The Ghost Of You (bxb)

Chapter 9

And all the smiles that are never ever...

9
A Week Later
"Please, Ash, I'm worried. He hasn't come out of his house for a whole week?" Calum pleads. Ashton nods and then stands up.

"Are you sure Cal? Maybe he needs space." He added. Calum shakes his head.

"No, he needs someone with him. I don't know what happened to him and I am not hacking his records, but he needs someone. And what if he's starving? Not going out for a week and without groceries? Oh my god, what if something happened to him in there?" Calum rambles. His eyes are wide and scared and Ashton grabs his hands.

"Okay, calm down. We'll get his groceries." Ashton smiles reassuringly and Calum deflates.

-

A knock interrupts Luke's thoughts. He scrambles to hide his supplies under the sink. He hastily puts everything back together and soon, the knocks become more insistent. It makes Luke jump and he hears the door open.

But it was closed.

"Luke?" Someone calls out from the living room. Luke looks at the dirty bathroom tiles. He doesn't have time to clean it up and a set of footsteps are coming closer. A sense of déjà vu makes Luke more nervous.

"Luke?" Calum's voice entered his room and Luke sighs in defeat. It's too late. He can't hide anymore.

"In here." Luke's hoarse voice brings Calum's attention to the bathroom door. He reaches the knob and opens it to find Luke standing on red stained tiles.

"Oh, Luke." Calum whispers. His face is full of sorrow and his eyes fill with tears, "Luke, why didn't you come to me?"

Luke's eyes brim with tears, too, and like a broken dam, he pours out his heart. A pained sob leave his lips and Calum comes forward to hug him. He lets skin touch his and for the first time, he doesn't feel disgusted in himself for it. He feels comfort.

"I'm sorry. I'm so sorry." His voice is low and he repeats the same phrase over and over.

"This isn't your fault, Luke." Calum rubs his arm, "Come on, let's clean you up. Ash brought food."

After bandaging Luke's wrists, Calum told Luke to change his stained t-shirt. He shook his head and said he'll explain after eating.

"Okay," Calum wipes his eyes, "let's go."

Ashton turns around to find his boyfriend leading Luke with blood stains on his shirt.

"What happened?" He asks and drops everything on the counter. He hurriedly goes towards Luke and when Calum got out of the way, Luke's arms are covered in gauze, "Oh."

The breakfast served was homemade pancakes with bacon. The silence around them wasn't awkward or uncomfortable. It was just silence.

"Are you ready?" Calum asks after washing the dishes. Luke nods and stands up to grab a bottle of pills from a cabinet. He sets it in front of the couple.

"I barely sleep," Luke says and clears his throat, "because two months ago, I murdered my parents."

Calum and Ashton stare at Luke for a solid minute.

"Wait, what?" Ashton blurts out.

"On July 7th, a man with a hood broke into our house. He slaughtered my parents and he traumatized me." Luke spoke again. Calum and Ashton tried to wrap this around their heads.

"How did you get traumatized? He didn't kill..." Calum pauses, "in front of you?"

Luke shakes his head. Instead he bluntly says, "He carved my skin with a knife."

Both nod at the response. Ashton scrunches his eyebrows, "How is it he slaughtered them and you just said you killed them?"

Luke sighs and starts picking the loose thread on his bandages, "Because of what he wrote on me." Ashton and Calum look at Luke with confused expressions. He sighs and stands up. He took a deep breath before turning around and taking his shirt off. In healed skin and crooked lines, his back had three words in the center:

He did it.

"Can I...?" Calum trailed off. Luke stays still and let's Calum's fingertips trail the letters, "He pressed deep enough to let you live." He added softly.

"But deep enough to leave scars." Luke spits. He puts on his shirt and faces both of them, "I have nightmares about them. That night. The last one I had was on Monday and it was the most..." Luke's voice cracks and Calum placed a hand on his shoulder, "I was clean for a month but that nightmare was the worst. I couldn't."

Luke is turned around by Calum and a hug followed. Ashton stood up and embraced the two of them. Luke is a little surprised but he manages to slips his arms on both of his friends.

"We're here until the end. We care about you, Luke, so we're gonna stay with you." Ashton mumbles and Calum hums in agreement. They stay like that for a while and when they separated, Luke gave them a grateful smile.

Michael was leaning against the counter. He listened to the whole thing and now he understood why he couldn't scare the crap of blondie. For the first time in years, he felt something.

"Aren't you cute? Falling for blue yes." Alex appears beside him.

"I'm not falling for him." Michael automatically says. He scoffs at Alex's face and sees Cashton lead Luke to the TV.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. You're going to do something. I know that look."

Michael ignores him and kept his gaze on Luke, "Go away." Air swooshes his hair and he knows Alex is gone.

"How did you get inside?" Luke asks. Ashton elbows Calum.

"I picked the lock." Calum nonchalantly says. Luke widens his eyes at him.

"You're part-time hacker, you can build something, and you can pick a lock? What are you?" Luke wonders. Ashton snorts and Calum rolls his eyes.

"I'm full of surprises, babe. You just gotta explore me."

"Hey, you're mine!" Ashton defends. Luke giggles and lays his head on Calum's shoulder.

"Am I really?" Calum asks him and wraps his arms around Luke. Ashton's mouth falls and then he starts prying Calum off Luke.

"You're guys are so mean to me. What have I done to you two?"

-----

A/N

MEEKLE YOU NOSY SHIT

SO WHAT DO YOU THINK?

ANYway, school is coming for me and slow updates (this time it will happen)

I HATE SUMMER ASSIGNMENTS

BUT school is school

QOTD: fav subject?
A: math and english (that was last year. This year I have no idea yet)

^ ima start doing those. ^

Have an awesome day with Louis Tomlinson on top c:

- kitten