The day had already been monumentally shitty. The worst of the worst days. An absolute steaming-pile-of-crap day. So, really, it was only natural to finish it with a perfect cherry on top - his call from Death-Cast.
He was alone when the unmistakabl...
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𝙲𝚊𝚕𝚞𝚖 𝙳𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟸𝟷𝚜𝚝, 𝟸:𝟹𝟸𝚙𝚖
The longer Michael was gone, the more anxious Calum grew. He could tell he wasn't the only one, Louis and Harry exchanging looks and Niall checking the time every few minutes. He knew they were all thinking the same thing he was - the majority of the day was over. They were over fourteen hours into a twenty-four hour time slot, and with every second that passed, there was less and less likelihood of survival.
Calum kept reminding himself that everything was probably fine. Zayn was with them and he wouldn't let anything bad happen. And, yet, that did nothing to soothe Calum's raging anxiety.
Finally, he had enough. He muttered some excuse about going to the bathroom and hurried out into the hallway and to the staircase. He took the steps two at a time, nearly tripping several times before he stumbled over the last one and was face-to-face with Zayn, who was teetering on the edge of hysteria. His eyes widened the second they landed on Calum approaching the bedroom.
"Don't go in there, Calum," the man pleaded desperately. "Don't fucking- don't do it." He grabbed onto Calum's wrist, pulling the younger man down. Calum winced at the intensity of it. "It's quiet in there," Zayn murmured, eyes searching Calum's manically. "It's too quiet. I don't- I don't think they- fuck." He shook his head - shook it so hard, Calum saw stars just from watching. "I think I killed them."
Calum felt the blood rush from his head, body going tense and cold. He swallowed thickly, daring to mutter, "What?"
"I think I killed them," Zayn cried desperately, eyes looking at Calum helplessly. It was like he was drowning in his own body and he couldn't swim up for air anymore. Tears welled in his eyes and streamed down his pale, sunken cheeks. "I knew something was wrong. I- I knew it. And I heard it, Calum. I heard him doing it but I didn't fucking stop him because I just want it to be over. I want everything to be over already. Is that so wrong? I want to go home and I want to see my family, so I didn't stop him. I let him do it. And Michael- Michael wasn't supposed to like him, Cal. It wasn't supposed to happen because why? Why would he like him? On today of all fucking days? Oh, God." He let go of Calum and buried his head in his hands, knees folding against his chest as he rocked back and forth like a child. All Calum could do was stare in dumbfounded, horrified shock and try to pick apart what in the hell Zayn was talking about because the guy wasn't making any sense.
"Are you saying... Ashton's...?"
Zayn wordlessly nodded, looking up at Calum with his brow creased up and his skin a sickly shade of gray.
"I heard him," he repeated in a whisper. "I heard all of it, but I didn't think he'd actually- I don't know, Calum. Maybe I'm wrong. God, I hope I'm fucking wrong, but he- it just got so quiet, so quick. I don't know. I-"
"Michael's in there right now?" Calum asked, voice just as low as Zayn's. He was scared. No, he was terrified. He felt like he was trapped in a nightmare and what was waiting for him in that bedroom would be worse than anything he could ever imagine. Ashton would be dead. Michael would be dead. Calum's best friend would be dead and life as he knew it would be over.
