Through The Dark

Empty

3 Weeks Later

"Niall! Niall! Niall!" I can hear the chants from behind the stage. I look over at Sam, who has our daughter strapped to her chest.

"I love you!" I mouth and step onto the back steps. I wave at them and turn around, strumming the first chords on my guitar. This was nightly, each show since I started this tour was almost the same. Tonight: LA. It was my second show on the west coast. I chug a bottle of water and toss it to the side. I was already feeling dizzy and the loud music wasn't helping. Finally, I give the thumbs up and the little platform rises. I start the first line of my song and the screams grow louder.

"Good evening LA!" I say once the song is over. "It's great to be back! So tell me something? Are you having a good night?!" Of course, screams follow. "Great! My job here is to make sure you never stop having a good night!" I start my next song. "You guys are all aware of my wife and daughter right?" I ask the crowd. "Well this is Sam's favorite song! We're going to slow it down a little now; hope that's okay! This is Gravity."

My head begins to throb and look over at my stage manager. I've only been up on the stage for an hour, it's too soon for this headache. "Time out.." I mouth before starting my next song. He looks back towards whosever back there, then nods. "Alright guys, I'll be right back."I take a deep breath and remove my guitar from my shoulder. I walk off stage. "Where's Sam?"

"She had a phone call to take." My manager says and hands me a glass of water. "Here, want to change your shirt? You're getting a little sweaty..." She hands me a white t shirt and I pull it up.

"Do you know when Sam will be back?" I ask and try to walk past her. I jog down the hall, looking through every open door.

"Niall, you have to go back onstage." She tries to follow me.

"They can wait five minutes. It's fine; I just want to see Sam and Olive." I turn around just as Sam comes out of the ladies room. "Hey baby, enjoying the show?" I ask. "Sweetie, what's wrong?" I respond to the tears running down her face. She just closes her eyes and shakes her head, gesturing me back to the stage. "I won't go back until you tell me what's going on."

"I'll talk about it later. I don't want to ruin the show for you, just finish it." I hear her voice crack.

"Are you sure...?" I hesitate. She just hugs me, as close as she can be with Olivia in between us.

"I love you, Niall." She says and kisses me. "Go finish the show and we'll talk." She walks me to the steps. I take my guitar of the stand, still not looking away from her. She half heartly smiles and sits on the couch. "Go Ni..." She mouths and I turn around. My palms begin to sweat as I tried to forget about Sam's crying face. I feel my face become hot and my pulse skyrockets.

"Alright, are we still doing great?!" I ask and start strumming. "As most of you know, my beautiful wife Samantha blessed me with our daughter Olivia just over a month ago. There is nothing about that baby I don't love. She's the best thing that's ever happen to me, next to Sam. This song, I wrote about Olivia. It's called Love & Tequila. I hope you like it."

An hour later, I start walking to the back of the stage. "It has been so great to play for you tonight. You have been such a great crowd. Thank you so much for all the support and for comin' out tonight! Drive safe! Goodnight LA!" I walk off and I'm immediately hugged by Sam. Her face was still red with tears. "Are you okay, love?"I kiss her.

"Niall....Something happened." She looked down at Olivia in her carseat.

"What?? Is Olive okay??" I say in a panic, bending down to her.

"She's fine...but it's not her..." She pulls me up into her grip and starts to cry. Not just cry, sob.Then She whispers into my ear and my mouth falls open. Nothing about what she said could be true.

"Tell me you're lying..." I mumble. My stomach tightens and I feel nothing. Nauseated. Dizzy. My knees buckled under my own weight and I fall to the ground. I cry into the floor, almost screaming. "How could I let this happen!?" I scream and Sam sits next to me. I feel her tears on my back. Now, I don't even know what I was feeling. Nothing was real. This isn't happening. My night was going so well. Now I'm empty. I try to stand up and head for the door. I'm overwhelmingly dizzy and step back. "Shit..." I mumble. I fail at catching myself and fall back to the ground.