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

Chapter 28

Calum and his mother had returned from their disastrous outing to IceDream and watched movies together for a couple of hours. As much as Calum loved spending time with Joy, he was incredibly ashamed of his actions that day and couldn't handle being in her presence any longer knowing that she had seen him lose control of his anger, so he had decided to have an early night.

He was half expecting Michael to be lying in the blow up mattress on his bedroom floor when he entered the room, only to remember that he was spending the night at Luke's. It was the second night in a row that they had slept in different rooms, in separate houses, and Calum was very thankful for that. His attention shifted to the battered guitar sitting in the corner and he felt a sudden surge of anger mixed with sadness. His father had given him that guitar a few weeks before he was arrested, and it was the last thing Calum had ever received from his father.

When he felt his eyes brim with tears, he tore his gaze away and flopped down on his bed, not bothering to change. He passed out a few minutes later, emotionally and physically drained from the day's events.

Calum opened the door to see two tall men wearing police uniforms standing on his doorstep, asking for his father.

"Why do you need him?" His 12 year old self asked, peering up at them. "Has he done something wrong?"

"We need to speak with David Hood, is he at home? Are either of your parents in?"

"Yeah, but I don't understand, why do you need Dad? He can't of done anything wrong, he's the nicest man on the planet. He hasn't done a thing wrong?"

Joy appeared behind Calum, wearing a confused expression on her face. She invited the policemen inside and shut the door, before telling Calum to go to his room.

"But.."

"Don't argue Calum." Joy said sternly. Calum nodded, and headed upstairs, where he bumped into his sister. She pressed her finger to her lips and nodded her head downstairs. Calum began to tiptoe back down again, steeping over the creaky step halfway down.

"David Hood?" One of the police officers said, obviously after Calum's dad had entered the room.

"Yes?"

"We are arresting you on suspicion of the murder of Mr James Cook, you do not have to say anything but anything you do say may be used as evidence against you in court."

"Murder?" Calum hissed at Mali. Mali glared at him and pressed her finger to her lips again. Calum shut up and listened closely to the conversation again. He heard his mum let out a sob, repeating over and over that they'd got the wrong man.

The scene changed to Calum's dad standing in the dock, his gaze fixed on his feet as his wife and children entered the courtroom. Calum wasn't paying attention to anything the lawyers were saying, he was concentrating on his father. When the details of the murders were being described, he didn't look as horrified as anyone else in the room. When it came to the jury's decision, which was a few weeks later, Calum swore his dad looked him in the eyes when the last word Calum wanted to hear echoed round the courtroom.

"GUILTY!"

Next thing Calum knew, his dad was standing over him with a knife in his hand, his eyes filled with malice. Calum cowered beneath him, pleading desperately with him.

"Please-Dad, I'm your son. Y-you wouldn't. Dad."

David just laughed, and swiped the knife across Calum's face, cutting his cheek from below the eye to the corner of his mouth.

"D-Dad. p-please. P-please d-don't kill me."

"I've killed three before you, what makes you think I'm going to spare you." Before Calum could respond, Dave had lunged at him.

Calum screamed. He sat up, panting heavily as he stared around his dark bedroom. He moved backwards so his back was pressed against the wall, grabbing his duvet and pulling it round him for protection. The house was silent, which fuelled his paranoia. What if his dad was hiding just outside his door, and his mum was lying dead in her bed? He was too terrified to move a muscle, wishing something in the house would make a noise. Any noise would do. He was almost wishing he could hear Michael snoring. He squeezed his eyes shut, but images of his Dad standing over him with a knife floated through his subconscious.

"He's in New Zealand Calum, he can't hurt you." He whispered to himself, clutching the blankets tightly. "He's never getting out of prison and if he does he'll never find you. He can't hurt you."

Calum breathed a sigh of relief, but didn't loosen his grip on the duvet he had wrapped around himself. Why hadn't his mum woken up when he screamed? He knew she was a deep sleeper but he was sure Ashton had heard him scream 5 streets away.

Calum hadn't had a nightmare that bad in years, not since they'd moved to Sydney. Their mother had told Calum and Mali repeatedly that their Dad wouldn't reach them here. They'd both suffered nightmares since they'd found out exactly what he had done. It was traumatising for anyone, but a barely 12 year old boy and a 16 year old girl had just learned the man they idolised was a cold blooded killer, and they were terrified.

"You're safe Calum." He muttered a few minutes later after sitting in silence for a while. "Nothing can hurt you now."

He remained curled up in his duvet for the rest of the night, his eyes wide open as he made sure that his room was safe. He'd given up on the thought of sleeping because every time he closed his eyes, an image of his dad swam in front of him, and he wasn't stable enough to deal with another nightmare. Not tonight, when there was nobody on the blow up mattress on the floor to crawl into bed next to him and make him feel safe.

Yes this is the 6th chapter in a row about the same day, sue me.

Calum's nightmare just makes me want to hold him close and whisper it's gonna be alright in his ear. My poor baby.

Also, referencing back to Chapter 15 when Michael and Calum share a bed. Who knew that Calum would actually miss Michael's snoring?

Sorry this is late btw, my wifi was down for most of the day.