Room 317

Chapter 14

“I’m sorry,” the doctor said, “but I’m calling time of death at…”

Blip

The room froze. Harry went silent.

Blip

Very slowly, every head turned towards the heart monitor.

Blip

Five mouths dropped open as the green line rose in a bumpy sin and then fell again. That was impossible. Wasn’t it, Harry thought faintly? Louis’s heart just couldn’t start on it’s own? Could it? He had to be hallucinating... too desperate to think logically. He knew he was shaking and crying but he didn’t care… he just stared hard at the monitor, moving closer, daring it to beep again.

Blip

“No fucking way,” the doctor finally breathed as Harry went weak at the knees - like someone had just let go of him from a great height.

The three attendants heads snapped around to gape at the doctor but she ignored them, scrambling around the bed instead to grab the monitor. She stared at it hard, her nose nearly squashed against the screen, “that’s fucking impossible!” She said again, shaking her head vehemently.

Blip.

“Patient has resumed normal sinus rhythm,” the nurse announced unnecessarily.

“That is not possible,” the doctor said again, refusing to believe what she could hear and see. “That is not medically possible. This has to be a joke!”

Harry wanted to say something stupid to her like, “don’t sound so surprised. Even on his deathbed Louis likes to play pranks.” Instead, what came out of his mouth was a choking sound, which could have been a laugh, a cry or even a scream. Next thing he knew his vision was going dark.

~*~

“Louis? Louis can you hear me?”

Louis groaned, trying to fight away the urge to fall back under. He felt sluggish, like he was drugged to the eyeballs with morphine, and that his eyelids were taped down, because he really couldn’t move them.

“Louis,” the familiar voice coaxed again, “can you open your eyes?” Oh, so they weren’t taped down… With every ounce of his will, Louis flashed his eyes open, only catching a glimpse of white light and dark shadows. His eyelids felt like lead. God, his abdomen ached too and there was a horrible loud thudding in head.

“Louis, that’s it! Open your eyes.” Louis groaned, couldn’t Liam turn the volume of his voice down a little? It roared through his ears, sounding warped and painful.

“Too loud…” he croaked. He heard laughter in reply – it sounded relieved and happy. Sleep was dragging him under again, “s’tired,” he mumbled before falling back unconscious.

The next time he woke up, the weight against his eyes felt lighter. “Louis?” Liam queried, his voice blessedly quieter this time.

Louis blinked and slowly opened his eyes. The light was as harsh as the last time and it took him a few attempts to get used to it. It took him even longer to make out what the splotches of colour actually were.

“L…Liam?” God, he mouth was so dry.

“Sssh, here, sip this,” Louis felt something springy being pressed against his lips. He let the straw in and took a feeble slurp. The water was ice cold and slipped roughly over his tongue. He took another sip, using his tongue to weakly brush the liquid around his mouth, making it slick and smooth. The tiny amount of water he swallowed settled heavily in his stomach and made him suddenly feel sick. He quickly let go of the straw and turned his head.