The Missing Boy

Chapter 12 - Grounded

The two boys don't realise it's morning until the sun seeps through the crack in the curtains and momentarily blinds Axel.

"Wow it's morning already." Miles says as he listens to the birds chirping outside. The night seemed to move at an incredibly fast pace but it quickly became a night Miles could never forget. It was the night Miles found out his neighbour was a vampire. The night he found out what happened to the missing boy during those 4 lonely years. And also the night Miles realised he had feelings for said boy.

Miles had been pondering with this idea for a while now. That he could quite possibly be gay or at the minimum be interested in boys. He solidified it earlier today. A normal person would have been more skeptical if a vampire showed up at their doorstep. And Miles realised that it wasn't just because Axel was his friend that he was so accepting. It was because he liked him. Miles knows that he isn't completely straight. He understands that. And is ok with that.

"I guess it's safe to say that you don't burn in sunlight."

"I burn just as much as you do."

"So a lot then." Axel laughs at the reply and makes a mental reminder to make sure Miles wears sun block.

Miles yawns and is in desperate need for some sleep but he is willing to torture his sleep deprived brain if it means getting to stare at the boy he likes for just a little bit longer.

"You should go home. Get some rest." Axel says. He lights his second joint of the day.

As much as Miles would like to say no, he tells Axel the opposite. "My parents are probably worried sick." Miles says remembering his phone that he left on his pillow. The missed calls from his mother must be adding up. "What am I supposed to tell them?"

"The truth. That you stayed over at mine. But you might want to leave out all the vampire and biting stuff."

"You think?" Miles says sarcastically. He watches how Axel puts the joint in his mouth and releases the smoke into the air. He watches his lips. The shape of them. The colour of them. And he remembers his fangs. Long and sharp. And how sexy he looked when he smiled.

••••••••••

Miles' mother, Cassie, instantly smells the scent of weed infused into the cotton of her son's hoodie. Miles curses that be hadn't taken precaution.

"What the hell do you call this?! Your dad and I have been calling you all night and you come back home at 5 am smelling like weed?! Where were you?"

"I stayed over at Axel's."

His mother scoffs. "Of course you did."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Miles can't help the angry undertone of his voice.

"You would never do anything like this unless somebody made you."

"Made me? I chose to be there."

"Well I don't want you to be there anymore. I don't want you hanging out with him Miles."

•••••••••••

As Miles walks to school the following Monday morning, he thinks about everything that's happened. He starts from the beginning: the abduction, to Axel coming back, to him being a vampire, to finding out about his feelings towards Axel and finally to his mom telling him that he should stay away from his neighbour.

Miles thinks his head might explode.

He took it upon himself to rest during the weekend and used the excuse that he was grounded as to why he didn't go out, not that he only had one friend. One friend that his mother forbid him to have. So zero friends?

He hated whenever his phone rang because he knew it wasn't his parents which meant it could only be one other person. Axel. And it's as if just thinking about him has made him magically appear by Miles' side.

"Are you avoiding me?"

"No." Miles answers. Axel looks at him sadly.

"I know it's hard to wrap your head around me being a vampire and I get it if-"

"No. Axel I'm really not avoiding you. I'm just grounded." Miles looks to the ground, holding the straps of his backpack.

"Grounded? Shit. I'm sorry about that."

"My mom freaked when I didn't come home Friday night and said I can't leave the house except for school. So here I am...I guess." Miles very purposefully avoids mentioning his mother's dislike towards Axel.

They continue walking to school. Both up early. Miles because he always wakes up early. Axel because they have to volunteer at the library for Miss Nancy if it means staying in the classroom during lunch.

Organising the library seems to drag on longer than usual. Usually their little bickering and jokes allow for the morning to go by quicker but today there's a silence between them. One that neither of them are familiar with. Or have become unfamiliar with. They've already established that this is nothing like middle school yet Axel and Miles feel like their younger selves. The versions of themselves that didn't speak to each other. The versions of themselves before the crash. It makes for a boring and awkward start of the week.

"Are you ok? Are you sure you're not upset with me?" Axel asks because the thought of Miles being upset with him or even hating him, terrifies Axel. If the world found out about him being a vampire, they would hate him. He can't have Miles hate him too. He's been alone long enough.

"It's not something that you've done." Miles glumly sits at a table in their classroom, pulling out his lunch from his bag.

"What then?" Axel says sitting on the table next to Miles' bag.

"It's nothing. Really it's nothing."

Axel looks down from his seat on the table and studies the shorter boy's face. The slight pout of his lips and the downcast of his eyes that are shielded by his glasses. Something is wrong. Axel hates that he doesn't know what it is but he lets it go.

"If you say so."

Again, the two boys don't talk. The silences aren't comfortable but awkward. And neither boy knows how to fix it.

His mother's warning keeps playing in his mind. I don't want you hanging out with him Miles. And Miles hates that it's taking a toll on his and Axel's relationship. He hates that he's actually considering it.