Unfold Me (Liam Payne Love Story)

Chapter 10: Facing Fears

I needed to call someone and find him. The boys didn't know how bad this was. Liam needed someone to be there for him in this. He needed to know he had something to fight for. So, I asked Louis about Liam's mom's phone number. She lived in Pennsylvania as well and was probably Liam's closest relative. 

"Hello?" 

"Uh, hello. This is Brooklyn Glyder, one of Liam's friends." I told her.

"Oh, Brooklyn. He's told me so much about you!" She said joyfully.

"Oh, well, I was wondering where he was at this moment in time. He's seemed to run away." There was a a long silence on the phone and I wondered if she had hung up. I finished my comment. "And, I know about the leukemia...,"

"Oh dear..., he told you. Um, he is actually at the hospital at the moment." She replied. I gulped. The hospital. I hadn't been there since...

"The one downtown?" I asked. 

"Yes, but...," She continued but I interrupted her.

"Thanks! Bye!" It was a Monday morning. Since I was a senior, I had basically finished all my credits so classes didn't start till 12:00. I had four hours. Why not? The downtown hospital was just a few miles away, so I started the long walk to the place I'd been avoiding for the past year. 

***

When I arrived at the hospital, I halted for a slight moment and scanned the huge building. Woman with newborns were leaving from the pregnancy center. Children with casts and splints were leaving from the children's center. Elders in wheelchairs were leaving from the front of the building and then, my eyes rested on the far right. 

"Philadelphia Cancer Center," I mumbled to myself.

I slowly made my way over to the huge doors and walked in. I shuffled over to the receptionist. 

"Excuse me, ma'am?" She had her headphones in. She was jamming out to a tune. Very unprofessional. "Ma'am!" I yelled. She shook, startled, and glanced at me, sliding her headphones off of her frizzy blonde hair. 

"Yes?" She questioned, slightly embarrassed. 

"What room is Liam Payne in?" I asked, calmly. 

"If you're one of those crazy fangirls, I need to tell you to leave now." She told me, sternly.

"No, I'm the only one he's told other than his mother actually...," She looked me in the eye and tilted her head, deciphering if I was telling the truth. She nodded.

"Room 601." She answered. 

"Thank you." I told her and I went up the elevator to room 601. This was the chemotherapy floor, I remembered. I found the room 601 and saw Liam attached to all the tubes. I walked back out as soon as I saw him. I bit my lip but couldn't hold it in any longer. I leaned back against the wall and slid down to a sitting position, feeling tears stream down my face. Doctors walked past me, sympathetically. Flashbacks of my mother appeared in my mind, haunting me. No. I shook it off. 

I walked through the double doors into his room where Liam was reading a book. He apparently hadn't suffered through the side effects yet. When he saw me, he looked surprised and a bit angry. 

"Why are you here?!" he asked, loudly.

"I came to...help you." I told him. 

"No, no, no! I left to help you! I left so you wouldn't have to deal with any more pain and rejection when I died." I rolled my eyes.

"Do you hear yourself? You LEFT to protect me. I thought you had left because of me! Running away from your problems isn't going to help anything. It's only going to make things worse and that negative attitude you have is definitely going to get you killed. You know the reason my mom lost the battle to cancer?" He shook his head. "It was because she didn't have a big enough army." I told him. There was a long lull in conversation after that until he spoke up.

"Thanks for coming," He whispered, quietly on the verge of tears. I knew this was harder on him than anyone. He would have to stop singing. He would have to stop chasing his dream. 

"Thanks for being here." I replied. His huge hand intertwined with my tiny, delicate one as he smiled. 

"Have you been crying?" He asked, examining my puffy eyes. I quickly rubbed at my eyes, trying to get the redness to go away.

"Uh, it's just. It's just this reminds me of my mom and she went here. Just memories. I actually haven't been to a hospital since her death." I bit my lip, yet again to try to avoid tears. 

"Well, then, I guess we're all facing our fears today, together." I nodded. After the chemotherapy started, those happy smiles wouldn't last long, so I took advantage of his smiling personality as much as I could before it disappeared. 

***LIAM'S POV***

Seeing her there made my day brighten. I didn't mean to hurt anyone by running away. I just was trying to help them. I didn't want them to get hurt. After a few hours, Brooklyn said she had to go to school. I kissed her softly as she smiled to go away, and wrapped my arms around my self, trying to be strong. Be strong...for her. 

A doctor came into take the tubes out. I thanked him as he advised me to drive straight home. I steered the van out of the parking lot, feeling dizzy from the chemotherapy. I'm fine, I told myself. Just keep driving. I started to feel more dizzy as I made it out on the highway. My eyes were closing, slowly. I opened them, forcing myself to stay conscious. The cars to my right and left were all big blurs now. I turned to go into the left lane and heard a crash. Something slammed into my door as I hit the brakes. Something else slammed into my rear end, throwing my neck to the front, slamming my head onto the steering wheel. I felt blood trickling down my hand as it fell across my eyes and nose, sliding down my face, as I blacked out.