Callin
“Callin Baines” says a woman's voice. My eyes shoot open.
“Niall” I say. “Where?”
“Operation” replies the woman in front of me. Then I realise where I am.
A hospital.
“What . . .” I say, but I don't know how to finish the question. The last thing I remember is seeing the gun in Niall's hand. And then nothing.
“Your friend, Louis, has a lot to tell you” the woman says, smiling kindly.
“Louis' here?” I ask. “I . . . am I . . . what happened?”
“You'll be fine” the woman says. It finally occurs to me that she may be a doctor. “You just have a few scrapes and cuts. You were lucky.”
Lucky?
Why am I lucky?
“You're free to go whenever” she continues. “Preston is here to take you home.” I look out the glass front wall to my room and Preston's standing out there, a slight smile on his face.
The woman helps me into a wheelchair and wheels me out of the room.
“Hello, Callin” Preston says warmly.
“The others?” I ask.
His face falls slightly.
“Louis' next door” he says. “I'll take you there.”
He takes my wheelchair from the woman, and pushes me to the next room in the hallway. Louis' sitting up in bed, knees to his chest, staring blankly at the wall.
I can't help but feel a rush of fear.
Preston leaves us alone.
“Louis?” I say softly. He turns to look at me. Our eyes meet.
His eyes scare me.
I can see so much pain in those eyes.
“Hi” he says hollowly. “At least I didn't kill you.”
“You didn't kill anyone” I say.
I can't help but wonder if that means someone's dead.
“Don't even try” Louis says.
“You didn't pull the trigger” I reply.
“But it's my fault someone did!” he shouts.
I'm almost glad that he shouted. There's some emotion left in him.
“Louis” I say. “Who died?”
“Mark” he whispers. “And Brandon.”
I can't help the rush of relief that overtakes my body, and I hate myself for it. But the names he said weren't the names I was scared he would say.
“Niall and Zayn have been unconscious since they got here” he continues. “I'm sick of people getting hurt for me.”
“What about Harry and Liam?” I ask, keeping my eyes on his face. I've got to know what happened to . . . my friends.
Louis swallows, and my heart plummets. Whatever happened to them, he doesn't want to tell me.
“Missing” he mumbles. “They haven't found them yet.” His voice cracks on the word 'found'. “The police think they either ran or else they're buried under the rubble field that is our house.”
“Louis, what the hell happened?” I ask. “All I know is that Niall shot the guy in our house, and then I woke up here.”
“Niall did that?” Louis asks incredulously. “I thought the second guy finished off his partner!”
“There were two of them?” I ask softly.
“Why do you think Preston didn't come to the rescue?” Louis asks. “When you left, Liam carried me to security's house, and left me on the porch. I followed him inside, got extra crutches, caused some destruction, and got him shot.”
“Did you see him get shot?” I ask, trying not to think about what I'm asking. I don't want to think about Liam getting shot.
I know what that's like.
“The guy was shooting at something” Louis says. “I was busy limping down the road as fast as possible.”
“Well, if they can't find Liam, that means he must be okay, right?” I say. “He must've run.” Louis shakes his head slowly.
“The guy had bombs” he says. “He blew up the houses and ran. Liam could be buried under the rubble or blown fifty feet away. He could be in pieces-”
“Shut up” I say. “Just shut up.”
Louis blinks.
“I'm sorry” he whispers. “I wasn't . . . I wasn't thinking. I don't know . . . I'm sorry.”
“Don't you think you would know if Liam was dead?” I ask him. “Don't you think you would feel it?”
“I feel like I'm dead” Louis says. “I don't think my feelings will work right now.”
“Well, I think he's alive” I say.
I don't know if I believe that or not.
But Louis needs to believe it.
“What about Harry?” Louis asks. “What're the odds he made it out? I had just forgiven him! We . . . we weren't fighting anymore!”
“He's alive too” I say. “But if the guy blew up the house, how am I alive?”
Louis shrugs.
“A miracle” he says. “You and Niall and Zayn were just lucky. The bomb just . . . missed you, I guess.”
“How bad are they?” I ask softly.
Louis knows who I'm talking about.
“Niall's in operation” he says. “Which means they can't tell us anything.”
“Zayn?” I ask.
“He got hit in the head pretty hard” Louis says. “He has a concussion. He's in a coma.”
Coma.
One word with so much power.
There's a knock on the door, then. Louis closes his eyes tightly.
“I'm asleep” he mumbles.
“C'mon in!” I shout at the door.
The handle twists.
And someone I never really thought I'd see again walks into the room.
-
Louis
“I know you're awake, Louis” says a familiar voice.
My eyes shoot open.
I was right.
Liam.
“Liam” I breathe. The corner of his mouth twitches, like he wants to smile but can't remember how.
“Yeah” he says. “It was a shock to me, too.”
I know what he means.
He can't believe he's alive, either.
“How?” I ask softly.
“You” Liam replies.
Callin catches my eye, her expression saying, 'see?'
“I assume that was you, that knocked the lamp over?” Liam asks. It's my turn to twitch the corner of my mouth.
“Yeah” I say. “It was actually an accident.”
“An accident that saved my life” Liam says. “I started running as soon as I heard it.”
As he's talking, I look him over. I don't know how far we are from the houses, but there's no way Liam ran all the way here.
He looks . . . clean. Well rested. Like nothing even happened.
“I heard him shoot at me a few times” Liam continues. “I kept running. I had no clue where I was heading. Just away. Eventually, I made it to a house. They recognised me, knew who I was, and they let me stay overnight. They called 999, too, but you had already done it. They drove me here this morning.”
“D'you know how lucky you were?” Callin asks softly.
“Yeah” Liam says to her. “I know how Louis walked miles down the road on crutches with no shoes, how Niall got shot, how Zayn's unconscious, how Harry's still missing. Believe me, I'm amazed I'm alive as well.”
“I killed Mark and Brandon too” I tell him.
“No, you didn't” Callin says. “None of this is your fault.”
“Mark and Brandon are dead?” Liam asks incredulously.
“Yeah” I spit. “They were shot. Point-blank range. I saw their dead bodies, sitting on the couch-”
“Louis!” Callin shouts, cutting me off. Her eyes are on Liam.
His face is white.
“I-I though he was bluffing” Liam whispers.
Callin frowns.
Nobody told her what happened in that second house.
Of course, nobody know, except for me and Liam.
And the man.
“Well, he wasn't” I say shortly. “I'm really tired, can I sleep now?”
Liam looks like he's going to say something for a moment, but then he seems to rethink it. He takes Callin's wheelchair and pushes her out of my room.
“I'm sorry” he says to me, before closing the door and leaving me alone.
Maybe I shouldn't have sent him away.
I'm scared to be alone.
-
Callin
I didn't know Louis saw Mark and Brandon.
I feel so bad for him.
Seeing people that you knew alive, dead, is so hard. They were so full of life moments ago, and then . . . they're not moving. Not breathing.
You think of all the things you could've said to them when they were alive. All the things you should've apologised for.
It's the worst feeling in the world, knowing you couldn't save them.
Liam wheels me back into my room, and helps me into my bed.
“I'm going to check on Zayn and Niall” he tells me.
“Come get me if they wake up” I say. “I don't care what I'm doing, I want to know the second they're awake.”
“Of course” he whispers, smiling slightly, and then he leaves.
He feels guilty, too.
Almost as much as Louis, but I don't think anyone could feel as guilty as Louis right now.
Liam feels awful for leaving us and running.
He feels horrible because he came out of this uninjured, and the rest of us get hospital rooms.
He feels disconnected, because he was away from us for so long and he had no idea what was going on.
Not that he wants to be injured.
But he wants us to be okay because we're his friends, and because if we're not, he'll feel like it's his fault.
And I feel a rush of pity towards Liam, because he's got to deal with that.
Because though I feel awful, at least I don't feel guilty.
---
A/N: Hello
GUESS WHAT!
We're not halfway yet c:
Technically. We're very close. Chapter seventeen will be about halfway through.
How do you feel about this chapter?
"How does that make you FEEL?"
Uhm . . . Liam's okay?
Callin's okay?
Not so much Niall and Zayn.
Oh, and Harry . . . gosh, crazy stuff's going on here.
Leave me a comment please!
Just tell me what you think about it and all that jazz.
SO GUESS WHAT?
A pigeon landed on my back deck while I was watching the Descendants with my mum the otehr night. I very nearly screamed "KEVIN!" That would've been really funny. Me screaming "KEVIN!" right when Geaorge Clooney is saying something deep.
OKAY.
There's your story for the day.
TUNE IN TOMORROW FOR . . . um . . . I don't know . . . on second thought, don't.
VOTE PLEASE.
I want 925 votes before I update please!
HERE'S A SECRET.
After I get a thousand votes, I MIGHT stop with the vote counts c:
ISN'T THAT EXCITING?
You should do these five things for me:
1. Comment.
2. Tell more people about this story.
3. Vote.
4. VOTE FOR ME IN THE 1D WATTY AWARDS.
5. Watch The Descendants (it's a very good movie c: ).
THANKS.
Love you <3
~Brook