Dusk Till Dawn - Ziam

Chapter Ten

"How on Earth are you going to find a house or apartment near the hospital that's available?" Chris asked as Zayn used his laptop to search places for rent.

"There are many places available for rent, Chris. They don't necessarily need to be near the hospital, as long as I have a place here I can go visit Liam as much as I want. Make sure he's okay and all"

"Pretty sure the whole reason he's even in the hospital is to keep him away from you" Chris said raising his eyebrows at Zayn.

"The only thing I know is that Liam is hospitalized and he needs me, everything else is unnecessary" Zayn waved him off as he scrolled through the website.

"Uh, I doubt his parents signed you up to be a visitor. Hell you weren't even supposed to know he was going to be there"

"Again, unnecessary details"

Chris sighed and decided to not keep talking about it, because anyone who knew Zayn knew just how stubborn he was.

Thirty minutes later, Chris was woken up from his nap by a very excited Zayn jumping onto his bed.

"I found the perfect apartment! And it's only two blocks away from the hospital! Not only that, but super cheap too" Zayn grinned widely.

Chris pushed him off the bed before groaning and sitting up, "When are you going to go see it?"

"Well with how great the deal was, I called the owner and told him I wanted to rent the place and he said I should go over and sign the contract right now. So come on, let's go!"

"Wait you're going to rent a place without even looking at it?"

"It's close to Liam, the way the apartment looks is just un-"

"Yeah, yeah, unnecessary details" Chris stood up as he began to follow Zayn out the door, who was way too excited to have found an apartment so easily.

After meeting with the owner and signing the contract, he handed Zayn the keys over and told him he's free to move in right away.

"Were there pictures of the apartment online?" Chris asked as they walked down the hall towards the apartment.

"No, but I went with my gut so how bad can it be?" Zayn said as he unlocked the door, upon opening it, Chris was left shocked and speechless.

"It's perfect" Zayn said as he stepped in, taking his coat off.

"Are you joking? This place is a complete dump!" Chris said as he stayed by the door looking at the apartment, which was just one room. There was a beatdown oven in one corner with a small and ugly refrigerator next to it. Across from that was a incredibly disgusting looking toilet and what seemed to be a small sink, which really, was just the faucet and no actual sink. The walls were in bad shape, the wallpaper hanging off it, some places even missing it. The floors creaked and Chris was genuinely scared that if Zayn took a wrong step he'd go through the floor. The room was only lit up by a single light bulb hanging in the middle of the ceiling, which flickered by the way.

"Zayn, please tell me you're not seriously going to stay here" Chris said finally stepping in, looking over at Zayn who was standing proudly at the middle of the room.

"Of course I am, besides I'll be most of the day at the hospital anyway, so I'll just come here to sleep and such."

"This place doesn't even have a shower Zayn. And your "bathroom" is right across your "kitchen". Literally"

Zayn looked over at the appliances and shrugged, "They're just-"

"I swear if you say unnecessary details, I will drag you out of here and give the keys back to the owner. This is ridiculous. How much are you paying for this anyway?"

"$50 a month"

Chris shook his head, "You could live in a incredibly much better hotel room for that same amount"

"Per day, $50 per day. This one is $50 per month. See, great deal."

"You're crazy if you think I'm actually going back to England, leaving you in this place." Chris said as he made his way to the door, a rat running past his feet, making him scream and jump.

"Seriously!? Absolutely not, we're leaving!"

Zayn rolled his eyes but followed him anyway. He was made to wait outside the building while Chris spoke to the owner and voided the contract immediately, giving the keys back.

"Great, now I need to look for a new apartment." Zayn said crossing his arms over his chest.

"Zayn, this is ridiculous. I understand that you want to be close to Liam, and be there for him. But you're not supposed to be, you're supposed to go back home. To take care of yourself, besides, you only brought enough medication to last you a week. You need to go back. And I hate doing this to you, but that's that. You're going back home with me. Liam knows how to take care of himself."

"Obviously he can't or he wouldn't be in the hospital now would he?" Zayn said frowning at Chris.

"You know what I mean, Zayn. He's in good hands, you were there once and you got better, he can too."

Zayn sighed and looked away, he knew Chris was right. He couldn't stay there but he wanted to. He didn't want to leave Liam, he wanted to show his husband he cared about him and that he would stop at nothing to make sure he got better.

"You're going home. And that's final." Chris said making Zayn turn and look at him, he hesitated but nodded motherless.

"We're leaving tomorrow night, so you can go visit Liam tomorrow morning, and let him know that you did want to stay, but you can't."

"I just hate knowing he's in there against his will. I know how it feels, and I don't want him to go through the same thing I did."

"Zayn, I don't want this to sound harsh, but Liam doesn't have what you do. Liam is clinically depressed and still recovering from the traumatic event he went through. He probably has PTSD, but he will be okay. He'll get the treatment he needs and he will get better. You can't compare your situation with his."

"Right, cause he's still recovering from something traumatic and I'm just fucking crazy"

"That's not what I said."

"Sounded like it."

"No. I said you can't compare the two, yours was triggered from losing Liam, you already had it in you, you just hadn't shown any symptoms or signs of it. You were born with it. Liam wasn't, Liam obtained it by going through a traumatic event that can scar someone mentally and emotionally. You can't compare them, they're both different and must be treated differently. What you experienced in there won't be the same experience he'll have. Different doctors will be treating him, and doing different treatments to him than what you got and received. Just trust that he's in good hands, you were."

Zayn looked at his best friend with tears in his eyes, he knew Chris was right but he wanted so badly for him to be wrong. For him to change his mind and say "Zayn, Liam needs you and you're going to be here for him" but he knows that's not the case.

"Okay. Let's go home" Chris smiled sadly at him, and gave him a hug.

"You can still help him you know."

"How?" Zayn asked as he pulled away.

"Try finding whoever wrote you that letter. If you think both your lives are in danger than try to find that person."

Chris was right, Zayn did need to find out who had sent that letter and soon. He was going to need his friends' help though, and for that he has to go home.

He would be able to help Liam after all.

——————

Don't murder me, I know I'm late with posting. I was extremely busy all last week, I completely forgot I had to update.

But because of that, I'm going to update again tomorrow, to make up for it.

I'm terribly sorry, and I hope this chapter didn't suck like I genuinely felt it did.

Today's shout out goes to: payneissues ♥️♥️

Love you!

Georgina  xx