The Unreachable

Niall James Horan

I woke up in a hospital.

I was laying in a soft bed, with white walls surrounding me. The only decorations were some balloons and stuffed animals sitting on the bedside table. I put my hands against the bed to push myself up when I froze.

I couldn't feel my right arm.

I gulped and slowly raised it into my view and just about sobbed. My shoulder looked fine, and it looked fine until you got to the elbow. There were ugly stitches underneath my elbow, but other than that, my forearm and hand were gone.

I thought of all the stuff I would never be able to do again. I was right-handed, so that was a long list.

I'd never be able to punch someone.

I'd never be able to hold Shelly in my arms.

Never be able to wrap my arms around Avery or Brendan.

Never be able to turn the page of my favorite book.

Never be able to shake someones' hand.

Never be able to scratch my le-

My leg!

I whipped off the covers and almost sobbed in relief.

It was still there, thank god.  But then I remembered. It didn't matter whether or not I didn't have a leg. I still didn't have my arm.

When my limb left me, so did my life.

Liam's POV

We waited outside Chris' room anxiously, waiting for her to wake up.

Man, that girl knows how to sleep in.

We waited a few more minutes, but then we heard a sob from her room.

"Should we go in?" Louis whispered.

"I don't know." I mumbled.

"Is she all right?" Niall asked.

"The doctor said she was healthy, but he seemed nervous." I said.

"Well, let's go in!" Harry said excitedly.

"Fine." I said.

I opened the door slowly, and motioned the boys to follow me in. Chris didn't seem to notice me, she was too busy crying.

Wait, crying?

The Chris I knew never cried!

Her head was buried in one hand, but I couldn't see the other.

Then I noticed something.

She was holding her right arm up to her face, but the forearm was gone.

Her arm was gone.

My heart sunk. That snake did more damage than we thought. No wonder that doctor was nervous.

She was healthy, but she was missing a limb.

"Chris." I whispered, at a loss for words.

Her head whipped towards my direction, and she attempted to wipe her tears.

With her right hand.

She growled in frustration and her eyes hardened when they landed on me. "This is what happens in the orphanage you sent me back to, Liam." She hissed, shaking her missing arm at me. "This is what happens in hell!"

Christina's POV

The boys looked at me with such horror I couldn't stand it.

I slammed my fist onto the bedside table. "Don't just stare at me, damn it!" I screamed at them.

The boys tried to get out so fast they bumped into each other. They all left.

All except one.

All except him.

Niall sat on the edge of my bed next to me, rubbing circles on the stump of my arm.

That's what set me off.

I began to sob. I wailed so loudly you could've heard me over the roar of their demented fans. The tears poured so hard you would've thought I was a cloud.

"It's gone!" I sobbed. "It's gone, and it's never coming back!"

Niall let me cry, and he even pulled me closer to him so that I was on his lap, my face buried in his shoulder.

After a few minutes of this, I pulled my face out of his shirt and wiped my face. "I'm sorry." I whispered.

"Don't be." Niall said. "You suffered a tragedy."

I snorted. "I've suffered a lot of tragedies, but at least then I had two hands wipe my face."

"You can use my hands." Niall whispered.

I rolled my eyes. "I only need one, thank you." I waved my missing arm in front of his face.

He chuckled, but he still looked sad. "Well then, if you have one less arm then you can't stop me from doing this!" He tackled me and pinned me to the bed with his knees and began to tickle me.

I squealed and squirmed, but he was pretty strong. I could've been able to get him off me if I had another arm, but I only had one, and that one was occupied trying to hide my face.

"Niall!" I gasped. "That tickles!"

Suddenly a burning sensation filled my lungs and one of the monitors I was hooked up to began to beep. "Niall!" I gasped.

He immediately got off of me. "What's wrong, Chris?"

"Inhaler!" I gasped, attempting to suck in oxygen.

His face turned white as he searched for my inhaler.

I began to get fuzzy vision.

I was wheezing.

My limbs were drooping.

I passed out just as Niall yelled for a nurse.

Blessed, sweet darkness.