In the voicemail Niall left me, he sounded different than he does now. I woke up to my phone ringing, and when I realized the possibility of it being Niall, i freaked out and tried to find it. It ended three minutes before I found it inside the recliner. It was Niall, and he left me a voicemail. He sounded tired, like he always does, and hoarse. He said, "I would love for you to come see me, Harold." and that was it. I saved the message.

Now, he's barely awake and he's forcing himself to smile as Louis rants about how bad the hospital smells; like ladybug farts and old sweat, he says. That made Niall laugh. "Harold, tell us a story." Niall lets his head drop to the side and he closes his eyes. "Um," I look at Louis for something interesting that has happened. He shakes his head that he doesn't know. I sigh. "Okay, well, when I was a kid, nine years old -back when cartoons were a lot less stupid and one can of fizzy drink could keep you up all night- I was a camping kid. I would camp all the time. Family Vacations; camping. I was so into camping, that we decided to go extreme camping: which is called Backpacking, where you take all your stuff, put it in the backpack and hike into the earth and your camp.

I would always pack the bear necessities, like my GameBoy, my toy Light Sabor, Duck Tape, two pennies for the boat man in case I die, a full sleeve of Chips Ahoy cookies for a power snack,  the other sleeve of Chips Ahoy cookies because separating them makes it easier to pack, a Pez for the boat man, and my Hersheys baseball cap. And then if I have any extra room I pack the important stuff like food and clothes, First Aid, yeah."

I look over to Louis, who's making noise from covering his mouth and trying not laugh. I look back to Niall and see him smiling. I nervously chuckle and continue. "And uh, somehow I would always have way too many socks. I don't know if my parents bought me adult socks but there was always so much room at the tip of my foot, I'm not sure if that was just me but it sucked. But when I was a kid I had this fear of a spider crawling into my sock and messing with my toes, so i would tape the end of my sock to my Long Johns because I didn't want any spiders to mes with my toes." Louis breaks his laughing barrior and I wait for him to finish before I continue, and Louis' laughter only makes Niall laugh.

"You must be thinking that I'm crazy for wearing Long Johns in the summer but you might see Long Johns, I see cotton chain mail. So with all that being said, we went backpacking and I begged my parents for my own tent. To me, this would become my first real property and it was a solo, one person tent and I was nine.  It was like the biggest thing ever. So I would always make sure to set up my tent far away from my parents so that I would be viewed as my own man. So this one night I dozed off, and I woke up. I don't remember why I woke up but I did and I remember hearing this sort of rustling and like, this strange clicking noise and I see something nestled at the top of my tent. So I pull out my light sabor from under my pillow, because i felt a lot safer if i was sleeping my light sabor under my pillow, and I hold up my light sabor and hit the button. The light sabor slowly lights up, and it lights up a freaking bat. 

I saw its nostrils flare and the first thing I could think of is a primal instinct, I just launch my light sabor back and it flies to the front of the tent and my foot simultaneously tries to kick the bat, but my foot does not come down. Its claw, got stuck on the tip of my sock, the slouch of my sock. I try to pull my foot down so I could unhook it but I pull the bat closer to me, and I screamed. The bat is just going ape crazy - flapping, squealing - I remember thinking to myself 'i gotta get the sock off, the sock needs to come off.' And I look and I see it; the two inch thick ring, of duck tape attaching my Long Johns to my Kid Adult Slouch Slop Sock. I refused to yell for help because I didn't want my parents to come to the rescue and take away my adult tent, it was not happening. The tent was like my car. Its mine, and mine alone. It was my kingdom, and when enemies attack your kingdom, you don't flee; you show them WHY its your kingdom.

I'm taking the bat out, i think, and I reach for my light sabor, but it was out of reach. I just closed my eyes, I hold up my hand, and I just said 'please'. And the light sabor, rolls into, my freaking hand. And my eyes open, and I remember thinking DID THAT FREAKING JUST HAPPEN?! My tent might have been out of decline or the wind pushed it to my hand, but I wanna choose to believe that I forced that crap to my hand. So as my foot is hanging there I swing my light sabor up, and I start jabbing the bat in its huff. I was so into it because of the sounds my light sabor was making. And about ten jabs in, the bat releases its claw on the slouch of  my sock and flaps away." I shake my head and look down, and to myself, I say, "What a night."

I look up when no one has said anything for a while, and catch Niall staring at me. His eyes are open and he's paying full attention, and I say, "What?" He shakes his head with the energy he can muster, and he says. "Nothing. That was adorable." I smile without showing my teeth and look down at my fidgeting hands. 

"I've never heard that story." Louis says. I nod. "The topic never came up." Louis starts laughing to himself again. "Thats my favourite story." He laughs. "Me too." I say. "I like that story." I barely hear Niall, and he smiles before he starts to very slowly finally drift off into the sleep that's been capturing him for a while. I hope Niall has a story to tell next time I see him.