I BLEED FOR HIM

Chapter 4

**ZAYN POV**

I lay on the hospital bed and closed my eyes. The nightmare wouldn’t spare me.

I clenched my fist and succumbed to my heart’s desires.

*Louis! Louis! Louis!*

I called as he raced toward the classroom.

"Won't you wait for your best friend?" I panted as I walked to him.

"You know, you could have just called me on my phone," he answered, waiting for me.

"If anyone had ears like yours, they would need a hearing aid."

"Is that an insult or a sarcastic compliment?" he scoffed, already trying to race me.

"My dear brother, anyone with an IQ like yours needs to be questioned and admitted."

"That's too harsh. Watch as I discipline your little ass, you crazy buffalo!" he shouted, chasing me to the classroom.

We entered the classroom and started laughing like crazy. Nobody seemed to mind us. This wasn't the first time we were being disciplined for our stupidity.

The teacher cleared his throat like that would make us comport ourselves, but we ended up using him as the object of our joke. The whole class laughed with us.

But like always, we were the ones being punished.

Then the dream changed.

I saw myself being blindfolded.

On the day everything happened. I tried to warn myself. I could see Louis’s panicked expression and my own trusting gaze. I tried to grab myself, but I was transparent.

I watched Louis’s gaze harden as he pushed me down the stairs.

I woke up covered in sweat.

Ever since the accident, I've been having the same nightmare repeatedly. Louis pushing me. Me falling. Seeing myself in a pool of blood.

I questioned myself: *If I hadn't gone there, would I still have my legs?*

I don't know.

I stared at the white walls of the hospital. It was suffocating. Everything was. My life. Everyone pitying me and wrapping it with care.

I stopped caring about myself. Stopped eating. I started fading away. That’s what I wanted. But my family was troublesome.

Mom had to chase Louis’s family away. His name was like a curse to my ears. I regretted ever meeting him in this lifetime.

His brother Bryan checked on me and updated me about Louis. He still hadn't been found since that day.

His mom also came to check on me, always begging me to forgive her son. Saying maybe I was hallucinating and that it wasn't him who pushed me.

I could still remember my father’s expression while delivering that hurtful news. He was heartbroken.

I chuckled inwardly. If he was heartbroken, what could be said about my feelings? I was walking a month ago. Now I’d be confined to a chair.

I glared at it with hatred.

I could still remember trying to stand up and ending up falling down. I had never cried like that day.

It seemed that was the day I accepted that I would never walk. And it hurt so much that I wanted to die.

The doctor rushed into my room after the nurse in charge saw me lying on the floor laughing like a maniac.

I started fighting them and tried to hurt myself, but they injected me.

I turned my face away and told the doctor to take her out of my room. She was always screaming and asking if I knew where he went.

I just wished I had seen his expression the day he pushed me. I wanted to know if he regretted it.

I shook my head, not answering the next question.

---

**BRYAN POV**

"You will not be allowed on this case as it involves your family," my supervisor told me as he led me out of his office.

"What do you mean I can't continue this case? It's my brother!" I beat my chest angrily.

"My brother has been missing for the past month, and you're telling me I shouldn't be on this case?"

Everyone in the room was surprised. For the past 6 years that I’ve been in the force, I’ve never shown emotion. I love doing my job solo. So seeing me angry was a thing.

"You know how we do it. You can't be on this case." He sighed, trying to calm me down.

"We all know he’s been missing, but you know we’re doing our best."

I scoffed. "You call this best? My mom has been tearing herself up every night."

I raked my hand through my hair, remembering my brother Jake begging Mom to eat. But she wouldn't even pick up her spoon.

She was always shouting, "My son! Where are you? Mom is missing you!"

"And you told me you're working. I don't even know if he’s okay. He gets frightened easily, and you told me to calm down."

I glared at him. "I'm giving you guys 2 days. Within that amount of time, you have to find my brother, or I will be on this case."

He sighed, defeated. "Okay. But you know, whatever you see in this case, you have to accept it. On that day, there were two people in the house. One was almost killed, and the other is still missing."

"What if your brother did it?"

I shook my head in disbelief, remembering what Zayn said.

I didn't believe him. What if the aftershock caused him to say nonsense?

But what if my naive brother wasn't who I thought he was?

Am I ready to know the answer?

I closed my eyes and rubbed my hand over the bridge of my nose.

*I wish it wasn't.*