This Time

Chapter 9

We all stood there, frozen. Liam spoke first.

‘What do you mean Harry?’ He said, laughing nervously. I looked at Louis, whose smile had faded into a stony face of horror.

‘I mean, who is this?’ Harry asked, looking around. The colour drained from Louis face and he stood there, mouth ajar in shock.

‘It’s...it’s Louis.’ I said, hoping he was kidding. God, I wished he was kidding.

But he wasn’t.

‘I’m sorry, I don’t know you...’ Harry told Louis, pulling his sheets around him tightly.

Louis nodded and bit his lower lip to keep it from trembling. I watched as he backed from the room, my heart aching for him.

‘We’ll go talk to him.’ Liam said, pulling Zoe from the room.

‘Harry, what are you playing at?’ Niall said to him.

‘Do you really not remember Louis?’ I asked, praying for him to burst out laughing at our gullibility.

He shook his head, making the curls bounce around.

How could he remember everything, except Louis?

‘He’s you’re best friend?’ I told him, desperate to spark a match in his head. One that would light up every memory he had of Louis.

He raised his eyebrows and slowly shook his head again.

‘He’s in the band!’ I exclaimed.

‘He’s in One Direction?’ Harry asked pointing to the door that Louis departed from.

I nodded sadly, realising he was being serious. He honestly didn’t remember anything about Louis.

Niall launched into a bunch of old stories about them and Rachel kept asking if he could recall any details that would indicate Louis being a part of his life. Harry kept telling them he had no recollection of their friendship at all.

Finally, I couldn’t take it anymore. Not caring about my own health, or what the doctor would say, I left the hospital wing.

Wandering around the hallways, I stopped thinking about Louis and Harry and turned my thoughts to Zayn.

Why did he have that bottle? Why has he not visited yet? Where has he been?

I turned around and headed to the dorms, it was time for these questions to be answered.

I marched to the door and slammed my fist onto it three times. No answer.

Grabbing the handle, I twisted violently and found that it was open. So, I pushed it open and stomped inside, ready for action.

The room was silent except for a small sound that vaguely reminded me of something, but I couldn’t quite recall what it was. Squinting through the darkness, i managed to spot him. He was curled up on a bed, sobbing quietly into a pillow. My anger faded into sympathy and I called to him softly. ‘Zayn?’

He looked around at me and started to babble through his tears.

‘I’m sorry Lucy, I didn’t mean to. I didn’t want to, it was him. He did something, I don’t know what but he did something.’ The poor boy sniffed and hiccupped through the words, traumatised by whatever images ran through his mind.

I wished I could ask what he was talking about, but I already knew. I had known it from the second i saw the bottle. Zayn’s body might have poisoned me, but it was an Elick’s mind that made him.