dusk; calum hood au

0.1

Calum watched Michael and his new girlfriend look into each others eyes with lust. He tried to look down and pay attention to his paperwork in front of him but he couldn't. Michael's new freshly dyed pink hair kept distracting him.

The 0 on his wrist haunted him. In a world full of people with timers on their wrists that counted down until the moment they met their soul mate, he knew he would never meet his own.

Michael's wrist was now occupied with a date. Once you meet that person, the date gets tattooed and it's there forever. If you somehow miss the person, instead of a date, a straight line gets put there. That's what happened to Calums' uncle, who is know happily married to someone who also has a line on their wrist, but it wasn't the same as a 0.

Just one 0. not 00:00:00. Just, 0. It meant that he wasn't compatible. That he would never find love. There was always a slim chance that someone was born with a 0 on their wrist but he didn't realize what that meant until he turned 15, when everyone in high school wouldn't shut up about it.

His parents and real friends didn't treat him any differently. His sisters timer was still set to 2 years, 34 days, 5 hours, 6 minutes and counting.

It wasn't a law that you had to marry the person you met at the end of the timer. If you really loved someone it was okay. Too bad that rarely happened.

Calum had tried relationships. He was in one with a girl named Cierra for a while but every time he saw the timer getting smaller and smaller it became harder for him. So he gave up on love.

"somebody should arrest your parents for creating the cutest person alive", Michael smiled cheekily at Kay. She hid her face in her shoulder and smiled deeply.

Calum groaned and started to pack up his stuff. "Okay, I need to get to work to turn in this paperwork. See you guys later, yeah?". The couple nodded, still smiling at each other and Calum got up and left.

The Sydney streets were hot and crowded. Calum worked in a small record shop at the end of the block, barely visible to the public. But he didn't care, no customers, no problems.

He walked into the store, thankful for the soft gust of cold air and sighed. "ASHTON!" he yelled out, trying to get his co-workers attention. He knew that Ashton was there because of the loud tapping on the counters. But the second he yelled, they stopped. Calum waited a few more seconds before adding, "damn, Ash isn't here, looks like he skipped again, time to tell Dave..."

"Shut up", Ashton groaned, came out from around the staircase with a frown. Ashtons' wrist had a date of 2/14/14. Yeah, Valentines Day. He was happily together with a girl named Kelsey.

"I get that you don't want to sign this but I really really need a new staircase put in here, that one is twenty years old and I don't want to get another broken ankle from it", Calum handed the small packet to Ashton, rolling his eyes at his weird behavior. "What's up with you today?"

Ashton sighed while looking through the paper work, "Kelsey and I got in a fight today"

"Why do you care? You already know that you and her are meant to be"

"I don't know, it's our first fight and it's crazy you know?" Ashton handed back the papers, taking a quick glimpse of the 0 on Calums wrist before looking down, "we fought over her ex, and how he has the date they met on his wrist, instead of a timer".

Calum nodded, not interested in what happened in other peoples romance lives, seeing he didn't have one of his own. "it was probably just a coincidence, hers didn't stop until you two met".

Ashton looked over at Calum with a small smile. "You'll find someone one day, Cal", Cal just looked down at the counter and shrugged, "maybe"

8,158 miles away

"You say hello to your auntie Andrea for me alright?" Taylor's mum quickly said before sending her daughter off onto an airplane to Australia.

"I will, Mum", she smiled and played with her short ginger hair.

Her mother wiped away a tear before sighing, "it's all over honey, the cancer is gone, you're going home".

Taylor nodded, "I just don't understand why you can't come with me?"

Her mum shook her head before giving Taylor one last hug and pushing her on her way to the plane. Taylor didn't turn around to say goodbye, in the fear that she won't want to leave, so she just kept walking.

Taylor had suffered from Renal Cancer (also known as Kidney Cancer), in which her kidney cells had gotten out of control and grown a tumor in her stomach. She went through a transplant when she was 15, chemo for two and a half years, and is finally going back home to Australia to stay with her aunt Andrea in Sydney.

Taylor was thankful for the life she was given and that she was alive, but it was just so weird to leave Oregon after moving there when she was 9. She is currently 17 and a half, and her birthday was coming up in almost two months. She didn't even think she would make it to 17.

She still had an education, and had already passed year 12 because of how smart she was. She took homeschooling and online school and even then, was smarter than the advanced 17 year old.

As for the timer on her wrist, it stopped when she was in the early stages of the cancer. The only reason she was brought to the hospital was because of it. But now that she knows she'll live, it's started again, and she's determined on finding her soulmate.

The plane smelled of perfume and cologne. She looked around for her seat, not used to airplanes. She finally found it and looked at the person sitting by the window, a boy with bright blond hair and headphones in his ears, smiling at the computer in front of him.

"Hello! I'm Luke", he smiled at her and she smiled back softly.

"I'm Taylor"

"I was talking to someone", he gestured at his screen, "but he's gone to eat, his name is Calum", a second passed until Luke chuckled, "there he is-"

"Miss, we got you a different seat up front, because of your condition", Taylor's head snapped towards the lady and she nodded and grabbed her carry on, walking slowly, but turned around to wave at Luke, who smiled at her in return.

Her timer now said 3 days, 22 hours, 3 minutes and counting.

While Calums still said 0.

not spelled checked, I will do it in the morning