trepidation | h.s

part forty four: Flame Night Part 1

Harry Styles

8:00 pm

"He inhaled a lot of smoke, but he's stable now and we'll keep careful watch on his lungs."

The nurse talks to Lydia, Niall and I as we all sit in the waiting room.

After we got Corey out of the fire, he was taken to the hospital. Niall and I went with Lydia while Zayn went back to help Louis.

Nurses examined all of us—Jane, Lydia, Daisy, Niall and I because we were all in the house at some point. Corey suffered the worst because he was unconscious and breathing in smoke for too long.

Cops showed up at the hospital to question Lydia about the fire and what happened, which caused me to lose my temper a bit and curse them out, telling them she's been through enough and she doesn't have to answer any questions right now. Matteo stepped in just in time and bribed some officers to keep this on the low so they ended up leaving.

I got to talk to Matteo and let him know what was going on, and that tonight was the night. He told me he was going to meet with Louis and round up every man they had.

Lydia was shaken up. She wouldn't allow Jane to hold Daisy since we got to the hospital, and she hasn't let Daisy out of her arms since. She's asleep in Lydia's arms right now.

I finally got Lydia to talk at one point when Niall went to the bathroom. She broke down when she told me what happened.

They were eating dinner when a group of Phantoms broke in through their front door. They had guns and knocked out Corey while holding Lydia and Jane at gunpoint and started lighting matches all across the house. Lydia told me that she tried to stop one of the men from approaching Daisy and they ended up hitting her. They punched her right across the face, hence her bloody nose.

I was pissed. Furious, actually. I can't even think about her being put through that while I wasn't there.

It wasn't easy to have to tell her about how tonight really is Flame Night...and how her parents' house being set on fire was just the kick off.

The hours seem like they're going by like seconds. Time is running out so quickly and that's a scary thought when you have people that want you dead before the sun comes up.

"Is he gonna be okay?" Lydia asks the nurse, holding Daisy tightly on her lap.

"He should be fine. We'll keep him here overnight to monitor him, just to be safe." the nurse says "In the meantime, you guys should go home and rest, you've had a hard night."

If you only knew...

The nurse walks away, leaving Lydia, Niall and I sitting on waiting room chairs.

I gently place my hand on Lydia's bouncing thigh, rubbing my thumb over her knee to comfort her. I know there's no way that I can fully take her stress away, but for the moment I just want to prevent her feelings of panic in any way I can.

We don't have the option of going home to a safe bed. We don't have the option of leaving this hospital safely.

I know we have to go soon, and I need to part from Lydia again. She can't come with me...I'm bringing her to Spirit because the Phantoms don't know about that club. It kills me but I can't let them hurt her.