Chapter Twelve: Alfredo
Niall's POV
I can't believe it. I can't fucking believe it! How dare Zayn play the role of the most caring mate in the band! How dare he try to get me involved in a long list of items that were said to "increase the chances of survival"! How dare he act so supportive with the whole cancer thing, when in reality, he's been fucking smoking! Even when he knows that smoking just kills me faster!
I'm beyond pissed. I'm shocked and hurt and I just don't understand!
Anger ripples through me and I slam my fist into the closest wall causing pain to shoot up my arm. That is definitely going to leave a bruise.
"UGHHH!" I groan loudly, angrily, and punch the wall again. "FUCK!" I yell as the pain increases. I notice my breathing getting out of control and start yanking at my hair.
I literally feel more betrayed than ever before. Zayn is supposed to be my best friend. That one guy who I know I could always count on...AND YET HE'S BEEN SMOKING?!?
"Fucking bitch!" I scream and slam both my fists into the wall. The tears streaming down my face mark my shirt. The pain I feel physically has no comparison to what I'm feeling emotionally.
I can't...I can't do this.
If life was so important...why was I destined to die so early?
I fall to my knees in the center of the room and cradle my head in my lap. "Why..," I whisper. I'm crying and I don't give one shit about it.
** Liam's POV **
I can hear Niall's screaming accompanied by pounding against a wall. I don't even stop myself from going to him. He's in pain and my instincts to comfort him are kicking in.
I go into the room he's called to himself and find him on the floor curled into himself. The sight of him hurting makes me drop to my knees as I go to him. "Niall..." I reach out towards him when he doesn't react to my voice.
I notice his entire body shaking and I know he's bawling his eyes out. My entire heart aches for him. Why is Niall crying!? What has made him so upset?!
I can't stand it any longer. I pull Niall into my arms and he willingly wraps his arms around me. I feel like a father in this position. "Liam," he chokes out through his tears. His head is buried into my shirt and I ignore the temptation to make him look me in the eyes. I've never seen Niall so upset...
"Shhh, it'll be alright Niall. Just tell me what's wrong?"
It takes a couple minutes of silence before Niall's sobbing dies down into quiet tears. He unwraps himself but doesn't leave my hug as he looks up at me. His blue eyes red-rimmed and puffy looking. "Zayn's still smoking," he says before dropping his eyes back to the ground.
So Zayn is the problem this time. Of course him smoking would upset Niall this much! He promised Niall he would stop smoking. Why would he keep that a secret from him? Why would he keep smoking if he knew it would just kill Niall faster?! Didn't he fucking care?!
Anger ripples through me and I have to keep my hold around Niall to stop myself from tracking down that bastard Zayn.
"Doesn't he know that I'm going to die soon enough?! Doesn't he see how his smoking affects me?! Why is he still smoking Liam? Does he want me to die faster? Does he want the rest of my solos? I don't care about them, I don't Liam. He wants them? He can fucking have them. I just want to live a little longer! I just want to be able to survive long enough to find my princess! I want to experience love once in my life. Why can't-"
"Niall breathe!" I cut him off in mid rant because I can't stand to hear him go on and on in the tone of voice he's using. He's so upset that his words blend into eachother and his tears don't help at all. His voice breaks every other word and it drives me towards insanity. I refuse to cry in front of him and show that I can't handle a breakdown. I have to keep the image of Daddy Direction. I have to show him that I can remain composed in a bad situation. He has to know that someone will take care of everyone when he's...
Niall looks me in the eyes and I see him searching for something in them. He knows what I'm thinking. I know he does. He shakes his head sadly, the tears falling down his face. We both know the inevitable...he's going to die. Zayn smoking is not helping his case at all.
I grab Niall by the shoulders and shake him. "Don't you dare give up Niall. Don't you dare ever even fucking think about giving up," I say angrily after reading his thoughts by his eyes. He was standing on a thin piece of hope right now. I can see him mentally convincing himself that it is all set in stone already. That his death was just around the corner. I refuse to let him think that way.
"But Liam-"
"Don't you dare 'BUT LIAM' me!" I yell and shake him again. He blurs out of focus and I know I'm crying. I shake my head harshly, now trying to convince him and me. "You are going to survive this. You are not going to leave me," I choke out and pull him into another hug.
"I'm trying Liam."
"I know."
"But Zayn..," Niall whispers and I pull away from him, wiping the tears away from my eyes.
"I know. I'll make him stop."
Niall looks at me with his eyebrows raised. "Promise?"
I chuckle and shake my head at him. Somethings just never change. "I promise Niall," I say with a smile. He smiles wider before standing up, offering me a hand to follow his motions.
"Thanks Liam. I love you," he says as I get to my feet.
"I love you too Niall," I say honestly.
** Niall's POV **
Liam and I are making our way towards the kitchen and Harry's cooking drifts to me. I inhale deeply trying to figure out what he has cooked. It smells pretty good. My stomach grumbles and Liam chuckles beside me.
"Good you're hungry," he says and glances down at me. He shakes his head before looking away. What was that about?
I look down at myself. I've lost a little bit of weight. My clothes hang looser a bit, but that couldn't mean anything drastic. I mean I've been working out lately. This is normal...
"NIALL! LIAM!" Harry yells when we enter the kitchen and I notice the fake mustache on his top lip. Louis and Zayn are already sitting at the table. "Sit! Sit!" Harry says in a French accent and pushes us towards the table. I take a seat beside Louis and Liam sits on the empty chair next to me. Zayn is seated across from me. Awkward...
"So what'd you cook?" Liam asks after a long best of silence.
Harry grabs the pot from the stove and comes over to the table, placing it down in the center. He smiled widely before removing the lid off the top. "Alfredo," he says.
The fumes drift to me and I breathe in the heavenly scent of Alfredo. My stomach grumbles and my mouth waters. Boy am I hungry.
I grab the pot before anyone else can take a spoonful.
"Hey!"
"Harry stop him!"
"Niall, don't you dare lick the sp-"
I scoop globs of Alfredo out of the pot and pile it on my plate. The boys protest at my amount but I know they're actually happy about the food in front of me. I haven't really been eating as much as usual lately.
"Pass it over Nialler!" Harry complains and drops his lower lip into a pout. I chuckle at his face but pass the pot over.
"Keep calm and eat Harry Styles's cooking," I say. I scoop up a forkful of Alfredo and hold it in the air like a toast. "Here's to home cooked food!" I announce before eating the Alfredo.
I practically moan from the taste of the Alfredo. My mouth is literally exploding with flavor. I've never tasted anything more-
I swallow. Something in my mouth crunches disgustingly. It's unnatural. I chew again and a distinct crunch! is in my mouth. I move the food around in my mouth, trying to figure out what is the cause of the foreign texture.
"What's wrong Niall? Don't you like your Alfredo?" Harry asks from across the table. I look at him and almost fall out of my chair. His eyes are gone. His teeth are black. His fingers have turned sharp and long, carving into the table between us.
No no no. This couldn't be real. I can feel my heart beat increasing. My mind can't comprehend...
"Nialler? You good mate?" Lights flash. My mind clicks on and I focus in on Harry staring at me. I have a fork of Alfredo in front of my mouth. I swallow down my confusion. What the fuck?
I cough and shake my head trying to clear it. I'm going crazy...
"I'm fine, sorry. I just..," I trail off at the looks from the boys. What the hell could I say to them? I just had another hallucination? No thanks.
I put the fork of Alfredo on my mouth and chew it, gratefully finding no weird crunches or texture. It's all just Alfredo.
"I thought you were going to pass out," Liam says from beside me and I watch him twirl some Alfredo around his fork.
"I'm fine."
"Didn't look fine a couple minutes ago."
"Shut up Zayn," I growl at him, shooting him my worst glare. He avoids looking at me.
"Sorry." He raises his hands in surrender before continuing to eat his food.
I spin my fork around in my Alfredo, readying a great forkful of noodles. As it's halfway towards my mouth, I notice it...
The noodles are worms. Long white worms that squirm around the fork and off my plate. I squeal as they crawl off the table. "Stop it!" I scream as if it that'll stop the disgusting worms.
The back of my throat tickles. I start coughing as the tickling becomes more intense. I could feel things moving in my mouth and throat...crawling, scratching, slithering.
It's not real. It's not real. It's not real!
I open my mouth to scream but the worms come cascading out instead. I'm vomiting out worms. I grip the table as I lean over my plate, puking up the worms.
Fuck. What the hell was happening?
A hand wraps around my wrist. Long, dirty fingers grab my arm, the fingernails looking like the owner had just dug in piles of dirt. My breath hitches and I squeeze my eyes shut. No. No. No.
"STOP IT! STOP IT!" I scream as the grip on my arm tightens. I can feel the nails cutting into my skin. "FUCKING STOP!"
My eyes spring open. I grab the plate of worms and fling it at the wall behind Harry and Zayn, screaming. "NO NO NO NO NO!"
The plate crashes against the wall, shattering into pieces. Everything blinks back into focus and i feel as if I've been pulled out of a nightmare. I can feel swear pouring down my face. My heart racing in my chest.
"Nialler?" Zayn whispers and I look at him. His eyes are wide with fear. Harry beside him is shaking. I look at Louis and Liam who are slowly but surely inching away from me.
"Niall, are you...alright..?"
I shake my head. "No. I'm not."
Harry stands up suddenly. "It's fine Niall. It was just a plate. There's plenty mo-"
"No. It's not the plate or the food."
"Niall, I'm worried," Louis pouts and I glance at him. Harry reaches over and squeezes Lou's hand gently.
I'm shaking. I can't get the feeling of worms in my mouth out of my mind. I can't shake the memory of the dirty, sharp nails pinching into my skin.
"Shit, he's hyperventilating again."
"Liam give him water!"
"Louis that's my foot!"
"Someone do something!"
The boys are on their feet and shouting a bunch of nonsense. My mind was to muddled to keep up. I want sleep. I didn't feel so hungry after all.
I push up from the table and the boys stop their blabbering. Liam puts his around on my shoulder as if thinking I would fall over. I brush him off. "I'm going to sleep," I say before trudging off. I don't wait for their replies.
I close my bedroom door and collapse into my bed. I'm done. I can't...won't go through another hallucination.
I'm getting worse.
Time is getting shorter.
My life...is slowly coming to an end.
A painful end.
**A/N** Sorry for not updating in a week! I've had all my performances this entire week, but now I'm done ! Well until November when auditions for Grease are ! I'm thespian president which means I host auditions and im excited ! I hope you're all enjoying this story & I promise to update more often now that I have time to relax (: I love you all !