Part Ten
Zayn’s POV
I was shown to a waiting room, and I told them to send the boys in here too. I couldn’t sit down, so instead I paced the room, back and forth, back and forth.
“Zayn,” the boys burst in the room, on my tenth lap of the room.
“What’s happening?” Louis fired the first question at me.
“Is she going to be okay?” Harry asked, not pausing for me to answer Louis’ question.
“Where is she?” Liam asked next, again with no pause in between.
“Can we see her?” Niall asked. He caught my attention the most. He was sickly pale, his cheeks damp, his eyes twinkling with unshed tears- which I’m pretty sure will start to fall any minute now. He was no longer the happy-go-lucky boy, with the happy twinkle in his bright eyes, and the permanent smile plastered across his face, his loud laugh no longer rang in our ears, but a distant memory.
“Guys,” I pleaded them to stop asking questions.
“Sorry mate,” Niall ran a hand through his already tangled hair.
“J-Just… sit down… and I’ll answer the questions,” I whispered and they quickly complied with my request.
“I-It’s not good…” I started and I could see they all visibly paled, their eyes darkening, tears brimming, and in Niall’s case, beginning to cascade down his face.
“S-She hit her head… pretty hard… they said that she has a… bleed in the brain…” My voice was barely a whisper, but I could tell by the sharp intake of breaths that they had heard me, “She’s had to go in for an… operation…”
“On her brain?” Niall gasped.
If it were not for this situation, we would have all laughed at him and said something sarcastic… if Lia was here she’d have laughed and then scolded us for being mean to her ‘Nialler’ and then explained why we were laughing to the confused Irish.
I could tell by the looks on the Liam, Louis and Harry’s faces that they were thinking the same as me.
“Yes Niall, on her brain…” I nodded, tears flowing slowly down my cheeks.
“B-But… isn’t that… dangerous?” Harry whispered, tears now falling down his face too.
“Y-Yeah… but they said she had a ‘good chance’ of… survival,” I choked the last word out as a lump rose in my throat, “They say she may have some… short term memory loss…”
“That could be good,” Niall spoke up and we all looked at him, in a mix of anger and shock. How would that be good?
“How would that be good?” Harry voiced my thoughts.
“Well, if she has short term memory loss, she may not remember what she went through… before… you know, with Dylan…” he explained.
“S-She’s strong,” Liam spoke up after a moments silence, “She’s strong, she’ll pull through it. Before we know it we’ll all be messing about together, it’ll be fine.”
Normally, we would have all agreed and tried to be positive, but we had no energy, no hope. Even Louis, who is the most optimistic of us all, was looking shaken up, and looked as though he was holding back tears.
“I’m sorry,” Louis whispered and walked out the room.
“Just leave him a minute,” Liam put a hand on Harry’s arm, stopping him from going after Louis.
“Zayn sit down and stop pacing! It’s annoying!” Harry snapped suddenly.
“Don’t tell me what to do!” I shouted angrily. I’d had enough.
“Guys, please stop,” Niall whispered. No one spoke, and I continued to walk around the room, tapping my hands on my hips, to stop them shaking so much.
“Stop that,” Harry muttered; I didn’t understand what he meant.
I walked over to the wall and pushed my fists against it, leaning down and resting my forehead on the cool wall.
“She’s going to make it. She’ll be fine. She’s strong. She can do this,” I whispered, “You can do this, Lia. Come on, please make it. You have to pull through, Lia. I don’t know what I’ll do without you. I’ve just got you back, I can’t lose you again, not like this. Please, Lia. You have to pull through, you have to… I love you Lia." I kept muttering under my breath, praying she would pull through. I knew she wouldn’t hear me, but it made me feel a bit better.
“Would you just shut up?!” Harry shouted, and lunged at me.
“Harry!” Liam and Niall jumped up.
Harry grabbed my arm and spun me around to face him. “Just leave me alone!” I shouted.
“If you would just sit down and be quiet, it would all be fine!” He shouted back.
“No it wouldn’t! It wouldn’t help in the slightest! And nothing will be fine until Lia gets out of this damn hospital!” I yelled.
“What’s going on in here?” Preston walked in; he was previously guarding the door.
“It’s fine Preston, things just got a little heated,” Liam nodded.
“Okay,” Preston nodded back, glancing at Harry and I once more before going back to his position outside the door.
“Guys, you need to calm down,” Liam turned to us, placing his hand on Harry’s chest.
“This isn’t helping her,” Niall said boldly, and we all turned to look at him. “This isn’t helping Lia, what do you think will happen if she pulls through, only to find us at each other’s throats? We need to pull together and support each other; it’s what Lia would want. She hates fighting,” He whispered the last bit.
“I’m sorry,” Harry whispered, “Niall’s right.”
“I’m sorry too Haz,” I mumbled and then pulled him in to a bro hug.
“I never understand those ‘bro hug’ things,” Lia’s voice flitted through my head.
I pulled away, laughing lightly and all the boys stared at me weirdly. “Lia never understood the ‘bro hugs,’ it just reminded me of a conversation we had.”
“That’s a good idea Zayn,” Liam said, “We should all talk about good times with Lia.”
We all nodded and sat on the chairs, in a small circle. An empty chair was placed for Louis when he returned.
“Zayn, you start, you have the most stories,” Liam said and I nodded.
“Well… there was this one time, when we were four…” I started.
“Ready or not here I come,” shouted the four year old me, as began my search for Lia.
I ran into the lounge, and over to the curtains. I slowly reached out and took hold of one, before pulling it back.
No Lia.
I tried the other curtain, still no Lia. I checked behind the sofa, under the table, in the bath, in the small cupboard under the stairs (where she usually hid), in my room, and every other place in the house. My last room to search was the kitchen.
I ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. Stopping in the doorway, I held my breath, not making a sound. I strained my ears and listened for any movement, any light breaths, any giggles (which was Lia’s main weakness during this game), any sign of Lia.
I was met by the light sound of crunching, coming from the top cupboard.
I frowned and dragged a chair across the room, placing it beside the counter and under the cupboard where I could still hear the crunching.
I carefully climbed onto the chair, swiftly followed by climbing on to the counter. Re-gaining my balance quickly, I took hold of the cupboard handles for support. I could hear the crunching much more loudly now.
I pulled open the cupboard, going a bit wobbly. I was met by a giggly Lia, who was stuffing her face with cookies that she’d found in the tin beside her.
“Want one Zayn?” She giggled and helped pull me into the cupboard.
“Sure,” I smiled and sat beside her.
Lia handed me a cookie before kneeling forward and pulling shut the doors. There were only a few streams of light, flooding in through the gaps in the door, but it was enough that we could still see.
“Zayn!” My mother shouted.
“Shush,” Lia giggled and we covered our mouths, trying to muffle our giggles.
“Zayn?” My mother asked; we could hear her footsteps getting louder.
Suddenly, the doors were pulled open and Lia couldn’t contain her laughter anymore.
“Come on you two, out, and leave the cookies, or you won’t have room for your dinner,” my mother smiled fondly at us, and help us out.
I noticed Lia trying to hide two more cookies.
“Lia, I said leave the cookies,” my mother laughed.
“Sorry,” she sighed and placed them back in the tin, “I thought you said… ‘leave the… rookies’.”
“Oh really?” My mother smirked.
“Yes Mrs Malik,” Lia nodded; a big smile on her face.
“Never let her near cookies,” I smiled at the distant memory and all the boys (bar Louis, who still wasn’t back).
“I made that mistake… she hasn’t changed much, aye,” Niall smiled.
“What do you mean?” I asked him, and shared a confused look with Liam and Harry.
“Well, it was when we were at Alton Towers,” he smiled, “There was this place selling cookies, and you guys had gone ahead somewhere, so she begged me to get her some cookies. I complied, and bought her some cookies; it must have been a bag with about ten in. She took them from me and ran off. I ran after her, I couldn’t find her, it was like she’d just disappeared, and then I heard like crunching, the sound of someone eating. I followed the noise and found her, sitting behind a tree, eating the cookies. She looked up and smiled widely at me, a cookie hanging from her mouth. She offered me one and then we walked back to meet up with you guys.
“Sounds like her,” I smiled.
“I’m going to find Louis,” Harry said abruptly, standing up.
“I’ll go with you,” I offered and Harry nodded.
“We’ll stay here, in case there’s any news,” Liam said and Niall nodded.
“Okay,” Harry nodded back and the new both hurried out of the door; asking Preston which way Louis went.
Louis’ POV
I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.
Lia, the fun-loving girl I had only just met, so fragile, so un-aware, so childish, carefree and happy. How did we not see this? Zayn always had his suspicions, we should have protected her. Now, here we are, awaiting more news of her condition in a grotty hospital waiting room. It was so wrong. I would do anything to trade places with Lia right now, even though I’d only met her not long ago, I see her as a younger sister. She didn’t deserve this. It made me feel sick.
We had had some nice chats before now, when the boys weren’t around. She was so nice, and amazing. I told her about Eleanor, my girlfriend, and my family. She said that she wished she had a family like mine; hers had all abandoned her now, when she needed them most. I told her, I promised her, that she could come with me on my next trip home, and meet my family. I’d told El about Lia too, and El really wanted to meet her, she said that Lia, Danielle (Liam’s girlfriend) and her should get together and go shopping one time. It was a great idea.
Well, it was before Lia was put in hospital by… Dylan. Now, she was in a life threatening situation, fighting for her life, having an operation on her brain, to try and fix a bleed that he caused. Where was he? I swear to god, if I saw him now, I would hit him so hard…
I was fighting back tears, as much as I loved these guys as brothers, I was the oldest, even though I didn’t act it all the time, but I was and I wanted to be strong for them all. I didn’t want them to see my tears. I had to be strong.
“I’m sorry,” I whispered and then ran out the room.
I pulled my phone out as I walked outside, leaning against the wall for support as the tears began to flow. I dialled the number quickly and held the phone to my ear. I was debating on whether to call my mum, or Eleanor, but my mum wouldn’t make it here in time.
“Hello?” Eleanor sang down the phone.
“El,” I choked out.
“Lou, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” Her voice was now panicked, with obvious worry.
“I-I’m fine El, well, no I’m not… it’s Lia…” a sob raked out of my throat, as I continued, “I’m at the hospital, c-can you come down?”
“Sure, I’ll be down there in five,” she said in a hurried voice.
“T-Thank you,” I whispered and hung up, sliding the phone back in my pocket. I slid down the wall, putting my head in my hands, which were trembling terribly.
“Louis!” I heard Eleanor shout and looked up to see her running over to me about five minutes later.
“El,” I whispered as she bent down beside me and I just broke down. She pulled me into her arms, hugging me tightly, letting me cry into her shoulder.
“It’s going to be okay Lou,” she whispered soothingly to me, helping me up and over to a bench across the car park.
“H-He did it to her,” I tried to explain.
“Who Louis? I don’t understand,” Eleanor rubbed my back soothingly.
“D-Dylan, Lia’s boyfriend,” I spat in disgust, “He hits her, but this time… it was really bad. She managed to run away, and came to our hotel room… she stopped breathing El… now she’s having an operation on her brain, and there’s nothing I can do to help her.” Fresh tears fell from my eyes and Eleanor stayed silent for a few seconds.
“You really care for her, don’t you?” She whispered.
“Like she is my own sister,” I nodded and Eleanor pulled me into another hug.
“She’ll be fine Lou, these people are trained, it’s their job to save people’s life. They’ll look after her,” Eleanor always knew what to say.
“I-I know… it’s just so hard…” I trailed off, “It’s our fault El, it’s our fault she’s here.”
“No, no it’s not Louis, don’t think that.”
“It is though El, you don’t understand. We were at Alton Towers, and the paps were there, taking photos of us… and Dylan saw the photos in a magazine, that’s why she’s here… so it is our fault.”
“You weren’t to know Louis, and from what you’ve told me, Lia would not want you blaming yourself,” Eleanor, held my hands tightly, staring straight into my eyes, “If she cares about you, like you do about her, she would not want you to blame yourself, she’d want you to be strong.”
“Why do you always know what to say?” I asked her, a small smile playing on my lips.
“Because I’m a female, and we always know what’s best,” she smiled and kissed me gently.
“I know you probably don’t want to hear this now, and it’s the least of your worries… but it’s already four o’clock, and you are booked for an interview on Radio One at six,” Eleanor reminded me.
“I’ll have to talk to the boys about what we’re going to do…” I said and she nodded.
“Speaking of the boys, I’m sure they’re missing you, let’s go back inside,” she smiled and stood up.
I followed her lead, holding her hand tightly in my own as we walked inside. We were walking past the cubicles when I saw him. My heart stopped, and my breathing hitched. I let go of Eleanor’s hand, my own hands balling up into fists, my knuckles turning white. My jaw was set in a straight line as I stared at him with so much hatred. I’d only seen him once, in a picture Lia showed me of the two of them, but I knew it was sure it was him.
Dylan.
He was sat on the bed; his arm had a white bandage around it. Did Lia do that?
“Louis, you’re scaring me, what’s going on?” Eleanor tugged me arm, and then followed my eye line, “Who is he?”
“Him,” I spat and then I marched across the room and over to him.
“Louis!” Eleanor shouted after me, but it was too late.
“Dylan?” I asked as I stood in front of him.
“Do I know you?” He asked, looking me up and down, then realisation dawned on his features, “Your one of them boys aren’t you?”
“Yes, one of ‘them boys’ who Lia came running to earlier today after what you did to her,” I glared at him as he stood in front of me.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” he spat.
“Oh really? So you didn’t hit her, and burn her with your cigarette?” I snarled.
“Maybe I did,” he smirked, “How bad does she look? Is she here?”
“Yes, she is here, she’s having an operation for a bleed in her brain!” I shouted angrily at him.
“Ouch, I did a good job then?” He smirked wider, and that’s when I lost it completely. I pulled my fist back and punched him square in the face, making him stumble backwards a little.
“Louis, just leave it,” Eleanor pleaded with me, but it was too late, I was seeing red. He needed to pay.
“You bastard!” I spat and lunged at him, both of us falling to the floor as I punched him harder. He swung a punch back at me, hitting me in the jaw, sending me backwards, and then he was on top of me. Punching me hard in the face. He was strong.
“Louis!” Eleanor shrieked, “Someone help! Harry! Zayn!”
“Eleanor where’s- Dylan,” Zayn spat as he saw us.
Dylan was then pulled off me, but as soon as he was, he was sent sprawled back on the floor again, as Zayn punched him and kicked him repeatedly in the ribs, Harry joining in. Male nurses and doctors began running over and pulling Zayn, Harry and I away from Dylan. The police came running over to us as well. Why was the police here?
“What’s going on?” A police officer asked us.
“He beat up our friend and now she’s having an operation because of a bleed in her brain,” Eleanor spoke up.
“Lia? Lia Butler?” The police officer asked.
“Yes, how do you know her?” I asked, calming down slightly.
“We’re here to see her, when we can,” he spoke directly to me.
“Well, you should arrest him,” Zayn spat and lunged at Dylan again, but the nurses pulled him back before he reached Dylan, who was smirking.
“Can we talk in private about this?” The police officer said and we nodded.
Eleanor, Harry, Zayn and I followed one officer, whilst the other stayed with Dylan, who was getting his new injuries seen to.
“Excuse me, I think he should have his head looked at,” a nurse said, pointing at me.
“I’m fine,” I rejected the offer.
“Just do as the nurse says Lou,” Eleanor pleaded and I sighed before following the nurse to a cubicle, Eleanor following me.
Zayn’s POV
We followed the police officer into the relative’s waiting room, where Liam and Niall were.
“What are they doing here?” Liam asked, gesturing to the officer.
“I need to talk to you about Miss Butler,” the officer explained.
“Oh,” Liam nodded and we all sat down.
“So, how do you know it was that man…?” The police officer asked.
“Dylan, his names Dylan Jameson,” I spat in disgust.
“Okay,” he scribbled the name down in his notepad.
“She’s my best friend, I’ve known something has been wrong for a while now, she’s scared of him. She ran to us earlier today, Liam answered the door,” I explained.
“She was knocking on the door loudly and continuously. When I opened the door I saw she was covered in bruises, cuts, scars and burns, some old, some new. As soon as the door was opened she pushed us both inside and locked the door- it was obvious she was scared of something… or someone,” Liam said.
“Liam came and got me, and then rang the ambulance. I went to Lia’s aid, as Liam went to get the paramedics. We were talking for a bit, I was trying to keep her awake, but then she stopped… breathing… I began doing CPR and then the paramedics came and took over,” I explained.
“Did she say anything to you? About Mr Jameson I mean,” the officer asked me.
“No,” I shook my head, replaying the conversation in my head.
“You’re my Bradford Bad Boy.”
“Zayn, you are my Bradford Bad Boy, and I love you.”
“I love you too Lia.”
“No, Zayn, I really love you.”
“She said ‘He saw’ to me,” Liam spoke up.
“What does that mean?” The officer asked, looking at all of us individually.
“We went to Alton Towers yesterday, the paparazzi was there, they were taking pictures of us, because we’re the band, One Direction,” Harry explained.
“Oh, that’s why there is security at the door,” he nodded.
“Yes; and the photos were put in a magazine, so she must have meant that Dylan saw the photos of us all together,” Niall said and the officer nodded, scribbling more things down in his notepad.
“Is that all?” Liam asked.
“For now,” he nodded.
We nodded and he left the room.
“Guys, Louis sent me to come talk to you,” Eleanor walked in a few seconds later.
“How is he?” Harry asked.
“He’s got to have some stitches, but other than that, he’s alright,” she nodded, “But he wanted me to remind you, and I know it’s not the best time, but you’ve got an interview at six with Radio One.”
“I’m not leaving the hospital,” I said immediately.
“We can’t cancel, it’s too late,” Liam said.
“We’ll go,” Harry said.
“No, I’m not leaving her,” I shook my head.
“No, I mean, we’ll go, the four of us, you can stay here. If anything happens, you can call us and we’ll come down as soon as we can,” Harry explained further.
“Sounds good,” Niall agreed.
“Okay, I’ll let management and security know,” Liam said and pulled out his phone.
“I’ll stay here with Zayn, Danielle’s coming down as well,” Eleanor said.
“You don’t have to, I’m not good company now,” I said. I didn’t want to take my anger out on her.
“No, it’s no bother at all; you’ll need someone here with you,” she smiled and I smiled back.
“Thank you,” I hugged her quickly.
“I’ll tell Louis the plan,” she hugged me back before leaving the room.
“Well, that’s all sorted, we’ve got to head out now, we’ve got to go get ready and be down there at half five, the interviews at six,” Liam announced.
“Okay,” Niall and Harry nodded.
“If anything happens, or you hear any news, call one of us straight away, even if it’s just to tell us she’s out of the operation. I want to know,” Niall said and I nodded.
“Of course,” I nodded and gave him a bro hug. I quickly gave Harry and Liam one too.
“We’ll be back after the interview,” Harry said and I nodded.
They left to go find Louis, and then a few minutes later Danielle and Eleanor walked in.
Danielle immediately ran over to me and pulled me into a tight hug. That was enough to send me into another mini break down, and I just burst into tears.
She’s going to be alright.
Right?