Strings Attached (lashton, editing)

Twenty-Two.

Walking up to Luke's front door, Ashton nervously knocks before taking a step back. He hadn't heard from Luke since the man had dropped him off that morning, despite having promised to let him know how the hearing went; Luke had been uncontactable all day.

"Calum?" Ashton asked, confused as the Māori man stands before him. Calum too looks confused to see Ashton standing there. "Is Luke here? He hasn't talked to me all day."

"I..What? He texted me asking me to pick Tim up from school, he said he'd be with you," Calum furrowed his eyebrows, not sure what was going on.

"I haven't heard from him or seen him since this morning," Ashton could feel a fear start to creep up his spine at the thought of Luke disappearing.

"Shit, shit okay that's not good. He hasn't done something like this for years," Calum takes a step backwards, running a hand through his hair as he remembers the last time Luke took off.

"Something like this? What do you mean Calum? Where is he?" The fear previously creeping up Ashton's spine begins to take over his entire body as he realises something serious is going on. Something serious that he doesn't know about.

"Yes, we need to go find him now," Calum quickly turns back into the apartment, leaving a baffled Ashton in the doorway. "Tim? Tim, buddy! Get your shoes and blanket, you're going next door for a while!"

"Calum, what is going on?" Ashton follows him into the apartment, trying to understand what is happening. "Where is Luke?"

A tired Tim walks out of his room in his pyjamas, dragging his teddy bear and blanket behind him as Calum tries to calmly rush the boy out of the apartment. Upon seeing Ashton, he perks up slightly and runs up to him to wrap his small arms around his legs.

Ashton bends down to hug Tim back, but looks up at Calum hoping to get some sort of explanation.

"We need to get him next door," Calum puts on his own shoes and jacket before gently ushering the two boys out of the front door. "I'll tell you on the way, I think I know where Luke will be."

After leaving a barely awake Tim with the kind lady in the apartment next to Luke's, Calum rushes down the stairs to his car with a more than confused Ashton following close behind him.

"He did this once, three years ago. There was a lot of shit going on, and he didn't know what to do. When we were in high school he used to hide in the park sometimes when he was stressed and anxious, but he's only ever done this once before," Calum rushed out as he started to speed away from the apartment and to a park he knew all too well. "He always goes to the park if he's upset."

"I don't understand, won't he have won the hearing?" Ashton asked, still confused as to what was happening.

There is no way that today could have gone wrong for him, Luke was the better parent and everybody could see it.

"I don't know, Michael must have said something," Calum sighs as he runs his hand through his messy hair once again.

The rest of the car ride is silent as they drive out towards the neighbourhood Luke and Calum had grown up in.

Feeling more than confused, Ashton wishes to himself that he had called Luke earlier rather than waiting for the man to contact him. Maybe if he had, then they wouldn't be driving out to park at 8pm on a cold winter night to look for the man.

"His car, there!" Ashton quickly points out, seeing it messily parked at the edge of the park.

Calum pulls in fast and sharp, jumping out the moment the car stops with Ashton right behind him.