With Every Moment Left (Niall Horan) Book 2

Chapter 22

Niall’s POV

“Just be careful”

“We don’t want to see you get hurt”

“Not much time left”

The words of the boy’s echoed in my head from when they cornered me after the interview. I shake my head trying to force the words out of my mind and head inside.

“What’s wrong?” I ask nervously as I walk into the house seeing my mom with tears in her eyes and Rachel’s mom rushing around collecting their things. “Where’s Rachel?” I ask feeling my heart sink.

“She’s in the hospital” her mom says pausing for a second, her eyes haunted. That’s when I felt my world fall from beneath my feet.

I opened my eyes and looked up to see Rachel’s eyes open, meeting mine. I had been here a week now, always by her side, as she progressively got worse.“How are you feeling?” I ask, my voice hoarse from crying.

“I need you to do something for me” she says, her voice straining for every word.

“Anything” I choke out, my eyes tearing up.

“My coat pocket, the paper” she whispers. I reluctantly release my grip on her hand and stumble over to where her coat was draped over a chair and reach into the pocket, extracting a thin, crumpled piece of paper.  “Cross it off for me” she whispers before a coughing fit sets in. I rush back to the edge of her bed taking her hand again. The coughing subsides “please” she manages to get out. I nod and grab the pen I had tucked into my lyric journal that I had for when she was asleep and I needed something to occupy my thoughts and uncrumple the paper. My heart nearly stops when I read what it says. #1 Fall in love.

“Please, don’t leave me” I say, my voice strangled as tears prick my eyes. She looks at me sadly. “I love you Niall”

“I love you to” I choke out.

“Can you do one more thing for me?” she asks. I nod my head

“Whatever you need”

“Sing to me” she asks weakly. I nod and start singing, my voice shaky.

I've tried playing it cool
But when I'm looking at you
I can’t ever be brave
'Cause you make my heart race

I hear her breathing slow letting me know she fell asleep but I keep singing anyways until the song is over.

She never woke up, she slipped into a coma that night and then three days later she was gone. I couldn’t believe it. I wouldn’t. Zayn and Liam literally had to carry me out of the room because I was to numb to move. It felt like I had died right along with her. There was a hole in my heart that would never be healed. I wouldn’t leave my room. I could tell the boys were worried but I didn’t care. I saw them whispering and glancing at me on the few occasions I did leave my room. Two weeks later, I heard a knock on my door. I didn’t respond. I didn’t want to be comforted, why couldn’t they just leave me to my misery? I heard the door open but I don’t look up.

“I have something for you” Liam says nervously. I don’t respond and I hear him walk over. I can see him in my peripheral vision now and he sets something down on the pillow next to my head. He pauses for a second and looks like he is about to say something but instead he shakes his head lightly as if thinking better of it before walking back out the door. I don’t move for a few more minutes but I eventually look over and see a letter addressed to me. I sit up and pick it up carefully turning it over to see who it was from but there was no name. I open it up and begin reading.

 

To my beautiful Niall

If you are reading this, it means our time together has come to an end. I am writing this to tell you how much you meant to me. You helped me to rediscover life when I was already acting dead. And for that, I will be forever grateful. I want you to promise me one thing, whenever you get sad, or upset, or feel yourself losing faith, I want you to remember that night beneath the stars, the love we shared. Remember how happy we were, and know that there is a greater importance for us all. You were such a huge part of my life, while I’ll just be a chapter in yours. I want you to be happy. I know it might take some time but one day I want you to find a girl that will make you feel everything that we felt. Don’t be afraid to fall in love again. And most of all, don’t forget to live.

With love always,

Rachel

I hold the letter close to my face; breathing in the lingering scent of her, tear drops falling on the page. How could she possibly expect me to ever fall in love again? I’d never be able to move on past her. I feel a hand on my back and look up to see that Liam had returned. He settles down on the bed beside me and I lean against him crying. He doesn’t say anything to my relief. I had figured he’d give me an ‘I told you so’ or ‘You should have listened to me’. I hear the door open and closed and then pretty soon I feel the other boys around me also. It was almost like a homing call. They knew I was distressed so they came. 

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This chapter was so sad to write! I'm sorry to all of you that were hoping she'd get better but I'd had an ending like this planned since the beginning and it made more sense than she just miraculously gets cured. Tell me what you think by voting and commenting! I've got the epilogue still and will either post it later tonight or tomorrow :-)

Also, I'm planning on writing another 1D Fan fic but I don't know who to write it about. I've got two ideas so far but I'd like to know who you think I should write about. Since this one was about Niall I'd prefer to do someone else so let me know in the comments who the next one should be about! It will probably be  a week or two before I actually start writing since I have exams coming up soon though