I Remember

It had been a long two months, but the last therapy session had finally arrived, or so everyone hoped.

“Okay Niall, since it's your last day with us, we thought it would be the proper time to bring in some of your friends.." claimed the head doctor. At that moment, the doctor signaled for one of the others in the room to fetch the other four boys waiting outside the room. A few seconds later, Louis appeared in the doorway, followed closely by Harry, then Zayn. Last to enter the room was Liam, who avoided any and all eye contact with Niall.

Niall was pretty sure he remembered most of what the doctors told him, and what he figured out on his own. However, doubt lingered in the back of his mind. The doctors all said he was making “excellent progress” so he was pretty confident. Although, the doctors didn’t know what Niall may or may not have forgotten, but then again neither did he.

As the four boys entered the room, Niall glanced up, only to be greeted by four, rather hesitant, smiles. “Hey guys. Long time, no see, yeah?” was all that Niall said.

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Over the past few months, Liam found himself wondering each and every day how Niall was doing. He was always worried sick. He often fantasized about the day when they finally got to see each other again. However, the way Liam dreamt it would be, was the exact opposite of what reality had in store for him.

Before entering the room, Liam was flipping. out. What if he hasn't made any progress? Has he remembered anything? What's going to happen when he sees us? All these thoughts were rushing through his head, so the moment he stepped through the door, his knees grew weak and he thought he was going to collapse. Liam wasn’t ready for this, but he couldn’t turn back now.
Once everyone was in the room, the doctor instructed Niall to start recalling his memories of each member, one by one, starting with Louis, then ending with Liam. As Niall went around the room, everyone became moderately impressed with how much he had remembered. The doctors all took down notes on their clipboard and observed closely.

Then it was Liam’s turn. “Oh and then Liam and I...” Niall trailed off. He got so nervous and his throat started to tighten. He couldn’t remember a single thing about the boy standing before him. Liam just stared at Niall, disappointment swamping his expression, but still desperately hoping that everything would come back at once.

“Niall, what do you remember about him? What do you remember about Liam?” the head doctor chimed in.

“I... uhm....” Niall was speechless.

Liam knew it. He knew that this was all too good to be true. He even thought that Niall was merely reciting everything the doctors had told him, and lost almost every ounce of faith in his body. He tried so hard to hide his pained expression from the others in the room, but just couldn’t keep his face from flushing. Liam couldn’t look at Niall. It’s not like Niall was a disgrace or anything, it’s just that if he did look, he probably would have collapsed.

Niall immediately started to panic. Just the other day he had remembered almost everything there was to know about him, but he was drawing a blank. Niall started to look around at everyone quickly, his eyes flitting everywhere for even a small clue about the past, but he couldn't come up with anything. The doctor looked back at Niall and then at his clipboard and marked something down. He then stood up, and motioned for everyone else to do the same. Niall stayed seated with his head in his hands, not believing that his mind was doing this to him again.

“Maybe it would be best if we kept Niall here for another week or so and then brought you all back later...” suggested the head doctor, ushering everyone else out of the room. The boys all solemnly nodded their heads as the doctors told them to leave the room. Liam couldn’t believe he was the only one Niall couldn’t remember. Part of him wanted to rip off Niall’s little Irish head for making him get his hopes up and feel this way, whereas the other part of him just wanted to give him a hug, telling him he believed in him and that everything would turn out alright.

Niall still couldn't believe that this was happening to him. He was trying so hard to remember anything at all before everyone left him alone in the hospital. But time was running out, because everyone was already starting to file out of the room. This only gave Niall about two minutes before Li- the other boys were gone for another week. He just couldn't handle another week of this hospital.

Liam hung his head and looked at the ground, following closely behind Harry as they exited the room. One of the doctors approached him in the hall and stopped him from continuing on.
“Liam, we’d like you to return to the room, please. Before you go, we would like to try something. We’d like to see if being alone in the room will take the pressure off of Niall and help him remember anything.”

Liam contemplated this offer for a moment before accepting. After all, one more minute with Niall was one more minute that he had to hold onto for the next week. Liam slowly re-entered the room, and sat down in silence. A couple seconds passed before he spoke up.
“It’s been a long few months, hasn’t it, mate?” Liam started shakily.
Niall scratched his arm nervously and answered, “Yeah, I guess it has...”

Niall’s mind was still reeling, trying desperately to remember something, so his answer sounded distant, emitting a frown from Liam.

“Listen, Liam. I’m sorry. I just.. I can't remember anything and it's so frustrating because I know it's there I just can’t...”

Niall’s voice trailed off at the end of the sentence, while a single tear escaped from the corner of his eye. He quickly wiped it away before Liam could see it. He then looked to Liam, searching his face to see if he could remember anything.

“Look, maybe the doctors were right. Maybe it would be better if you went home and just came back in a week.” Niall sighed, his words full of disappointment. He didn’t want to stay another week, but he was determined to fix this mess.

Liam felt a twinge of guilt in his gut when he heard Niall speak. He felt terrible for even thinking for a second that Niall didn’t care. Liam couldn’t bear to see his old friend like this. The only thing Liam wanted to do right now was cry, but he persisted on and stayed strong for Niall. Liam wanted to help so desperately. But, how?

“W-what if I stayed the week with you and, you know, helped you try and remember stuff?” Liam said, almost in a whisper. He nervously looked away, both afraid to hear Niall’s answer and scared that he may have made the worst mistake of his life.