~ So I'm not sure this is what you had in mind when you requested this but I hope you like it because I actually do and yeah :)
I'll be working on the rest of the requests now and I'll post them as soon as possible xx /M~
“Michael! Come on Michael don’t be so slow!” the eleven year old sighs but picks up his speed, jogging over to where his blonde friend is waiting for him. They’re both excited, small hands gripping their backpacks as they venture further into the forest. They know they’re not supposed to be there, knows that if they get caught they’ll get grounded for at least a week, Michael will probably get two since he’s older, but they’ve been dreaming of what might be hiding in there for so long now and they don’t want to wait anymore.
“Alright, let’s go.” Michael smiles and the shorter boy nods, throwing his backpack over his shoulders as he heads in between the trees. They walk in silence, both of them familiar with this part of the forest since they’ve been there before, always accompanied by parents who made them hold hands or, but that of course was a bit further away, with teachers that made them hold hands with girls. The memory of that is enough to make Michael cringle and he looks over at Luke who, thankfully, doesn’t have cooties.
“Do you think we’ll find any pokémons?” Luke asks, turning around so he’s walking backwards. Michael quickly walks up to him, knowing that if he keeps walking backwards he’ll walk into a tree or trip and then he’ll start crying and they’ll have to go back home and, probably, get caught.
“I dunno Lukey, maybe.” Michael shrugs. As much as he’d love to see and possibly even catch a pokémon, he’s mostly looking forward to finding a cool place to sit and eat the cookies they stole from the pantry in Luke’s house.
“Maybe we’ll even find that cool one, what was it called again...Drowzee.”
“I don’t think so Luke, that’s a psychic pokémon, I don’t think they live in the forest.”
“well what’s that then?” Luke asks, suddenly disappearing out of sight. Michael smiles and keeps walking, expecting Luke to jump out from behind a tree and scare him, not that it’s going to work.
He walks for a few minutes before starting to feel worried, because surely Luke would’ve jumped out by now.
“Luke?” hearing something much bigger than a ten year old boy move through the forest towards him, Michael quickly grabs the small rock he’s been kicking in front of him for the past five minutes, holding it tightly in his small hand as he listens. “Luke?”
Nothing. And then...a voice.
“Come little children,
come with me
Safe and happy you will be
Away from home now let us run
With Hypno you'll have so much fun
Oh little children please don't cry
Hypno wouldn't hurt a fly
Be free to frolic,
be free to play
Come with me to a cave to stay
Oh little children please don't squirm
These ropes I know will hold you firm
Now look to me the pendant calls
Back and forth your eyelids fall
Oh little children you can not leave
For you your families will grieve
Minds unraveling at the seams
Allowing me to haunt their dreams
Do not wail and do not weep
It's time for you to go to sleep
Little children you were not clever,
Now you'll stay with me forever.”
The first thing he notices is that the rock he’s holding seems to be shrinking, and as he looks down on his hands Michael realises that he’s no longer an eleven year old. He’s a lot taller than he was back then and his clothes has transformed into a pair of skinny jeans and a sweater.
He has changed, but the surroundings hasn’t. He’s still in the forest, alone as someone’s closing in on him.
“Luke!” yelling when someone’s getting closer and closer, someone who isn’t the ten year old he’s been looking for, is probably a bad idea but Michael can feel the panic build up inside him and he needs to find Luke, needs to take him home and make sure he’s safe.
“Come little children,
come with me…” the voice is a lot closer now and Michael’s sure he’ll be able to see whatever it is in just a few moments and by now his heart is beating so hard he’s sure it’ll break his ribs. He wants to leave, wants to run away, but he can’t leave without Luke.
And then, the branches to his left move and there it is. The monster that’s taken Luke away from him.
~
Michael sits up, the covers falling down and exposing his pale chest to the darkness surrounding him. His heart is beating just as hard and fast as it was in the dream and he can’t do anything to stop the sob escaping from his lips. Within a minute he’s full on crying, sitting in the middle of the bed hugging a pillow as he cries harder than he’s done in...in a year.
It doesn’t take long for his mother to appear next to him on the bed, whispering softly as she pulls him closer, running her fingers through his dyed black hair. It’s been like this every year since he was eleven, with the nightmares slightly different from time to time. It was more common when he was younger but no matter how old he gets, no matter how much he can take when he’s awake, he always wakes up early in the morning on the day it happened, crying so hard he almost throws up. And every year it feels worse than before, with the nightmares getting more and more vivid and detailed, every year the face of the blonde gets more and more blurry.
His mother stays with him until he falls asleep again, something that usually never happens sooner than five in the morning, and then she goes to get ready for work, making sure to call Michael’s school first to let them know he’s sick.
When Michael wakes up, curled up under the cover with the pillow still in his arms, he lays there blaming himself, wishing he hadn’t suggested they’d explore the forest on their day off from school, wishing he would have held Luke’s hand, wishing he’d been the one to run ahead, wishing Luke would be there with him, safe and sound.
He then falls asleep again and the next day he goes to school, acting as if nothing’s wrong, pretending he faked sick simply to get out of school for a day.
~
“Oi, Michael!” Michael looks up from his guitar, pushing the fringe out of his face. A smiling Ashton sits down next to him, poking his cheek. “where’ve you been? Why didn’t you come to the cafeteria?”
“wasn’t hungry.” Michael’s voice is low, barely audible in the empty hallway, and Ashton frowns. Michael knows he’s worried, he knows Ashton thinks he needs to eat more, he knows Ashton’s just looking out for him. A part of him also knows that Ashton’s right, that he’s way too skinny for a nineteen year old boy, but Michael can’t find it in him to care.
“wanna go get a coffee with me after school then?” Ashton asks, the look he sends Michael making it clear he won’t take no for an answer.
“I guess.” Michael turns his attention back to the guitar, playing a few cords. He’s been playing guitar since he was five or something and he and Luke used to talk about starting a band, about becoming famous rock stars and staying up past their bedtime every night. Now Michael doesn’t want to become famous anymore, he only play because it’s when he’s holding a guitar that he feels the closest to Luke.
“Good.” Ashton doesn’t try starting up a new conversation after that, he leaves Michael to his guitar and pulls out a text book from his backpack instead, opening it on a random page and starting to read.
Ashton isn’t Luke, Michael’s very aware of that, and Michael isn’t Ashton’s best friend, Michael’s aware of that too, but at times like this he doesn’t mind. Ashton is all Michael has and when they just hang out, like right now when Ashton’s quietly reading next to him and Michael’s left to pick on the guitar strings and talk if he wants to, Ashton wouldn’t get mad if Michael spoke up, he really doesn’t mind the company at all.
The silence’s broken by Ashton’s phone suddenly starting to ring, A Love Like War turned up as loud as it can go making Michael jump and almost drop the guitar. Ashton sends him an apologetic look before getting up, leaving his bag behind as he walks away to talk in private. Michael goes back to playing, not seeing the point in waiting for his friend to return, and he doesn’t look up until he hears running footsteps coming towards him.
“I’m gonna have to cancel that coffee Mike, sorry.” Ashton sounds rushed and Michael can see the panic in his eyes. The older of the two continues before Michael have the chance to ask why. “My brother’s gotten lost in the forest, you know the one behind your house?” Michael’s insides suddenly feels icecold and he nods, trying to breathe. He hasn’t been in there since what happened eight years ago, hasn’t been able to go anywhere near the treeline.
“I’ll come with you.” he says and Ashton simply nods, probably mistaking the fear in his eyes with worry for the missing boy. Michael quickly puts the guitar back in it’s case and grabs his jacket, following Ashton out.
~
They take Ashton’s car, parking a few hundred meters from Michael’s street. There’s already a small crowd there, as well as a police car and a firetruck. Getting out of the car, Michael recognizes Luke’s mum and brother as two of the people there, as well as Ashton’s mum and a girl he assumes is his sister. Ashton leaves him as soon as he spots them, running over and pulling the girl in for a hug.
Michael, unsure of what to do and already questioning whether or not it was a good idea to come here, stays back, not wanting to get closer to the forest than necessary. He’s not left alone for long though, because one of the policemen soon notices him and comes over.
One of the downsides of living in a town as small as theirs is that people know each other, or at least know about each other. At least that’s the case with older people, and especially the police, and Michael’s pretty sure everyone on the force knows that he’s the kid whose best friend disappeared in the forest years ago.
“Hello Michael, I see you’ve heard.” the man, Michael can’t seem to remember his name no matter how hard he try, says. “I know it must be hard for you to be here, but if you’re willing to join the search party we’ll be more than happy to take you in.” Michael simply nods and bites his lip. He’s never been able to understand why people seem to talk to him about how hard it must be instead of to Luke’s parents, they are the one’s who lost a son after all, but he’s never actually asked and he doesn’t plan on doing so now.
“How long has he been out there?” he asks instead, looking towards the forest again, dark, tall trees being everything he can see.
“They aren’t sure, but for at least four hours.” Michael nods, about to ask something more when he’s interrupted by shouting coming from the treeline. The police man next to him quickly leaves his side and Michael sees Ashton run towards the trees as well, bending down to pick up something.
This something turns out to be a someone and, judging by the look on Ashton’s face it’s his brother. Michael carefully moves closer, ignoring his pounding heart and sweaty palms as he crosses the invisible line he’s made, the line separating him from the forest.
“Where have you been Harry? How did you get here?” Michael hears Ashton ask, holding the younger boy close as their mum and sister makes their way over to them.
“I had to help.” Harry says, smiling up at Ashton before pointing towards the trees. “that boy there, he said he’s been in there for years and that he wanted to go home, so we helped each other find the way back.” Everyone who are close enough to hear what the boy is saying turns around, for the first time realising that he wasn’t alone when he came out from the forest.
“Luke!” Liz is the first one to recognize him but when she calls out, Michael realises who it is too. Finally stepping out from the shadows under the trees, an eighteen year old Luke Hemmings is pulled into his mother’s arms for a hug.
He’s grown a lot, as can be expected seeing that it’s been eight years, and his hair is a little bit longer than Ashton’s was before he finally got a haircut last year, but his eyes looks exactly the same as they did that day and when Michael sees his best friend greeting his brother he doesn’t bother trying to hold back the tears that wells up in his eyes, making everything blurry.
It gets to the point where he has to sit down and he does, with his back against one of the police cars’ tires and his face hidden in his hands. It isn’t until he hears his own name mentioned that he looks up again, just in time to see Luke free himself from his mother’s embrace, clearly looking for something. Michael gets on his feet again, quickly wiping his eyes with the sleeve of his jacket, and Luke’s eyes land on him.
“Michael?” He doesn’t wait for an answer, because when has Luke ever waited for an answer, before running over to Michael, almost knocking him over as he wraps his long arms around him, hiding his face in the crook of Michael’s neck despite the fact that he’s a few inches taller than the older boy. “I missed you so much Mikey, I was so worried!”
“you were worried? You were the one missing Luke.” Michael says, his voice thick with tears as he hugs Luke back. Luke doesn’t answer and for a moment they just stand there. And then Michael speaks again. “you really need a shower Luke.”
~
“Hey Mikey?”
“Hm?” Michael doesn’t look up from the screen, he’s just about to win the game and he can’t let anything distract him right now, not even a certain, very tall idiot who is the only one asides from Michael’s mother who still calls him Mikey. Not that he minds, he actually loves it.
“Do you think you could teach me to play guitar? I’ve kinda lost it.” Michael kills the last enemy and puts the console down, turning around to face Luke. The blonde’s laying on Michael’s bed, reading a comic book.
It’s been almost a year since Luke got back and since then their friendship has evolved into something more. A few days after his return, Luke told Michael about the man he had lived with for all these years, deep in the forest where people never really came, and about how he’d gotten tired of the old man’s rude comments and decided to leave. Michael told him a few things in return but since nothing interesting had happened, not to him at least, there wasn’t much to tell.
“sure babe, absolutely.” Michael smiles fondly as Luke manages to drop the comic onto his face and he then turns the tv off, walking across the room to lay next to Luke. “I’d do anything for you, you know that.”
“I know.” Luke smiles and turns so he’s laying on his side, facing Michael who soon does the same.
“promise me one thing though.” Michael says, his voice lower now, more serious.
“what?”
“never, never leave me alone again.” and even though Michael hasn’t told him about his fear of the forest and his fear of losing Luke again, the blonde has figured it out. And so he smiles again, leaning forward so their lips are brushing against each other.
“I promise.”