Melting His Jet Black Heart [cake au] ✔

4.

Chapter 4

His eyes stayed fixated on the crying figure by the large tree, unsure of what to do next. Walk away, forget? Approach, have his own eyes get wet? Molly, his dog, was eager to get moving but was moving too much for Luke. He wanted to stay in the shadows and watch Calum go upstairs again, where he was safe. He saw him reach into his pocket, but slam his fist against the tree upon realising that Luke had taken away his cigarettes and hadn't given them back. Luke suddenly felt really awful, and noticed that those very cigarettes were still in his pockets. He inhaled deeply and ambled over.

"Calum?"

His dark eyes shot up and without a second thought, his large hands grabbed Luke's collar with severe anger. "You... you fucking bastard. You took away my cigarettes. Give them back!" he hollered, shaking Luke back and forth. Luke was losing his grasp on Molly's leash and she looked as if she was about to run off in fear. He struggled immensely but managed to get the cigarettes out of his own pocket.

"H-here... take them!!" he shrieked back, afraid of the monster that Calum had just unleashed. He ran off down the pavement, down the road that led to home. He wasn't able to stay a minute longer.

He was so scared.

~

"Calum? Calum, where are you?"

Calum exhaled his tenth cigarette. He had run out. His bloodshot eyes met the afraid ones of Mali, who ran over immediately pulling him in for a hug and not letting go.

"Oh Cal... I read the article just now... I'm so sorry. I... I don't know what to say... stop smoking, I hate it..." she wept, sobs and hitches breaking up her speech. It was a bit too late, as Calum had entered his cold, lifeless state. The only action he could do was lift the cigarette to his mouth, inhale, exhale, and repeat. Even tears had stopped coming out. "Come on Calum... we can't stay out here... the neighbours will think we're absolutely crazy... come on..."

She attempted to drag him up, but to no avail. He remained on the cold concrete, taking one last breath before the cigarette was gone. He threw it onto the pile on the ground and stood up.

"I can't stay. I need to go to him."

"T-to who? No one else needs you more than I do right now Calum... let's go upstairs, please, we can have dinner and eat my cookies and then we can watch a film maybe, or a drama, whatever you want-"

"Leave me alone Mali. I said I need to go."

Mali felt like a hard-boiled egg, whose shell was slowly being tapped on the counter till she cracked completely. "Stop this Calum. I don't want to hear another word. Come upstairs, now. You might be seven years short of your parents but that doesn't mean you can slack off like this." She wiped away the last tear. "You're going to forget about this, get on with your school work, and if there's any trouble, then we'll cross that bridge when we come to it. I'll get rid of the newspaper. It'll be like you never saw it."

Reluctantly, Calum agreed. He did want to go after Luke. He felt as though he'd instilled fear in him, unintentionally, might he add, and if he could just explain himself, maybe things would be okay.

He didn't get his way, however. He was dragged up the stairs by his sniffling sister, and forced to sit at the table doing work. He had maths and Japanese, his worst subjects. What was the point anymore, anyway? He wasn't gonna become a mathematician, nor was he going immigrate to Japan and live there his whole life.

He just wanted to die, so badly.

~

The next day at school, Luke didn't dare to even approach him. He spent all his break-times in Michael's classroom which was just down the corridor. Ashton was another block away, him being in the year above and all. He'd told Michael everything the night before on Facebook, and now Michael was doing his best to console the scared boy.

As for Calum, he remained in the classroom, slouched at his desk with his head down. Some classmates came to ask if he was okay, but he ignored them dismissively, and they didn't return. When the bells rang for the next lesson, he had to physically drag himself out of his seat and mournfully look for the next classroom. This school was too big, Calum still hadn't worked it out yet.

He'd lost the first and probably only friend he would ever get at this school. He felt ashamed and embarrassed, and glad that Luke hadn't faced him yet because he most likely would've done something hostile again.

Once lunchtime had come, he found himself exploring the music section of the school; two floors of the west building filled with one big performance room, and eleven smaller practice rooms. Most of the practice rooms had been filled with students who had lessons, or students who just wanted to practice which left him with only one practice room left, and it was the biggest.

There was a guitar already laid out; two actually, upon closer inspection. Calum warily picked one up and played a chord.

Ah, the sweet sound of a guitar.

His dad used to play it to him often, back in the day.

He strummed a couple more chords, songs forming in his head. Quietly, he hummed the tune to Piledriver Waltz by the Arctic Monkeys. A slow, lilting song for him to get his voice back. He hadn't sung in months, he'd been too wound up in other affairs such as fights and delinquency. He longed to forget those days, as they left more scars on top of the ones existing from seven years ago, but it was hard to sometimes because fighting was the only way to channel his pain.

Although his voice started off quiet and hitchy, Luke could tell from outside that Calum had real talent.