ghost - cake

Seventeen

"You didn't follow the plan, Calum! I told you to say whatever I told you to say, not make up whatever the hell you wanted. What were you thinking? They'll never let you off with that recording."

Calum smiled, deleting the file as Luke watched with horror. "I never planned on clearing my name, it's not like my family would ever take me back anyway. I've had so much fun these past few weeks, running and hiding with you. I've never had such a good time, how could I go back to living a normal life and pretending none of this ever happened?"

"You just do," Luke groaned, running his fingers through his hair. "That was the last chance you had, and you blew it."

Calum shrugged. "It was my choice."

"Look, I'm sorry, okay? I just think you made a poor judgement. But of course I respect your decision, if this is what you want, and I'm incredibly thankful that you helped me with all of this. I couldn't have done it without you."

"How does it feel?" Calum asked, gasping slightly as Luke's cold hands intertwined with his. "You know, now that he's dead?"

Luke sighed, looking out over the lake as the sun began to disappear beyond the horizon. The two boys were sat on bridge with their legs dangling through the railings, and it was perfect. "I-I don't really feel much different. I thought it might complete me, I guess, fill up this hollow space I have in my chest, but no."

"Maybe that wasn't why you stayed, if it was you'd be fading by now. Maybe there's another reason."

Luke nodded, knowing Calum was right. But he didn't understand what other reason there could possibly be - his family had left at the first available opportunity, Michael seemed to be dealing with his death pretty well and there just wasn't anything else.

"Look," Calum continued, sensing Luke's unwillingness to talk. "I don't really know what's going on, or what we should do next, but we can't give up. Not yet. I'll help you figure this all out, I promise. I kept my word before, didn't I?"

"Yeah," Luke hummed. Calum was a lot of things, but he wasn't a liar. The blond could trust him with his life, or at least if, you know, he wasn't already dead.

But that didn't mean Luke wasn't worried. He'd put Calum through a lot for the sake of his own revenge, and now he had it, it seemed right for them to split ways. He couldn't force any more of his own burden on Calum, yet he knew he didn't have much of a choice.

"Don't worry about it," Calum smiled, obviously aware of Luke's agitation and reluctance. "I want to do this, I want to help. You can't stop me if I'm willing, and I think this is what I have to do. You're not the only one who feels they have a sense of duty anymore.... Something in me has changed, too."

Luke nodded, and this time he could finally push away his doubts. Neither of them were kids now, they'd earned each other's respect the hard way and they both planned on keeping their promises. Nothing was going to tear the two apart, this was supposed to happen. Even Luke's gut instincts didn't agree at first, but Calum had pulled him back from the brink of uncertainty with his words of wisdom.

"You're a -" the blond paused, searching for the right word. "A really good friend. I couldn't have asked for anyone better to be standing by my side. Thank you."

Calum waved off the compliment, but it seemed to make him appear a little less uncomfortable. "I'm glad we're doing this together."

Luke noticed that Calum hadn't pulled his hand away, and the skin-on-skin contact made the blond tingle with warmth. He knew it wasn't real; since coming back he hadn't felt anything but cold, and he seemed to make the temperature around him fall, too.

But for some reason, Calum brought him back from death, even if only just for a single moment. It defied all laws of science or the supernatural, and that meant something.

Luke and Calum could triumph even over death, and so they were capable of anything and everything.

"Where do you suggest we start, since you're suddenly all intelligent?" Luke laughed, nudging Calum's shoulder teasingly. He was glad he had someone else to rely on, because he knew full well he couldn't answer that question himself.

Calum smiled, but it quickly disappeared. "Retrace your steps, maybe? Something has to be anchoring you to the mortal world, like an aspect of your past."

"But I lived in Perth for almost half of my life, do we want to go that far back or -"

"No, silly," Calum shook his head playfully. "I can't imagine it would be any further back than the past few months. Even if it was, which I highly doubt, there's no way we could get all the way to Perth without someone catching us. Well, me. That's the entire length of the country. So let's hope that luck is on our side."

"I don't think luck has ever been on my side."

"You met me, didn't you?"

Luke restrained himself from pushing Calum backwards onto the bridge, and instead just stared out over the water with a smile of satisfaction on his face. There was definitely a flicker of hope left inside him, and although the darkness consistently fought to smother it, Calum was all the light he needed.

Even after seeing his darker side, his newly found strength and determination, the fact remained. Calum would get him through this.

It no longer mattered that Luke had just killed a man, or that his family had abandoned him and left him to meet a tragic end, or that Calum had sacrificed his last chance at a peaceful life for him.

If anything, all of that gave him more purpose. Luke wasn't just that stupid kid who didn't fit in anymore, cowering from the bullies and settling for second-best. He was reinventing himself in another life, and thrived on the adrenaline that came with his new found recklessness.

So as the sun melted into the horizon, and the wind swept his hair from his face, he felt a surge of energy like nothing he'd ever felt before. Luke was the boy who had died, yet he lived.

~~~~~~~

A/n: things might start getting a little unusual from this point forward, but just go with it and we'll all see how it goes *sweats nervously* xx