Never Give Up: Harry Styles/One Direction Fan Fiction

12

Chapter 12

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The ride to Good Samaritan hospital was dreary despite the fact that it was a beautiful day. The sun was shining brightly and reflecting clearly off windows in the city. But it was hard for me to focus on anything other than Rae. What if I was too late, and she really was dead? I wasn't sure that I wanted to know whether she was or not. Part of me wanted to just go back to the hotel instead, but I knew that I'd never be able to calm down if I didn't know that she was safe. Eventually we arrived at the hospital, the taxi driver slowing the car substantially as he made his way up the long drive. There were many trees running along the side of the road, and little bushes intermingled themselves along their bases. There was a large, paved walking path between the rows of trees, and for a moment I thought that this looked more like a public park than an entrance to a hospital. As we finally came to a stop, I flew out of the car, leaving Louis and Niall to pay the fare. I raced inside, the smell of fabric softener and isopropyl alcohol filling my senses as soon as I set foot inside the door. I glanced around looking for a reception counter of some type, eventually spotting a desk further down in the large hall. Making my way over to it, I looked around, noticing the high ceilings, glass roof, and all the furniture set up in various ways trying to give this awful place a homey feel. 

"Excuse me," I said to a woman who was sitting behind the reception desk. She looked up at me from her computer, her blond hair falling neatly behind her. "Could you tell me where Rae Dawson is?"

"If she's a patient, I cannot divulge that information unless you're family," the woman replied calmly. I could feel anger beginning to rise in my stomach, but I pushed it down. "Are you her family?" Clearly she didn't recognize me, and I hoped that she wouldn't recognize Louis or Niall when they showed up either. Now was my chance to take advantage of being unrecognized. 

"Yes," I replied smoothly. "I'm Rae's cousin, Jackson. My brothers, Brady and Zach, and I came to see if she was doing alright now." I finished, gesturing to Louis and Niall, who had finally come up beside me." I exchanged a glance with Louis, who was giving me a confused look. Niall didn't seem to be paying attention to anything we said as he glanced around at the décor, clearly just as freaked out as I was about being here. Without another word, the woman looked down at her computer as we stood standing there, her fingers clicking on the keys of the keyboard.

"Rae appears to be in room 302," she finally responded, looking up at us again. "Go down the hallway behind me until you see the elevators, and then go up." I nodded at her, and made my way around the desk with Louis and Niall trailing along behind me. As we trudged along, the forest green carpeting and the stark white walls began to feel like they were closing in on me, and I prayed we'd find the elevators soon. No quicker than I'd thought that, we rounded a corner and were able to go up. Louis hit the button inside the elevator and the doors closed.

"What the hell was that all about?" Niall spoke up, giving me a confused look. Louis nodded, clearly confused about what was going on. 

"The woman wasn't going to tell us where Rae was if we weren't family," I explained. "She didn't recognize me, so I told her that we were Rae's cousins. I'm Jackson," I said pointing to myself. "Louis, you're Brady, and Niall, you're Zach." Louis and Niall exchanged a glance with each other before looking back at me. 

"Why do I have to be Brady?" Louis whined. "Niall, will you trade me?" Louis stuck his bottom lip out as he looked over at Niall. 

"No," I said intervening. "You're Brady. No trading." The elevator chimed that we'd reached the third floor and the doors sluggishly slid open. Niall was the first one out of the elevator, followed by Louis and I. I was more nervous now that we were on the floor. My shoes clicked against the white tiles as I made my way down the hall looking for room 302. 

"It's over here," Niall called to me from a little ways down the hall. I quickly walked over to him. We stood outside the room for what seemed like forever, each of us too scared to open the door; scared of what we would find. Finally, I got the courage to go inside. The heavy, wooden door squeaked slightly on its hinges as it opened. The walls of the room were bright orange, and bouquets of flowers sat in vases all around the room. Lying in the solitary hospital bed along the far wall was Rae. Her head was wrapped up in a massive wad of gauze, some of it stained a slight tint of red. One of her arms had been encased in a white cast, and placed at her side. There she sat, unmoving. Her heart monitor steadily beeped away, while IVs ran into the veins on the back of her uninjured hand. There were long red scratches running all along the lengths of her legs, some deep enough that some blood oozed to the surface. I almost couldn't bring myself to enter the room as tears sprang to my eyes. I had caused this. This was my fault.

"It's alright to cry, Harry," Louis whispered into my ear, comforting me softly as a gentle hand rubbed my back. "It's alright." All the tears I'd tried so hard to contain spilled over, blurring my vision as I bowed my head. 

"Look at her, Louis," I sobbed. "It's not alright. Nothing is alright. This is all my fault." I walked a little farther into the room, finding a chair, and dragging it over to the bed before sitting down.

"I don't know if I'm reading this right or not," Niall began, glancing over at a chart that had been put in a basket near the door, "but I think they put her into a medically induced coma." I lifted my head up to look over at him. The beeping of the heart monitor increased just slightly; it was almost imperceptible. We all jerked our heads to look at it, as we listened closely.

"Is it just me, or did that thing just speed up?" Louis asked, speaking all our thoughts out loud. The beeping got a little faster once more. 

"Everyone just be quiet for a minute," I said. "I want to test something." Louis and Niall exchanged a glance, and shrugged. A deep silence feel over the room, and the only sound was that of the monitor steadily plinking away with each beat of Rae's heart. It gradually slowed back down to it's original pace. I was convinced that Rae could hear us, and she knew we were here. Without really thinking, I reached up over the rails of the bed and grabbed Rae's uninjured hand, intertwining my long fingers with hers. The beeping on the machine increased almost immediately. Louis gasped slightly, and I locked eyes with him. Despite everything, a small smile crept up on my face. For the first time all day, I actually believed that things would be alright.