1D • Stories

Niall's Last Days (5)

"What happened to Niall Horan last night? I'm Sarah and welcome to WhatCulture. Last night at Belfast stadium, Niall Horan collapsed on stage. Louis, Harry and Liam were quick to rush to his side, along with a number of their security and Greg, his brother. He was taken offstage a few minutes later in Louis's arms and the concert was stopped. Unfortunately, neither the boys or their management have given us any information on our beloved Irishman. What we do know though, is that their upcoming gigs in Ireland and the UK for the coming fortnight have been cancelled, but no reason has been given. Any fan who purchased a ticket to these gigs will be fully refunded. As for the boys, if the rumours are to be believed, they are not in Belfast or with their families, so a lot of fans speculate that they are staying at a hospital with Niall. That's it for now, and we can't wait to get an update from our favourite boy band."

"The band, One Direction, has still not made an announcement about the incident that happened two nights ago. One of the members, Irish singer Niall Horan, was seen to collapse on stage at Belfast before being carried off by another band member. Fans at the concert said that the star seemed to be unconscious when he was carried off. They have dominated twitter with the hashtag wheres1d, while journalists have been targeting the band's management company. No announcements have been made so far."

~

"As the tour manager for One Direction," Paul began. He was addressing a crowd of journalists at a mini press conference and he had been dreading telling them the news. "It is with great regret that I announce the death of Niall Horan. He passed away two days ago."
"What? Are you telling us that Niall Horan is dead?"
"Yes. He died peacefully and without any pain."
"Were you with him when he passed away?"
"I was. He also had his family and the other members of One Direction with him at the time."
"Where are the rest of One Direction now?"
"They are safe but they need time and privacy to grieve. They were all very close to Niall."
"Are they still in the country?"
"I can't say.
"Is Niall really dead?"
"He is."
"When did he die?"
"He passed away shortly after he collapsed on stage."
"During the show, why didn't you react quicker?"
"We reacted as quickly as we could and we did everything in our power to keep Niall with us."
"Did he go to a hospital?"
"He did."
"What did he die of, and why was he performing?"
"I cannot give out his medical information, but he was deemed fit to perform that night and all nights leading up to it."
"How is his family coping?"
"I refuse to answer that. Questions are over," Paul said and people followed him with microphones as he got off the platform.

When he was out of sight, Paul took a moment to gather himself and he hoped that he hadn't said anything stupid. As for the boys, they were in a cottage in the middle of Ireland.

~

The fans understandably were going mad over social media while Harry, Liam and Louis were going on walks, playing cards and enjoying each other's company to cope with the grief. After four days, Harry finally felt the need to post something onto social media:

The boys and I are devastated about what happened. We loved Niall and we need some time to process our grief. We love you all and hope to see you soon. H.

~

The funeral was a week later and Liam finally broke down. He collapsed into tears and Louis had to take him to the side. Harry glanced over at Zayn during the ceremony. They had had their rough times but Harry knew how close they had once been and Niall's death would be affecting Zayn too.

Harry looked onto social media that evening and saw that thousands of people had posted messages and tributes to Niall. It brought tears to his eyes and he showed it to Liam and Louis.

~

They then agreed that it was time to start posting the video's of them and Niall. Two days later, they had a TV interview.
"Hello boys," The interviewer greeted them.
"Hello," Harry replied.
"How are you all? Are you doing ok?"
"We're still shaken up and a bit fragile, but we've got each other and some fantastic family and friends around us."
"That's good. How do you feel about returning and doing your next gig?"
"Nervous. It's going to be strange performing as a three, and obviously all the emotions are still there so I think it's going to be a pretty moving gig."
"Of course. Have you seen how your fans have been reacting to this? Because I know that you've been silent on social media for a while."
"We all have been looking on social media now and then, and I know that Harry posted something on twitter a little while ago. But yeah, they've all been amazing and they loved Niall as much as we did so it's great to see them celebrating his work and paying tributes to him online."
"I've seen some great artwork that our fans have done."
"Yeah, I mean some of the stuff is incredible."
"And you've been posting videos of you with Niall recently, when did you record these?"
"We recorded them when Niall was ill."
"When did you find out that he was ill?"
"A week before he passed away."
"Only a week?"
"Yeah, he told us the same day that he found out himself."
"But you kept performing didn't you?"
"We did, yeah. Niall wanted to keep performing. The illness he had meant that he was mostly ok until the last day and the last few hours."
"And how was he during that week?"
"He was bad, and it was hard for us because we wanted to support him so that he would be able to perform, but he was weak and shaking a lot of the time."
"He began coughing up blood on day two," Harry interrupted Liam. "And he was having multiple seizures a day by the end of the week and he got very tired."
"How did you boys cope?
"We tried not to focus on it. We lived each day as it came and we gave Niall as much love and support as we could."
"What was it like when Niall collapsed on stage? You must have known that it was getting towards the end."
"Yeah, it was horrible. We knew that it would be Niall's last show because he had gone really downhill the day before. When he asked for us in his microphone, which the fans may not have heard, Harry and I ran straight to him. He was nearly unconscious when I got to him and I lay him onto the floor as Harry took the guitar off his chest."
"Security came up and surrounded you didn't they?"
"They did. Niall was shaking, he could barely talk and I remember Paul keeping track of his pulse."
"The fans saw you carrying him off stage Louis and many think that he was gone by that point. Is that right?"
"Yeah. He died on stage."
"Wow. Ok, we'll thank you for being so open and honest."
"It's alright. Niall wanted us to tell you the truth of what happened."
"We actually have another video to put out," Liam said and the boys turned to him. "It's the last one we did and Niall wanted to film it for the fans."
"Yeah," Louis said with a sad smile. "We might put it up tomorrow."
"I look forward to watching it," The interviewer said and the boys went quiet. "I think that's all we need to talk about. Remind everyone, when your next show is."
"Yeah, so we're performing in the Dublin arena in a week's time. 7pm, so we'll see you there."
"Thank you for coming boys and best of luck with rehearsals."
"Thank you."
"Thank you for having us."