Geek Squad {Muke}

37 - Regret From The Dark

Life is about choices. Some we regret, some were proud of. Some will haunt us forever... ~Graham Brown

Michael's POV

I huffed as I walked around the hallway the next day, I had no idea why I was even headed towards Luke's locker. All I knew is that he was not there, but Dallas was.

"Has Luke been here yet?" I asked and Dallas shook his head. I watched as he held a look of..Dismay across his face. "Hey, what's the matter?"

"Nothing. I was just waiting for Luke too." Dallas said. "Why are you even looking for him?"

"I just wanted to let him know.." I trailed off. "I don't know, maybe I wanted to hear what he had to say."

"Would it have even made a difference?" Dallas asked.

"No. It wouldn't." I scoffed. "You saw and heard what he did."

"Yeah, I know." Dallas sighed. "Trust me Michael, I know."

"Dallas what's wrong?" I asked.

"Ever get that feeling, where..You did something and then you thought about it." Dallas said. "You pondered it, long and hard. You looked at what it did, and realized that you shouldn't have done it in the first place."

"Is this about Luke?"

Dallas looked to me and sighed. "No, no it's not. See you later Michael." Dallas walked off down the hallway and I sighed and leaned against the locker, but eventually had to go to class. I sat down next to Ashton and Calum like always.

"Hey how are you?" Calum asked, I looked at Ashton and could see that his eyes were red and puffy, he was constantly checking his phone.

"He won't answer, Cal.." Ashton mumbled.

"So? Who cares?" Calum replied.

"He's my best friend.." Ashton muttered. "I shouldn't have done that, I didn't even listen to what he had to say. What kind of friend am I?"

"Look at what he did."

"He at least deserves the right to say what happened."

"Let me guess," I interjected. "Luke won't answer you."

"I'm worried.." Ashton sighed. "Michael I like you and everything, but Luke is my best friend and I just turned my back on him. I didn't even give him a chance. Why won't he answer.."

"Ash just leave it." Calum snarled. "Hell, I'm done hearing about it."

"Cal don't be mean to Ashton," I said as I finally sat down. "Just let him do his thing."

Calum sighed but nodded, leaving Ashton alone. I leaned back in my seat as class began and as much as I wish I could have focused, I could not. My mind was racing every which way. Why was Dallas so upset? He did not care about Luke at all so it had to be something else. Clearly Ashton had done something but I had no idea what. Calum was on my side, I could see that. From what I knew everyone was. Mikki, Nettie, and even Ashton when I saw them yesterday.

This kind of behavior repeated for two weeks, Luke did not show up to school. Ashton said he never received any answers from Luke. Honestly, that was eating me up. Ashton had a point, he had not listened to what Luke said and neither did I. I listened to what Dallas had said blindly, even though he had probably done something. I felt like it was too late to turn around and try and fix things. So I left them.

Another week passed, Ashton said he did go to Luke's house, him and Ivy did. But when they got there, Luke's mother opened the door, she told them he was not there.

Luke missed the end of Ashton and Calum's fall sports season, and it was like he disappeared all together. No one had any idea where he was or what he was doing. All we knew was that he left that day, and no one had seen him since.

Even Dallas was feeling the burn off of this. Dallas looked tired, messier. Like he had been eaten alive by something and spit out due to the fowl taste. He rarely talked to me after that, he did not even play video games with us anymore. Mikki would often say that she missed having Luke around, Nettie said she was not quite the same.

Luke was good for a lot of things, and I was missing that as well. Many of my days were spent lonely. After all, I would not be watching any more practices until winter sport season. With the oddness of most of my friends, I was left bored and alone most days.

Which is where I thought the most.

I would lay on my couch and think about Luke all day and how much I wished I had not done what I did. How I wished he would just show up one day. But he never did.

Nothing was the same without Luke, for anyone. He was a little bit of what made people's days better. It seemed like we never really appreciated what we had. And I fear that we already lost it.

I had other students whom I had never met ask about Luke too, I had to say I had no idea where he was. Because I did not.

Teachers asked me too, but I told them the same thing. No one knew where Luke was.

We had passed into November, I no longer counted how long he was gone. All I thought was that it was too long. And I did not know what to do with myself.

Eventually all I could get out of Ashton was crying and talking about Luke. He missed his little buddy - that's what he called him, even though Luke is taller. Ashton said that it was never the same, having spend so much time with one person to have them just be gone without a trace.

Calum was still bitter, but I managed to get out of him that he missed Luke just as much as anyone else.

It did not matter who missed him or how much we did. We were at fault. We had done this.

And no one knew how to fix it.