room // malum au [in progress]

february 4th, 2021

"calum i know you don't wanna go but you have to."

"cal please."

"i don't want to see him again." calum whimpered.

mali and joy had spent the past two hours trying to convince calum to come out of bed after they told him what he unfortunately had to do today.

"i know you don't. but you have to identify him." mali explained.

"tucker will stay here with your father while we go down to the station." joy said softly.

mali tiptoed over to the bed and sat down next to calum's body which was buried underneath blankets. the twenty five year old poked his head out and looked at his older sister.

"come on bud. the quicker we do it the quicker it's over." she whispered. "i'll be by your side the whole entire side. and tucker will be safe at home."

"actually that's not true." calum and mali looked up to see officer jones standing behind joy.

"what do you mean?" mali asked standing back up.

"you guys aren't allowed back with calum." she replied. "but i'll be with him. and tucker has to come as well. it's protocol."

"he's five!" mali exclaimed. "does he really need to go?"

"i'm afraid so."

"you won't leave our sides?" calum croaked. she shook her head.

"i'll be with you guys from the time we leave here till the time we get back. i won't leave you alone. i promise."

"okay." he mumbled before kicking off the blankets and sitting up. "can someone go get tucker so i can explain to him what's going on?"

"i will." calum gave his sister a small smile.

"and we'll leave you alone so you can get dressed." joy said before following mali out of the room. officer jones gave calum a quick nod before shutting the door behind her as she left.

he groaned pretty loudly before standing up and making his way over to the dresser. he pulled out a pair of jeans before tossing them on his bed and digging around for a suitable long sleeve shirt.

"daddy?" calum looked up to see tucker standing in the doorway. he stopped rummaging for a shirt and walked over to the little boy.

"hey baby boy." calum whispered picking tucker up.

"what's going on?"

"we have to go somewhere with officer jones for a little bit." calum said walking over to the bed and sitting down placing tucker down on the bed next to him.

"where?" tucker asked fiddling with hem of his shirt.

"the police station."

"why?"

"they found john." calum croaked. "but we have to go identify him. make sure that it's really him."

"i don't want to see him." tucker whined.

"i know love i don't want to either." calum sighed. "but we have to."

"does this mean i have to get dressed?"

"yeah it does buddy." calum said standing back up to get tucker some clothes.

the father and son got dressed in silence before making their way downstairs. all heads turned as they walked into the kitchen.

"you guys ready?" officer jones asked.

"just got to put shoes and coats on." calum said.

"then let's get that happening so we can get this painful experience over with."