Addiction [Niall Horan]

Chapter 1

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My sneakers squeaked against the tile as I walked through the ward. I sipped the warm coffee, closing my eyes a little. When I looked up, I saw a black haired, scruffy doctor with a small goofy grin. "Don't ya know coffee's bad for you?"

I laughed at him, "What do you know about nutrition, Zayn? You're an Anesthesiologist. Ya put people to sleep." Zayn slowed his pace so that he was walking through the hospital with me. Up ahead, I could see the nurses station where little Anne was waiting for me, clipboard in hand.

Zayn glared, "Aye, watch the Anesthesiologist jokes. I know how to knock you out." 

"I really wish you would, " I countered. "I could really use some sleep."

"Because of that Alex patient?" Zayn asked. 

We strode closer to the desk, "Hold on." I told him. I faced Anne and she briefed me on the status of my patients for the day. "Thanks," I mumbled to Anne and grabbed the clipboard that she had for me. She scrambled away as I read over the patients' names and statuses. I hadn't actually paid attention to her, so I was just realizing how busy I was today.

I looked back at Zayn, flipping a page back down on the clipboard, "Yeah like I don't even know what she has."

"What are the symptoms again?" He asked as we started to walk again.

I thought for a second, "Well ridiculous bruising and stomach pains."

"Sounds like internal bleeding and you should probably get her treated for that like as soon as she came in," Zayn laughed.

"I did," I nodded back to him. "She had some internal bleeding but there's also a huge rash all over her and she kept fainting."

"Dehydration?" Zayn raised an eyebrow.

I shook my head as if to say 'I don't know.' I sighed, "She won't tell us anything."

"Why're you so worried?" Zayn looked straight ahead, "You always get so worried about your patients."

"And you don't get worried about yours?" I looked at him in slight annoyance.

"All my patients are asleep," Zayn laughed. 

Niall sighed, "Okay whatever."

"Still doesn't explain why you're worried so much about this patient in particular," he groaned.

I couldn't find an answer. I had told myself it was because she was a patient and I cared about my patients. Maybe it was because her case was peculiar and I couldn't figure out exactly what was wrong. It could really be anything. Zayn was right, they had treated her for internal bleeding, but we didn't know why she was bleeding internally or where these other symptoms were coming from. Hell, we didn't know if she had any family in the area because she wouldn't talk to us unless it was regarding her condition.

Just yesterday night she had come stumbling in and it already had felt like a whole year ago. I remember the patient I was seeing right before I was called into help. Well it wasn't actually my patient, it was Dr. Louis Tomlinson's, but seeing as he had came out of the hospital room and asked "How the fuck does someone get a Lego stuck up their ass?" very loudly and obnoxiously to the everyone nearby the nurses station, they moved the patient to me even though I usually only dealt with Internal Medicine and Louis was supposed to be the Hospitalist. 

The Lego shover's case was handed over to another doctor when I was called to investigate Alex. Anne was there to brief me, too.

"She has bruises all over her body-" Anne stated as soon as I arrived.

"What's her name?" I always asked for my patient's names first. Some doctors didn't, but I did. It reminded me that this was still a person, not just another number. 

Anne gawked up at me. She was short, so I had taken to calling her Little Annie and she had straight red hair that came down to her shoulders. It was always cut and in pristine condition. She was never at a loss of words. To be honest, I probably would have killed at least fifty patients by now if it wasn't for her quick thinking and constant information. She always knew just what to say, she had all the answers, but this time she just stared up at me. "Doctor, the patient--"

"Anne," I addressed her sternly, "You know I always insist on the name first."

"Doctor, she doesn't have one," Anne said, flustered.

I scrunched my eyebrows in confusion and ran a hand through my hair, "What do you mean she doesn't have one? Everyone has--"

"Doctor, please," Anne pleaded with me, shutting me up. "She won't talk to anyone about herself, but only her case."

I gulped. I was bad with quiet people. I always found myself rambling too much. "Alright, well, give me some of the details."

Anne nodded, "Well, she's bruising very badly all over, but mostly in her abdominal region. She's complaining of pains, too."

"Doesn't sound that bad..." I trailed off.

"Wait until you look at her," she said, motioning to the door.

I sighed and took the clipboard from Anne, pushing the door forward.

So, there was nothing abnormal about Alex's case, really. Patients came in here all the time with strange cases, but something seemed particularly wrong here. I looked over at Zayn to try to formulate an answer, but luckily I was saved by Louis.

In front of us, a door swung open. "Bald!" His eyes were watering with tears, but he was clearly laughing, "My patient's bald, lads!" Louis gasped for air.

Zayn laughed a little, but I laughed more, "Louis, that's rude."

Louis pointed at the door, "But he's bald."

"Cancer patients are bald," Zayn pointed out, trying a subtle way to tell Louis that he needed to shut the fuck up because there were patients around.

Louis was still laughing, "But he's not even a cancer patient. And he's like super bald."

I don't know why I laughed with him, it just came naturally to laugh with Louis. It was easy to just forget. The only one who ever had a problem with it was Liam, but he sometimes forgot that we need a good laugh around the hospital to keep things less tense.

Although, sometimes Louis did take things, too far. "I wish I could donate this amazing hair," he ran a hand through his hair and shot me a seductive look.  "You know you want it Niall," he laughed as he thrusted his hips once.

"Louis," Zayn looked at him, "I wouldn't wish your total grossness upon anyone, to be honest."

"That's not what your mom said last night," Louis straightened his back and glared a little at Zayn before they both exploded into a fit of laughter. "No, but seriously. Apparently my grossness does get the ladies, Zayn."

"How?" Zayn raised an eyebrow.

"Did you actually succeed at seducing that nurse," I added in.

Louis grinned, wide eyed, "Her name is Grace." He gave us a smug look. We awarded Louis with the appropriate high fives. "We're going on a date on Thursday."

"Woah a date?" Zayn laughed.

I joined in the banter, "Is Louis going to get tied down, what?"

Louis laughed, "Who knows? Maybe."

We all looked at each other, "Nahhh." We said in unison.

We walked down the hallway in a row, "Well this is my stop," I said to them. I entered the room to my left and saw Alex first.

Her condition had worsened. Her face was swollen now and she just looked sick. I'm aware that looking sick isn't a medical condition, but you could see it in her eyes that there was something wrong. Her hair looked greasy and I knew that she needed a shower, but that wasn't the problem. Her bruising hadn't gone away (like I knew it wouldn't immediately) and her skin looked a bit on the pale side. She was awake, but she stayed fixated on her phone which played music to her. She didn't bother with ear buds.

"Alex?" I asked her.