Tiny Voices (A Calum Hood fanfic)

chapter twenty-two

-- Calum's POV--

Do do do do do do do do do do! Marimba sounded throughout my room, reverberating off the walls and making me shoot up in bed. 7am. The Voice final was starting.

I quickly reached under my bed for my laptop and opened it up, already having the livestream page open (I'd never been so organised). I was waiting impatiently for my internet to connect.

"C'mon," I whispered encouragingly, watching the white bars go up and down and up and down. Then finally, my screen came to life, showing the most beautiful girl I have ever seen.

Brooke had dyed her hair. It was a dark brown colour with blonde bits at the bottom - a change I hadn't seen until that moment. I wonder when she dyed it. Her dark eye makeup made her eyes, blue as the depths of the ocean, pierce your soul even more than they normally would. She looked so good.

"I can't get no, sat-is-faction" she sang, swaying to the rhythm of the song she knew so well. I remembered her telling me one night at her apartment about how much she loved the Stones, but didn't tell anyone because she 'didn't want to sound like a white girl who pretended to know about old music for attention'. I smiled, gladly allowing the wave of memories to wash over my tired mind.

My heart was weighed down with pride by how bright she was shining. She was a star - she moved around the stage like it was where she was meant to be and sang like it was the first thing she was ever taught how to do.

I watched the girl I love -because I realised long ago that I really did love her- living out her dream on a computer screen (in an annoyingly low quality), halfway across the world and I had never been more proud.

🌸🌿

--Brooke's POV--

My heart was pounding and my ears were ringing as I walked offstage. My hands were shaking as I ran my fingers through my hair, walking slowly down the hall to my dressing room. I threw myself onto the black leather chair in front of the brightly lit mirror along the wall and exhaled deeply. A small smile spread across my lips.

"You're doing it," I told the image in the mirror. She didn't look like me, with bright lipstick and heavy make up and confidence displayed clearly across her face, but she moved when I moved. I liked her, she was confident and she was achieving things. A new me, I guess.

I could hear Emily, the other finalist who was in Will's team, performing her version of Firework by Katy Perry. I didn't want to hear her, it would just put me off and allow doubt to creep into my mind.

I reached for my iPhone, already going through my music library in my head to pick the perfect "drown out the world" song. When I looked at the lock screen, I had 5 missed calls from a number I didn't recognise - all inside 5 minutes of each other.

"Shit," I said under my breath. Although I didn't know who it was, 5 missed calls is never a good sign. I quickly dialled the number back and listened to the ring.

"Hello?" said a shaky male voice I didn't recognise on the other end of the line.

"Um, hi," I said, "who is this? I just got, like, 5 missed calls from this number an-"

"You're Brooke aren't you?" asked the man, his voice still shaky. "I'm so glad you called back, there's been an accident..." he said, his voice cracking at the end of his sentence. I was beyond confused.

"Okay...well, who are you? Are you okay?" I asked, still dazed.

"I found your number saved as a "in case of emergency" number in her phone so I just kept calling you, I didn't know who else to call...there didn't seem to be anyone else she called or-" then it hit me.

"Where is she? What happened? Where are you?" I spat out in a panic.

"I'm at the hospital...oh god," he said, starting to cry. I listened for a couple of seconds, the noise of his strained emotions hitting the back of my skull and replaying over and over.

"Is this a contact for Chloe?" the voice was a professional one, I assumed a nurse had taken the phone off the hysterical man. "You need to come to the hospital now," she said once I had confirmed who I was.

Danny poked his head around my dressing room door, "Showtim-", he stopped when he saw me. I was standing in the middle of the room, clutching the phone to my ear with one hand and clutching my hair with the other.

"Okay," I said into the phone before hanging up.

"You okay hun?" Danny said. I couldn't breathe. My throat was tightening and my limbs felt weak; I don't know how I'm still standing.

"I-I...I need-" I tried to tell him, I really did, but words didn't seem like something that was going to come out of my mouth. It felt like vomit was more probable than speech at this moment in time.

"I need a taxi," I finally managed.

"But, Brooke, you're up nex-"

"Danny. Get me a taxi," I said strongly, pushing past him and walking towards the exit of the arena, leaving behind everything I had worked toward for the past 8 months, and hoping that my best friend was still alive.

🌺

hellOoOo plot twist???!

lol why am i such a loser okay hope this was slightly good and yeah i'll try and update this soon i promise xx