Edicius {5SOS;CASHTON&CAKE&MALUM}✔️

Fourteen: "Take Me Out."

Learning to dissociate from his mind was among one of the easier things to do for Calum. Being able to get away from his mind was always something Calum could do with only a few seconds of silence. He just forgot everything, just focused in on everything until it turned into nothing but a black space that just stared back at him in its own reflect despair.

It was something he didn't have to train himself to do, like smiling or firing a gun, it was just something that came when he was with Ashton that helped him smile;something that blurred his thoughts until all he could focus on was the moment he was in purely and his body had no choice but to completely listen to him and hide his thoughts so he couldn't be distracted.

Like now, he just drifted away from himself and stared at his own empty shell through bleached eyes. He loaded his gun, flicking his wrist to pop the barrel back into place before spinning the cylinder and tucking it into the back of his pants.

His mind was zoned out, staring blankly at the off white colored floor with a devoid expression as he waited for China to come down so they could go out for her runs.

His mind was blank, like a tv in a pitch black room turned onto a channel filled with static playing on the screen and illuminating the dark room. It castes a shadow over the boy sitting on the floor, the scratchy noise filling his ears and blurring with his thoughts until he was nothing but a hollow, staring shell with the unfocused attention on the screen.

He had prepared himself for talking to Michael, knowing that he'd have to fight against coming back down to earth and trying to sympathize with Michael because that would only lead into him reverting back into the broken angel he once was only a few weeks ago. Michael had taken his place and Calum trying to make the situation better would only cause him to fall back from where he finally escaped.

He wanted to help Michael, even after the man had sacrificed him for his own saving, if not because he still faintly carried those feelings of his love for Michael as his best friend, then for the reasoning as to why Michael placed him into the hands of the devil he was captive to.

He stepped out of the car, smiling at China in a faux way to appease her as he shut the door. Doing this alone was his choice, mostly so he could speak with Michael but also because he knew how he felt when a whole group of people entered the house;more people meant more attention and attention was never good in his behalf.

Ashton wasn't home, Calum knew that because why would he randomly start showing up nowadays? He knocked a few times until the door opened and Michael stood there. He looked pathetic and Calum could already feel his past trying to pull him back down from the mindest he was in. His pale skin was covered in stains of purple, red, and blue, a few marks so dark Calum would've thought they were black.

His lip was bursted, the prominent part of split skin still throbbing if he focused hard enough on it. He was clothed in long clothes, the fabric most likely used to cover up even more ghastly sins that now laid across his body, while Calum's healed as much as they could. He wondered if Ashton had carved lies into Michael's back, even if he carved truths into Michael's back, his own muscles tensing lightly where his scars laid.

Michael quietly allowed him into the house, Calum slipping his shoes off on instinct when he faintly smelt bleach that meant Michael just mopped. The blond man was curled into himself, pulling at his beanie a bit more before clearing his throat.

"Are-Are you here for China?"

"Yeah, it should be in his office. Third drawer on the right. Second package." Calum provided smoothly, voice gratefully remaining still as Michael sighed and nodded.

He watched the man leave up the stairs quickly, puffing out a sharp breath as he looked around the hell he once lived in. Everything was the same, the same cleanup he'd give, except for the smell of bleach and the stains from him. He stared at the large blotch of red, the stained floor and piece of carpet that reminded him of that night.

A chill ran up his spin, the ring against his chest igniting into a pure circle of fiery white that scorched his chest. He focused in on the ring, the metal that was laying on his bare skin until he calmed down. Looking back to the stairs, Michael came down in fast steps, handing over the package with a viciously, nervous bite on his lip.

"Ashton said this is for you as well," He passed him a tiny box, Calum only tucking it into his pocket with a glance as he took China's package into his grasp. "Thank you for telling me where her stuff was."

"What're friends for, if not to help, right?" Calum let slip out before he could register it, not necessarily saying it in a rude but more of a wistful way with how he spoke.

Michael's face dropped, the wistful tone of Calum's voice showing on his features as he sighed, nodding because he didn't have anything to say back to the tanned skinned man. He knew what was coming though, the question that he resented the first time he let go of Calum and truly sealed the act of passing the innocent boy off to the most vile of creatures.

"Why did you give me to Ashton?"

"I protect those in the garden but we've all got a bill on our backs and debts on our heads. You met the price I needed to pay." He forced out, words insensitive and tone sharp, practiced to hide what was truly needed to be said.

Calum heard it all by how he spoke, knowing when something was forced and when it was sincere but chose not to push. If Michael didn't want to be truthful, give the honesty that Calum deserved to him, he didn't have to. He didn't have to then, at least, but everyone got what they deserved, whether it be bad or good and Calum wasn't going to miss out on what he rightfully owned anymore in his life.

He left without another word, Michael following behind him to lock up the house. Climbing into the car again, he passed China her package. She ripped it open with her nail, taking out the bundle of cash and giving it to Harry, who immediately began shifting through the bills and popping open the case he had and separating the money into its places as Calum watched his hands and the bills he held in his grips.

Two hundred $10's, one hundred $20's, eighty $50's, seven $100. 2000, 2000, 4000, 700, he marked it down in his mind, looking away from Harry's quick movements and out the window as they rolled up to their next spot for China's collections. He stepped out of the car, slipping back out of his mindest when heard the clicks of everyone else's guns, taking his off safety as well as he stood behind China.

A moment of focus onto the ring against his chest nearly made Calum completely stoic, if not for the thoughts of him thinking luke would despise him now for carrying his pure ring into the line of fire that was sure to come when they stepped into the house and the door shut behind China, himself, and the four other men that stood as protection for the short, yet powerful women in contrast to the men that worked under her.

He couldn't focus on a dead man, at least not while he had to be in and out of the moment for his life and China's life sake. When the moon was high and the sun hiding from his side of the world to cast its light on the other was when Luke could rise up and the rest of his thoughts could hide as he messed with Luke's halo around his finger.

Not while he had become the demon that festered in him from being in hell for so long, only when he was still the angel Luke would tell he would be strong one day was the time he could act like Luke was still there and he could faintly hear the whisperings of a distorted angel.

{~~~~}

Another chapter, yay! *enthusiastic jazz hands* Hello.

Thank you for reading. I hope you enjoyed it. I don't really have a question because I'm in the middle of stealing my brother from school, so thanks for reading again. Take care of yourselves.

And, that's all. Au revoir....