Rosefort Rehabilitation Centre.

Calum had no idea how to successfully smuggle a kitten.

Calum, 2013.

As Ash abandoned his Cajon, Cal frowned. His nerves may have been getting slightly better, but his mental state most definitely had not. In therapy that morning, he had explained his new nightmare to his doctor, and his doctor had claimed that it most likely meant that Calum was scared of being the cause of his friend’s pain.

Calum had struggled to understand what his doctor had meant when saying that, but here, now, playing one of their own songs to a common room dotted with people, he started to understand.

The four of them were unlikely friends. They had bonded, however, when just a few weeks into Calum’s stay; the nurses had produced several instruments seemingly out of nowhere. Though both Luke and Mikey had reached for the guitar, the nurses produced a second faster than lightning, appeasing them both.

Ash, naturally, headed to the Cajon, the nurses explaining that there was no way in hell they were going to let any of them loose with a drum set or drumsticks. Especially drumsticks. It had been Esther that had explained this, and because she was universally adored by the residents, everybody just nodded and accepted whatever she said. Ash wasn’t best pleased, Calum had guessed, but honestly, Ash was probably just happy to have an instrument to drum on instead of the random objects he had used before. The walls, the floors, his legs, others legs, bed frames, and he’d even once used Calum’s head to drum out the beat to ‘Kiss Me Kiss Me’. What an excellent day that had been for Calum.

Ashton drumming away on his head hadn’t been the problem. The problem had come a few hours later when Calum’s head was pounding so hard he’d become convinced Ash had given him a concussion. Calum dreaded the thought of how that day would have gone if Ash had been allowed access to drumsticks.

Before Rae had arrived, Calum had spent the majority of his nights in Ash’s room. Ash was the only one that could calm him down when his panic attacks hit. Now, however, the brunette had had to spend the nights by himself in his own room. This was because of Ashton’s increasingly frequent night time watched of the girls.

Calum wasn’t sure why Ash had begun to become so much more protective of the girls. Whenever he was asked, he simply changed the subject, knowing that nobody would bother steering him back to it. Cal and Luke had stopped bothering to attempt to bribe Mikey. That boy seemed immune to everything. Except kittens. Unfortunately, Calum had no idea how to successfully smuggle a kitten into this place. Let alone how they’d take care of the damned thing.