Little Miss Payne (On Hiatus)

Chapter 16

It was so strange seeing both my parents lying in hospital beds. I walked over and sat by our mom while Liam sat by our dad. They both looked pale and the only sound in the room was the beeping of machines.

"Hi dad. It's me, Liam." I heard Liam say, his voice cracking. I looked up and he looked like he was crying. "Ashleigh's here too. She's sitting by mom." Liam looked up at me and I waved, suddenly realizing that they obviously couldn't see me.

"Hi daddy." I smiled at him. I could feel the tears begin to prick at the corners of my eyes. Liam smiled and looked back at him. I looked down at my mom. As pale as she was, she still had a tinge of color to her cheeks. That little bit of color gave me hope. The machine by dad began beeping a high pitched sound and the screen had a red box with the word "emergency" spelled out in bold white letters.

"Ashleigh! What's going on?!" he called as I looked at the screen. Without saying anything, I ran to the door to find help.

"Nurse! Somebody! We need help in here! Please someone hurry!" I called down the hall. Just as a nurse was about to walk out the doors at the other end, she turned around and came rushing.

"What's going on?" She questioned.

"The machine. It's beeping. Somethings wrong. What's going on?!" Liam panicked. The nurse looked at the screen and pressed a button on the wall. A team of nurses and a doctor came rushing in.

"I'm going to have to ask you guys to leave now. I'll let you know what's going on shortly. Do you need to be escorted to the waiting room?" The doctor looked at us with a stern look. Liam looked incredibly nervous and upset.

"No, tell me now! What's going on with my dad?!" He practically yelled. I rushed over to him and wrapped my arms around his waist, hugging him. He was incredibly tense.

"Liam, calm down. Please." I said softly. He didn't calm down. I grabbed his wrist and practically dragged him back to the waiting room. When we walked in, Danielle and Harry came rushing over. Danielle wrapped her arms around Liam in an attempt to calm him down.

"Ash, what's going on?" Harry said as he came over by me.

"Harry, it's my dad. He's.. I don't know. The machine started beeping loud and then nurses came in and.. I don't know Harry, I'm scared!" I rushed my words and began crying. Harry immediately took me in his arms and ran his hand up and down my back in an attempt to calm me.

"It's ok Ashleigh. Take a deep breath." He held my shoulders and looked into my eyes. Even though we were in this situation with my dad at the hospital, Harry looking at me this way made me have extreme butterflies. We walked over and sat in the chairs. "So, calmly explain to me what happened." Harry rested his hand on my knee.

"We were sitting in the room and then a monitor by my dad started beeping. I looked at the screen and it said 'emergency'. Then I ran to call a nurse and she came in. She looked at the screen and then pressed a button on the wall and a group of doctors and nurses came running in. The nurse told us to come out to the waiting room and Liam was freaking out. Now here we are." I said as I took a deep breath and looked over to Liam. He was breathing heavily but for the most part, it looked like he had calmed down a bit.

"It'll be ok. I'm sure your dad will be fine." Harry draped his arm across my shoulders and pulled me into him. Liam had looked over at me and I raised my eyebrows. He nodded, signalling that he had calmed down and he was ok. While I was talking to Harry, a nurse had come out. Liam immediately stood up and walked over to her. I followed and the nurse had an unreadable expression on her face.

"I have good news and bad news. Which would you like first?" My heart sank and I looked at Liam.

"The good news please." Liam looked at her, hope in his eyes.