"What do you mean, he passed away?" Louis screams into the phone.

"He died a half an hour ago," the man on the other side of the phone says. 

Just that day, Liam had consumed what the paramedics called neurological poison.  At first you suspected Marcy slipped it into his drink, but Louis assured you that was impossible, especially since she was put into prison after she shot Harry.  The poison apperantly affected Liam's spine and threw him into a coma.  He was rushed to the hospital and you hadn't heard any word about him since.  Until now. 

"Wait, I don't understand..." Louis says.

"Sir, he's dead!  Gone, okay?  The poison killed him."

"Oh..." Louis says.  "Wait a second, who is this exactly?"

"Uh..." the man says.  "The hospital."

"Did he ever wake up?" Louis asks.  "Like...did he ever say anything?  Any last words for us or anything?"

"No," the man says almost impatiently.  "He never awoke from his coma."

"I can't believe it..." Louis says quietly.

"Good bye, sir."

"Oh, yeah...goodbye.  Thank you for ah...calling."

Louis hears the phone click but doesn't move the phone from his ear for ten whole seconds.  Then he comes back into the kitchen where you and Zayn are finishing off the pizza for supper.  You and Zayn look up to see him walking in quite slowly, his eyes in shock but the rest of his face expressionless.  

"He's..." Louis whispers.  "he's dead."

Zayn's jaw drops and the pizza falls from your hand. 

"What?" Zayn asks, tears already coming to his eyes.

"The poison killed him..." Louis says, his voice barely audible.  He looks like he's about to collapse. 

"Louis," you say.  "Come sit."

Louis slowly does as he's told and avoids eye contact with either of you.  Zayn, on the other hand, only stares at Louis as if he's lying. 

"What are we going to do now?" Zayn asks.

"I...I don't know," Louis says.  "I feel really...alone now.  Liam was the person who kept us sane after the other boys died...now he's gone and I just...I don't know what we'll do now."

There is a moment of silence and you could swear Liam's spirit is in the room, carefully resting his hand on everyone's shoulders, trying to say everything will be alright. 

"We were all so excited for this tour," Zayn says. 

"Yeah," Louis says.  "I can still picture Liam's face when we were offered the tour." 

"Me too," Zayn says. "You should have seen yours."

Louis smiles.  "God, I love making music so much, but I just don't think I could do it without the others."

"No, definitely not," Zayn says.

"So...like you said in the um...interview, you'll probably just go back to your modeling job?"

"Yeah," Zayn says.  "I don't think it'll be that hard.  I'm their best model they've had in years. "

"Enough bragging, Zayn," Louis says. 

Zayn clears his throat uncomfortably.  "And you'll go back to directing your movie, huh?"

"No," Louis says, surprising you and Zayn.

"What?" Zayn says. 

"Weren't you paying attention during the interview, Zayn?" Louis asks, a bit irritated.  "I'm not going back to that stressful job.  All that has happened recently has stressed me out enough.  Now I'm going to try and relax.  (Y/N) will move in here with me and I'll help her raise the new baby."

"But Louis..." Zayn says.  "What if the baby isn't yours?"

"What?" Louis asks.  By his tone you know it would probably be best if Zayn didn't repeat himself.  It was as if Louis was just daring him to say it again.

"What if the baby...like...isn't yours?" Zayn says anyway.  "What if...you know, it's mine or something?"

Louis suddenly closes his eyes and gives a side-smile that can only mean trouble.  "It's not your baby, Zayn," he says.  

You cross your fingers under the table, hoping Zayn knows that means to stop talking.  

"It could be," Zayn says.

Looking at Louis' face, you see his eyes close tighter and his mouth frowns.  "No!" Louis yells.  "The baby is mine, do you hear me?"

"Louis!" Zayn says.  "How do you know?"

"Because I had sex with her, obviously!" Louis says, standing up. 

Zayn also stands and rests his hands on the table.  "But I did, too!  You know that!" 

"No Zayn," Louis says.  "I just know the baby isn't yours, okay?  It's mine...it's got to be...I can feel it."

"The baby could be mine too!" Zayn says again. 

"No!" Louis sceams.  "I want a family with her, do you hear me?  If it turned out to be your baby, eveything would be ruined for me!"

"Well, there's always that chance!" Zayn says, raising his voice.

"Shut up!" Louis shouts, lunging at Zayn. 

Louis throws a punch straight at his face, but Zayn dodges.  Louis tries to punch him again and Zayn catches his fist, his eyes wide open in fright.  Louis grabs Zayn's neck and rams him against the wall.  Zayn only stares into Louis' eyes as Louis tightens his grip and pushes him into the wall.

"That baby..." Louis says, "is MINE!"

Zayn slowly lets go of Louis' fist and starts to gasp for air. 

"Louis, stop!" you plead.

He pays no attention as he draws his fist back.  You shriek as it flies at Zayn's face.  All of a sudden, Zayn breaks free and Louis' fist hits the wall, making a dent and causing him to yell in pain.  Zayn hits him in the back of the head, making him yell again and he lands back-first onto the table.  He tries to get up, but Zayn's hand falls forcefully on his chest.  This time you see Zayn's fist go up into the air and fall straight at Louis' face.  Louis isn't so fortunate and it hits him.  You scream a little, especially when Louis almost goes unconsious.  Then he reaches up and  stops Zayn from hitting him again.  Louis tries to throw a punch, but Zayn grabs his arm. 

"STOP!" you yell at the top of your lungs.  "Just stop it!  How dare you?  Liam wouldn't want you boys to act this way!"

Louis and Zayn look at each other, all out of breath.  Realizing how foolish they're being, Zayn lets go of Louis and steps back.  Louis stands up and smooths his shirt, then feels his eye that is slowly beginning to turn black. 

Zayn rubs at his throat.  "I'm sorry Louis," he says with a cough.

"No, I'm sorry..." Louis says.  "I shouldn't have...yelled at you.  We can't go crazy, alright?  We need to stay sane for Liam's sake."

"I agree," Zayn says. 

"But..." Louis says, stepping close and almost touching his lips to Zayn's ear.  "If you say anything about that baby...there's going to be troube for you, aright?"

Zayn nods nervously.  Just then, the phone rang.  It was Sophia, checking to see if everything was going alright.  Louis had answered, and he had to tell her that her husband died.  She started to cry, but Louis said they would come and comfort her tomorrow before he hung up. 

"Wait a minute..." Louis says, looking at the screen.  He could see the numbers of the past callers.  "That's not the hospital's number."  He redials it and it rings five times before someone finally answers.

"Help!" the other end says.  "Oh God, please help me!  Send help, please!"

It sounds so exactly like Harry's voice that Louis can't speak. 

"Hello, is anyone there?" the voice continues.  "I need help!  I've been kidnapped but I don't know where I am!"

"H...Harry?" Louis says.

"Louis, is that you?  Louis, help!  I need you to come and save me.  I'm trapped and there's no way out!  I think I'm in some big trouble!" 

"Harry, where are you?" Louis yells.  "How are you still alive?"

"Louis, are you still there?"

"I'm here, Harry!" Louis shouts.  "Where are you?"

"I don't know..." the voice says.  "Please Louis...I need help!"

"Harry!" Louis says. 

You and Zayn rush into the room at the sound of Louis' shouts.  He's sweating and shaking all over.

"Louis, what's wrong?" Zayn asks.

"It's Harry!" Louis answers.  "He's on the phone!  He needs help!"

"Give me that!" Zayn demands, snatching the phone from him.  "Hello?" he says into it.

"Hello, who is this?"

"This is Zayn Malik."

"Hello, Mr. Malik.  Your friend needs help," the other end says.  "I think he might be going crazy.  He kept calling me Harry."

"Wait, who is this?" Zayn asks.

"This is the hospital.  Do you think he's being affected by Liam's death?"

"Yeah," Zayn answers.  "And someone else's."  Then he appoligises, says goodbye, and hangs up.

"No!" Louis screams.  "Don't hang up!  Harry needs our help!"

"You're the one who needs help," Zayn says, placing his hands on his friend's shoulders.  "Are you okay?"

"Yeah, but Harry's not!  He's in trouble!"

"He's dead, Louis."

"No he's not!  He was just on the phone!"

"That was just the hospital," Zayn says. 

"No, it was Harry!"

"Louis!" Zayn yells, shaking Louis' shoulders.  "Harry is dead!  It was the hospital on the phone.  It was just your imagination."

"I...I could have sworn it was...Harry," Louis says.  "Oh God, I'm going insane!"

"Don't worry," Zayn says.  "We'll make sure that doesn't happen.  You'll be alright.  Just sit down for a while." 

Zayn leads him to the couch and Louis slowly sits down.  He closes his eyes and pinches the top of his nose.  "It sounded just like Harry..." 

_________________________________________

Thank you everyone for waiting for this update!  Sorry about the short chapters, by the way.  As always, please VOTE, ADD, SHARE, and FOLLOW ME!  Please COMMENT with your thoughts! 

Remember you can still vote on the baby's gender/whose responsibility it will be!  Details are on the last chapter of New Lives.  You can vote there, below in the coments, or you can message me!  If you have already voted, please do not vote again.

Please comment!!! :D