echo // hemmings [completed]

three | twisted

—August 19th—

"She's waiting for me," Luke murmured to himself. Michael stood by his friend's side, his hands in his pocket to hide the trembling.

"Luke, she's not here anymore," Michael mustered. "You need to accept it." Michael wanted to help Luke, he really did. But at the same time, he was scared. For the first time in Michael's life, he was afraid of the naive and kind, Luke Hemmings.

"Of course she is Michael," Luke said with a pleasant expression.

That look of Luke's didn't calm down Michael in the slightest bit. Luke had been in the hospital for two weeks, and he hadn't said a word about his current disability. Riley, even when dead, was still his highest priority, and it was concerning.

It wasn't the way that he smiled his brightest around her, it was the fact that no one else could light his day the way she did. It wasn't how he would answer her call at any time of the day, it was because he would easily hesitate to anyone else's. It was like he was nothing without her, and Michael feared it was true; that Luke would truly become a hollow shell without the presence of a particular brunette.

"Luke, she's gone. You cannot and will not see her anymore," Michael stated.

Ever since they met her, Luke's life seemed to revolve around Riley, like his every breath and word was dedicated to her. He chose to watch movies with her over pizza parties with them and shopping for her birthday gift over Calum's soccer championship. Luke would choose nothing over Riley, not even his own life.

And it wasn't like Michael was the only one who saw it. They all did, Calum and Ashton, his classmates, his family, even Riley herself. The mere thought of leaving Riley alone was a heavy burden to Luke

"She's waiting for me in her dorm room. She's probably listening to those old Click 5 songs as she waits, they're her favorite band you know?" Luke smiled at the thought of his precious girlfriend awaiting his arrival. Michael paused before nodding as he did know that little tidbit about Riley. "I really miss her. I can't wait to get out of here and visit her." 

But even if she was alive, would she be waiting with only him on her mind? Riley had told Luke so many times she could handle herself, but no matter what; Luke was still there for her. In the beginning, it seemed like he was simply a love-sick puppy, harmless and innocent, but that wasn't the case anymore. Riley was everything to Luke. He craved her, needed her, strived for her. It was a twisted love, the kind that was far too sweet that it could be defined as sickening.

Luke loved Riley in ways that she never understood. And Riley had told Michael, Calum, and Ashton before, of the idea of separating herself from Luke for a bit. But she could never execute her plan, fearing to see the consequences it would bring upon Luke.

She loved Luke, she really did; but not in the same way he loved her.

That's why Michael's party was such a decisive moment.

They established that Luke didn't remember anything from Michael's party, but Michael did. He remembered everything, from the smell of chlorine and beer to Ashton getting drunk and passing out in the bathtub. On that day, Riley was fully prepared to break-up with Luke. After many months of contemplating the decision, she knew that if she didn't set boundaries in their relationship, Luke's mind would only deteriorate. So just like how she mapped it out in her head, she said the words Luke wished never to hear. And Luke, as expected, didn't handle it well at all.

He left the party early, angry or hysterical they weren't sure, leaving Riley without a ride. So she asked Calum and he accepted her request as the party's mood had turned sour anyway.

But what Michael wished he didn't remember was seeing the news in the morning. Discovering that on the streets a drunk couple hit Luke's car at an intersection, and Luke's car collided with Calum's. And soon, but not soon enough, ambulances arrived at the scene of the accident. They hospitalized four of the five people in the crash. But Riley, there was no hope for her. She had gone brain dead and her family didn't have the money to keep her alive on a machine.

"I wonder how her project is," Luke's voice brought Michael out of his train of thought. Michael looked up from his hands to his blonde friend. Michael had spent so much time convincing Luke of Riley's death, that he too wanted to deny it. That the energetic and spunky girl was still happily breathing. But he looked back at Luke and made a choice that would either temporarily fix him or completely ruin him. It was insane, but frankly insane seemed like the only possibility to Michael now.

Michael ran a hand through his mint dyed hair and swallowed hard. "You're right Luke. Riley's alive."

-

a/n: jesus freaking christ