"It's Not Love If It Hurts" //5sos

/53/

A/N: I asked my friend who I'm hanging out with what type of chapter I should write, and she said 'tragic'. Hahahahaha, haha ha. Ha.

    It was all good and well until Calum got in the car.

    He loved spending time with the boys, of course, but he couldn't stand this overhanging dread he felt. He was worried about Annie, so, so worried, about Johanna even. Who knows what might have happened, who knew if Annie was even okay.

  He imagined Annie swinging around the lamppost, attacking him. He remembered the way she looked with her hands shaking as she gripped a knife. The way she shook when she cried, the way she relapsed, the way she screamed and how he could easily recall the sound to mind.

  So it makes sense when Calum was a bit quick to head out the door in the morning. It was 11 when he left, saying goodbye to the others. Luke hugged him, and there was a certain finality to it. Maybe Calum felt it, or maybe it was just Luke- but when Calum left, Luke felt his heart thump in his chest. He thought it was stupid, nothing, he was just jealous of Annie. But that wasn't it. Luke felt like Calum was leaving him, like he may never see him again. So Luke held on tight, and as he watched Calum get in the car to go pick up Annie, he felt sick to his stomach. He wanted to run out and tell Calum not to go, not to leave, to just stay with him and the boys a little longer. But that'd be ridiculous- so Luke bit his lip and waited. He'd text Calum in an hour, to make sure he was okay.

  But he didn't have to wait that long.

  Half an hour later, Luke's phone buzzed and he jumped, opening it, expecting to find a text from Calum about something stupid.

  Annie: Why isn't Calum answering his phone?

  And then that dread was back, only it was a wave that was crashing down on Luke and he couldn't help the terror that came with it.

  "Oh God, oh God, oh God, fvck." Luke said, running a hand through his hair and trying to figure out what he was supposed to do. "Mikey! Ash! Get in here!" They sauntered in, unaware of the problem. "Have you heard from Cal?"

  Pale faces and wide eyes answered his question before their words did. "Fuck. Fuck. Fucking fuck fuck!" Luke pulled up Calum's contact, and rang him. It went to the voicemail box immediately. He tried again, to the same thing. "Cal, Annie's freaking out cause she doesn't know where you are, and we thought you'd have been there by now, but you aren't picking up so we don't know. Could you just text us or something?"

  To Calum: Where are you?

  To Annie: He left to get you 45 min ago

  Luke paced. The other boys asked questions, but Luke was too frustrated. "That's it. I'm going to drive to Johanna's, see what's going on."

  Luke imagined Calum laying on the side of the road, dead. He imagined him passed out in his car, or kidnapped by crazy fans, or just sitting with Annie having a good laugh at his expense. None of the ideas made him feel any better.

  So Luke drove to Johanna's. No sign of Cal either on the way, or in the apartment. Johanna asked him questions, trying to understand the situation. Annie just seemed in shock. "What do you mean, he left an hour ago?" She asked, as if she were deft. "It doesn't take that long to get here." She wandered around the apartment, looking lost. "Maybe he decided to go to the grocery store. We needed bread."

  Luke thought back to the voicemail. He'd called again, in the car, and again, in Johanna's apartment. The voicemail picked up immediately. That meant either he was talking on the phone that entire time (highly unlikely), or his phone ran out of battery (also highly unlikely). They all had to keep their phones charged 24/7, so they were always reachable. Calum would definitely have charged it during the night, what with Annie being separated from him. So that wasn't an option either.

  So what could've happened?

  Luke imagined Calum, being attacked, thrown into a white van. He imagined a large black boot, smashing Calum's phone.

  His phone wouldn't work if it were broken.

  Where the fuck was he?