Error. [H.S.]

13.

The clattering of my boots against sterile tile was the soundtrack to my demise down the rabbit hole, the descending numbers keeping a consistent tempo in rhythm to my pounding heart. Flashes of the worst scenario projected onto the blurred white washed walls, a movie screen for my biggest fear. Scrubbed authorities bellowed reprimands to my expedited speed, but in the event of an emergency all of their own, this hallway becomes a track for them to combat. This was my emergency. 

"Scotty!" Puffy eyed Beck grabbed my attention as I turned the corner, rising from her seat at the first sight of me. Louis was propped up against the wall, while Liam was in a repetitive pace between Niall's room and the once beside it, all eyes landing on me at my arrival.

"W-where is he?" I slow to a stop a few feet away from his door, desperately trying to read their expressions.

In times of a crisis, Beck was my easiest indicator of a scenario. Never one to show emotion unless the stakes are high and the outcome is bad, her swollen eyelids were a giveaway that something went array. My stomach sunk to my feet as she bridged the gap between us, arms securing me in her stability. 

Tears branded my cheeks with the regret of not doing more to interfere with this outcome. Whispered prayers for the teams well beings wasn't enough to keep Niall safe, but what more could I have done?

Liam absorbed guilt in every situation, a sponge to everyone's emotions to reel the pain away, but the pacing was new. Usually a prisoner to his own thoughts, he appeared to be processing and retracing his steps as he moved.

Did he witness Niall get shot? They're always doubled up, so he knows something that I don't. At this point, everyone knew more than I did. There had to be a reason both Louis and Liam were dressed in fresh sets of scrubs while Beck was still in her uniform...

Louis was a neutral canvas in the midst of a crisis, perhaps a perk from his time as a lawyer. An impeccable poker face defaulted me away from him for any non-verbal explanation of the outcome, but his eye for detail reputed him as the most credible source for the most accurate explanation.

"He's alive... He's alive." Beck's fragile voice hitched with repetition, and I couldn't help but wonder if she was trying to convince herself that the statement was true.

"I need to see him..." I broke free from her embrace, looking over towards the wooden door that separated me from a new world of hurt. Captive behind that door was the person that mended my aching heart in times of a crisis, now engulfed in a crisis of his own. 

The cold metallic door handle was the crudest handshake I've ever experienced, taunting me with the unknown as the answers to my questions burned behind its hostage. A deep breath inflated my lungs with the refreshing reminder that all I could control in this moment was myself; my reactions and state of being were a product of my control and in this moment, the best that I could do was present with optimism that behind this door, my best friend was alive and well. 

"He might not be fully conscious." Liam peers up at me just long enough to inform me, but eye contact isn't ever made. "He was pretty drugged up the last time they let us in."

"Your dad's in there right now, too." Louis added, furrowed eyes softening his sharp features, empathetic to the aching in my chest and waterfall of tears.

All I could do was nod and rip the bandaid off. 

A soft click retracted the door latch, followed by a subtle squeak as the door pushed open. Greeted by the steady pace of the heart monitor, a set of tired blue eyes struck me by surprise. My shoulders relaxed in that very moment, my entire body feeling weak. So worried about the possible outcome of the situation, I had dismissed the tension that had possessed my body.