living or existing | mgc

seven

Darby's POV.

"Mum, I'm going, and you can't stop me!" I hear Luke yell from a few rooms away.

"Luke, stop it. You're not going, so just stop it!" My mum yells in response.

I sigh, leaning over my desk to switch the knob on my phone volume and cranking the Ed Sheeran album I was listening to higher, so I couldn't hear the argument that was taking place just downstairs.

Here I was, trying to study for a test that's coming up, and it was extremely difficult when your twin and your mother are practically screaming at each other.

After a while, the yelling stopped. Completely.

I glanced up away from my laptop and towards the door, before walking out of it, confusion crossing over my face as I made my way down the staircase and into the dining room. My mum was slumped in her chair, her face on the table. My dad was standing over her, and he was stroking her hair over to the sides of her face as she cried. "Liz, honey, it's okay," my dad kept repeating softly as I stood there awkwardly.

I cleared my throat. Eventually, my dad noticed I were there, and he left a kiss on my mum's hair, and we walked into the lounge to get some privacy.

"What happened?" I asked as soon as we entered, pulling my bottom lip between my teeth in confusion.

My dad sighed, ruffling his hand through his hair.

"Luke wanted to go on a road trip for a few weeks with Calum and a few other friends, and your mother wouldn't let him. A few bad things were said, and he took off," he explained.

"Where?" I asked again, putting the pieces together in my head.

"We don't know."

---

11:09PM.

Swinging open the door to my house and shutting it behind me, I took out my phone to check if Luke has gotten back to me while I was at work.

Speaking of work, it was okay, I talked on the phone with a voice I've heard before, a male, for a while. On my break I tried calling Luke a few times, and he still isn't answering my calls.

'Pick up, Luke, god damn,' I thought to myself as I dialled his number again.

Obviously, it went straight to voice mail. I sighed and dropped my phone on my desktop, collapsing onto my bed in complete exhaustion and falling into a deep slumber almost as soon as my head hit the pillow.

---

I stirred awake, my eyes focusing on the sunlight in the room almost immediately. Monday morning. Exhaling, I sat up and started getting ready for school. After I was finished, I grabbed my phone, quickly checking for any notifications from Luke.

None.

I sighed and locked my phone, slipping it into my pocket as I left for school.

---

I stood with Tilda as the last bell of the day went, and I hugged her goodbye as she went off home and I went to find Michael, for our first day of tutoring.

Drumming my fingers to a pace against my thighs, I turned the corner down the hallway, where Michael said his locker was.

"You piece of shit!" I heard someone shout from the end of the hallway. Laughter clouded my ears, and it wasn't pleasant. I couldn't see where it was coming from though, since there were a crowd of girls with their phones out in front of me.

"Move!" I yelled, pushing past them.

I couldn't quite comprehend what it exactly it was that I was seeing, but I knew it were Michael. On the ground, with a blood nose and a busted lip, getting hit, over and over.