Under the Sea ⇔ Cashton ✓

Is This The End Of The Road?

Warning: ThIS is A fILLER but next chapter is interesting i promise lol

The most boring times of the day are between eight in the morning and three in the afternoon, because that's when Michael has to go to school, leaving Calum alone with his upset foster mother, Laura, for seven hours. All he can do is sit in bed and listen to her cry over the phone and come feel his forehead every ten minutes to see if his temperature has risen any more.

Calum thinks the entire ordeal is terrible, in all honesty.

But his foster mum trusts Michael, so when he gets back from school, she leaves Calum to him. Calum doesn't mind, considering Michael is his best friend and he would spend it with him even if he wasn't terminally ill. Michael is a happy kid, and he doesn't like to mention Calum's illness much. It makes him upset to think about, so in no way would the tan boy interrupt that.

Calum knows he misses things that they used to do together, like go surfing and walk around town together. They used to always be active together, but now Calum is stuck in bed and Michael's resorted to playing video games all day, for Calum's sake.

As a kid, when Calum looked forward to his teenage years, this wasn't really what he had in mind. Not that he had much of a social life before this, but now it's pretty much nonexistent. And apparently, there is no way to get rid of it, no cure. It seems anomalous to him, how the doctors can't come up with one single thing to help him other than painkillers. Absolutely ridiculous.

Which means Calum will be like this for the rest of his apparently short lived life. And there's nothing he can do about it but sit in bed and wait it out while his family and friends look on. Calum doesn't know what he did to deserve it, but here he is. He knows better than to mess with whatever plan the universe has in store for him.

~*~

"I'm not going to die just by stepping outside," Calum tells Michael, staring at him dubiously. Michael huffs and crosses his arms. His pink hair falls into his eyes and he quickly brushes it away.

"I don't care. I don't want you getting hurt," Michael argues back, trying to look serious. Calum raises his eyebrows at him, holding onto the wall for support. He has a water bottle in one hand and the other is resting on the wall for balance, ready to go.

"Come on, you're not going to make me just sit at home again, are you?" Calum asks, pouting his lips, knowing Michael will break. His pink haired friend lets out a frustrated sigh, and he opens the front door. Calum straightens up, smiling.

"You know Laura is going to kill me if something happens to you," Michael says. He holds out his arm, wrapping it around his friend's waist to help him walk outside. Calum shrugs.

"She'll get over it," he says. "Besides, nothing is going to happen."

Michael shakes his head. "If you say so."

Michael keeps his arm around Calum's waist as they walk slowly down the street, just in case something happens. Calum's used to it by now and figures it does more good than it does harm. He takes a sip of water, feeling how dry his lips are. He's always dehydrated nowadays. The doctors haven't been able to give him an explanation.

"Can we head down to the beach?" Calum asks.

Michael gives him an incredulous look. "No way, buddy. You're way too unstable for that."

"I'm way too unstable for everything," Calum mutters. Michael sighs a little and gives him a pat on the back. Calum knows it's true and so does Michael, but no one seems to just go ahead and say it aloud. As though it's a secret, although it's clearly not.