Dicey. [H.S]

chapter five

I put my trembling hand over my mouth to keep me from breaking into tears as I saw the sight of him, sleeping unconscious on that bed. He looked so peaceful and angelic despite the different cuts and injuries on his face and chest.

I walked towards him slowly and couldn't help but let the tears roll down my face. I sat down on a chair next to him and took his cold hand in mine, caressing it gently, careful not to hurt him.

"Niall." I chocked on a sob. "Niall, can you hear me? It's me, Anna." I smiled at him, but wasn't met with his beautiful lips curving into a smile, or his gigles that were like music to my ears. He just laid there, his chest moving up and down.

I moved my hands to his chest to feel his hearbeat. I wanted to make sure he was alive and didn't just lay there, lifeless. I put my head over his fragile body and sobbed into his chest. "Niall, please." I still held his cold hand in mine tight, hoping it would hold mine back. "Answer me."

-

"Annabel." I felt someone squeezing my shoulders. "Annabel, wake up."

I groaned and opened my eyes to find myself in a hospital room. I was lying against someone's chest as I tightly held their hand. I drifted to sleep to the mixture of their hearbeat and the sound of the machines in the room.

I got up from my sleeping position and wiped my mouth with my sleeves.

"Gross, Annabel! Do not do that." A too familiar voice said.

"Elise." I turned towards my step mother. She was looking at me with furrowed eyebrows and I knew I was going to get into trouble for what I've done.

"Weren't you supposed to be in the hospital right now? Not this one, obviously." She spat. "And what happened to you for god's sake? Look at your hair and clothes."

"I'm sorry. I.." I looked at her apologetically.

She had her arms crossed against her chest, and her foot was tapping the floor, waiting for an explanation.

"Actually, no I'm not." I challenged her. "I couldn't just ignore the fact that my boyfriend got hit with a freaking car and was lying in a hospital bed on the edge of dying." I said, the volume of my voice increasing. I bit the insides of my cheeks and fought the tears that were dying to take over my entire body. I needed to be strong, at least for him.

"How dare you!" She yelled with a shocked expression as I stormed out of the room. It was the first time that I've stood up for myself in front of her, and it felt incredible.

-

I was in the waiting room right now, and some of Niall's relatives were looking forward for what the doctor had to say as he closed the door of his room.

I was the first one to speak. "What's going on with him? Is he okay?"

"He's in a deep coma at the moment and unresponsive to pain. It's going to last for an indefinite period of time. We just have to wait and see what happens." He sighed and dropped his hands to his sides. "And for his leg injury, we won't be able to do the operation until he's conscious. We can't risk it, my apologies."

I slowly sat on the floor, knowing that my legs too weak to support my weight. I put my head between my knees and let the warm tears take over.

"And what if it takes a long time for him to wake up?" I still had my head down as I asked with a shaky voice. Uncontrollable sobs kept shuddering through me, afraid to hear the answer to my question.

"If 'the period' is more than three months, we'll just have to give up. Other people will need this place more than he does and we can't just keep him here." My face lost its colours as I looked up, and I wanted nothing but to slap that doctor across the face.

"Unless you pay for his hospitalization, then he can stay as long as you wish, some patients have been here for more than two years and still haven't woken up yet. It's all up to you." He continued, and adverted his attention to everyone across the waiting room. Niall's mum was sobbing in his dad's arms until I got up and walked towards that doctor, shoving my hands at his chest.

"So what now?" I shouted to his figure, unable to stop myself. "You're just going to leave him there and do nothing about it? Huh?" I asked, pointing at the room.

"Annabel! Calm down!" People were yanking me by my arms and telling me to stop, but it just frustrated me even more.

I turned towards them all.

"What the fuck do you mean by calm down?! Did you hear what he just said? They're just going to leave him there and do nothing about it! It could even take two years! Two fùcking years!" I was shouting my lungs out as tears were flooding down my face. My whole body was shaking and I started to hear people around me saying:

It is how it is.

We can't do anything about it.

We just have to wait.

I couldn't take it anymore and started running towards the stairs. I needed to breathe some clean air to clear my thoughts. I could hear people shouting my name and running after me so I just gave up and took the elevator. I ran towards the exit of the hospital and started walking down the streets.

"I am done. So done." I said to myself as I kicked a rock with my foot. "Ah, shit. My foot."

The pain I was feeling right now was nothing compared to how I was feeling inside. I was losing him right in front of my eyes and couldn't do anything about it. He was the only thing that kept me going with my days. The only true person I knew between those fake and hypocritical people. I wasn't going to hear his happy laughs anymore, or receive his cheeky texts in the morning, or feel his gentle lips on mine, or enjoy the feeling of being safe in his arms. I wasn't going to and that made me feel weak, empty, sad and terrified. I didn't know what to do without him, I depended on him, and now I was losing myself with him.