Storms {z.m.}

Chapter 58

Chapter 58 - Christine

"Thanks for meeting me. I know you would much rather be with Perrie right now," I say as I settle into the booth at the back of an Italian restaurant not too far from the hospital. I never went back to Perrie's room yesterday after I found Harry. As soon as I found out about his condition, I couldn't leave his side.

"Of course. Perrie's mum is finally in town and spending some time with her, plus you sounded really bad on the phone earlier," he says as he slides into the opposite side of the booth. It's almost noon, but I've only been awake a couple of hours. I didn't end up going back to Liya's flat until late last night, hoping that maybe if I stayed another hour Harry might wake up. He didn't.

"You haven't gone to see Harry yet, have you?" I ask him. I'm aware of how accusatory I sound, but the only people who came to see Harry yesterday were Louis, Liam, and Niall. His family is strangely absent, and I think Zayn coming to see Harry would be appropriate considering he's in such critical condition.

"I haven't, no. I've just been with Perrie, you know? She, well we, are having a hard time right now," he says lowering his head. His beanie is on so low that it covers up the ends of his eyebrows, making him nearly unrecognizable. I want to say something with more substance than "I'm sorry," but I have no idea what to say to someone who was robbed of the privilege of their first child in such a tragic way.

"I'm sorry," I say. I reach over and place a hand on Zayn's hand. He looks around the room as if making sure that no one is watching or pointing a camera, then relaxes his hand into mine. I was so sure that he would push my hand off gently, not wanting to give into my comforting but also not wanting to offend me, so him leaving his hand under mine surprises me. He must really need someone right now.

"It's not your fault," Zayn says wiping a premature tear out of his eye. A waitress approaches our table and asks for our drink orders, but I tell her to bring us two Cokes and two plates of spaghetti. Zayn's eyes dart to me, surprised that I remember his favorite childhood comfort food, and I give him a small smile. The corners of his lips turn up slightly in what I can only imagine is this the attempt to smile by a person in a state of grief.

"So, how is Harry?" he asks. His voice is almost rough, not the caramely sound I'm used to at all. The bags under his eyes seem to hold the weight of the world, making his eyes look sunken and lifeless. Even when he's asking about Harry, he's worrying about Perrie.

"He's in a coma, but I'm guessing you knew that already," I tell him as the waitress leaves two large glasses of Coke on our table. After Liya woke up on the couch yesterday, she managed to find me in Harry's room. I'm so glad she got there right before the doctor came to tell me about Harry's condition; I don't know what I would have done if I would have had to hear the news by myself.

"Miss Styles?" an older, grey-headed man asked as he entered the room. I was confused for a second, but then remembered that I had told the nurse that Harry was my brother so she would let me stay in the room.

"Yes," I said standing up straight. I pulled Liya up with me as I stood up, mostly because I had been squeezing her hand since she got here.

"We just got the results back from the tests we ran on your brother," Doctor Thurman said looking down at his clipboard with a slight frown. My heart started beating like crazy. What if Harry was brain dead? What if he was paralyzed from the waist down? What if he lost the ability to talk? What if he woke up with amnesia?

"How bad is he, doctor?" I asked, squeezing Liya's hand even tighter.

"Well, it's not great. He is in a coma and the tests show that he suffered several severe blows to the head, which is why we had to operate. He was hemorrhaging when he went into shock, which deprived his brain of oxygen for a few minutes," the doctor explained, motioning to Harry's stitches as he spoke.