United We Live

Fifteen

It was finally November.

Harry sighed restlessly, perched in his hospital room's bed.

He had been discharged days ago, just as the doctor had promised. But like all injuries, he was back to make sure nothing would go wrong in the future.

His foot dangled off the side of the mattress, free for the time being of its new resting place on a rolling scooter specially made for individuals with extensive leg injuries. It was still entrapped in a thick cast, but he supposed there truly are far worse situations he could be in.

The court case had come to pass. The hunter who had owned the trap ended with a fine over $1,000. It had been assessed thousands in more for damages, forfeited nearly twenty thousand more worth of traps and equipment and had his license suspended for near a decade.

He also had to pay hospital bills and crime victim compensation, not that Harry really had any need for that.

In other words, the Hunter was having a bad day.

As for the other boys, they were still rather furious and raged that it wasn't more. No matter how many times Harry had tried to mollify them, he was left with their stony, livid stares.

Louis, in specific, was a bit of a tougher case.

He was suffering with being bedridden.

Like any other illness, it was taking weeks to recover; but it was his behavior made the other's nervous.

Louis was an individual that would whine and complain over minor little things, but then when there was something serious he was unlike himself. Nowadays, the older teen took to lying in bed quietly, either sleeping or aimlessly watching the others.

Occasionally, Liam and Harry had attempted to invite him to come with them to the studio but Louis had stopped coming after a time when he couldn't push his voice enough to hit the notes and got frustrated.

It was slightly alarming that they were staring to fall into a tentative norm.

Harry was waiting on the doctor to come back and tell him the results of their preliminary assessment. He tried not to be too eager in his hopes that some miracle had happened and he would no longer still be confined to the trap encased on his foot.

Steady snowflakes began to fall past the window.

And then the scream erupted from down the hall.

Alarmed, Harry jerked. His gaze ripped from the peace of outside to the window of his closed hospital door.

At first nothing seemed to happen, other than another alarming cry ripped through the quiet hospital. On the edge of the bed, the young singer tried to catch a glimpse of something in the hall within his line of sight that might give away what was occurring.

A nurse ran past, and then another.

The barrier muffled the noise of what they were calling out, but Harry could only assume that it was nothing good.

Rubbing his fingers together, Harry fought the urge to go and peak his head into the hallway. He chuckled to himself at the irony, people naturally had a longing to know what other people's business was; celebrity or not.

Once more he nearly flew off the bed in surprise when the doctor opened the door to approach.

"Apologies Mr. Styles, I didn't mean to startle you."

Harry grimaced.

"Ts' alright," He shrugged it off. "Is everything alright out there?"

He saw the doctor give a slight pause, just long enough to know that whatever was about to come out of his mouth next were very carefully chosen words. Harry had gained more than enough experience the past few weeks to know even that.