Breathe, My Love ~ KSI (discontinued)

2.2

couldn't sleep

That night, things went quite differently for the two neighbouring hotel guests.

Hoda had completed her night routine and had snuggled into the duvet setting herself an alarm for the morning.

Over on the other side of the wall. Lay a man, smiling, as he stared at his phone screen, he had saved the picture of her on the roof as his new phone background. He too had set an alarm to wake up early in the morning for his gym session with his coach, but as he plugged his phone to the bedside charger, he received a single text.

From Ma
Don't forget to go ring shopping whilst you're in America.
Like the rest of us, Sharla is waiting for an apology.

And suddenly his few hours of happiness were short-lived as reality came crashing down on him. He had to go ring shopping for her. He was still due to marry the woman he had no intention of loving anymore. That night he put his phone down not even wanting to open his messages and reply. Instead, he pulled the covers over his head and tried to sleep.

The school bell rang signalling the end of the school day as Hoda came out of the building with Chase on her arm and a group of their friends surrounding them.

"Oh look, there's your ride." Chase pointed out the obvious as he walked Hoda to the white Mercedes that was parked outside the gates, "Take care, and tell your brother I said hi."

She smiled, "Take care too, and I will do, he's been asking for that date with your sister for the past few weeks."

"Ew! No! I'm not going to sit there and watch my girlfriend's brother flirt with my sister." He gagged.

"Oh whatever, we're not even dating."

"Everyone else seems to think that we are."

She chuckled as he embraced her, her long curly brown hair falling into his face.

"Oi! Chase! Let go of my daughter!" Hoda's father playfully scolded them from inside the car, as she heard her mother playfully tutting at her daughter's actions.

"Yes, sorry Mr Noor, it won't happen again." Chase gave them his most innocent face.

"I better hope not, get in, we're late, your brothers waiting at school for us." Her dad said.

She and Chase bid each other goodbye as she got sat in the car and her day drove away.

"How was school?" Her mother asks.

"Not much to talk about, it was as boring as ever."

"Not any different to when we were at school then." Her mother said, mostly to her husband.

"Nope sounds exactly the same." He chuckled.

"Can we put the radio on, I heard one direction has a radio one show today." She said.

"Oh, of course, that Harry Stiles guy, you're always on about." Her mother joke playfully but turned the radio on anyway.

"It's Harry Styles but whatever," Hoda muttered under her breath but shrugged.

Her mother turned on the radio and Hoda began singing along to their new single, as her mother and father, laughed along.

What no one had expected was a sudden impact to come in through the side of the car, tipping the car around the highway, making not one but two turns.

The next thing she remembers is opening her eyes, feeling hot red gooey liquid over her body, she struggled against the door, trying to open it, but her strength wasn't enough to open the jammed door, then she felt a cold wind rush over her, the trunk window had shattered open, she managed to climb out of the car, dragging her body through the shards of glass, her head in so much pain that she felt numb to the pieces of glass cutting into her forearms and palms.

Climbing out of the car, she managed to drag herself to a nearby railing, leaving a crimson trail of blood in her wake, and leaned against it as people gathered around her, all of them screaming incoherent words, one calling an ambulance the other trying to help her parents out of the car. The man was pulled away by another.

"Move away from the car! It's going to blow!"

And it did. The car lit up in flames as Hoda watched in terror as everything she had ever known disappeared before her eyes.

"MAMA!" Hoda's childish voice screamed through her head.

Hoda's eyes snapped open, the subtle build of icy sweat on her body was a cold reminder of the trauma she had endured, her finger moved subconsciously to the scar on her hairline brushing against the scars of where she once had stitches, it made her sick to the stomach a sudden wave of nausea made her head spin as she rushed to the toilette throwing up the remainders of that night's food into the toilette.

She rinsed her mouth out just like she had done every time she had a nightmare, pulled her hair into a loose low bun as she brushed her teeth and fixed her clothes, it was now half three in the morning. With all that she had just been through, she knew that staying in this room would only sicken her.

So, she pulled on a loose abaya and wrapped her scarf loosely around her head of hair as she slid on a pair of shoes, she wanted to go downstairs into the lobby, for a drink or even a snack to help her recover from the empty nauseous feeling. What she hadn't expected was for she opened the door is to see JJ standing in front of her, his hand against the wooden door, ready to knock.

"Couldn't sleep either, huh?"

"Nope, guess you weren't the only one."

Written: 04/12/2021

Published: 06/12/2021

(A/N: Very delayed, so might do a double update might not, but im very sorry, everything in my life has been very topsy-turvy recently :)