twisted - muke - the distortion trilogy 1

0.9

LUKE'S P.O.V.

"But Luke," Michael says quietly, looking absolutely terrified. "I think it was." His eyes are wide, his left hand shaking slightly, resting on the table.

"What the fuck is going on?" Calum demands. 

I turn to him, exasperated. "I only just moved here. You tell me!"

"I-I'm gonna go," Michael mumbles, and before I can protest, he stands up and runs off in the direction of the boys' bathroom. I stand to follow him, but Calum grabs my wrist.

"Let go--" I try to shake him off, but he pulls me back down.

"Luke, we need to talk." His tone is serious. I know that I've only known him for a few short days, but I've never heard him say anything that wasn't at least in a semi-joking manner. His solemness is enough to make me sit back down.

Calum turns to Amber, who is still tucked under his arm. "Babe, is there any way you could go sit with Jessica today?"

She rolls her eyes, but stands up nonetheless. Grabbing her backpack from the chair next to her, she storms off without a word. Calum doesn't say anything about it, but focuses his undivided attention on me.

"I honestly have no idea where to start--" he begins, and I cut him off.

"Start from the start." It seems like the most obvious answer.

Calum sighs and nods, running a hand through his hair. "Michael and I were best friends in elementary school. I always kind of noticed that Michael had a thing for me, but it never bothered me," Calum tells me, and for some reason it upsets me. I clench my fist under the table at the thought of Michael having a 'thing' for Calum. I don't say anything, though. "My parents raised me to accept everyone, so I accepted Michael as he was. I never mentioned it to him, though, because I don't think he, himself, realized it yet."

"Okay, this is the part where it gets..." Calum trails off, squeezing his eyes shut. "Ah, I don't know the word." He looks a bit pained, like he doesn't want to tell the story. I'm not going to stop him. "We were eight, maybe nine. I don't remember, but we were young, and...and..." Calum trails off, yet again, and for a second, I am unsure as to whether or not he is going to continue.

"Luke, he was abused," Calum croaks out. "Like...sexually abused."

I feel something deep in my chest, something that must be the shattering of my heart. A silent gasp escapes my mouth, but I can't seem to form words.

Calum takes a shuddering breath. "He told me about it, but he didn't realize it was't okay. I told my parents, and they told Michael's parents and shortly after that, Michael started being really...bipolar." Gordon. He wasn't bipolar, he just wasn't himself. I want to say the words, but I can't. I can't speak. I can barely think. "Sometimes he was normal, happy Michael, but most of the time he was really aggressive. He was rude and he never wanted to hang out with me.

"Now, considering I was like, nine, that really hurt my feelings, but I was nine, and I obviously couldn't tell something was seriously wrong with Michael. I thought he had just turned mean, until he...you know..."

"Calum," I find myself saying, my voice way more venomous than I intended for it to be. "I obviously do not know."

"R-right," Calums says. "Well, one day Michael suggested that we go to the river. I couldn't swim, and Michael knew it, but I agreed because he was being super nice and friendly and I thought my old friend was back for good, but...he pushed me in."

"Oh, my God."

"It wasn't deep enough for me to drown, but I don't think he realized that. He started throwing rocks at me..." Calum frowns at the memory, and I can see tears in his eyes. "...like he wanted them to hit me. He kept missing, though. Then he started screaming, and it sounded like he was having a conversation, but I mean, no one was there. And then he left. He didn't even come close to killing me, but he wanted to. I haven't talked to him since."

Wide eyed, fists clenched, I'm shocked, to say the least. I'm not sure what to say. Do I tell Calum about Gordon? I don't know if that's supposed to be a secret or not, and if it is, it's not mine to tell. I settle on, "I had no idea it was that bad."

"Yeah," Calum laughs harshly, but I can see it's just a facade. He's about to break, but for some reason, I don't want to be anywhere near him when it happens. "Pretty bad, isn't it."

I stand up slowly. "I'm gonna go talk to Michael, if that's okay?"

"Be my guest." Calum's voice cracks, but I don't stick around to see his reaction.

~

MICHAEL'S P.O.V.

It was all your fault, all your own doing. And even if it wasn't, you couldn't pin the blame on me. No one would believe you--

I hear his footsteps before I hear his voice, softly calling out my name, his lovely sound overriding Gordon's sneering. I'm crouched on the floor of the handicap stall, all the way in the corner. I'm trying to make myself as small as possible, so I can disappear, so I can run away.

So I can run away from Gordon, who has not stopped taunting me since I left the cafeteria.

I'm never leaving you, you know that. I'm your best friend, remember?

So I can run away from Calum, who probably just told Luke everything.

He did. Luke hates you now.

So I can run away from Luke, who is probably only here to break off our friendship.

What friendship? He was only ever using you, anyways.

"Michael?"

I don't answer him. I want him to go away.

You're finally learning.

"Michael, please," Luke begs. "I can see you. Don't make me crawl under there."

I want him to leave me alone. He's already stabbed me, and I don't need to see his pretty face when he twists the knife.

"Fine, then," Luke grumbles, and before I know it, a pair of arms is wrapped around me. Feeling confined and a bit claustrophobic, I begin to try to wriggle out of his grasp, but his grip only tightens. "Michael, I'm not letting you run away from me again." Tears spring into my eyes, and I shut him. It doesn't matter that my back is pressed into his chest and he can't see me, I can't see him--I will not cry.

"Leave me alone," I mumble. "Please."

"No," he says firmly, and it surprises me, honestly. I'm not used to having that word said to me, unless it's from Gordon. "Michael, I want to help you."

"I don't need help."

"Calum told me everything."

-

A/N: wow sloppy writing c00l. but fr i can't get my head wrapped around how i want to tell this story and its stressful af but hey im trying so?? yeah

also wow im fall out boy aS FRICK and i've been that way for the past like 96 hours??? it's been like 4 days and fob is all i've listened to, all i've thought about, etc. this isn't healthy HELP