A Dance With Death

|| Chapter 10 - To Live ||

Chapter 10

"Liam," Harry says, standing up. "So good to see you."

They both walk towards each other, with smiles on their faces to suppress their sorrow. They first shake hands and then pull each other into a hug.

"Good to see you too, Harry," Liam says as he breaks away from the hug.

I am smiling before I realise it. Even though I had met Liam a couple of days before my accident, a part of me fills with excitement to see him again. Considering what's been happening today, our meeting seems to have happened ages ago.

We bumped into each other in a café that day. Of course, we both were happy to see each other. We hadn't talked in months. He said that he was in London to attend a family wedding. We talked about what's been happening to us lately and about our families. Before we knew it, we spent 2 hours in the café, chatting. After an awkward exchange of goodbyes, we parted.

Who knew we would meet each other again shortly after that day? Of course, the circumstances are different - very different - this time.

"Liam," Althea says. "One of your band's members?"

I nod.

"Good friend, eh?" she asks.

"Best friend," I say.

"So should I go and leave you alone with them?" I can sense a slight hesitance in her words.

"You can stay if you want."

A grin forms on her face. "Thanks."

Liam is now standing just beside the bed. Harry is behind him. A nurse walks into the room with a tray carrying two glasses of water. She places it on a table and goes away silently.

"I met Perrie downstairs," Liam speaks. "She's inconsolable."

"She's affected the worse," Harry agrees.

"I come here every day," Liam says quietly. "It's a pain but I want to bear it."

"I don't," Harry says. "I can't. Seeing him like that, motionless and still, it breaks my heart. I didn't have the heart to visit him for the past three days. Today, it took me all the courage that I had to visit him."

"It's a good thing you did," Liam says. "Zayn needs you."

"He needs my prayers," Harry adds.

"He needs to live."

I wish.

"Life's weird," Liam sighs. "It can affect many lives with just one little incident."

Harry nods. "And those 'little incidents' happen to good people."

They then fall silent, saddened by Harry's words. They just stare at my body, which is barely kept alive with the help of the machines surrounding it.

"I still can't believe it," Liam says after a moment.

"Me neither," Harry says. "It all happened so fast."

"I wish that all of this is a bad dream; that I would be woken up by my alarm to a new morning, without any bad news."

"Me too."

"Too bad it isn't," Althea murmurs beside me. When I glare at her, she looks down apologetically. "Sorry."

Harry turns away from Liam and walks towards the table full of bouquets, which I hadn't noticed before. He runs his hand through a few flowers.

"These flowers are withering away," he says plainly. "They need to their strength."

I frown at his reference.