Ghost ⇔ Cake ✓

Twelve: Michael's Mistake

Michael didn't have a great experience when he went to jail. Which wasn't to say that someone would have a good experience in jail, but Michael's was especially bad. And he wasn't even in there for more than a month.

He was arrested about a year and a half ago, before he met Luke or any of the other boys. He got caught with drugs that he got from Wesley, back when he did them. He went to juvy, was arrested, and lived in a cell for three weeks, and then was released on bail, thanks to his rich parents.

During his time there, Michael learned how to fight, because fighting seemed to be the number one favorite pastime of inmates. He grew meaner, tougher. His soft exterior turned hard and guarded. He put up walls. Learned not to trust people so easily. Yet, he never gave up Wesley's name.

Michael wasn't sure why. It wasn't like Wesley Davis was close to his heart or even considered a friend. But he figured he had made enough enemies while he was behind bars. He didn't want any more once he was out of them.

Michael didn't like to think about jail. It was a hard time for him, pretty much the whole reason why he was so much of an asshole today. Trying to imagine Ashton there, sleeping on a mattress hard as stone, freezing in the cold air, eating shitty prison food in the cafeteria full of people with tattooed necks and pierced noses, locked in a building with extremely dangerous people-- it made Michael shiver. He remembered the fights that would break out. Ashton had already been a punching bag for too long. He had never thrown a punch. Michael hated to imagine Ashton, soft and tender and quiet, in a building with frightening people.

Not to mention that Ashton, while only seventeen, was tried as an adult. They do that for extreme cases, like murder. Especially if the murderer was only a few months away from turning eighteen. Michael was in juvy and it was awful. Ashton was in prison. He was with adults, people even meaner and even tougher than the people Michael was locked up with. It made Michael sick to his stomach. Ashton wasn't exactly kind. In fact, he was kind of a dick. But he also cared a lot for people, and Michael knew he didn't deserve to be in jail. Regardless of whether he killed Calum or not, Ashton didn't deserve that.

Michael woke up alone in his master bedroom. His sheets were tangled around his legs, his boxer-clad body on full display to the empty house. The room was hot and Michael was covered in sweat, although he wasn't sure whether that was because of the temperature or the dream he had: Ashton in jail, beaten to a bloody pulp, his orange jumpsuit stained red, tears streaked down his cheeks.

Michael stood up groggily. He fumbled for his phone, on a devastating three percent of battery, on his bedside table. He squinted at the screen, remembering how there used to be a flood of messages from Luke, Ashton, and Calum every morning. Now there were only a few texts from Luke. Calum was gone. Ashton was arrested. And Luke and Michael were the only ones left.

They hadn't seen the alive Calum for a couple of days. Ever since they had found out that nobody could see him, apart from the other boys, things had gotten weird and twisted and tense. Luke refused to look at him, his logical mind finding it ridiculous and slightly frightening. Michael figured it was too hard on Luke even at the beginning, seeing someone who so closely resembled his best friend. And now, with this strange doppelgänger that may not even be human... Michael supposed it was a bit too much to take in.

Calum had apparently kept his space. Michael was sure the kid was having a difficult time adjusting to the fact that he was invisible to everyone, although Michael wasn't quite positive how he hadn't realized that earlier. Michael wondered how long he had been invisible. Clearly not his entire life, as his family would have noticed. Michael got a headache just thinking about it.

He showered. He ran a toothbrush over his teeth. He dressed in a shirt that may or may not be clean. He grabbed a protein bar from the cabinet. Then he stood in his massive kitchen that enjoyed the presence of nobody but him, and he called Luke.