No Clue

Tortured Soul

  Calum walked out of the bakery, locking the door behind him and slipping the key into the pocket of his skinny jeans. He walked to his car and found the door slightly open.

"Shit," he muttered, pulling the door open and seeing the pile of snow on his seat. He sighed and brushed it off before trying to start the car. He groaned in frustration when it refused. He stepped out and slammed the door shut, locking it before beginning to walk away. He noticed a black SUV parked on the street corner, with a broken taillight. He shuddered against the cold and pulled his coat more tightly around himself as he crossed the street. He could hear the soft crunch of snow beneath his own feet, but another seemed to come from behind him, coming at him quickly. He turned around where no one was behind him. But there was a set of extra footprints, heading into the alleyway. Calum turned around and began walking again, hearing the steady crunch once again. He glanced at the ground and noticed a shadow creeping up on him. He let out a shakey breath before he started running, as fast as he could, not looking back. He tried running to his apartment building, but he could hear his pursuer gaining on him. He changed his course, heading towards his best friend's house. He glanced behind him for just a second before he slipped on a sheet of black ice, throwing him to his stomach. His air was cut off and he flipped onto his back, trying to breathe. A young man stood over him, clutching an item in his hand. Strangely Calum recognized the man. He remembered watching Ashton talking to him when they were handing out the papers.

"W-who are you?" He asked, still trying to catch his breath.

"Come on," he said, pulling the kiwi boy to his feet and putting his arm around him. "Let's take a walk..." he dragged Calum over to the alleyway. He wanted to fight, to run again, but when he saw the giant blade in his hand, every part of him seemed to freeze. "So my brother tells me you're Luke's boyfriend? Don't get jealous, but I think he's starting to take a liking to our little pet."

"Y-you know where Luke is?" Calum asked, desperately. "Why would you take him, why-"

"Calm down, buddy. Don't get your panties in a twist. Yes I took your boyfriend. Don't worry. He's fine. Well. Relatively." He started twirling the knife with his fingers. "My baby brother seems to think you're going to cause us quite a bit of trouble."

"What are you doing to Luke?" Calum asked, feeling tears forming in his eyes. "Is he hurt..."

"Oh please. We've barely even started with him, Michael is a freaking psychopath..."

"Who are you?"

"G. My name is G, but that's not the point. The point is you."

"Me?" Gerald smirked and looked up at the younger boy.

"He's no where near as hurt as you're about to be..." without another word, he plunged the knife into Calum's stomach. "See, buddy. We need you out of the way. Let's give your little cop friends something else to deal with." With another swift movement, he stabbed Calum two more times and let him slip down onto the ground, coughing up blood. "Bye buddy. Good talk... I'll send Luke your love." He pulled the ring off of the boy's finger and wiped off the blood. "I'll give him this, shall I?"

Hours seemed to go by in just a few seconds as Calums body seemed to numb from shock, he looked down at his hands, caked with blood. Everything around him was spinning like crazy and he couldn't focus. He pulled his cellphone out of his pocket and dropped it into his lap. With blurred vision, he typed out some numbers, hitting call.

"Triple Zero, are you in need of police, fire rescue, or medics?" Calum opened his mouth to speak, but his voice came out garbled with blood. "Hello? Hello? Can you hear me?" Calum fell onto his side, breathing heavily as blood trickled down from his mouth.

"H-help me," he choked out. "Help..." He was too young to die. He was only 19 years old.

"Sir, can you tell me where you are? Sir?" His eyes were forcing their way shut, he was choking on his own blood. Soon darkness overthrew him.  He was gone.

~~~~

Ashton sat in the waiting room of the hospital, next to Calum's older sister. She had tears in her eyes as she held onto his hand. Her parents were out of town, so they werent even here yet.

"Do you think this has anything to do with your brother?" Mali asked quietly. Ashton sighed and looked down.

"Maybe... I don't know."

"Excuse me, are you here for Calum Hood?" A doctor asked, coming out.

"Yes. I-is he okay?" Mali asked, pulling Ashton up with her.

"I'm afraid not. He lost an intense amount of blood, a few of his ribs are broken, he has a collapsed lung... he's in a seriosly rough condition. He's out of surgery, but he's still in critical condition... I'm not exactly sure when or even... if he'll wake up..." Mali bit her lip and hugged Ashton, trying not to cry.

"Can we see him?" He asked quietly. The doctor sighed.

"Of course. I'll bring you back to his room."

~~~

Broken screams filled the air as Michael tortured the young boy. His skin was ice cold and his lips still a shade of blue. He was shaking uncontrollably and felt he would tip over if he wasnt chained to the metal table.

"Are you going to run away from me again?" Michael asked, playing with his knife.

"N-no," Luke whispered, shivering. "I-I promise. I'm s-sorry...."

"That's my good baby boy," he smiled, placing his hand on the boy's arm. "Y-you're freezing..." he pulled the key out of his pocket and unlocked his shackles, catching Luke as he fell forward. He sat him down on the ground gently. Luke tried saying something, but it only came out slurred and muffled. Michael placed the chain on his wrist before standing up and running out of the room. He went into his own room and pulled out some warm clothes and blanket.

"Run away and get hypothermia, why don't you. Sure, I'll just nurse you back to health before G gets home and realizes I fucked up... great," he muttered to himself before going back to Luke. He wrapped the younger boy up in the blankets and warm clothes, but he had stopped shivering. "Come on Luke, you need to shiver. It brings up your body temperature.." Luke shook his head and tried to push away the blankets. "No, hey, come on. Keep these on... I'm going to make you a cup of hot tea..." Luke mumbled something as Michael stood and ran back out of the room. He placed a kettle over the fire and sighed, pulling out a mug and bag of peppermint tea. When he was in foster care, his last "mum" was a nurse. She taught him many different tricks and secrets. Once the water was boiling, he poured it into the mug and headed back to the room. He kneeled down next to the blond boy who was shivering again. "Here, you need to drink this," Michael said, putting it up to his blue lips. Luke took a long drink and coughed most of it back up. "I'm going to get you to feel better, okay? I promise. I promise you, baby boy..."