aggression | luke hemmings

Chapter Seventy Nine

Luke's POV

The next day, I get dressed into black ripped skinnies and my Nirvana t-shirt. I brush my teeth, trying to avoid the mirror that I flipped back around because I look horrid. Pink eyes and tear-stained cheeks is not a good look for me.

I climb down the stile and fetch a water bottle from the fridge and go see Peter for a little bit. He is sound asleep, clutching onto that stuffed penguin like there is no tomorrow. I smile at him ever so slightly and silently walk out of the room.

I sit down on the couch in the lounge just as my cell phone rings from on the kitchen table. I stand up as the ringer continues blaring loudly and annoyingly. It reads Michael Clifford in bright, bold letters across the top of the screen, so I click answer.

"Hey," I breathe out, trying not to sound as broken as I am.

"Aye bitchface. I was just wondering-- Are you okay, mate?" Mike asks me.

"No."

A moment of reticence passes, "D'you know where Becca went?"

"No, why? Yesterday she just ran away from me, how am I supposed to know?"

"Oh. Well she came up to me after she left the apartment, and she asked if she could borrow some money, and then after I gave her 10 dollars then she took off toward the shopping center."

"What would she need 10 notes for?" I counter. "And what would she need to go shopping for at a time like this?"

"Don't ask me, Luke. Go and find her later on, you don't really have much more choices," Michael exhales deeply. I nod.

"Alright, bye," I sigh.

"Yep, bye." I hang up and place my phone back on the table. I go to the couch and sit there, pondering about where I should look first and all that shit. Surprisingly, it takes me a few hours to get everything sorted and finally leave the house after checking on Peter.

I hop in the black Ford car and drive off toward the main shopping center, where Michael told me Becca ran to last night.

There are puddles everywhere when I reach the humongous car park. It's super cloudy this morning, given the amount of rain that showered down last night and caused an hour long power outage. I look over at each corner of the place, and I see something silver laying on the ground near the bus station booth.

I jog up to it and find that it's just a cell phone, and it probably doesn't work anymore since it has a cracked screen and it's been sitting in water for a quite a bit. Regarding my assumption, I press on the power button and the screen flickers on and off a few times, in wild colors. Although it's hard to see the lock screen photo, I see a familiar brunette sitting with a familiar group of birds. It's Becca, Julie, Kristen, Livi,  Brooke and Harmony. Then the screen goes black completely.

I drop the phone and wipe my eyes, knowing that she was definitely here last night. I run up to the bench under the rain guard on the bus stop, and I sit down on it. There is lots of trash in the bin next to it and it looks like cardboard. There is also a plastic shopping bag on the side of the bench that I'm not sitting on, and three drops of blood.

Blood?

I rip open the bag, gasping at the sight. Bandages, newly bought, and blades. Used blades.

I erupt in tears again and toss the bag in the green trash bin. I know it was Bec. Why would she do this? I mean I get that I cheated on her, and I regret every second of it, and I don't have the right to use alcohol as an excuse, but I tried to persuade her last night not to do this to herself. It wasn't suicide, but cutting is the next best --or should I say worse-- thing.