Being Security (Conor Maynard and One Direction Fan Fiction)

Chapter 16 - The News!

Conor’s POV

A recognisable pair of shoes stood before me. Jack must have arrived. He grabbed me by the arms and pulled me up. I have no idea how long he’d been there, whether he’d just been watching from his car. I couldn’t be the big brother right now, I needed the comforting. I flung my arms at him and cried into his shoulder. Time felt like it had stopped. It’s like someone wants me to feel this pain forever.

“Help!” A husky male voice shouts from quite far away. “I need some help!” I run over to the railings and looked down. It was Jake, and he was holding Ella. I grabbed Jack by the sleeve and dragged him down to the muddy mossy area beside the river, where Jake lay a few inches away from Ella.  I knelt down beside Ella and felt for a pulse. Those few seconds were enough to kill me, but I found one and I could have laughed. I tapped her on the cheek.

“Ella?” I say. “Come on, Ella!” I say, suddenly being cut from my state of shock by Jack.

“She’s alive!” he shouted up to the boys, who for that moment I’d forgotten were even there. Before long, we were surrounded by the guys, some tending to Jake and others looking on as I tempted to wake Ella.

“Ella, come on!” I plead. “Please wake up!” I hear some hoarse breathing, but then some coughing and Louis pushes her onto her side as she splutters and coughs a big load of water out of her body. Relief washes over me and I lay on the ground, looking up at the sky that seems so much brighter than normal.

“You think we should get an ambulance?” Harry said, looking over to us all.

“No. I think everyone’s alright!” Niall said, shocked.

“Jake’s winded though… He’ll have to take it easy…” Zayn said, also sounding a lot more relieved. I think we have just managed to get through this one.

***

A few days had passed and we were trying to piece our lives back together and pretend that it never happened, but really? I can’t get it out of my head. It’s in my thoughts, my dreams, every time I look in her eyes I think of the moment she looked at me before she fell… it still makes me sick to my stomach to think it even happened… The only way I can get past it is to pretend a really realistic nightmare. I pace around the living room of our ‘house’ (yet another I’ve rented to get away) and am tidying up, ready. I’ve cooked us both dinner, I’ve set the table too! We’re going to have a nice candlelit dinner, and get everything back on track. It’s like a scalextric, you push too hard on the accelerator and the car flies off, but you dust it off and put it back on the track and learn not to press the accelerator so hard. Well, Ella was the car, in a matter of speaking. I am just putting the plates on the table when Ella runs, full pelt, through the room and towards the bathroom, slamming the door behind her, though it doesn’t shut and I hear her get sick.

“Ella?” I say, running into the bathroom to see her doubled over the toilet. “A-are you alright?” I have to admit, since that day, I’ve been overprotective. I want to wrap her in a bubble and not let anyone near her. Any time I hear a noise I run up to her in case something has happened. Some call it mistrust, and I’d agree but it’s also partially me now never wanting her out of my sight in a fragile state. She holds her arm out and shows me a thumbs up. “You want some water?” Again, a thumbs up greets me, so I rush out and back swiftly with a glass of water.

“Thank you!” She croaks out between deep breaths in.

“You sure you’re alright?” I ask, rubbing her back for her.

“Just feel really sick! Well, I feel better now!” She looks round to me, but after a small smile, brushes her teeth and uses mouthwash. “Sorry!” She says after spitting it out. Despite the fact she’d been in bed most of the day, she was glowing a healthy glow and she was still smiling. I pull her close to me and wrap my hands round her waist.