Murphy's Law ✔️

Chapter Thirteen.

TW// DEATH

"Murphy? Is that you?"

"Hey, Kitty," Murphy grinned, the phone pressed against her ear, "it's me."

Murphy's legs gently swayed back and forth as they dangled over the bench, the soft winds blowing her hair back from her face as she squinted in the sunlight of the afternoon. She was met with silence over the receiver of the phone, and suddenly a feeling of anxiety washed over her: something was wrong.

With the day off from work, Murphy decided to wander around the town and get familiar with her surroundings. Harry was back at work in full swing, and a small inkling in her mind urged her to call her best friend after not speaking to her since before she had left.

Murphy had gained ten lbs of weight in the past four weeks. Bruises faded from her knees, her hair had a bit more volume to it, and her dark roots grew inches in length- she was practically a brunette again. A few days prior, she looked herself in the mirror and shrugged; maybe she'd stop bleaching her hair altogether.

A shuddering sigh came over the speaker of the phone as Kitty cleared her throat. "Have you heard?"

"Heard what, Kitty?"

"Zayn," Kitty replied quietly, "he's gone. Overdosed."

Murphy's stomach dropped to her feet as her legs stopped swinging, the phone falling to the ground as her muscles simply just gave up. Years later, retelling this story, she'd swear on her life that her heart stopped beating for at least ten seconds. A harsh breath of air was sucked through her lips and held in her chest until it started literally burning. Blinking, she hesitantly reached down and picked up the discarded phone, bringing it up to her ear again.

"I-I'm sorry, Kitty," she stated, "I thought you just told me that Zayn's... Gone?"

"He is, baby," Murphy could hear sniffling on the other end, "earlier this morning he was found in the bathtub in the flat. They... They tried, Angel, they tried everything they could. He was too far gone at that point."

And just like that, her world had shattered in front of her. Dozens of emotions welled up all at once: grief, anger, heartbreak, guilt- she was feeling it all at that moment as she took a gasping breath and shut her eyes, her body lurching over as she let out a choked sob, shaking her head.

She hung the phone up then, not being able to give Kitty a proper response and quite frankly, not wanting to hear anything else. What was she to say at that moment? Was she supposed to curse? To ask for more details? To tell Kitty that she felt like it was all her fault- to tell her that maybe if she never left that night, Zayn would still be alive?

She would never be able to recall how long she sat on the bench, crying until her throat was raw and her eyes were swelled up. By the time the tears had subsided, night had fallen around her, and so she picked herself up and on what felt like newborn legs, she made her way back home. The chill that came with dusk didn't bite at her face as she thought it would. She, quite honestly, felt nothing at all.

As she unlocked the door to the apartment, Harry stood from the couch and looked at her, ready to ask her where she'd been for the last few hours- ready to tell her that he called her at least a dozen times and was worried sick. One look at her face though, and he knew none of that was important.

"Murphy," he spoke gently, approaching her with arms outstretched in front of him, "what happened, dear?"

She didn't think it was possible to have any tears left, but once her eyes met his face she practically collapsed to the floor. Harry caught her by her elbows and fell to his knees in front of her, capturing her in a tight embrace as she sobbed mercilessly against his shoulder, her hands coming up to clench his shirt in her hands.