𝙋𝙧𝙤𝙢𝙞𝙨𝙚 [𝙇.𝙎]

0.01

Life is eternal, and love is immortal,
and death is only a horizon;
and a horizon is nothing save the limit of our sight.

– Rossiter Worthington Raymond

-

It's been a few days since the boys practically dragged Harry out of the hospital. He refused to come back home even after all this time. He wants to stay there, sit in a cold iron chair and to wait for someone - who will never come back. She can't, no matter how much she wanted. She didn't make it out alive. The impact  of crash and blood loss was too much for her body to bear, the poor soul had to leave the world behind. Love is stronger than death even though it can't stop death from happening, but no matter how hard death tries it can't separate people from love. It can't take away our memories either. In the end, life is stronger than death

Since then Harry has locked himself in his room. The only times they saw him was during meals and sometimes when they forced him or more like threatened him to watch a film with them. He never spoke much after that, no matter how hard the boys tried.

During meals, every one around him noticed that he eats very little and just keeps playing with the rest of his food on his plate. His eyes were on the plate but not looking at anything in particular. Boys keep trying to build a conversation with him but due to lack of participation from the younger boy, it just ends in a minute or two.

"Hey Harry, what would you like to have for dinner? I'll cook" Niall asked sitting down beside him on the couch. Trying to make a conversation for the eighteenth time in the last half and an hour, due to his hard luck. The green-eyed boy just shrugged in response and kept looking at his hands, not once meeting Niall's eyes. 

 While others were busy watching an unknown movie. At this point, Niall was starting to give up on harry. No matter how hard he or anybody else tried he was not speaking. But can anyone really blame him? The light of his eyes, the meaning of his existence was taken away from him. He was empty, num and he felt nothing anymore except an ache in his chest.

"Tacos. You should make tacos" informed Zayn. Irish boy thought for a while and agreed, "Okay, so tacos is it."

─ ─ ─

"It's not your fault Nialler. I know you were just trying to make him eat more." Liam spoke, sitting beside the Irish boy on his bed. 

 The said boy shook his head in denial: "Yeah but my intentions don't matter right now, all that does is... that I made him cry, when he was already in so much pain— even Louis said that."

 "Oh God, Niall!" the hazel-eyed boy exclaimed. "Firstly; you didn't. He is still in lamentation— it doesn't signify that it's your fault— and secondly; Louis didn't mean what he said, he was sullen. He just wasn't thinking straight." Liam ended, hoping his friend would believe him. 

 *flashback*

 "Open your mouth Hazzy, just one more bite," Niall spoke nonchalantly, holding a bite of tacos for the green eyed boy; only, he didn't realized that he used the wrong nickname— 

 "Oh no Niall," Zayn whispered underneath his breath— only Ivy called him that; and as he heard the name, every single memory they had came flashing back into his head, washing over him like a tide. The one name, those few syllables; they were enough to make him feel as if salt was being rubbed onto his wound, over and over again. 

 "I'm not hungry," the curly-haired boy managed to croak out before he sprinted towards his room, slamming the door shut.

 "Seriously Niall?!" Louis began, anger and frustration evident in his features, "Why in the whole fucking word you will call him from that pet name. She gave it to him; only Ivy could call him that; just Ivy!"

 "I'm sorry Lou," Niall spoke, his head hung, guilt creeping onto his conscience as every second passed by. "It completely left my mind..."

 "Sorry doesn't change anything, Niall," the blue-eyed boy sighed. "You're making him remember everything he doesn't want to, everything that'll give him more pain. Ni, I really hoped you won't be this s—"

"Shut up, Lou," it wasn't 'Daddy Direction' this time, it was Zayn— Lou's own mate— who began gently. "It wasn't on purpose— Harry's as much of a brother to Niall as he's to all of us; stop being so mean to him."

 "Yeah, yeah," Louis uttered, rolling his eyes before flipping them off and beginning to get up from the table. "Whatever." The Doncaster boy soon left, slamming the door to his room, leaving a pissed Zayn, calm yet sad Liam, and a guilty and ashamed Niall.

 "I'm sorry for ruining the dinner," Niall spoke in a low and scratchy voice. 

 "Ni, you didn't ruin anything," Zayn sighed, making Niall turn the corners of his lips up in a small smile. 

 "Thank you," Niall mumbled before glancing at the food, "I'm not full so...enjoy your meal!"

 Liam and Zayn shared a look whilst watching the Irish-lad. As they left the dinner table, Liam's eyes screamed: 'IS HE SERIOUS'???!!! The Bradford boy simply shrugged in response, and, albeit he agreed, he knew that their Niall wouldn't leave food even when the world was ending.

They both knew that he was eating to divert his mind from the prior moments, that he was still feeling guilty, and was trying to tackle his feelings with food; everyone had their way of coping, and eating was Niall's.

 "I've lost my appetite too," Zayn informed, watching as Liam leaned back in his chair and hummed in thought, his eyes shut.

"If you wanna eat, I can keep you company, babe."

 "Oh no! No, I'm not hungry just..." Liam began "...Niall made it with so much love, we should at least keep it in the refrigerator."

 Zayn nodded to this, and soon, all the leftovers were in a Tupperware box and then in the fridge. The dining table was soon swept clean, and after that, Liam decided to go to Niall's room; the latter was pretending to be asleep when the former entered the room.

Liam knew that all Niall was playing were antics, and decided to spoon the younger boy as silence engulfed them like a warm blanket, giving them a strange sense of comfort in each other's presence. Meanwhile, Zayn was in his and Louis' shared room, still pissed at the blue-eyed singer for upsetting Niall. His features softened-