damaged || muke

{11}

"where have you been all night?"

luke can hear his mothers voice as soon as he walks through the door into his home. he ran the whole way home without stopping. he had droplets of sweat dripping from his hairline. he was out of breath and so lightheaded he thought he could faint.

"i was-" like tries to catch his breath, "i was at michael's. i meant to call you, but i just have forgot."

"you forgot? you forgot to call your mother who has been worried sick about you all night?" her voice raises ever so slightly. luke knew she was angry. with everything that has been happening over the past few hours, the thought of calling his mum to let her know where he was completely slipped his mind.

"i'm sorry, it won't happen again," he assured, taking his bottom lip between his teeth. he didn't want to tell her about michael. he didn't know how she would react.

before luke even has time to comprehend what's going on, his mum slaps him on the cheek with the back of her hand. luke is dumbfounded as he caresses his cheek and a small yelp leaves his mouth.

"you're damn right it won't happen again," her voice was stern and sharp.

luke could feel a tear fall down his cheek. all he can think of is how he ended up in this mess. the mess he called his life. between his mum and michael, he didn't know how much more he could take. the past 24 hours have been the worst hours of his life. almost losing michael, the only person he could rely on, made him realize how shitty of a mum he had. if michael were gone, he could never choose to rely on her or anything, really.

"fuck you," is all he says, surprising both his mum and himself, before he turns around and walks back out the door.

he couldn't cry anymore. he was all cried out. he was angry and exhausted. he hasn't slept in what felt like ages. he had no idea what day it was or what time it was with his phone being dead. he couldn't come to a conclusion on whether he was dreaming or not. everything right now felt so unreal. all he knew was that if this was dream, he wanted to wake up.

luke finds himself walking back to the hospital. he had some time to cool off on his walk. this is the only place he could think of to go. anywhere michael is, is where he wanted to be.

as he is about to re-enter the hospital, he sees calum walking out. he hopes the older lad wouldn't see him, but of course, he does.

"luke? what are you doing back here?" calum questions. he looked just as tired and drained as luke did.

"i don't know, honestly. i feel horrible for leaving earlier, but now that i'm here, i don't know if i'm ready to see him yet," the blonde admits sheepishly. just the thought of seeing michael in the hospital bed made him nauseous.

"he hasn't woken up yet. maybe you should go home and get some rest and then come back later," the older boy suggest. calum takes a few steps closer to luke. his eyes squint when noticing a red mark on his cheek, "what happened here?"

just for a second, luke gives calum a puzzled look, but then quickly remembers what happened with his mum when seeing calum look at his cheek. he had completely forgotten about it.

"i can't go home," luke ignores his question as he looks down at the floor, avoiding eye contact and trying to hide the red mark on his face.

calum is ready to ask what happened again, or even ask why luke couldn't go home, but he didn't want to pry. if the younger boy didn't want to talk about it then he didn't have to. he knew luke had a good bond with michael and was hurting right now.

"why don't you come back to my place for awhile then? you can get some sleep and freshen up; we can come back later together," he suggest.

luke is uneasy about the offer. he knew he had to get some sleep and there was no way he could go back home right now. he wanted to stay with michael, knowing that he had no other family to come be with him when he woke up, but he knew he needed rest. it was the best thing for him right now.

"yeah," he says, "that sounds nice."