Give me Michael - Malum AU

.24.

Michael slowly opened his eyes even though his eyelids were heavier than ever. A constant bip could be heard and it was already pissing him off. He wanted silence and calm. However as soon as his eyes were fully opened, he took in the white walls and the heart monitor. He noticed Mrs Irwin along with Ashton, Luke and Calum. Nothing inside him was calm anymore. He was panicking. He couldn't be at the hospital. He didn't even remember what had happen. The brunette's head snapped up when he heard the heart monitor getting quicker. He got up and went near Michael.

"Ash', go find a nurse and tell them he's awake, please."

The kiwi focused on the hospitalised boy in front of him once again. He saw the terrorised look on his face so he sat next to him and put his hand on top of his ex-best friend's one.

"Michael, please calm down, that's fine. You're okay."

"Why am I here? I shouldn't be here." He was frantically looking around him.

"You had to have surgery. You had a broken rib that was deep inside whatever organ is under it. The surgery went well and you'll be okay now."

There was a short silence while the blue haired boy's memory was coming back. He closed his eyes, getting rid of the tears that were making their way to his eyes. He somehow managed to calm down for a bit.

"Okay" he breathed out and glanced at Calum's wrist "how are you?" The younger snorted.

"Shouldn't I be the one asking you that?"

"Calum, please. We both know what you've done when you left my house. So, how are you?"

They were brought back to reality because of the door opening and a nurse saying his hello before the brunette could reply. The two teenagers turned red when they noticed how Mrs Irwin and Luke were both looking at them. The woman had obviously understood what Michael meant and was now worried about Calum and at the same time, she was unsure about what was Michael and Calum relationship. Luke, on the other hand, seemed totally lost about what Michael was saying but happy to hear that Calum had been at Michael's.

Everyone was forced to exit the room while the nurse was examining the pale boy. A few minutes later, Mrs Irwin was allowed to go back in the room along with a policeman. When Michael saw them entered he felt like he was petrified. The fact the police was here wasn't something good. He looked at the woman in front of him and slightly shook his head.

"Michael, listen, this needs to be sorted out. It can't keep going on." Her voice was calmed and smoothed. Yet, it didn't affect the teenager in any way. He turned the look to the policeman and shrugged.

"I'm sorry but you probably came here for nothing. I haven't any problem, I just got into a fight just like lots of other teenagers do."

"You know kiddo, I didn't say anything, yet, you're willing to talk me out of any suppositions I could have. This prooves that something big is up." Pause "will you talk about it?"

The pale boy didn't move nor talk. The inspector sighed, closed his eyes and sat on the chair next to the hospital bed.

"Okay, I'm gonna introduce myself first, yeah? Because why would you talk to someone you don't know at all... I'm inspector Abbott. You're Michael Clifford, right?" Silence "Wanna know why I've entered the police forces?" Silence "well I'm gonna tell you then. When I was a teenager, there was this girl, I had a crush on her, but I never told her because we were really good and close friends. I didn't want to risk it all for a small crush. So I didn't spoke a word to her about it. When we were fifteen she began becoming distant and aware and scared. I tried to talk to her, but she was always saying that she was fine. She kept trying to distancing herself from everyone and my biggest mistake was to let her do so. At sixteen we barely even talked to each others whereas we had been friends since we were little. In December that year, she called me. I couldn't understand a word she was saying because of louds noises. There were crashes and yelling. I did hear one thing though, she told me "I know I won't make it this time. I'm sorry for everything, I should have told you, get helped. I'm sorry Will. I love you." I rushed to her house, calling the police in process. When I arrived... she was right, she had not made it. She was gone. Her father had beat her to death. I didn't know about her father daily abusing her, though, I felt responsible and most of all, empty, because I had lost my best friend. From that day, I've been willing to help people, especially the ones being abused. Nobody knew about what she was going through. That's the difference with you. You have friends who know and want to help. One of your friend's mother is trying her hardest to get you out of there. Don't let that chance run away from you. Your parents can be send to jail and perhaps never get out of there ever again. I don't care about the fact they are well-known in this city. If they abuse you, they will be punished just like they should be. So Michael, I ask you again: Is there something you wanna tell me?"

The blue haired boy was frozen. Tears were running down his face and his hand were shaking slightly. His heartbest fastened. He didn't know if he was strong enough. Anne-Marie put her hand on top of his right and squeezed it. Michael shut his eyes and breathed heavily. He looked at Mr Abbott and nodded. The inspector asked the permission to record what he was going to say, for the report and once again, the teeanger nodded.

"I-I-I-"

"Just take your time Michael. I don't care if you tell me everything that happened in three minutes or three hours. Breathe slowly and talk whenever you're ready."

"I was twelve. The first time they've beaten me, I was twelve. It was because I had not made the dishes. I didn't understand why they had done that. They had always been caring and loving. Well as caring and loving as they could. But they had never... abused me before. I didn't say a thing about it. I was scared and ashame and I thought... I wanted to persuade myself that it was just a one time thing. Though a week or so later. It was my mom's turn. I didn't know what to do, so I kept it quiet. It became a regular thing. Whenever I was doing something wrong or whenever they were pissed, they would take it out on me. Years began to pass and I was soon fifteen and no one knew. Whe-when I turned fifteen, my dad became more... touchy with me. I didn't understand at first. But then, one day he said he wanted to teach me a good lesson. He did not do it by beating me. He-he-he. I'm sorry this is too hard."

"Michael, honey, you're safe now. Your parents aren't here. Just take your time and breathe. I am so proud of you for saying that much already. However, whenever you feel okay, I need you to keep going." Mrs Irwin's voice brought a little bit of comfort to Michael.

"My father did not beat me that day. He raped me. My mum knew but she didn't say anything except that I deserved it. My parents kept their habits going. At some points, they became better with me and didn't do anything for 2 or 3 months, I thought maybe this could be okay once again. I was wrong. My parents began to do all the things they had done to me again. That's when Ashton finds out about me, and then his mother, and Calum, and Luke. And here I am today."

The blue haired boy was a crying mess. It was painful. He wanted to supress his feelings. He wanted to feel numb. His breathing became heavier and shorter. Mr Abbott called a nurse. As soon and she arrived she calmed Michael with medicines.

"He's going to sleep for a while. You can stay here, but I'll ask you to let him in peace as well. Which means having light conversations with him when he wake up. He needs calm. I understand you need informations for the case, but he is not in capacity to talk about that any longer."

The two adults nodded. And the nurse walked away. The inspectors was staring at the woman in front of him holding the poor boy's right hand.

"Mrs Irwin, one last thing before I leave. Do you know if he had any familly that could take care of him?"

"Last thing I know, his family lives in America..."

"Could take care of him and give him a place to live while we search for his family?"

"Sure."

With that, man exited the room and Michael's friend entered the room. All of them had a worried and sad expression on their face.