Stumbling through the dark

On A Knife Edge

"Niall Horan seems to have vanished off the face of the earth and One Direction fans are sending social media into meltdown as they ask where the Irish Hottie has gone to ground. There have even been rumours  flooding Twitter that the Irish lad has died. Last year, Niall gave an exclusive interview to announce he had been diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis and since then has only been seen rarely although he remained active on Twitter. But  for the last three months, Niall has not posted anything and fans are worried.  We have reached out to representatives for both Niall and the other three lads, Louis, Harry and Liam but so far they have declined to comment. Liam Payne was very tight lipped when recently asked about his bandmate. While he was happy to answer other questions, he maintained  a stoney silence when asked about Niall. Harry and Louis have also been very quiet on the subject of their friend. This alone has fans worrying that all is not well with the Irish member of One Direction.  When 'Spotlight on the Stars'  has any news , we'll be sure to let all you anxious fans know.

Further celebrity news has Justin Beiber..........."

The TV was on low and Niall only had half a mind what the presenter was talking about. He was more concerned with trying not to throw up as his stomach tried to eject the few sips of water he had drunk earlier. He grabbed the bowl just in time to catch the vomit that came barrelling out of his mouth. How the f.ck could a mouthful of water cause this amount of sickness.?He finally leant back against his pillows, exhausted. He eventually managed to get enough energy to press his call bell to summon his nurse, who arrived in time to see her patient bent over the bowl yet again. "Anti nausea medication isn't helping much, is it" she said sympathetically. "I'll tell Doctor Peters. We need to find something else for you". She switched out the bowl, giving Niall a clean one.  "Think it's stopped for now?" Niall nodded weakly and she slowly lowered his bed down, taking away a few of the pillows that had been supporting him."Try and sleep now, you need to rest" Niall obediently closed his eyes and listened to the small sounds of his nurse moving around him, adjusting the IV sending needed fluids into his increasingly frail body. He jumped slightly as she slid the thermometer into his ear, waiting for the beep. "You've a fever my boy. I'll be back in a few minutes" Niall kept his eyes closed as he heard the door shut behind her. Exhaustion finally took over and he fell into a restless sleep as machines clicked and bleeped around him.

Dr Peters finished examining Niall, increasingly concerned that the young man was not very responsive. All his vitals showed signs that his body was under extreme stress and was not coping with the treatment.  Things were not going well for his patient, although on the plus side, this was the final round of chemotherapy. Even so, Niall was not in a good place and he was increasingly aware that Niall just didn't have the strength to fight if anything else went wrong. Shaking his head, he left the nurse to care for Niall as he left to call Niall's Neurologist.

Niall was vaguely aware of his bed moving and blearily opened his eyes, watching lights pass over his head. Although he struggled to stay awake, his weakened state was against him and he drifted back down into the dark place that had become his world, only surfacing for a few minutes at a time. When he next opened his eyes, he was in a different room, more machines seemed to be surrounding him and a gowned and masked nurse was moving around him, adjusting wires and altering dials on the machines. All he could see of her face were her grey eyes. She was speaking softly to him but he couldn't concentrate on what she was saying, he felt too ill . He felt himself slipping away in darkness yet again.

"St Vincent's Private Hospital. How may I help you"

"Yeah, I'm enquiring after my friend, Niall Horan? I was wondering how he was doing" Louis asked

"Mr Horan is as well as can be expected" was the brief response.

"Just what does that f.cking mean?" Louis said, annoyed. Why was he getting such a stupid answer?