Wild

It’s been three months since my mother appeared out of the blue, and she hasn’t bothered us since then. My dad has been home for a month now and I’m now living with him instead of Matt. When we told him about what happened he didn’t seem too happy about it, but decided that he wouldn’t dwell too much on it. Instead, he caught up on lost time with us. It felt great to have him back. Everything was almost back to normal.
Harry texted me every chance he had, even if it was only one message. I also got loads of messages from the boys, most of which were to complain about how annoying Harry had gotten since I left. Apparently he had taken up my position as master prankster of the group and was constantly pulling pranks on them. I personally found it hilarious, but decided to keep that to myself so they wouldn’t get mad at me.
I still get asked for autographs and pictures on the street from fans. They ask me how I’m doing and about Harry so I reply to them the best I can. A week after I had gotten home Ryan sent out a press release explaining why I had to leave the tour and everything that had happened. Fans were shocked to hear about me losing my ability to speak, but quickly became supportive of me.
“Emily! Hurry up! You’re going to be late for your appointment!” My dad called.
I snapped out of my thoughts at the sound of his voice. Today was the day that I went to get my throat and lungs examined for the first time since the fire. They were going to tell me whether or not things were healing right and if I had a chance of speaking again. This visit could make or break my entire career choice. No pressure. I walked outside to find my dad waiting for me in the car. He smiled as I got in.
“Ready?” I nodded and we drove off towards the hospital. “So what do you want to do for your birthday this weekend?” My dad asked. Birthday? Oh...right. I can’t believe I forgot about it. I remember talking to Harry about it the other day and he was bummed that he and the boys couldn’t make it, but they would be sure to send me presents even though I told them not to. I pulled up a talking app that Harry told me about and typed my response so the automated voice spoke it back to him.
"I don’t know. Nothing too big"
“Nothing too big? Emily this is your birthday party. You should have some fun with it."
I just shrugged, thus ending that conversation for the time being as we pulled up to the hospital. We sat in the examination room waiting for the doctor to come back with the test results. It had been over an hour and I was already a nervous wreck. Hospitals reminded me of the fire. How terrifying it was...The heartbreaking look on Harry’s face when he thought he was going to lose me. I just wanted to leave.
“Miss Brighten?” The doctor asked as he walked in. “I have some great news. It looks like your throat and lungs have healed perfectly. All of the removed tissue has rebuilt itself and your vocal chords look great. You should be able to speak just fine now”
My father turned to me with a smile on his face, expecting to hear me say something.
“Come on, honey. Give it a try” he said.
My hands started to tremble. I wanted to say something, but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. The fear of trying and having nothing come out still haunted my brain from before. Sure they said it would be fine, but what if they were wrong?
“Emily. Sweetheart, look at me. Calm down” My father took hold of my hands as I started to hyperventilate.
I felt like I was back in the fire, unable to breathe due to the thick smoke. Beads of sweat dripping down my forehead from the heat.
“Is she always like this?” The doctor asked as he quickly tried to figure out what was wrong.
“Sometimes. She has nightmares about the fire most nights and only gets like this around hospitals or fire”
“I see. I’ll get something to calm her”
“Wait. That won’t be necessary.”
He pulled out his cellphone and quickly dialed a number. After a few moments the person answered. He said something into the phone, then held it to my ear.
“Emily?” Harry’s husky voice said. “Emily, I need you to breathe okay? Take a deep breath. Everything is alright. You’re safe”
Relief flooded through me. The fear slowly fading away as he spoke. My breath evened out as he kept talking to me and soon I was back to normal. My dad told Harry that I was okay and then handed the phone back to me.
“I have to go now, but I’ll text you later. I love you”
The drive home from the hospital was silent. After my little episode the doctor had suggested that I see a therapist to work out whatever issues I had left from the fire. He thought that it was a psychological thing that could be easily treated with medicine, but I knew that the only thing I needed was Harry. For some odd reason I felt safest with him even though my father and Matt had been with me the longest. Maybe it was because he was the one who got me out of the fire. My father pulled into the driveway and got out of the car. I followed him into the house and he shut the door behind me with a sigh.
‘I’m sorry’ I signed.
“It’s alright. You’re not ready yet, and that’s ok. You don’t have to rush this”
I nodded, still feeling guilty about putting him through all of this. He noticed the look on my face and pulled me into a hug.
“Hey, none of this is your fault alright? You didn’t ask for this. None of us did. It’s just one of those things that no one expects. No matter what, you’re still my crazy little girl” I looked up at him and smiled. “There’s that smile. Now how about we have a movie day? Just the two of us?”
My smiled widened and I nodded. I missed our movie nights. We used to do it every Saturday. We’d just sit around on the couch all day watching our favorite movies and trying to point out any film errors. You could say that it was our father/daughter time. Not exactly what most normal families do, but who ever said we were normal?
Harry’s POV
“Boys. I need to speak with you” Paul said as he walked into our dressing room. We all huddled around him, wondering what he wanted to talk to us about.
“It’s about Emily’s surprise party. I did everything I could, but the best I got was the night you fly in. You’d have to leave by 10AM the next morning in order to make it back in time"
“I don’t care. Even a few hours with her is better than nothing” I said.
“Yeah, and we have to go to her birthday party. Harry has to sing that amazing song he wrote for her!” Niall said.
“She’s going to cry. No doubt about it” Liam added.
I smiled at them. Ever since she left I had been working on a song for her with the help of Louis since he taught me piano. We just finished it two days ago and it turned out amazing. I called Emily’s dad and we both planned a huge surprise party for her that we were going to perform at. All of her family and friends were going to be there, except for the ones who were horrible to her. I made sure to hire security for it to make sure none of them got in. Her party was going to be perfect. Speaking of Emily, her ringtone began to blow up my phone so I picked it up and looked at the message.
From Emily: Going to the hospital to get everything checked out. I wish you were here with me :(
To Emily: Me too. Good luck. I love you xx
From Emily: Love you too xx
“Was that from Emily?” Liam asked.
“Yeah. She’s going to the hospital to see how things are healing. If everything is going well then she might be able to talk again”
“That’s great!” Zayn said.
“Yeah. I just wish I was there with her though. She doesn’t really do well in hospitals since the fire”
“Her dad and Matt are there. I’m sure she’ll be fine” Louis said.
“I hope so...”
A couple hours went by and I still haven’t heard anything from Emily. Part of me was hoping that it was good news and that she was out celebrating, but the other was scared to death. I had a gut feeling that something was wrong and it terrified me. From what her father told me, she had really bad nightmares about the fire and would wake up shaking and crying. He had originally called me as a last resort, but I actually managed to calm her down. Now whenever she had a nightmare they would call me and I’d talk to her for a few minutes so she would be ok. I walked out on a couple interviews to do so, but they understood. I decided to send her a text to ask her how she was going, but just as I was about to send it my phone started ringing. Except it wasn’t Emily. It was her father. My heart started racing. He only called me in emergencies. I quickly answered it.
“What’s happening? Is Emily alright?!” I asked right away.
“She’s having a panic attack” “Alright, put me on”
I heard him move his phone so it was against her ear. I knew this because I heard her hyperventilating.
“Emily? I need you to breathe okay? Take a deep breath. Everything is alright. You’re safe” I said softly.
The boys all looked at me, knowing exactly what was happening. I kept talking to her until I heard her breathing go back to normal. Her father came back on and told me that everything was alright now.
“Ok, good. Can I say goodbye to her real quick?”
“Of course” He put her back on.
“I have to go now, but I’ll text you later. I love you” He hung up and I turned to the boys who were anxiously waiting to find out what happened. “She had another panic attack at the hospital”
“What did they find out?” Niall asked.
“I don’t know. I didn’t ask. I will this weekend though”
They nodded and we all started to get ready for the concert. Only three more days....Three days until I could see her beautiful face again

Notes