bus driver ; muke

birmingham

Chapter Six ⇒ Birmingham

Today was Luke's court date and Michael was going whether his parents wanted him to or not. He needed to support his Luke. Reassure him if he got sad or calm him down if he got angry. Everything was going to be ok. Well, that's what Michael told himself every night. 

As Michael walked up the stairs to his front door, he thought about how this conversation with his parents would go. He'd probably ask and they'd immediately say no. Then Michael would beg and beg, then hopefully they'd start to cave when they saw how much Luke meant to Michael. 

When Michael walked through his front door, though, his heart sunk and shattered in the dark pit of his stomach. Right away, he noticed his mother packing pots and pans into a large cardboard box that they had used when moving to New York. 

"What are you doing?" Michael asked, his voice weakly quavering. He tugged his sleeves over his hands. He could already tell what the answer would be from the scene in front of him, but he asked anyways. 

His mother looked up and gave him a soft smile. "Michael, honey. How was your day at school?" She asked, avoiding the question and setting the last pan in the box. 

Michael frowned. "It was fine." He muttered quickly. "Why did you avoid my question?" 

Mrs. Clifford's smile slowly twisted into an apologetic smile. "There's something me and your father need to talk to you about, sweetheart." She told him gently just as footsteps started to echo through the hall. 

"Ah, he's home?" Mr. Clifford grinned when he reached the end of the stairs. He looked disturbingly happy as he approached Michael, who cringed away from his father. Michael and his parents hadn't exactly made up, so their interactions were awkward. 

Nonetheless, Mr. Clifford slung his large arm across Michael's thin shoulders. "C'mon, son. Your mother and I have something we need to tell you." He announced, repeating exactly what Michael's mother had said. 

Michael was led into the living room. The living room was empty except for two couches and a chair. It made Michael's stomach churn even more than it already was. 

Mr and Mrs. Clifford took a seat on the furthest couch so Michael took the seat across from them. His hands clung together in his lap and he stared awkwardly at his parents as a silence covered the three. 

"Ok," Mr. Clifford finally spoke up, the happy grin still twisted on his features. "Good news, Mikey! We're moving back to Birmingham!"

Even though Michael could guess by the sudden lack of furniture that they were moving, he didn't expect they'd be moving so far away. Far away from his Lukey. 

His eyes widened and bile began to rise in his throat. The words he wanted to shout at his parents were caught in his throat so he sat there, practically writhing because he was so unbearably uncomfortable. 

"Michael, honey? You look like you're going to be sick." Mrs. Clifford commented, about to get up to aid her son when he finally found his words. And they came out fast, almost like his words were vomit. 

"I don't want to move!" Michael shouted, leaping out of his seat so he could overpower his parents by towering over them. He clenched his fists tight, trying to stop himself from swinging his fist at the disgusting grin on his fathers face. "I like New York, I don't want to move!" 

Mrs. Clifford sighed. "Well, New York is just so much more expensive than Birmingham-"

"Bullshit, you just want to get me away from Luke!" Michael randomly accused. It had been purely off the top of his head at first, but the more he thought about it, it actually made sense if that had been the reason. His mother's face just furthered that point because she looked like she'd been caught in a lie. 

Mr. Clifford stood up as well, Michael suddenly feeling vulnerable because his father was much taller than him. "Do not shout at your mother." He grunted, his large hands clenching as well. 

Michael took a deep breath to try to rid of the fear. "So that is the reason, isn't it?" He snapped, keeping hard eye contact with the much taller and angry man towering over him. 

Michael's father smirked and his made anger boil in his stomach profusely. "It is indeed. It's for your own good. Now, go pack your stuff." He ordered, relaxing his fists and crossing his arms over his chest. 

Tears began to brim Michael's eyes as realization that he wouldn't be able to change his parents minds set in. "Can I at least say goodbye to him?" He whimpered miserably, letting his head fall.

"That's the reason we're leaving so suddenly, so you can't say goodbye to him and so he won't know where we're leaving to." Mr. Clifford explained and the sinister tone in his voice got a tear to slip from Michael's eyes. "Now, go pack." 

And with that, Michael turned and sadly trudged to his room to pack his bags for Birmingham. 

+

Luke was released. They only bad things was that he was charged with sexual assault but at least he didn't need to spend time in prison. His roommate, Ashton Irwin, was going to help him pay off the fine.

Another bad thing was he was fired from his bus driver job, but he was surprisingly ok with that. He'd miss talking with Michael every morning but they could always text and talking on the phone. 

'I'm gonna come over to yours. Distract your parents somehow? I miss you a lot.' Luke texted Michael. He waited for a bit for a reply while he brushed his teeth, fixed his hair and such. Though, the reply he got was strange. 

'The number you have texted is out of order.'

Lule just furrowed his eyebrows but didn't think much of it. He hoped in Ashton's car and then drove to Michael's house. He guessed it was sort of a bad idea since Michael's parents could be home but what's the worst they could do? They could call the cops on Luke again, but Luke doubted they'd do it again.

Michael's driveway was empty when he pulled into it and for some reason it didn't set well in Luke's stomach. He parked in the driveway then went up and knocked on the door twice. No answer. He waited a bit then knocked again. No answer.

As Luke turned around to go back to the car, something on the front lawn that he hadn't notice before caught his eye. 

A for sale sign.

Luke rushed up to it. He could already feel tears forming in his eyes. He touched it just to make sure it was real. He looked around to make sure he was at the right house. He couldn't believe. Michael was gone and he didn't even say goodbye. 

That night, Luke just sat beside the for sale sign. He ignored all messages he got on his phone because none of them were from Michael. He cried in anger for a couple hours then didn't cry at all, instead started blankly at the road in front of him. He felt dead.

He'd never get to see his Mikey again.