Endlessly // h.s.

V

Short chapter, sorry :(

Evie gasped and coughed violently awake. She felt like she was drowning, running out of air fast. Only... she wasn't underwater. Or even close to water, for that matter.

She was laying on a bed in a highly ornate room that looked like it was straight from Versailles. The walls were a crisp white, and red and gold accents popped throughout the room. A huge window revealed only darkness from the outside world, signaling that it was in the dead of night.

Evie didn't have time, however, to contemplate such trivial matters. Her focus was completely on trying to just breathe. Her eyes squeezed shut with the effort.

It was like she had had the wind taken out of her, only a hundred times more intense. And add a splitting migraine. She didn't know what was going on, where she was, or how to regulate her breathing. All she knew was pain. Tears leaked helplessly out of her closed eyes as she writhed on the bed.

"Evie? Angel, can you hear me?" A vaguely familiar deep voice asked, laced with worry and urgency.

She opened her watery eyes to the sight of a man leaning above her, his face fraught with concern. After a moment, she recognized him. It was Harry.

Struggling for breath and on the verge of passing out from the pain of her migraine, she didn't ponder on how horrible of a man she knew he was.

"Harry," she sobbed.

"Shh, I'm here, little one." His large hand moved up to stroke the side of her face. Immediately, her migraine cleared up to only a throbbing headache and she could finally breathe.

Well, she couldn't really breathe, per say. She could only take in small pants of breath, almost like she was hyperventilating, but still. It was something, which was definitely better than nothing.

"Niall!" Harry called out, green eyes remaining focused on hers.

Suddenly a blond man appeared next to Harry. He looked nice enough, except for the syringe he was holding.

Evie's eyes widened and she squirmed away from both men. But as soon as Harry's hand left her cheek, it was like she had been hit by a truck.

The migraine came back. The wind was taken out of her and she quite simply couldn't breathe. Again.

Writhing wildly, she reached for the only remedy she knew. She would do anything to ease this unique pain.

Luckily, Harry's hand found hers and their fingers intertwined. Her problem was almost immediately pacified.

"Interesting," the blond man murmured. Evie had almost forgotten about him, and his syringe. But she definitely remembered now.

"What...is...that?" Evie panted. She looked pointedly down to the syringe he was holding.

"Angel, it's just going to put you to sleep for a little bit." Harry cooed condescendingly. His thumb rubbed circles on the back of her hand.

"No...don't...don't...want it," Evie protested weakly, still struggling to breathe normally. Her head was still pounding, too. But it was much better than before.

"You have to, I'm sorry, baby." His eyes looked distressed and pained, like he was actually sorry. Evie knew he wasn't, though.

Evie shook her head feebly. She tried to wriggle away again, but her efforts were pointless seeing as how she wouldn't let go of Harry's hand. She couldn't put herself through that horrible pain again.

Harry nodded to the blond man and he positioned the needle expertly at her neck. Evie was too weak to fully object, so she closed her eyes and let it happen.

"You're lucky I was bored and decided to go to medical school last century, Harry. I wouldn't have known how to do this otherwise." The man was Irish, Evie was just now noticing, based on his accent. She didn't really make an effort to fully process what he was saying, though.

Evie felt that familiar pinch and pressure, and the effects of the drug instantly took over her body.

With her last bit of strength, she opened her eyes and spoke to the man who had miraculously made her pain go away.

"Har-Harry," she whispered.

His free hand cupped her cheek. "Yes, my angel?"

"Don't...leave...please." A single tear made its way out of Evie's eye and streaked down her face. She didn't want to ever experience that level of pain again, and this was the only way to ensure that, even though she hated it.

Evie was pulled to Harry's chest as he cradled her in his arms.

"I'll never leave you, little one," he whispered huskily in her ear.

And with that, the darkness overtook her.