Bathroom Stalls :: Cake

2.0

"t-tate is dead." luke cried, hands shaking and his breathing starting to pick up.

calum's hands started to shake aswell, a lump in his throat starting to form, "a-are you sure he's dead?"

"he has no fucking pulse, calum! oh my god, what are we going to do!"

he felt as if the world turned upside down, everything moving slower than usual. using the kitchen counter to steady himself, he kneeled down next to luke to check tate's pulse himself. still nothing, "oh god, i feel sick."

"luke, baby, you got to believe that i never meant for this to happen! it was just supposed to knock him out, it was never supposed to go this far!"

"we have to call the police."

calum's eyes went wide, "no, no! you can't, they're going to put me in fucking jail for murder!"

"what else are we supposed to do! pretend like it never happened?"

"no, no, no. this wasn't supposed to ever fucking happen. look, if you call the police, what are we going to say? oh, 'my boyfriend beat up this guy until he died because he touched me in the wrong way'?"

"no, I'll say that it was purely out of self defense! you had to defend yourself from some drunk douchebag!"

"but he wasn't drunk, and technically i started it!"

luke sighed, stepping away from the body as far as he could and taking calum with him, "i don't know how you didn't see it! his words slurred, his eyes glazed, it was obvious!"

"are you sure?"

"calum, i wouldn't be telling you this if it wasn't true. now please, we have to call the police, they'll understand. if i have to look at him for any longer i'm going to be sick.."

calum paced around the living room, feet softly pattering against the hardwood, "are you sure?"

"i wouldn't be suggesting it if it put you at any risk."

"okay. okay, i trust you."

nimble fingers moving shakily against his phone screen, he called the police, the line picking up almost immediately. he hesitated for a moment, thinking of what he should say.

"triple zero, what's your emergency?" a lady answered.

luke's voice cracked, "we-we need help. t-there was a fight, this drunk guy came into our house and tried to kill my boyfriend, b-both are hurt and i think the guy is dead-"

"what's your address, sir?"

luke told him their address, hanging up the phone and continued to shuffle his feet nervously. calum came up behind him and wrapping his arms around his waist, the blue eyed boy flinching to his sudden touch, "i can't believe i just lied to police officers."

"it wasn't far from the truth though." calum added, resting his head in the crook of luke's neck.

"i promised myself i'd never lie again."

::

the two boys ended up waiting outside until they heard the familiar blare of police sirens, men going inside their house to check out the scene and a few staying outside to question them. luke and calum both got separated into different groups of investigators, tate's body soon carried out of the home in a black plastic body bag. everything seemed oddly still to them as they loaded the dead boy into the back of an ambulance. calum's eyes wandered over to where luke stood; he was talking to two officers and an investigator while tears silently rolled down his cheeks.

"mr. hood- did you hear what i said?" the officer that stood in front of him snapped, fingers scratching through his auburn coloured beard.

"i'm sorry sir, i'm just-"

"we g et it, buddy. but you're gonna have to comply with everything we say and ask you to recite unless you want charges." his partner, a short woman with black hair and tons of freckles, had asked.

"yes ma'am."

"now," the man finished, taking out a notepad from the back of his pocket, "tell me everything that happened, starting from when he came into the house."

and so, calum had no choice but to run with the story luke had told them to go with, telling the officers every detail he could tell them. he couldn't help but think that they would have never been in any of this trouble if he hadn't agreed to go get luke's car that night.

luke had told the officers and investigators everything he knew as they asked him questions similar as to what calum answered. he shook physically as he recited all the gruesome details that fit a long with his story- he had told them that he woke up  when he heard a crashing and saw tate on top of calum and trying to strangle him. he didn't want to lie anymore- but he could take the risk of calum being taken and locked away for years.

after they had answered all the questions that they needed to, the two sat on the side walk together; calum's head in the crook of luke's and tightly holding onto the other's hand. the same red bearded cop had walked over to them not much longer after, kneeling down in front of the two.

"i have some good news and bad news." he said, his face solemn, "which do you want first?"

calum's stomach had dropped tremendously at the word: bad news. it could of, quite frankly, meant anything.

"we want the bad news first." luke croaked, his voice hoarse from crying so much.

the officer nodded, "bad news, it's going to be a week or two until we get his autopsy results back from forensics. good news, mr. hood is not being charged and mr. tate burke's death will be written off as an accident. also- our team won't be done cleaning your house until tomorrow so you might want to find another place to stay for the night. have a nice evening, boys. stay safe."

luke's eyes went wide as the officer went away, "cal, oh my god! did you hear that! you're not getting charged."

calum knew he should have been happy for this, but he wasn't. he still felt as if tate's death was on his hands. until the autopsy came back, he wasn't sure if he could ever be the same again.

"cal?"

he stared blankly at a spot in the asphalt, looking up and meeting the sparkling blue eyes that sat to his right, "but i still killed him."

::

i cry

if u juanna, check out my new cake fic preview. it'd mean a lot to my smol heart.