turned - muke - the distortion trilogy 2

1.1

CALUM'S P.O.V.

Luke is acting extremely suspicious as the two of us leave the hospital. He's quieter than usual--usually after seeing Michael all he can do is blab about how much he loves him but...he's silent.

"Are you okay, mate?" I ask as we climb into my car.

"Why were you talking to...A-Ashton?" Luke asks, buckling his seat belt.

"Oh," I say, scratching the back of my neck as I stick my car key into the ignition. "Um, he just came up to me and started talking to me."

"About?" Luke's tone is expectant, demanding. I know that he expects me to tell him that I told Ashton to go to hell--and I should have, but I couldn't bring myself to do it. There was something about his confidence, the way that he complimented me...

"Nothing, really," I shrug as images of my beautiful girlfriend spring into my mind.

"You were smiling," Luke says bluntly, and I immediately feel a blush rise onto my cheeks.

"Sorry?" I say, beginning to feel uncomfortable. "I didn't realize that was a crime--"

"Calum, he raped me," Luke spits out.

I turn to look at him, shock etched over my features and I don't realize the red light we are approaching, causing me to almost crash into the car in front of us. "Sh it!" I exclaim, standing on the breaks. I turn to face my best friend again, who is messing with his hands in his lap. "I-I didn't know that."

I recall Ashton telling me he hurt Luke, and I guessed that the violence was physical. Ashton had agreed that, yes, it was physical and "sometimes worse" but it had never even occurred to me that it could have been sexual violence.

Luke shrugs. "You never asked."

I sigh, a million different things going through my mind at the moment. "Luke, he called me cute," I admit, purposely leaving out the part where I returned the favor.

Luke looks up at me, fear filling his eyes. "Don't listen to him," Luke pleads. "He's using you, he'll hurt you, just like me--"

"I won't, I won't," I assure Luke. "Besides, I-I have a girlfriend anyways."

"Okay," Luke whispers, nodding.

"Speaking of Amber," I change the topic, trying desperately to think about her instead of the golden-haired boy. "Do you think Michael would want to see her?"

"Maybe," Luke shrugs. "I think she came to see him after...you know."

"Yeah," I nod. "I think I'll bring her with us tomorrow, if that's okay?"

"Yeah, of course," Luke replies, giving me a weak smile. He's still not acting like himself, but I barely notice it. I'm too busy trying to think of ways to casually get the point across to Ashton that I'm taken.

Or to, you know, make him jealous.

-

MICHAEL'S P.O.V.

As soon as Luke and Calum leave, Ashton makes his way over to me so we can walk to Recreational Activities together. I'm still mad at him, obviously, but he really does seem like he's sorry.

"Why were you talking to Calum?" I ask him casually, though it's been bothering me ever since I saw it.

"Mum didn't show up," Ashton explains. "I was bored, he was bored, figured we could be bored together."

I bite my lip. "I th-think it made Lukey sad."

Ashton furrows his eyebrows, sighing. "I don't expect his forgiveness, but I really have changed," he insists. "You know that, right, Michael?"

"I-I, um," I begin to stutter, not expecting him to call me out. Do I know that? I mean, he seems like he's sincerely sorry, but that doesn't necessarily mean he's changed. It just means that he regrets it. "I g-guess so," I mumble.

Speak up. But then again, no one wants to hear your voice anyways.

"Shut up," I say, loud and confident, surprising myself.

"What?" Ashton frowns.

"Not you," I say. I fight the proud smile sneaking onto my face. "Gordon."

A sshole.

"Oh," Ashton says. Then as an afterthought, he adds, "Proud of you."

"Thanks," I mumble as we approach the multipurpose room.

"Michael, Ashton!" Morgan coos as we enter, and I cringe. She's too preppy, too full of false hope. I can't stand it.

"Hi, Morgan," Ashton smiles. He's always so cheery, I don't understand it.

I give her a small smile. It probably looked as fake as it felt.

"I'm so glad to see that you two are getting along so well," she tells us, putting unnecessary emphasis on the words 'so glad.' She begins to lead us over to one of the board games she has laid out as today's 'Recreational Activity.' "You know, sometimes we have to reassign roommates due to...disagreements. It is such a pain."

Ashton laughs. "I bet."

"Well, you two have fun!" Morgan exclaims, leaving us with a box of Connect Four so she can go check on the other patients.

"Ashton?" I ask as he opens the game.

"Yeah?" He's dividing the pieces up by color.

"What did Morgan mean by disagreements?" I ask.

"There was this one girl a few weeks before you got here," he says, lowering his voice. "She was schizophrenic, I think. I don't know, there was something seriously wrong with her."

"W-What did she do?" I ask, unsure if I actually want to hear the answer.

"She tried to kill her roommate."

A wide variety of emotions fill me: dread, relief, confusion, fear, sympathy and hope.

What if the girl was in a situation similar to mine? What if the voice in her head made her do it? Because only a few years ago, the voice in mine made me attempt the exact same thing.

You know you wanted to.

"I didn't," I say firmly.

It was your idea, anyways--

"It wasn't."

"Michael?" Ashton frowns. "Mate, are you okay?"

"Huh?" I ask. "Yeah, of course."

"Okay," he says, but he sounds unsure. He knows better than to press me though, so he drops his first checker into the board. It's only then that I realize my pile of checkers is already in front of me.

He's yellow. I'm red.

~

A/N: hi friends! i'm at camp right now so my friend immukeaf is actually posting this for me

how are we feeling about everything that's happening right now? Cashton, Michael defying Gordon, etc etc.

i want to know what yall think bc honestly your comments make my day i love you all so much