Stumbling through the dark

Everything Points to..............

Niall struggled out of bed and headed down to the kitchen. He'd slept all night but he still felt exhausted. His right eye wasn't getting any better either. Maybe I'm just run down, he thought. After all, five years almost constant touring was bound to have had an effect. He rubbed his sore eye again. Right, he decided, time to take more care with nutrition, get himself really fit and healthy. Proper food and a good exercise regime, that's what's needed. That decided, Niall got together the ingredients for a healthy breakfast smoothie. Once everything was assembled, he went to start the blender. Sh*t! He cussed loudly as he knocked it off the counter top onto the floor. Clumsy, clumsy! Niall got down on the floor to clear up the mess. 

"Thank you Mr Horan. We'll see you this afternoon at 2pm"  Niall thanked the receptionist and made a note of his appointment time on pad next to the phone. He'd not had his eyes checked for years so maybe now was the time and he's also be able to find out the cause of his eye problem. Niall turned to walk into his sitting room,  cursing quietly as he over balanced. God, he was getting clumsy. He was more stable on his feet after a few pints of beer than he was today. He flopped down on the couch and turned the TV on, flipping through channels looking for some sport to watch. Finally, he settled on some footie and was soon engrossed in the game, his eye and his clumsiness forgotten.

Niall's opthamologist, Dr  Mark James, pushed his chair back and switched the lights back on. He then carefully studied the digital  retinal photographs of Niall's eyes, his eyebrows pulled tightly together. Niall waited quietly. He could see what the man was looking at but it made no sense to him. Finally Mark looked up at Niall with a very serious look on his face.

"Niall, I want you to make an appointment with your Physician as early as possible please. Your Optic nerve is very inflamed and you really need to have this checked out more extensively."

"Is it serious?" Niall asked nervously, playing with his fingers as he looked from  Mark then back to his hands.

"It might be nothing, it might be something. My level of expertise only extends so far so I am recommending that further investigation is done. I'm probably being over cautious but just for my peace of mind, as well as your own, I'd rather you got this checked. Do you want me to ring through now and make the appointment?"

"I guess so" Niall shrugged. He was feeling a little panicked by Mark's suggestion this was done promptly. After all, it was just a sore , puffy eye. Maybe just a bit of infection., nothing to be that concerned about surely?

"If you'll just pop out and finish off the paperwork with my secretary, I'll just make that appointment for you." Standing up he shook Niall's hand then opened the door for him so Niall could go through. He shut the door behind his patient and immediately picked up the phone to place the call.

"Dr Beck's Office"

"Hi Sandra, it's Mark. Is  Emily free? I need to speak to her rather urgently"

"She is, actually. I'll just put you through"

"Mark, how are you? What can I do for you today? Sandra said it was rather urgent ?"

"Em, Hi. I'm great thanks. And yes it is rather urgent. It's about one of your patients, Niall Horan. "

"Niall? He's lovely. I haven't seen him for over a year now. He's always away on tour.  What's the problem?

"He came in for a sight test and has a very sore and inflamed eye. I took the usual retinal photographs and it shows that his optic nerve is very inflamed and distorted slightly. It doesn't look too good. The vision in that eye is very bad, to the point I'd say he's blind. He seemed a little clumsy ,that might be connected to the sight problem but then, I don't want to think it but my mind is wandering to problems that are more than sight related. I really need you to see him  , and very soon"

"Sent him straight around if he can make it. I'm not liking what I am hearing and I think both of us are thinking on the same lines. The sooner we see him, the sooner we can find out whats happening. And let's hope we are both wrong. 

""I'll do that now then, thanks Em" Mark hung up and walked out to join Niall who was gently flirting with his secretary.

"Niall, Dr Beck say you can pop over now, if you can. Get this checked and then you can get on with your day"

Niall shrugged and said he'd do just that but grumbled all the way back to his car, moaning about Doctors constantly worrying about silly things. He probably had pink eye or something silly. What a waste of time. He climbed into his Range Rover and squinted slightly to improve his vision. Better go get this over with.

When Niall arrived at the doctor's office, he was immediately greeted by the nurse who took him straight back into an examination room. He was given strict instructions to undress and put on a gown. Niall instantly started whining at her "Oh come on, do I have to? It's only my eye I'm here about"

"Dr Beck's request Mr Horan. She hasn't seen you for over a year. She'll probably give you a full check up as you are here. Now, I'll be back in a few minutes" .The nurse went out leaving Niall to get ready, muttering under his breath the whole time. Once he was undressed and in the gown, the nurse reappeared and checked Niall's height and weight which she recorded before going onto his blood pressure. "I'll just take some blood from you now". Niall quickly looked away as he was no fan of needles."Right all done. Dr Beck will be with you shortly."

Niall sat on the examination couch, swinging his legs as he quickly text Liam to see if he fancied coming over to watch a few movies. Liam had recently broken up with his long term girlfriend and Niall was keen to support him and help keep him busy. He looked up and smiled at his doctor as she entered the room, before switching off his phone and giving himself up to be poked and prodded.

It seemed like it took hours and Niall was beginning to feel very fractious. The doctor was very thorough and asked a great many questions. Niall answered them all but was beginning  wonder when she would run out of questions. Half of them seemed so totally random, he wondered what the point of them really was. Finally she finished and told Niall he could get dressed and that she would talk to him when he was ready.

"OK Niall, I've given you a good going over today. I'm glad that you are able to have a break now as you are rather run down. The rest will do you good." Dr Beck paused for a moment, she hated what she'd have to say next.  "Niall, Mark rang me and asked me to see you urgently because he felt there was a possibility that you were suffering from  something far more serious than a simple eye infection. Following my examination of you, I am regretfully having to agree with him that this is the case. I'm going to refer you to a Neurologist as I believe they will be the ones to confirm my suspicions."

Niall just looked at her , open mouthed. If it wasn't an eye infection, what the fck could it be. And what was a neurologist? He felt cold and shaky. He tried to pull his scattered thoughts together so he could ask what was wrong but nothing was coming out of his mouth. His mind went blank.

"Niall, I could be very wrong, and I really hope I am, but everything points to you having......

Niall blacked out.