
"Yes, Lou. I know. I can see them myself," she replies with a roll of her eyes.
"Hi, El," Harry greets her, giving her a hug before standing beside her at Louis' bed while Niall and Zayn stand on the other side.
"I'm so happy you lads are here. I was feeling so lonely, and El wouldn't let me call for room service."
"What's up with him?" Zayn asks, as Louis reaches for his hand and puts it against his nose with a dopey smile on his face.
"For some reason, he thinks we're in a hotel and he can just call room service because he's hungry," Eleanor answers while she looks down at her boyfriend fondly. "He's been going on about how much he wants to go to the pool and swim until he turns into a mermaid... Basically, he's on some heavy pain medication because he kept complaining about his leg."
Niall chuckles as Louis tries to bite Zayn's hand, probably thinking it's a sandwich or something, before he says, "He's not the only one who's hungry. But he's fine, right?"
"Yeah. He wasn't too badly hurt. At least that's what the doctor said when I got here. He has a few scratches on his arms and face as you can see, which he's gonna hate when he looks at himself in a mirror, but he can deal. It's just his left leg that's pretty bad."
"Oh no. Is it broken?" Harry asks worriedly as he eyes Louis pouting when Zayn pulls his hand away from him.
"No, thank god. But it's pretty bruised up and the doctor says he needs to take it easy when he gets out of here. So he'll be on crutches for a few weeks."
"He'll hate that," Niall comments with a smile.
"No kidding. Try living with him when he acts all demanding and 'Queen Louis' once we get home," Eleanor states with a roll of her eyes. "He'll be such a menace. I swear, sometimes I don't even know why I still stay with him."
"Come on, El. You know you love him for being like that and when he's sweet and romantic with you," Harry declares, putting an arm around her shoulder.
"And we've all asked that question ourselves. But we still love him anyway, the terror he is," Zayn adds.
Louis sighs exaggeratedly all of sudden, getting tired of trying to bite Zayn's hand. He tugs on his girlfriend's hand to get her attention while glaring at Harry and his arm around her shoulders. "Hey. Get your own girlfriend, son! She's mine!"
"You don't have to worry about him, Lou," Niall claims. "He's only into guys, remember?"
"Still. You don't know me!"
"That made no sense whatsoever," Zayn mutters, shaking his head before looking at Eleanor. "So, when does the medication wear off?"
"Not sure. He was given it over an hour ago, but who knows how long it will last?"
"Do you know what happened to him?" Harry asks.
"Well, from what he was rambling on about before they gave him the pain medication, he said something about a person following him while he was driving to your house. He said he didn't know who it was, since they were wearing sunglasses or some disguise, but he was pretty pissed at whoever did that to him. Then he just passed out right after. He literally woke up a few minutes before you all got here."
The other lads sigh in disappointment, taking a seat in the other chairs across the room. They really wanted to know exactly what happened, and perhaps even who did this to Louis.
"... Do you think that person was trying to - to kill him, maybe?"
"Let's not get morbid, Nialler," Zayn argues lightly, trying to stay calm for all of them as Louis blabs on to Eleanor sitting on the bed beside him.
"But maybe Niall's right? I mean, why else would someone be tailgating Louis like that? There has to be a reason, guys," Harry says, looking down at the ground in contemplation. "Whoever did this was probably trying to send a message or something."
"If that's true, then who? I can't think of anyone who would do that to Louis."
"Maybe it's not anyone we know. It might be someone Louis pissed off randomly and now they're out for revenge," the black-haired lad reasons, leaning back in his seat.
"Or some crazy person who does this just 'cause," Niall states with a shake of his head.
At that, Harry freezes and snaps his head up to look at Niall and Zayn. They look at him in confusion, trying to figure out why he suddenly looks terrified. Zayn reaches out and grabs Harry's hand when it starts shaking, and Niall rubs his back when Harry starts hyperventilating.
"Hey, calm down, Harry."
"Yeah. What are you thinking?"
"I - I think I might know who - who did this," he declares, looking at them.
"... You don't think - "
"Maybe? I mean, he's a maniac, and I doubt this is beyond him. And when I came home after my classes today, he was in my house and said he had to go 'deal with someone' before he left. What else could that possibly mean?!"
"We - we don't know that's what he meant," Zayn says reasonably, although he has a bad feeling that Harry might be right.
"Oh god. Does that mean he's after the rest of us?" Niall asks in panic.
By now, the pain medication is wearing of Louis and groans when he tries to move his left leg. Eleanor stops him and scolds him for trying to do that. He leans his head back on the pillow and looks up at her, squeezing her hand to show his gratitude for her being here right now.
When he hears the other lads whispering among themselves across the room, he lifts his head up from the pillow.
"Are you plotting my death while I was doped up?" he asks jokingly, then frowns when he sees their scared expression. "What? Is that what you were all actually talking about?"
"N- no, Lou," Harry replies, slowly making his way over to the bed. "But we think someone might be."
"And who could possibly want me dead?"
"We don't know anything for sure, but we think it might be Liam," says Niall.
"What? You mean Harry's creepy neighbour? Yeah, right. I bet he's all bark, no bite. Stop thinking such crazy things. It's not him."
"But what if it was?" Zayn questions.
"Lou, think about it. For all we know, Liam could actually be capable of many things. Which may include trying to kill all of us," Harry says frantically. "We barely know anything about him, so who really knows? But I really do think he had something to do with this, if he wasn't actually the one in that car tailgating you."
Louis rolls his eyes, arguing, "How would he even know where I live? He's your stalker; not mine."
"I swear he knows just about everything about my life, Lou! That includes knowing every detail about all of you too, I bet. We can't keep underestimating him."
"And what if it isn't him? What if it's just some random bloke who - "
Harry's phone rings then, startling all of them. Eleanor pulls her hand away from Louis when he squeezed her hand tightly, scolding him. He apologizes, but eyes Harry's phone in his hand.
"Who wants to bet against me that it's him?"
"How would he even know your number? Come on, Harry. He can't know 'everything' about you," Louis says doubtfully.
"Fine. But if I'm right, you'll all see," the curly-haired lad retorts, shakily pressing the 'answer' button on his phone and putting it up against his ear. He gulps and says nervously, "H- hello?"
"Why hello, Hazza! How's your friend?"
"L- Liam? How did you get my number? I know for sure that I never gave it to you."
Eyes widening at Harry, the other lads look at each other worriedly, realizing Harry was right about this one thing. They just hope he isn't right about the rest, because then they'd be all screwed, right? With Zayn, who is feeling very uncomfortable, decides to go out for a smoke outside of the hospital to calm down. He lets the rest of them know, then leaves the room by himself to head outside.
Meanwhile, Liam smirks to himself as he waits outside of the hospital still on the phone with Harry, leaning against the wall, wearing a disguise. He's wearing sunglasses and a snapback in the hopes of hiding most of his known features - It's better if he doesn't know it's actually Liam. He's also wearing some ratty, old clothes to make him appear homeless while he waits for his next target to head out and possibly join him for a 'smoke'.
"You're right, you know?" he says into the phone, holding back another smirk when he sees Zayn finally outside.
"Excuse me?"
"And I won't be done until I have you all to myself without any more people getting in the way."
"What? Liam, what the hell does that mean?!" Harry demands.
"Sorry, love. I'm actually about to deal with someone right now. But I'll make sure to talk to you later, yeah?"
Liam hangs up then, putting his phone away as he heads closer to Zayn, but not suspiciously as to scare him away. Yet. He has a plan, and he intends to stick with it.
He coughs into his hand exaggeratedly, hoping to catch Zayn's attention. The black-haired lad already has a cigarette in his mouth, about to light it when he looks over worriedly at him. Liam smiles triumphantly on the inside, knowing this is his chance to get to part two of his plan.
Making sure his voice is unrecognizable, Liam presses the button on a device in his pocket to change how his voice sounds. He's clever, isn't he?
"Sorry to bug you, but do you mind if I light one with you?"
"Uh, I'm not sure you should be smoking if you're coughing like that. Maybe you should get checked inside," Zayn replies, pointing back at the hospital entrance.
"What? 'Cause of my cough? No point in going in there if I know I'm gonna die anyway," Liam says dismissively, waving his hand about. "You'd know what that's like, yeah? Smoking isn't good for any of us, but once you start, it's hard to quit. Bad habits, you know?"
"Yeah... Here, I guess."
Zayn offers a cigarette and his lighter to the 'homeless' man after lighting his own. Liam thanks him, inhaling then letting smoke out of his mouth as they lean against the wall in silence.
~~~
"What did he say, Harry?"
"He - Liam said he was about to deal with someone right now... Zayn! Oh my god! We have to check on Zayn!" Harry exclaims, heading for the door and running through the halls and down the stairs. He has to get to Zayn before Liam does, or else -
Don't think like that. Just get to Zayn, he thinks to himself as he runs past patients and doctors scolding him.
"Huh? Harry, what does that mean?!" Louis calls after, although it's no use with Harry long gone.
"I'm gonna go see what that's about," Niall says, before leaving Louis and Eleanor to worry in the hospital room.
~~~
"Funny thing about not being able to stop once you start," Liam starts, looking to the side at Zayn through his sunglasses.
"Huh?"
"Once you set a goal for yourself, you're set on doing whatever it takes to reach it, you know?"
"Uh, yeah, I guess," Zayn responds, inhaling then exhaling some smoke.
"So you really can't blame me for doing this, 'cause I only want to have him all to myself, and only him," Liam continues, facing Zayn now as he holds the cigarette in his hand with a smirk on his face.
He snatches the lighter from Zayn's hand, placing the lit end of his cigarette on Zayn's leather jacket so it catches on fire. He uses the lighter to add more flames on the other side of Zayn's jacket, ignoring said lad when he lets out a shocked and pain-filled shout.
Zayn waves his arms around to try and get the flames to die down, but it only spreads and burns his hands. He curses and tries his best to pull it off before he gets even worse burns.
In the meantime, Liam drops the lighter on the ground and walks away with a dark laugh, disappearing behind a wall around the corner of the building. He pulls his sunglasses and snapback off as he gets into his car and drives away from the hospital without Zayn noticing it was him. After all, Zayn is too busy trying not to burn alive as Liam hopes will happen.
Two down. One more to go.
So close to having Harry all to myself. What a delight.