Tommy groaned and set his book onto the bed, harshly. In an attempt to save Tommy's education—or redeem it, at least—Wilbur assigned for him to read a book, that's supposedly challenging; Lord of the Rings.
It wasn't that Tommy found the but hard to read—no—it's just that Tommy isn't into the book. He doesn't find it interesting at the least. But, Tommy couldn't tell Wilbur that, not in a million years. This was sort of Tommy's way of making it up to Wilbur after they missed the show.
So now he was stuck reading a stupid book that was—not to mention—458 pages long. It would be practical torture, but for Wilbur, Tommy would read this book till the end of time if he had to.
He could never tell Wilbur that. Or he'd have to die.
As Tommy picked up Lord of the Rings to continue to read, once again, his phone went off in a raging fit of messages. Suddenly—but not really—he got a call.
"Hello?" Tommy answered, quickly dropping the book to the side and picking up his phone. The call came to silence and he called again, "Hellooo."
"Tommy? Is that you?" A muffled voice spoke, his voice hoarse and in a low whisper. Tommy knew who it was in an instant. He furrowed his eyebrows.
"Damien? Yeah, yeah it's me." Tommy listened closely to Damien's ragged breathing and sat up straight in his bed. "Are you okay?"
"No, i' m not-" Damien paused and Tommy heard him inhale, then a terrifyingly muffled sob came after. "Oh-oh, thank gods it's you, Tommy. Thank the lords."
"Hey, what's going on? What's happened?" Tommy asked, the questions rolling off his tongue in worry. From the other line, more ragged breaths and... loud, quick footsteps. Running. Tommy opened his mouth to ask more questions—to ask if his friend was okay—but the line got cut off. "Hello? Damien!. Answer me!"
Tommy brought the phone down from his ear and quickly pressed Damien's contact, calling him. He brought the phone up to his ear and waited. The line beeped.
"Hello-"
"Sorry, this number is not available at this time. Press one if you would like to leave a voicemail." A beep rang out and Tommy hung up and tried calling again, but it was useless.
Why wasn't Damien answering. Was he okay? What the hell was going on?
Tommy scrolled through his notifications, reading the spam of messages from Damien that all repeated the same thing; help. Panic started to fill his gut.
Suddenly, a ring echoed through the room and Tommy picked up, immediately. A few ragged breaths could be heard, and then a voice.
"Tommy? Are you there!?" The familiar voice rang through his ears, this time not muffled at all. It was hoarse and low.
"Yeah! What happen-"
"Tommy! I need you to listen to me!" Damien cut him off, panic evident in his voice even through the static. As Tommy was about to say something, Damien continued speaking; "Don't talk, just listen! I messed up big time. My parents were not happy with my choice of standing up for myself! I shouldn't have said anything, Tommy. I should have just kept my mouth shut, like I was told to do. But either way, I had to leave. I-I ran, Tommy! I fucking-"
The line cut off and Tommy was left with silence. In silence.
He brought the phone down from his ear, again, and shakily called Damien. He called and called, but nothing. What the hell, he thought to himself over and over.
His phone rang. He picked up.
"Damien-"
"They found me, Tommy! I-I gotta go! I'll call you when I can! I'm s-"
beeeeeeeee————p.
Tommy held his phone up to his ear, not bothering to move it away. Fear made him tense, and his mouth went dry.
"Damien?"
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Ho- woooow. This chapter was intense. And out of the blue, too. But, I decided to add a bit of spice to this story—different from my other stories (i think).
Either way, I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'll hopefully upload on the weekends—busy on weekdays—and keep the story going. I want this one to last awhile.
Any grammar mistakes or things I could work on and/or fix, please tell me in the comments. Any feedback is very appreciated. See you next chapter!
