Check out my new Treacherous-inspired story Beneath the Skyline! Vote, comment, and share :)

:: 9 :: WED, March 5, 2014

I HAVEN'T seen Luke for five days. Marilyn had told me he switched shifts this week with Josiah, the curly, brown haired guy in the red shirt, whom I met earlier this week. When I asked Marilyn the reason why he switched, she just laughed and walked away. I tried texting him and even calling him, it was almost like he seized to exist and I was contacting a wall. No reply.

Calum has been picking me up after my shift ended and driving me home. Occassionally, we would go get Chinese food before dropping me off. I enjoyed Calum's company, one being because he hadn't shown any sign of making a move on me yet. Another reason is because he's--well Calum.

I closed my book and pushed them aside. I finally finished all of my assignments, both I missed and for break. I guess that's the only good thing about Luke's disappearance. Speaking of the devil, my phone rang and I was happy to see who the caller ID was.

"Luke Hemmings! Where the hell have you been all this time?" I practically screamed. I heard him laugh on the line.

"I've been doing stuff." He answered. I missed his deep voice. So much.

"What stuff? Was it so hard to even text me 'hello'?" I rolled my eyes. I could imagine him plopped across his bed as he stared at his ceiling.

"Are you busy right now?" He asked.

"Just finished homework, why?"

"Awesome, get ready and come downstairs when you're done." He blurted. "I'm outside, waiting for you."

"Outside?" I hopped off my bed and peaked through my curtains. Seeing a familiar Camry car, I saw Luke leaning against the car, smiling as he put his phone down.

"Be down in five." I smiled and dropped the call.

Once I was done, I ran downstairs and wrote on a sticky note:

Mom,

I'm going outside with a friend.

I promise promise PROMISE I'll be back before five.

I LOVE YOU. x

-Jay

My mom was furious about what happened last Monday but she was nice enough to let me go with a warning. I will never abuse her trust and so I meant it this time when I said I'll be back by five.

Passing by the living room after I taped the note on the fridge, I went to say goodbye to Ashton who's been sitting on the couch and watching TV for the past four hours. I slapped his knee to get his attention.

"Where you going?" He asked with a hint of annoyance in his tone.

"Out, having a social life unlike somebody." I joked. "Don't you have friends?"

"I do," He slapped his hand on his chest, pretending to look offended. "F.Y.I. Calum is coming at seven to watch the football game with me. So ha! I do have plans for myself too."

"Literally all you do is watch T.V. and sleep. Go outside sometimes. The break is ending in three days!" I reminded him. Ashton's literally the laziest person in the whole world. I don't even know how he managed to get in college. Never mind, he's pretty smart (surprisingly).

"I go outside...for work." He sunk in his seat but jerked back when his betting team made a win. I will never understand football. The only sport I knew by heart was basketball and it's because I played when I was in middle school. I haven't touched a basketball in five months when it happened. I can't believe it's already been that long. We've been adjusting lately but we all had times when we'd just zone out and imagine he's still here with us, just in a business trip somewhere far away. Mom has been holding on with all of the finances and stuff. Apparently Mr. Hood gave her a raise. I'm just hoping the fact Calum and I got closer had nothing to do with it.

"You gotta go. Hemingway has been outside for like 30 minutes already." He reached for a bowl of chips from the side table and stuffed a handful in his mouth. "You know what? Tell him to ring the doorbell. I want to meet him."

What could I lose? I texted Luke to come to my door and in less than a minute, the bell rang. Ashton stood up excitedly, wiping his hands on his sweatpants as he jogged to the door. I sheepishly followed him. As he opened the door, Luke emerged in his usual all black get up but this time, he wasn't completely in black. Under his jacket, a part of the Mayday Parade logo peeked. Of course, Ashton was first to notice.

"Mayday Parade!" He exclaimed. Luke stepped back and gave him a nervous smile. "Holy shit, I have the same shirt!"

"That's not the best way to introduce yourself but okay." I told him but it seemed like he didn't even hear me. Luke pulled the hem of his shirt to show the logo better and said, "Yes, they're one of the best."

"They are the best. They're gods." Ashton began. At this point, we'll be standing here for another half an hour. Sometimes he just never knows when to shut up.

'Hemingway, I'm Ashton." Finally, he put a hand out. Luke shook it and answered, "It's Hemmings, by the way. Luke Hemmings."

"I'm aware." Ashton turned to me and winked. I could tell Ashton loved him already. He never shakes hands first.

"You ready, Jay?" Sighing, Luke turned his attention to me. I nodded as I stepped out.

"No, don't steal Hemingway away from me already! We just bonded." Ashton cried out. Luke knew for a fact that would add to his long list of nicknames but he didn't seem to mind.

"You have Calum, bye!" I pulled Luke away from Ashton before he could even handcuff him to himself.

"Fine, I have Calum's shoulder to cry on because you stole my new best friend!" He exclaimed as he closed the door shut behind us. As soon as he did, I suddenly felt arms wrapping around my shoulders.

"I'm sorry, I just missed you." Luke explained as he let go. I nodded my head and smiled before following him to his car. Nothing seemed to change. Everything looked to be where I last found them--cheap pine cone freshner, piles of books and clothes in the backseat, and us in the same position when we last saw each other.

"Ashton seems fun." He said with sincerity.

"You serious? Didn't he creep you out?"

"Just a bit." He turned on the engine and stepped on the gas.

"Where are we going?" I managed to ask as I buckled my seatbelt. He slid on his sunglasses the same way he did last time.

"It's sunny out." He smiled, pointing to the evident rays of sunlight hitting the window.

"Okay, so where are we going?" I repeated.

"Gantry Park," He said excitedly like a little kid.

I laid my back flat onto the backrest, keeping lock on Luke. "I don't get you."

"What?" His head turned.

"Every other day, it's like you're a whole different person." I ended up saying. It was true. I think the reason why I can't fathom how I felt about Luke is because I don't think I know him, the real him. Even though he had opened up to me about his family, I don't think I know him as a person well enough.

"Please expand on that." Making a turn to the right, he blew his cheeks.

"Whenever I think I figured who you exactly are, I get proven wrong the next day." I explained to him.

He started patting the wheel with his hands, 'I'm a very difficult person to understand, Jay." He giggled, "I'm just as complicated as Calculus."

"But Calculus is useless." I pointed out. He pulled over at a red light, rested his head on the back of his seat as he tilted his sunglasses so now I could see his baby blue eyes curved like crescent moons.

"Nobody likes Calculus." He voiced out in such an incoherent way, I failed to understand the first time he had said it. I had to process it in my mind once more.

"Why would you compare yourself to something like that?" I searched for signs of banter amusement but it was far too hidden behind his unrelenting look. Once the light turned green, he pushed his glasses to his eyes and hit gas.

-

"This isn't Gantry Park." I shook my head. Tall buildings replaced bald trees. Busy streets crowded the ground rather than withering flowers in the cold. He parked the car in the street before pulling me out. We walked a block until we reached a dreadful, old, and familiar place.

"Sir Greysburg Funeral Building," I read out loud, feeling a huge lump forming in my throat. He wrapped his arm around my shoulder and patted it.

"Please just come with me." His voice full of desire and yearning.

"You're shitting me, Luke." I shook my head.

He let go of my shoulder and backed away. Looking at me with his lips parted, "Wha-what?"

"Why would you bring me to the one place I despised? We're different, Luke." I said, hoarsely. "I'm sorry I know this wasn't your intention but it's too early to come back here." I've been wielding to forget the place where I've last saw my father, so peaceful yet so unwarrant.

"I know, I know. I've been going here again for the past five days." He explained.

"I understand you find the environment here inviting but I just don't."

"What was I thinking?" He ran his fingers through his hair."It just gets lonely up there and I thought of you and I wanted you to be here with me right now."

"Luke," I shook my head, still cryptic with what to say. He held my hand, something I always see in romantic flicks where the girl gets hypnotized whenever the guy touches her hand and she forgets about everything and just goes along with the guy's plan. Damn it. I fell in the trap.

The doors were locked until he unlocked them with his keys. I didn't even bother to ask where he got them because by now, I learned Luke gets away with stuff because of his wit and charm. Besides, he did say the workers here knew him already.

He greeted the lady behind the desk and some janitors along the way. We took the elevator up and when we got to the top floor, immediately images in my head crowded my sight. February 16, 2014. We stepped out of the elevator and as it closed, I walked over to a familiar entrance to the room where my father's wake was held.

Pacing slowly across the aisle, I felt a small déjà vu spark in my head. Just a few weeks ago, I was running away from all of this and now, I'm right where I started. I saw people in my head greeting me as I made my way. It felt like a long walk when really it wasn't. Finally reaching the small stairs leading to the mini platform where the coffin used to be, I paused. Closing my eyes, more flashbacks started. The last memory I had of him was playing basketball--that was five months ago.

I climbed the steps and as soon as I made contact with the poorly make up-ed body that used to belonged to my dad, I couldn't have helped but sink on my knees and hugged the body. It was cold and hard. Still feeling hopeful, I put my hand on his chest, still hoping somehow I would feel his heart beating. Similarly with his stomach, I illusioned seeing his big stomach move up and down. It's too bad, it's just all in my head.

"I'm so sorry, dad." I whispered. Looking up to his face, I could still see him smiling at me when he asked me to go out and play. I could still see the sweats forming around his stubbly beard that was left unshaved while we were playing ball. I could still see the wrinkles under his eyes whenever he laughs. I could still see his bright blue eyes that were the only proof of our genetic bond. I could still see him alive.

"Jay, jay. He's not--he's not there. Wha-what are you doing?" Just one more thing, he's not here. It's all in my head.

"It was just an illusion," I wiped my tears away and found myself kneeling down, crying over nothing but the red velvet carpeted floor. Embarrassed, I stood up and walked away. "I told you this wasn't a good idea."

He grabbed my wrist and stared at me for a very long time. "I'm sorry. I just want to talk to you about something."

"Fine," I groaned as I rubbed my eyes to make sure they were dry enough. "Not here though."

"Of course," He smiled. Pulling me out of the room was like dragging a boulder around. I felt every part of me freeze like ice, immobilized of what had happened. I haven't shed a tear since I got back to school and I didn't want any more. Eventually, we reached the stairs leading to the rooftop.

It's funny to think just two weeks ago, we met at an unusual place. I still had small scrapes still healing from when I fell. The weird kid who carried bandages around became one of my closest friends at the moment. In fact, he's been here for me more times than people I've known since pre-K. The cool breeze hugged our shoulders. Oh how much I wanted February to end.

"Michael has been shutting me out lately." He blurted out as he started walking away from me.

"What do you mean?" I followed him to the ladder to the familiar billboard sign of a casino ad. Luke gave me his first speech about life here, something I feel would mostly consist of our friendship. Lots and lots of speeches.

We reached the top and it dawned onto me how far we've gone from two weeks. I sat next to him as we started swinging our legs. "I went to his apartment after I dropped you off. I was glad he was the one who answered the phone because his parents would be furious. I wasn't allowed to come to their apartment after six in the evening because we ended up thrashing the place when finals week ended."

Luke was the last person you'd think would thrash a place. He's just so delicate like a flower. "And what happened?"

He sighed, "He started crying when he saw me. We talked outside his apartment and he just collapsed on the floor. He told me he did something and I would never forgive him for that."

I listened.

"What bothered me though is that he refused to tell me what it is exactly. He started apologizing and I don't even know what for."

"What else did he say?" I asked him.

"Nothing more," He let out. "He stood up and hugged me but before he closed the door, he said goodbye and told me we can't be friends anymore, not now."

"Am I upset about it? Yes. He's the brother I never had. Jack left. Dad left. I don't need any more people leaving." He looked at me, yearning for comfort in my eyes.

"We've both been left behind." I told him. "It's not life that's a bet. It's us. We don't bet our lives, life bets us."

Beaming at me, he nudged me to go on. "Why do you think it's a game of chance? We don't control anything. We're gambled, temporary and played by life. Everything happens for a reason, we don't make up our own decisions because it's written in our stories already what were supposed to do."

"Do you seriously believe that? Everything's laid out for us already?" He furrowed his eyebrows.

"Why not? Why do you think things happen suddenly? Those stuff that have no relevant explanations."

"Honestly Jay," He rested his back on the billboard, "I'm not in the mood of spitting proverbs right now."

I looked down, letting my hair curtain my face and smiled to myself. "I learned from the best."

"Am I seriously that nerve wracking all the time?" He squinted his eyes.

"Sometimes but sometimes it's like having a walking John Green book wherever I go." Taking handfuls of my hair and flipped them away so I could see him better, I found him sitting dumbfounded. "That's also a good thing."

"Are we friends, Jay?" He asked again. He's been asking me this question so frequently I didn't know whether I should get annoyed by it or not.

"Why do you always ask this, Luke?" I shook my head. "I wouldn't even be talking to you if we weren't friends. I don't talk to a lot of people firsthand."

Luke smiled down at his band shirt and spoke, "I just want to make sure we're friends so I could have a good enough reason of making you stay."

I jumped back up and stepped down from the billboard, jumping from the last ladder step. I turned back to Luke who was still sitting on the edge of the billboard stand. "Who says I'm leaving you?"

Luke wasn't a depressed person. That's one thing I've decided. He was human. He felt emotions and like any other human, he had times when he's on top of the world and times he was buried underneath the ground. Like he said, there's no such thing as a depressed person because depression is a state just like happiness. Although they are temporary, doesn't mean they shouldn't be aided for.

How funny to think all of this I've learned from a seventeen year old boy who worked in a daycare center. In fact, ever since I met Luke, a lot about life got funnier.

❆

(A/N): How was it? Sorry it was boring :( this is pretty significant lol. Thanks for the cool feedback.

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