I Remember

Liam’s breath caught in his throat as he heard Niall’s words.

"Who are you...?"

He cautiously made his way over to Niall’s bed, squatting down so he was equal to Niall’s eye level. “It’s me, silly... It’s Liam. You okay, mate?”

Niall sat up against the backrest of the worn hospital bed and looked Liam over with a blank expression. “Who’s Liam? I seriously don’t know who you are; what are you doing in my room?”
Liam stood back up and felt as if someone had just taken a hammer to his chest. He staggered backwards in shock as he searched Niall’s eyes for any sense of recognition. “I’m Liam.. I’m your best friend, Niall. I always end up buying food for you and we sing together in our band. Are you trying to get back at me for something? Because this isn’t funny. I’m being dead serious right now, Niall. Stop kidding around.”

Niall furrowed his brows and looked down at his intertwined fingers, fiddling with his thumbs. “Listen, I don’t know who you’re looking for but I don’t think you’re in the right room. I don’t even know why I’m here to be honest. You seem like a really nice guy and everything and you seem really concerned but I haven’t the slightest idea what you’re on about.” Niall raised his eyes to meet Liam’s, seeing the desperation in them. “I’m... I’m really sorry, mate.”

Liam started to tear up as he spun around and exited the room, leaving a confused Niall to lay in his bed. He ran down the hallway and exited the hospital, passing Louis, Harry, and Zayn, who each gave him a startled look. Liam continued to make his way down the street at a quickened pace, finding himself standing in the middle of a park. He blindly made his way over to a bench in the dark and let the sobs overtake him.

He felt a presence next to him, and looked out of the corner of his eyes to find Louis looking at him with a sympathetic smile. “What happened in there, lad?”

“N-Niall didn’t remember me.. He didn’t even remember that we knew each other. I-I don’t even think he knew who he was.” Liam explained between gasps for air.

“Maybe we just need to give him some time, y’know, to try and think about this whole situation. If he really has lost his memory, he could be feeling worse than you are, mate.” Louis gave Liam a small smile and squeezed his shoulder, helping him up. Liam wordlessly made his way back to the hospital with Louis in tow, and they started to make their way back to Niall’s room.

Harry and Zayn were standing outside of the room with puzzled expressions on their face, both looking as if they were in deep thought. Obviously, they had found out the news of Niall’s loss for themselves.

Niall became even more confused as the doctor walked into the room, trailed by four boys, including Liam.

The doctor cleared his throat and approached Niall. “Mr. Horan, we’re afraid you may have lost your memory when you hit your head on the pavement this afternoon... I believe that it would be in your best interest if we kept you here for a few months under observation.”

“That’s impossible, I haven’t lost my memory. Look, if this is just some kind of cruel joke, you can shove it up your arse. Am I being punk’d or something? I mean, really, this is just ridiculous. I’ve never seen any of these guys in my life!” Niall rolled his eyes and glared at the doctor, but his stare faltered when he received a sympathetic glance in return.

"I'm so sorry, Mr. Horan. It is possible that you could regain some of your memories by going through therapeutic exercises, but even that may not guarantee the most promising results..." The group of boys in the back of the room shifted awkwardly on their feet, obviously uncomfortable with what the doctor was saying.

“I still don’t believe you, there’s just no way...” Niall glanced around the room, taking in all of the stares we was receiving from the rest of his band mates. Liam was the only one who would not meet his gaze.

“Why are you all staring at me? You’ve had your fun, ha ha joke’s over. Can I go home now?” Niall looked around expectantly, hoping that someone would tell him this was all fake. He locked eyes with Liam, and saw a tear escape from his eyes, a pained expression on his face. Liam quickly looked away and locked his jaw, emitting a sigh from Niall. As a response to the silence in the room, Niall looked down as realization set in that this was all real.

“Guys, if he’s still anything like the old Niall, he’s not going to get it through his thick skull. Let’s just go home, it’s no use.” Liam turned to leave, but was stopped by a firm hand grabbing his wrist. He leveled his stare with Harry, who loosened his grip on Liam’s arm.

“We have to stay here and be strong, Li. This is the moment Niall needs us most. We can’t leave him now.” Harry’s tone took on a more sympathetic feel as he reached his last sentence. Liam looked over to see that Niall had a somewhat panic expression plastered on his pale complexion, and Liam realized that Harry was right. He pulled out a chair from the nearby table and slumped down into it, resting his head in his hands.

Niall could sense the frustration and hurt in the tense atmosphere. He rolled over in his bed and faced the wall, trying to ignore the four other bodies in the room. A couple minutes passed and he was drifting off to sleep, still able to hear what everyone was saying.

Liam looked towards Niall and thought he was sleeping, so he took the opportunity to discuss the situation with everyone. “Guys, I really don’t think this is going to work. I-I don’t know if I can go through this whole process of trial and error and risk coming up with more errors than progress. What if we’re just hurting him?”

“You never know Liam, Niall has surprised us more than once before. Besides, like the doctor said they might be able to help him at least get back some of his memories." said Louis.

“But what if he remembers the bad things? What if he only remembers the bad things that happened between us? I can't even stand thinking he might hate me. I-I just can't do this.”

"It's hard on all of us Liam, but we do understand it's hardest on you. We just have to have faith in our Fresh Prince of Mullingar." Zayn added with a small smile, trying to lighten the mood.