I'm Supposed To Hate You ||Malum AU||

Chapter 25

Michael froze, staring wide eyed at Calum. He didn't know what he was expecting Calum to say, but it certainly wasn't that. He opened his mouth to say something, only to close it again when no words came out.

Calum looked like he was on the verge of a mental breakdown. His hand was balled into a fist, which he was hitting off of his leg repeatedly in a desperate attempt to calm himself down.

"Calum..." Michael mumbled, barely audible.

"Get out." Calum whispered, turning to face the skunk haired boy. Michael remained rooted to the spot, frozen in disbelief.

"Calum, I.."

"I said Get. Out!"

Michael hesitated for a fraction of a second too long and the next thing he knew he was on the ground, pain pulsing around his left eye. Calum retreated backwards, watching Michael sit up and hold his hand over his eye. Michael didn't say anything as he stood up, and Calum didn't look in his direction.

"You punched me." Michael stated, looking over at Calum. Calum's bottom lip trembled as he stood with his back pressed against the wall.

"Get out Michael. Please." Calum's voice cracked as he desperately fought the lump in his throat. "Just go."

Michael nodded, and left the room, closing the door gently behind him. As soon as he left, Calum collapsed onto the floor, burying his face in his hands.

For 5 years, he had managed to keep the truth about his father a secret. For 5 years, he had kept the anger he held towards his father pent up inside, but of course, Michael had to ruin that. Michael had been the first person to bring him up. Michael had been the one to persistently question Calum about him. So it was only fitting that Michael was the one that Calum exploded in front of. It's not healthy to keep emotions bottled up for that long, and now Calum's were all spilling out on his bedroom floor.

Calum screamed, screamed as loud as his restricted breathing would allow him to. He screamed because now matter how hard he tried to prevent it, Michael had got what he wanted. Michael had driven him to the edge of insanity just to find out why Calum hated his dad so much. Michael, Michael, Michael. It was all down to Michael. It was always down to Michael.

Calum was crouching on his bedroom floor, crying, because of Michael.

Calum was screaming into his hands, because of Michael Clifford.

The anger that usually simmered deep down had bubbled to the surface, because of Michael fucking Clifford.

Calum remained collapsed on his messy bedroom floor until his mum came into his room. Joy had come home from work, expecting to find Calum and Michael arguing, but was met by silence, and a note from Michael saying he was at Luke's. Joy automatically knew that something had happened between them, and from silence upstairs, Calum had come off worse.

"Calum, oh baby, are you okay?" Joy whispered, crouching down next to her son. Calum let out a strangled sob. His throat was sore from screaming, and he was exhausted from crying.

"Cal, come here. What happened?"

Calum crawled into his mother's arms, resting his head on her shoulder. Joy patted his hair gently, rocking back and forward gently until he calmed down enough to talk.

"I-he-we- I told him." Calum stuttered, struggling to find the right words to explain exactly what had happened.

"Told him what Cal?" Joy whispered.

"About Dad."

Calum felt his mother's body tense as she registered his words, and he let out another strangled sob.

"I-I'm sorry Mum."

"Hey, it's okay Calum. You don't need to apologise."

"I didn't want to tell him. He's been bothering me for the past two days about it and, I just- I just exploded. I couldn't keep it in anymore." Calum felt the warm tears slide down his cheeks, but he couldn't find the motivation to wipe them away. "He was trying to apologise to me, and I just, couldn't. I couldn't listen to him muttering on about- thinking that he could make everything better with a couple of words. He can't, he can't make it better. Nothing can. And all the anger that I've bottled up and kept to myself-I took it out on him."

"Calum, it's okay. You have to let it out somehow. You can't keep it bottled up inside you, it's bad for your mental health." Joy told him, squeezing his shoulder a little.

"But now he knows. He knows that dad is a murderer. I told him and I can't take those words back. I didn't want him to know Mum, Ashton doesn't even know. He just kept picking and picking and I snapped. I gave him exactly what he wanted. I bet you he's real proud of himself right now."

"Oh I'm sorry Calum." Joy sighed, blinking back tears. "I'm so so sorry."

"You haven't done anything wrong mum."

"Haven't I? I made you share a room with Michael when I knew you hated him. I knew that Michael was bugging you about your dad and I didn't do anything to stop it sooner than I did and I'm sorry for that. I'm also sorry that I've never talked about how you're coping. I just assumed that you were fine, you seemed happy enough. I didn't realise that you were still mad at your dad. I should have made sure that you were okay, maybe then this wouldn't have happened. I'm sorry."

"I'm sorry too Mum." Calum mumbled. "For not asking to talk to you about it, and for bottling up how I felt. I'm also sorry that you're going to have to explain to Karen why her son has a black eye for the second time in over a month."

"Don't worry, I think I'll manage that." Joy smiled, ruffling Calum's hair. "Now, Michael is at Luke's, so how about me and you go out for something to eat. You seem to like that new ice cream place, what's it called?"

"IceDream." Calum answered, lifting his head off her shoulder and wiping the tears away.

"Yes, IceDream. How about it Calum?"

"As long as you pay."

"Here was me hoping you would treat your old mother to some ice cream." Joy joked, clutching her heart. "But I guess, it's not so."

"You said I was a drama queen."

So it was Michael's birthday yesterday. Kitten turned 21, how do you all feel? Between Ashton's song and Calum's post, my heart can't take anymore.