You looked down at your body that was now resting on a hospital bed. You weren’t dead but you weren’t sure if you could classify yourself as alive yet either. You weren’t even sure what you would call your current state either. Not a ghost but not a person? It seemed like you were in your body but you were also looking down at your body laying in a bed. You seemed perfectly fine as you, or your spirit, or whatever you really were at that point stood there next to your real, damaged, body. You could see people and hear people, but they couldn’t see or hear you. You were an entity. You were the remains of your spirit that were stuck in between heaven and the real world as your body struggled to stay alive. The only sound in the room were the constant beeps from the machines in the room telling you that your heart was still beating, your only reassurance that you were still, in fact, alive. As you watched the monitors in the room, you heard a voice from down the hall, an Australian accent that was very familiar.
"I’m Luke, i’m her boyfriend I need to see her." You could faintly hear. You hurriedly ran out of the room and down the hall to see your boyfriend, standing there at the check in desk. A nurse must’ve recognized the urgency in his voice and agreed to take him to your room. You watched as he ran a hand through his hair as he followed the nurse to your room. His eyes were glossed over, as if he had been holding back tears with every ounce of strength he had. You could feel the air rush by as they walked past you, clearly not being able to see you just like everyone else. You followed close behind them as they entered your hospital room. You could almost see Luke’s soul shatter into pieces as he took in the sight of you.
"Listen sweetheart, it’s pretty bad. We’re doing everything we can," The nurse tried to reassure Luke as he struggled to keep his composure, "She’s lost a lot today. Her family was taken away in that car accident. You’re the only one she’s got left, be strong for her." She said as she rubbed the side of his arm.
"I’ll leave you alone for now, try talking to her. You never know if your words are the words that’ll keep her here." The nurse said before quietly leaving you and Luke alone. You wanted to go up and hug Luke more than anything, but he of course wouldn’t feel it. He couldn’t see you, hear you, feel you, and it was more painful seeing him like this and not being able to do anything than it was to be in that car accident. You watched as he slowly approached your hospital bed and you did so too, standing next to him as you both looked down at your body.
"How am I supposed to do this…?" Luke muttered to himself as he looked up at the ceiling. He knelt down beside your bed, gently taking one of your hands in his, making sure not to hurt you at all. He took a deep sigh before finally speaking.
"Please tell me this is just a nightmare and i’ll wake up in a minute next to you. I’ll wake up and you’ll be right there and i’ll wrap my arms around you like I always do and you’ll turn towards me half asleep and bury your face in my chest like you always do and everything will be normal. It’s not that easy though is it? I still can’t believe the call I got. We were doing soundcheck. I normally don’t even look at my phone during soundcheck but I knew something was wrong and as soon as I saw your friend’s contact on there, I knew something happened. Ashton drove me hear. The whole band is worried sick. I’m surprised I didn’t get in a car crash getting here with how Ash drove." He said letting out a small laugh.
"I don’t know what i’ll do without you, I really don’t. Calum, Ashton, Michael, everyone, we’d all be a mess without you. You can’t l-leave." He said choking up on the last word at the thought of you possibly passing away. You could see the tears starting to run down his cheeks.
"I plan on being with you forever and that can’t happen if you leave me. We had so much ahead of us, you had so much ahead of you. You had the rest of your life in front of you, you can’t just leave." You could hear the pain in his voice as he struggled out words, tears flowing down his cheeks as he was still on his knees beside you. Tears were dripping off of his chin and hitting the bed sheets as he bowed his head down, looking as if he had given up hope. He slowly picked his head back up with what seemed like all of his remaining strength.
"I love you. Please, please, please just stay." He whispered as he stood up and placed a gentle kiss on your bruised forehead. And those words were enough to make you want to stay. You didn’t know how you would survive life without your family but you realized you did have a family. You had Luke. You had Calum, Ashton, Michael. All of them. And that was enough for you to want to stay in this world. You could feel all of the air rushing around you all at once. But it was just around you, Luke didn’t seem to be feeling it. In that one second, you went from standing there next to Luke, watching your own body, to now laying in the hospital bed. You could now feel every bruise and every cut you had gotten. You weren’t just a spirit wandering around anymore, you were back in your own body. You could feel your eyes start to flutter open and the pain that came with finally waking up.
"L-L-Luke…" You let out a groggy whisper as your eyes opened.
"Oh my god, you’re awake! You’re alive!" He said as he grabbed your hand again. More tears flowed from his eyes, this time out of joy that you were alive and not leaving anytime soon.
