Reaction || Malum ||

5

When we look at something, a thousand things can run through our minds. I guess that's why they say a picture is worth a thousand words. When you see something for the first time I think it's worth a lot more than just a thousand words. So many things swarm your brain and it's actually quite intriguing.

When I first saw Calum, at least a million things were going around in my head. Now that those thoughts are dwindling into the thousands, I'm able to focus on the important few. I want to know why he doesn't talk and why he's scared but also I want to know simple things. Like what's his favorite band, favorite color and even what is favorite movie. You know, the little things.

It's been two weeks since Calum moved in with me and two weeks of pure silence. Since the night in the library Calum has been avoiding me like I have the plague. When I go down to eat dinner he goes up to his room, when I beat him to the bathroom in the mornings he hides in his room until I'm finished, honestly, I hate it. I feel like I've done something wrong to make him avoid me but at the same time he's not the friendliest lad to start with.

I leave for my vacation on Friday and I have to start my packing now if I ever want to get it done. I hated to pack. Usually when I packed I'd just gather up all my clothes and take them to Rose to put in a suitcase but she's not here. Since I'll be gone for a couple weeks my parents decided to give her a vacation and she went to spend time with her new "boyfriend" she met online. I tried to tell her people on the internet are creepy but she's not easily frightened.

I sighed at the huge pile of clothes that had accumulated on my bed in somewhat organized piles. Being organized is not a strong suit of mine, I can barely keep my room clean. I went over a mental checklist of what I needed and then checked my piles to see what I had. Once what I had was sufficient, I headed off to find a suitcase.

Our hall closet was huge but of course the suitcase I needed was at the very tip top of the shelf. With a groan, I started to jump up and down until everything on the top shelf came tumbling down on top of me. I'm pretty sure that the scream I made was so girly that I'm gonna have to do some push-ups to heavy metal later, but for now I was trapped under junk. The suitcase I needed was right next to me and I was able to pull myself up to yank it up from the bottom of the pile. When I pulled the handle with all I had it sent me flying out of the door and into the hallway with a thud.

"Wonderful." I grumbled to myself and remained on the ground in defeat. When I cocked my head to the side I saw Calum's bedroom door cracked with him peeking around it. When our eyes met his face remained neutral and he blinked a few times just staring down at me.

"Thanks for the help Cal." I groaned and pulled myself from the floor dusting off my clothes. I turned to look at the messy closet trying to decide whether I should clean it up or not. Nah, I can't get it later, I thought and shut the door. Then I looked back to Calum who was still standing in his doorway.

He showed me the book in his hand with a shrug as if to say "sorry I was reading," then went to shut the door but I caught it with my hand.

"You avoid me for 2 fucking weeks then just shrug at me?!" I yelled and Calum looked scared. He nodded his head frantically and backed up against the dresser like he was trying to get away from me.

"We are living in the same house now whether you like it or not Calum, you can't avoid me." I said with my voice still raised. Calum nodded again then shut his eyes tightly like he wanted me to disappear. I hated that he looked so terrified but this time it was my fault. I turned to leave but saw a pile of clothes on his bed similar to what I had in my room but his was substantially smaller.

"Are you going somewhere?" I gestured to the clothes and Calum nodded slowly. He turned his back to me for just a second then turned back around with a brochure in his hand. His trembling hand stuck it out for me to take and it looked really familiar. It was the brochure for the camp I was about to leave for.