spotlight :: malum

: thirty seven :

Everything felt different. The bedroom of the hotel was cold, a disturbing silence in the air with the tv off and the curtains spread open to reveal the early morning light but yet there was an inevitable fear poking at him. Something was missing.

Someone was missing.

The arms once wrapped around him and the legs that were tangled beneath the sheets with Michael's were gone, nothing left except cold cotton sheets and a faint dip in the bed where Calum once slept.

He turned to his side, checking the other part of the bed for any traces that Calum would still be here but for some reason anything that could be remotely considered as a clue was gone. His phone, his cigarettes, he couldn't even find the simplest trace of Calum's cologne.

The blonde sat up in the bed, tired limbs stretching up to rub his foggy green eyes, the room now brighter once the fatigue no longer clogged his vision and he could come to a conclusion that Calum was gone.

He just got up and left without a single goodbye and after the night they just had, Michael expected more. The least he could've done was leave a note or text him saying he needed to get going. Maybe he just had to go run an errand or meet up with Luke, but Michael doubts that he'd go without him.

Reaching up he let his fingertips trace over his lips, the post-kiss sensation was still lingering on him. There was a low tingle and he could still feel the sparks, his heart fluttered at the remembrance only to sink when he realized that yesterday was Calum's last day, he's gone.

So much about it hurt, the emptiness, the sudden lack of life in the room, nothing about this felt real. He wanted to wake up and see that he was dreaming all of this and Calum would be right beside him in the bed just like they had fallen asleep, Michael gave a small pinch to his arm, nothing. This is the sad truth.

His phone buzzed from under the sheets, immediately expecting it to be the boy who got up and left him he scoured for the device and let a slow, harsh pang of defeat wash over him seeing missed texts from Ashton instead. The twenty consecutive messages all pertained around where he is and various confused emojis and question marks when Michael hadn't answered after ten minutes. The blonde scrolled down to the beginning of his notifications, the defeat he once drowned in now letting him resurface and breathe a breath of fresh air.

Missed Voicemail from Calum (1)

The stakes were high when he unlocked his phone to finally see what this boy had to say, Michael honestly had no clue what he wants to hear. A hopeful I'll be back soon would be nice, or something along those lines to assure him that Calum did not just stand him up like he's a hook up. He's not a sad one night stand, they actually had something, they both know that.

Sucking in a sharp breath of the cold hotel room air, Michael wavered his trembling thumb over the play button, turning his volume up as he nervously pressed it.

"Hey," Calum's voice was hushed, out of breath as the sound of camera flashes and people speaking drowned out into muffles behind his slow, steady voice. "If you're listening to this you're probably wondering where the hell I am, or what I'm doing and. . ." The brunette spoke worriedly, his sigh shaky and his breathing heavy as he cursed, something incoherent and under his breath, to himself before he continued. "I'm at the airport."

Michael's heart dropped to his stomach, stare locked on the wall in front of him as he clutched his phone tighter.

"I'm hiding from the paparazzi so I can talk to you, my plane is boarding soon so I have to say this and I'll just. . .leave." It sounded like he was forcing himself to do this, pushing everything behind him as the breath he was holding released. "I'm in love with you, Michael."