invisible // muke [completed]

break free // of mice & men

We pull up to Michael's house, the driveway with his mum's car only. Michael lets out a breath as if it were a sigh of relief. His mum found out about the suicide attempt and she almost freaked out completely. She immediately came to the hospital after we contacted her and she kept telling Michael how much she loved him and to never do it again. His dad now has a warrant out for his arrest for child abuse. When he gets caught, he will be in jail for a long time. And I'm glad because hopefully, Michael will be much happier after all of that. We walk in and I accidentally slam the door shut because it was really windy outside.

"Michael is that you?" Michael's mum calls out.
"Yeah, mum." Michael chuckles. I smile, taking his hand as he leads me to the kitchen where his mum was, leaving his bag from the hospital by the door. We walk into the kitchen and his mum is just baking a cake for him. We missed his birthday party, so we decided to have a home coming party mixed with his birthday party. I smile, noticing my present was still on the dinning room table.
"When are the boys going to be over, sweetie?" His mum asks, not looking up from reading the instructions on the cake mix box.

"Well, Ash and Cal aren't going to be here until the time you told them which I think is 3." Michael pauses to kiss my cheek. His mum looks up right at that time and smiles widely. A blush forms across my cheeks.

"Hi, Luke." She smiles at me. "I never did thank you for saving Michael's life, did I?" I shake my head smiling. She walks around the counter, opening her arms for a hug. I let go of Michael's hand, giving her a hug. "Thank you for being there to save his life. It means a lot."

"I'm glad I was there too. I wasn't ever going to let him do that. Ever." I whisper to her, tears forming in my eyes from the memory of seeing him for that split second hanging and struggling to breathe.

"Well you two better stay together." Karen says as she pulls out of our hug. "Michael, you've got yourself a really nice boy. Keep him." She smiles.
"Mum." Michael whines, holding out the 'u' sound. I smile, kissing his cheek softly.
"Listen to your mum, Michael. She's right. I'm the best." I brag about myself. Mikey just smiles.

"True." He giggles. Michael pulls me into the dinning room, sitting at the table with me because we had nothing better to do than just wait for Ash and Calum to get here. As much as Michael hated the hospital, I feel like it'd be hard for him to go back to his own bed. I'm not sure if his mum cleaned up the scene that I found or not. I was honestly scared to go back in there because I can't get the image out of my head. I'll suggest it to him later that we should go to my place. My thoughts are interrupted by the front door slamming shut. I look up at Mikey from my phone and his eyes go wide. He jumps up, pulling me out of my chair as we hide under the table. The table has a long red table cloth on it and it's huge. We pull in the chairs as close as we could get them to us without making it noticeable. You could hear the slamming of keys in the kitchen.
"Where is Michael?" A loud, deep voice echos through the house. Michael clings to me for life, digging his nails into my arm. His head is buried in the crevice of my neck and I could feel warm tears on my soft skin. I pull him closer to me, holding him tightly.
"I don't know. I think he's over at a friend's house. He should be home soon." His mum says calmly as the scraping of a spoon on a metal bowl is heard. The footsteps stomping make their way into the dining room. I hitch my breath, probably not breathing, afraid that my breathing is too loud. Michael seems to have done the same, clinging to me even more. The sound of the bag on the table being hit and thrown across the room is louder than I thought. I look over at the end of the table where there wasn't a chair to see that the box fell out of the bag and the necklaces were on the floor. This made me so angry.
"Where the fuck is that faggot?" His father's hands slam down on the table.
"I don't know what you're talking about." His mum says calmly.

"He's with his gay ass boyfriend, isn't he?!" His father screams at his mum, shaking the whole house. He leaves the room, going into the kitchen. Michael was now up and ready to make a run for it. The sounds of plates shattering fill the house.
"Alright, we're going to make a run for my room, alright?" He says calmly and quickly. I stiffen almost immediately, not wanting to go back into his room for a while.
"But I'm scared to go into your room. I'm afraid I'll find you again but dead next time." I surprisingly say smoothly for as many tears I'm shedding and as much as I'm shaking.
"It's okay, Luke, I promise. I'll be up there right after you. Okay? You go ahead of me, I don't want you hurt." He says, kissing me softly and then wiping my tears. "Alright, 3...2...1." We dart out from under the table, running to the staircase. As I go to run up it, of course, Michael trips. I rush down to help him, but he waves me on. "Go. Please. I don't want you hurt." And at that moment, I had a hard decision to make. Either help Michael and possibly get caught, or face my worst fear of entering his room again and leave him to get hurt.
"M-Michael." I whisper sob out.
"Just go." And so I did. I ran upstairs as he was sitting there, trying his best to stop the scraped knee from bleeding. The door to his room was cracked open and I could see the rope still hanging. The memories flash through my eyes as I hear Michael screaming in pain and yelling at his father. Tears start pouring down my face. I run into his room, slamming the door behind me, locking it. I slide down the door, covering my ears tightly and shutting my eyes tightly. I just screamed out as I cried to make it easier to drown out the sound of Michael's screams.

It's been almost an hour and nothing has been any different except I won't open my eyes and I've stopped crying. I decide to make the call, dialing for the police.
"Hello, what is your emergency?"
"Hi, my name is Luke Hemmings and I'm currently at my boyfriend's house and his father is beating him." I say calmer than I expected.
"How long has this been going on, Luke?" The lady on the other line asks calmly to keep me calm. Which, honestly, her being calm is keeping me calm.
"Today, it's been an hour. I locked myself in his room. But overall, for the past year and a half, maybe more. I met him about two years ago, almost 3." I say.
"Alright, we've located you through your call and we'll get police and paramedics there right away." The lady says calmly, yet quickly, the sound of her pressing things on the other side. "Will you be okay by yourself?" She asks.

"Yeah. I'll probably go downstairs to see if he's okay. Thank you." I let out a breath I didn't know I was holding. We hang up and I stand, leaving Michael's room. I quietly make my way downstairs, seeing that the living room was a mess. Michael was also on the floor in fetal position. I stay up at the top of the stairs, afraid to show myself. Michael doesn't see me and neither does his father. But I watch as his dad kicks him and he screams in pain.
"Where is he?!" His dad yells. Michael is crying his eyes out, still in fetal position.
"I don't know what you're talking about." Michael sobs out. I jump as the sudden crashing of the door being slammed open by the police.
"Sir, you are under arrest for child abuse and domestic violence. Anything you say will be held against you in court." The police say as they easily handcuff his father, taking him out. The paramedics rush in to help Michael and I guess his mum. I stand up off the stairs, going down them quickly, rushing to Michael who is now set on the couch being examined. I sit on the couch next to him, taking his free hand into mine. His mum was okay, she had minor injuries.
"Did he kick you in the stomach?" The lady asks him. He nods, tears running down his face. I wipe the tears as the lady and I help him up to get him in the ambulance. He's now going back to the hospital after being there for a month to have an eye kept on him so he didn't do anything to himself. Michael holds my hand tightly.
"I'm so scared, Luke. I don't want to go back there." Michael cries more. I rub the back of his hand with my thumb.

"It's all going to be okay, Mikey. I promise."

We're finally at home after getting news that Michael had a few bruised ribs and will have other minor injuries like his mum. We sit down on the couch, Michael leaning against me.
"Do you still want Ash and Cal to come over?" I ask him quietly. He shakes his head, silently. I keep him close to me. I sigh quietly, sighing. Michael sits up, facing me.

"Were you the one to call?" He asks. I nod. Michael hugs me tightly, burying his face in the crevice of my neck, crying. "Thank you." I hug him back just as tight, being careful of his bruised ribs.
"Hey. I haven't given you your present yet." I pull away from him, wiping the tears from his cheeks. I go into the dinning room, grabbing the necklaces off the table where Karen put them after cleaning up. I hand him his. A smile forms on his face as he puts it on and I put on mine.
"To the moon." He smiles up at me, then kissing me softly. He leans up against me again, sitting in my lap.
"And back." I smile, kissing his hair softly, knowing that he's safe now.