Pill By Pill {Muke}

35 - Twisted and Confused

Writers are essential. Readers are essential. Publishers are not. ~J. A. Konrath 

Luke's POV

I woke up, and I was looking around. I was laying on a cold floor, when I looked around I could see unfamiliar faces looking over me. "Look guys, he's waking up." 

"What..?" I looked around me. They exchanged looks and when my vision cleared I could see it to be Calum and Ashton. 

"About time, you've been out cold for so long." Calum sighed. 

"Where did everyone go?" I asked as I sat up and looked around.

"What?" Ashton asked. 

"Where's Michael and Skarlet, Barbie and Karla, Axel and Sammy.. Or even Kody? And Riley? Where did the police officer go?" I looked around me and could see I was outside, the cold air coming down. 

"Are you sure he's alright?" Ashton muttered to Calum. "Who are those people?" 

"What? You know them." I said. "Y-You're friends with them." 

"I've never even heard of them.." Calum shook his head. "Luke who are you talking about?" 

"Skarlet, you know she's really upfront. An-And Sammy, he's really quiet. And Michael.. You remember them?" I asked.

They looked at each other, and shook their heads. "No Luke," Ashton said. "I've never even met these people." 

"How hard did you hit your head when you fell?" Calum sighed. 

"What? Fell?" I looked around me. 

"You slipped and fell on some ice," Ashton said. "You've been out cold for a little bit but I guess you might be okay? You just hit your head." 

"Who are all those people?" Calum asked. 

"Skarlet, remember? She is really straightforward, she stood up for everyone. And Sammy, he's really quiet, he doesn't talk a lot." I began. 

"It sounds like you're describing yourself." Ashton rolled his eyes. "Are you sure you're alright? Do you need us to take you to the doctor?" 

"No, I just.." I looked around. "I'm confused." 

"Yeah I can tell, come on, we can get you home." Calum helped me off of the iced pavement and we walked down the road. When we walked by the house I thought was my house, they kept walking, so I continued to follow them. Then I reached a house I had not recognized. When I went inside my mother - whom I also did not recognize - smiled at me. She appeared more lifelike, more beautiful. The house was lit in warm light and even my father was standing with a sweater and a smile. 

"Hello boys." My mother smiled. "What's going on?" 

"Luke fell and hit his head." Ashton announced. "I don't know, he's been talking gibberish."

My mother looked me up and down, she tilted my head downwards and looked at it. "Maybe we should take you to a doctor.."

"Please, could you imagine the bills for something so useless?" My father rolled his eyes and carried on his way. I let out a sigh as my mother frowned. 

"Just let me know if anything else happens," Her eyes looked towards both of the boys as well. "Anyone let me know anything." 

I went upstairs to my room after that, laying on my bed. Even my room did not look familiar, was everything all just in my head. And what Calum said, it sounded like I was describing myself? I sat up and looked at my computer, scrolling through Facebook but the names I searched for were unable to be seen. I went on my own profile. I looked a picture we took when we were out and about, but I was the only person in the photo. 

"What the hell.." I said quietly. "Why does nobody remember them?" 

I looked through everything, and there was not a trace of them. 

My mother walked upstairs, and opened the door. "What did Ashton mean by gibberish?" 

"Huh?" I turned to her. "I don't know, I was just talking about my friends whom they're all friends with. They didn't remember any of them." 

"What were their names?" My mother asked.

"Skarlet, Kody, Barbie, Karla, Sammy, Axel, Riley and..And Michael.." I shook my head. "But they said none of them were real. Calum even said that they were more like me than any other person." I turned my computer screen towards my mother. "I could have sworn I took this picture with them. But their not there and I can't even find their Facebook's."

"Maybe they're right, Luke you might just be talking gibberish." My mother told me. "You must have hit your head pretty hard. I've never heard any of those names before."

I sat back and ran a hand through my hair. I would never want to believe it, but maybe they were right. Skarlet always stood for her friends, and maybe I did the same. Sammy was quiet, I never recalled being loud. Barbie was fun, energetic. Axel was smart, and reasonable even though it did not appear that way. Karla was fearful, afraid of everything. Riley was carefree, he did not give a care about the world. Kody was aggressive and hurtful, Michael was helpful, caring and yet that care was rejected. Maybe I did the same thing, I stood for my friends when they needed it, but I was quiet and adored being alone. To my friends I may have seemed fun, and gave good advice. While I was afraid of a lot of things, none of those fears was towards me getting ill, or dying; I did not care. And then, I was so awful to myself, but deep down I knew I should not even though I rejected all of those thoughts. 

I stood up and looked in my jacket pockets, well aware that my mother was observing my every move. Nowheres in my room could I find a cigarette packet or even a lighter. Maybe I never destroyed myself the way I thought I might. I ran a hand through my hair and looked in the mirror near the wall. 

"What the hell.." I said quietly and swallowed hard when I noticed my hair was not blonde, it was red. Much like Michael's had been. "When did I dye my hair?" 

"You've always been into dying your hair. I think you dyed it red a month or two ago." My mother commented. 

I sat down on my bed. "It was never real, none of that was real."

My mother blinked slowly, not saying a word.

"They never existed, it was all in my head." My voice was hushed into a whisper, I wiped my eyes as tears began to flow out of them. "And I loved every single one of them, but I lost something that was never real." 

AUTHOR'S NOTIFICATION; Ariana

So there you are. Basically if you did not understand, every character that Luke was friends with - including Michael - only embodied one of the traits he held, and therefore they were all in his head. Michael's trait was more significant because he was neglecting the one trait that he had that could actually help him as it went against the trait he shared with Kody. 

But yeah I thought this was a cool concept, I just don't know how well I pulled it off. This was not the original ending though. And there won't be any epilogues because that just doesn't make sense to me. 

Thank you though and for the last time in Pill by Pill...

Hugs, Kisses, Cuddles and Serenades xX