Vanished || l.h. au

four

Hey guys so 1) I know it's been a bit since I've updated but I'm on summer break now so updates should be more often and 2) I wrote this on my phone so forgive me for any errors. Enjoy! :)

Chapter 4

Beth.

Maybe he's just the voice inside my head now, I thought to myself, thinking back to when I thought I heard him both in my room the night of his disappearance, and the following morning in my living room as I watched the news coverage on him. I looked down at my feet as I trekked along the routine route to school, a hellhole that I was just not quite yet ready to face right now.

I looked up at the sky, noticing the grey clouds that were starting to cover its canvas. I held out my hand to see if I would catch any rain drops. One fell and splattered onto the skin of the palm of my hand. I wiped my hand with the drop on my shorts, moving my feet faster so I would get to school quicker. The last thing I needed was to arrive drenched with rain.

No matter how much I tried to distract myself with details of my surrounding, the green leaves of the trees, the wild flowers that covered people's lawns, or the fresh summer breeze that drifted through the air, my mind always came back to Luke, as if he was the boomerang of my thoughts.

"Hey, do you need a ride?" I heard from beside me. I pulled my mind out of running thoughts of Luke and looked to my right, seeing a black Enclave Buick driving slowly next to me, trying to match my walking speed. I looked through the rolled-down window to see Calum, one of my school's greatest valued soccer players. He was good at his sport, and everyone in school knew him. But I certainly wasn't the popular type so I had no idea why he was even bothering to talk to me.

"No, I'm fine. Thanks, though." I said, giving him a small closed lip smile before looking ahead again.

"C'mon I insist. It's about to rain, you're going to get soaked." He bargained. I sighed and looked up at the sky again, seeing that it did in fact get even darker.

"I guess you're right." I said. He stopped his car and I walked around the front, reaching for the handle as he leaned over the console to open the door for me from the inside.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked, once I situated myself into his passenger seat. He switched the car shift into Drive and resumed the path to school.

It was the beginning of May, and looking up at the clouded sky I knew we were getting the first of our summer rains today.

"I heard about Luke. I'm sorry." He replied, looking over at me briefly before returning his attention back towards the road.

"So you're offering me this ride out of pity?" I concluded, looking over at him. I didn't need his pity, I didn't want his or anybody else's. It wasn't pity I needed, it was Luke. I needed him back.

"No. Not pity, I just... I know you need someone right now, who wouldn't? That someone was Luke for you and he's gone right now. So you need somebody..." He rambled off, seeming to lose track of what he was trying to say.

"And you're that somebody?" I tried to clarify, raising an eyebrow at Calum, who truthfully was practically a stranger to me. Prior to this day we had never spoken. We've gone to school together for these past four years and not once was a sentence uttered between us. I couldn't help but wonder truly why now? It was almost the end of senior year, there really was no point.

After a few seconds, he nodded his head, turning to face towards me as we reached a stoplight.

"I'd like to be."

Luke.

We were walking the path to school together, like we'd normally do. Of course, this time she wasn't aware I was there.