Chapter Nine

(unedited version)

"We've got to put that crap behind us now," Niall states, eye brows furrowed and his lip jutting out.

 "I know," Zayn leans on the kitchen counter, hands rubbing his eyes. "And, I need to stop messing with emotions. It's not fair to anyone," he replies.

 "Alleluia!" Niall exclaims, jokingly putting his arms up and shaking his hips. "At least, you've come to your senses," he grins - even though he felt like crying - and stopped beside his best friend.

 "Yeah, yeah," Zayn shakes his hands, before peering at Niall. "You alright?"

 "Yeah," Niall sighs before standing straight. "Just a lot of stress, is all," he explains before grabbing his coat.

 "Where you going?" Zayn asks him, his eyebrows scrunching together.

  "Gonna meet Harry at the café," Niall mutters nonchalantly. Fiddling with an apple, Zayn peers down at the tiled floors.

   "Oh, I haven't seen the lad in a bit," he begins. "He's doing good, yeah?"

   "Yeah," Niall shrugs his coat on before turning towards the door. "I'll see you later," he says before walking out of the house, leaving Zayn slightly disappointed.

      He hadn't been invited.

♫♫♫

 "So, you're saying, it was basically a crying fest?" Harry asks, his voice slightly muffled due to the donut he had shoved in his mouth a few seconds before.

 "Yes," Niall cringes.

 "And you were the first to cry?"

 "Technically?" It comes out as a question.

 "You're losing it," Harry practically yells. "My good little old Irish friend Neil here, is going completely bonkers!"

 "Are you seriously going to start calling me that rubbish name again?" Niall scoffs, throwing his napkin on the table before giving the curly-haired lad a mock glare.

 "Yes," he begins, "because you're alter-ego is Neil. He only comes out to play when you're stressed - or, better - when you're boring. He's bonkers, that one," Harry rants, before stuffing another donut in his mouth.

  Niall gives him an incredulous look before opening his mouth to reply with a sassy remark, only to be cut off my the familiar tone of his cell phone. After an awkward shuffling around in search of his phone - which was wedged in the pocket of his skinny jeans - he finally found it, and read the Caller ID quickly.

  Flower Johnson.

 Quickly pressing answer, he shot the phone to his ear and spoke.

  "Hey, Flo, you okay?"

  "No," he barely hears her voice. Panic shoots through him, his hands begin to shake.

  "What's wrong?" Niall gets up, throwing at nervous look at Harry - whom was still stuffing his mouth with donuts - and began to pace around the small café.

  "I-" she cuts of, giving Niall heart palpitations in the process, before continuining. "Nose bleed, it won't stop," she quietly mutters before a cough is emitted through the phone.

 "I'll be-" Niall is cut off my the clatter of the phone and the line going dead, leaving him stood in the middle of the cafe staring at his cell phone like an idiot, before coming back to his senses and running out of the warm shop, leaving Harry's yells behind.

♫♫♥♫♫

 Finally reaching Flo's driveway after sprinting for what felt like a millennium, Niall is greeted with the front door of the Johnson house completely ajar, a trail of blood flickering through the snow and into the house. Niall, who was practically crapping himself with fear, regains his breath and sprints into Flo's home, avoiding the trail of blood along the way.

 "Flo?!" He yells through the home, frantically running through the rooms in search of her. Reaching her bedroom, Niall attempts to open her door except it's locker.

 "Fuck sakes," he mutters to himself. "Flo!"

 Cursing at the door, Niall back up against the adjacent wall and shuts his eyes, preparing himself until he hears the door click. Opening his eyes, he's presented with his best friend, her hair disheveled, tears falling on to her red cheeks and blood running down from her nose, over her chapped lips and on to her chin. Her fingers were shaking fiercely, the tissues in her hands barely absorbing the blood.

 "N-Niall," Flo whispers, her voice cracking. Walking up to her and taking her into his arm, taking a hold of the napkins and guides her towards her bathroom, where blood, tissues and medicine tablets littered the tiled floor, and the countertop. Setting her petite figure on to the toilet - the top on, obviously - he presses new tissues against her nose. Giving her a solemn look, Niall blinks.

 "Where's your mum?"

 "I," Flo attempts to answer him, but stops to take a breath. "I don't know. I tried calling her, but it would just go to voicemail," she explains, her blue eyes tearing up once more.

 "How long have you been bleeding, Flo?" Niall asks her in an authoritive tone, his eyes piercing into hers. His heart continued to beat faster and faster as he watched her frail form shake and continue to get paler.

 "Forty-five minutes, I think," Flo replies, her voice slightly muffled due to the already bloody tissues pressed against her nose.

 "Why didn't you call me sooner, then?" Niall asks, a tad angry at the world for doing this to her best friend.

 "I," Flo trails off. Watching his best friend weeze, Niall flips out his phone and dials Zayn.

 "'Ello," he hears Zayn's voice on the other line. With his eyes still set on Flo, Niall begins to speak.

 "Code Amber," he states.

 "Shit," Zayn mutters before the line went dead.

  Avoiding Flo's questioning stare, Niall peers around the bathroom with his eyebrows furrowed. "Why are there pills everywhere?"

 "Um," was all he got in response until they both heard the front door slam, cursing, and heavy footsteps running up the stairs.

 "In here, Zayn," Niall yells from the bathroom. Setting his gaze back on Flo, who looked confused and sickly as ever, he attempts a smile.

 "What is it?" Zayn asks, his chest heaving up and down once he enters the littered bathroom. after a few seconds of peering around the bathroom, then peering at Niall, his gaze rests on Flo. "Shit, you alright?"

 "Always a charmer, Zayn," Flo replies, her voice slow and slightly muffled.

 "We've got to go to the hospital," Niall says, gazing at Flo with a watchful eye. Once she begins frantically shaking her head, he sighs.

 "Too bad, Flo. You're bleeding a lot, for a long time. Zayn and I can't fix it," he states before hoisting himself up. "Now, tell me why there are pills all over your bathroom floor or so help me, I will call an ambulance instead of speeding down to the hospital."

 "Um," Flo begins, "well. I had a headache, and tried to get to the Advil, but I couldn't reach. Then my nose started bleeding." After a few seconds of what seemed to be a staring contest between the three of them, Zayn and Niall both nodded before carefully hoisting Flo up, against her protests of course.

 "Excuse you!" She snaps at both of her best friend, but didn't even struggle in their arms since she knew she'd just fail. She'd just lose the argument, since she tended to be doing that recently.

 "You've got her?" Niall asks Zayn, as if she wasn't even in their presence, in which he received a small nod and a sad smile. Grabbing a few more tissue boxes, Niall motions towards Zayn to follow him. Trudging through the house, they make sure to lock the door.

 "Who's car?" Niall asks.

 "Mine's in the shop, man," Zayn whispers, his eyebrows furrowed and his nose turning slightly red. "Shit," Zayn comes to a realization, "we didn't even stop for her jacket."

 Muttering curses, Niall slips his parka off his shoulders and wrapped it around Flo. "Good?" He asks her.

 "Good," Flo shoots him a weak smile.

 "We'll take my car, then," Niall states before fishing his keys out of his pocket and speed-walking towards his car, opening the door and blasting the heat to the maximum. Once Flo and Zayn were shuffled comfortably into the backseat, Niall reverses out of the driveway.

 After a few minutes of speeding and many, many honks, they reach Wallington Hospital ER. Signaling towards a slightly be-ruffled nurse, whom quickly helped place Flo into a wheelchair, they entered the hospital at a rapid speed.

 "Excuse me," another nurse motions towards the boys. "We need information on the patient," the nurse explains.

 "Um, okay," Niall answers, "I guess I'll do it, you go on Zayn."

 "You sure?" Zayn replies, not sure if his friend was alright. Receiving a nod from his usually blonde-haired-bubbly friend, he continues on behind the other nurse.

 "So, your friends name is Flower Johnson, correct?"

 "Yes."

 "Seventeen years old?"

 "Yes."

 "Terminal leukemia?"

 Niall gulps down as he attempts to stop tears at the word terminal. Shaking away the terror and tears, Niall just nods.

 "Alright, that's it for now. You and your other friend can wait in the ER until a parental figure stops by. I assume you've contacted them?"

 "Actually, neither her dad or mum have answered the phone," Niall replies, worry coursing up inside him.

 "What are their names, Sir?" The male nurse asks, shuffling his clipboard of papers around.

"Joe and Marlene Johnson," Niall replies. Confusion erupts inside of him when the nurse grunts and motions towards him.

 "I'm sorry to say this, Niall is it?" He continues after Niall nods, "well, Niall, I'm sorry to say this but it says here that the parents of Flo Johnson got into a car accident this afternoon, around 5 pm?"

 "Um," Niall blinks away his confusion. That was after the tear-fest on Flo's driveway. "Oh my god."

 "Where are they now, sir?" Niall asks the nurse, his heart beginning to beat faster in his chest.

 Catching the nurses solemn expression, Niall began to fear the answer. 

♫♫♥♫♫

(A/N) Hi guys. It's been a while. THIS IS UNEDITED, BY THE WAY. I hit a kind of writers block with this story, but hopefully everything will be alright from now on. I've got the next chapters planned out and stuff. Anyway, I was thinking of entering this in the PopFic division for the Watty Awards 2013.. what do you guys think? If people agree to this, I just might do this and I'll try to meet the expectations for the contest. 

 I love you all, and it would be great if you voted and commented♥

©2013 loushton