Perfect || Niall Horan

|8|

***Niall’s Point of View***

“Good morning, Niall,” Lisa says to me as I enter the home of my best friend. I smile politely.

“Good morning. How’s she doing?” I ask.

“Not much better than any other day you’ve come by. She’s upstairs in her room. I haven’t checked on her in a few hours.”

I nod, thank her, and walk up the steps. I find my way down the hall to April’s door and knock twice only to receive no response. I sigh, walking in anyway.

“April,” I say. To my surprise she wasn’t lying face first on her bed as she had been every day this week. Instead, she was sitting in the corner curled into a ball with her knees hugged tightly to her chest. She wasn’t crying for once which I interpreted as a good sign. “How are you doing?”

She doesn’t look at me. I noticed the full tray of food sitting on her dresser. I’m sure Lisa had brought it to her hours ago.

“Hungry?” I ask, walking further into the room. I spoke in a gentle tone. The last thing I want to do is upset her. “I know you are. You have to be.” I try a smile, but she still doesn’t react. She stares out the window.

“Right. Because all I ever do is eat,” she replies dryly. It’s the first time she’s talked to me today and most likely the last.

“No, April. You know that’s not what I meant.” She still doesn’t look at me. “You haven’t touched food in days. You have to eat something. Come on,” I press. I sigh when she ignores me. “Your mum and I were talking. If you don’t eat something soon we might have to call someone to help us, and I know you don’t want that.”

“You’re not my parent,” she states matter-of-factly. I blink.

“I know. I do care about you though. I’m not going to allow you to starve yourself to dea-”

“Why?” she cuts me off, turning to finally look at me. “Why do you care about me so much? No one else does. No one else gives a shit if I starve myself to death, so why do you? I don’t deserve a friend like you. I’ll never be good enough. I’m worthless.” By the time she finished speaking she was sobbing. I rushed to her side and wrapped her in my arms.

She felt so breakable. Fragile. More fragile than usual. She hadn’t eaten anything in so long that she was slowly disappearing. Her bones were visible through her skin. It was painful to witness. 

“I care about you because you’re my best friend. You’re perfect, April. You already are. This,” I say, motioning to her frail body. “This starvation process you’re going through, it’s not making anything better. It’s not making you any better.”

“Stop,” she mutters. “I just want everybody to stop.”

“No,” I tell her. “I’m not going to ‘stop’ until you believe me.”

“Then you’ll be waiting quite a long time. You might as well save your energy.”

She was no longer looking at me. Her attention had returned to the window, and the tears had come to a close. I stared at this girl who I once thought I knew. I remembered back to the days when we were kids and none of today’s problems mattered. The things she’s worried about now wouldn’t have even crossed her mind back then. The amount of which she’s changed is immeasurable. I know she’s in there somewhere. I just hope there’s a way to get her back.

AUTHORS NOTE

phew short chapter. the next ones even SHORTER so get excited for that XD i wont have you wait too long though i promise. btw i posted a short story recently based off ed sheerans song 'Small Bump' that i had on my old account but i decided to move it to this one instead so check it out if you feel like it (: anywhore i love yall so much and thanks for reading! let me know what you think by voting or commenting and chapter 9 will be here soon! byeeee xx