The Runner ➳ Narry (Book One)

Chapter Thirty-Nine

(Niall's POV)

Everything hurt, yet I was completely numb.

I couldn't open my eyes, I couldn't speak. My body was sore but I couldn't feel the pain. It was like I was in a dream, one where you think you know you're hurt but you can't feel it. I felt sick, but I couldn't throw up.

As I breathed, it felt like someone was pushing air into my lungs. The oxygen I inhaled wasn't coming from the space around me, it was coming from something else.

It was dark, and I knew my eyes were closed, but I couldn't open them. I could hear a faint beeping nose, and voices that seemed far away, but I couldn't identify them.

I couldn't figure out where I was. The only thing I could remember was Harry. I tried to remember what happened before I got here, wherever I was, but the only thing that clouded my mind was Harry's smile.

It was like a bright light turned on when he smiled. He made me feel so warm and so cold at the same time. He made me feel this certain way that no one could ever describe. He made me feel...

Loved.

A way that I have never felt before, loved. He made me feel loved and made me feel in love. I wanted to spend the rest of my life with him, I want to know everything about him. I wouldn't go back. If I had the chance to turn it all around and forget I never even met him, I wouldn't. Not for a second.

He pulled me out of this dark space I was held in, the remains of what Zayn did still etched into my skin and into my mind. I couldn't quite figure out what was so special about Harry, but damn, there was something.

My thoughts were interrupted by what sounded like someone calling my name. It was really faint, it sounded lower than a whisper.

I tried to open my eyes, but it felt as if they were glued shut. The ringing in my ears drowned out the voice, and I desperately tried to hear who was talking to me.

Suddenly, I felt a hand touch my arm. Warmth sent a shock through my body, and I was relieved I could feel something.

Feeling began flooding back to my skin. I could feel a soft, warm blanket draped over the lower half of my body. I wiggled my toes a little, letting them soak up the feeling of the fabric.

I could feel something pinching my finger. It wasn't hard enough to hurt, but I could still feel it. I could feel something attached to my face, running over my cheekbones and going into my nose. I could feel cold air prickling at my skin exposed on my arms. I could feel everything, but I couldn't feel the area from my stomach down to my thighs. That was completely numb, and I couldn't figure out why.

It freaked me out at first, am I paralyzed?

The thought stuck in my head for a second. I could feel myself begin to panic, and the faint beeping noise in the distance got quicker. The hand on my arm moved up and down slowly, and that made me remember I could move my toes. Relief flooded through me, I'm not paralyzed.

The voice calling my name began talking, but I couldn't make out what they were saying. I was too busy focusing on the warmth of their hand on my arm.

The hand removed itself from my arm, and I suddenly felt cold. Sound then began flooding back to my ears. The beeping noise got louder, the rustle of background noise became more noticeable, voices in the distance didn't seem so quiet anymore.

"-sorry for everything, Niall." The voice speaking to me was deep, coming from right next to my ear. I could feel the same hand that was previously running on my arm raking through my hair.