Word count: 851
Paisleys POV:
We left Luke and the room that kept him breathing. Every step felt like cement was being poured at my feet, the further we got the heavier my steps felt. My chest tightened and Calum wrapped his arm around me, pulling me towards him. We went into the staircase and all sat in one of the landings, the sky was grey and little raindrops streamed across the window. I watched as the clouds shifted slowly as the wind blew and the droplets raced down the glass. "Let's talk. Don't beat around the bush, or try and make it easy so I'll be able to," I searched for words. "Be able to handle it. Because I can. I need to know." I said assertively, yet I held no power. My voice was weak from the endless days spent in this place, and bags covered my eyes. Calum and I sat beside each other, he moved a little closer and I could tell this would be difficult news. "Luke wasn't always so closed off." Micheal started. "He used to be so able to express himself without fear, but then his dad," He continued, "I know that part, and Apex told the teacher so Luke could be helped. He told me that. I wanna know what everyone meant when they talked about gangs.....and Luke being the leader of the most notorious group." I said, crossing my arms across my chest. "Luke's dad was a shitbag as you know, he ran the dark knights and established it from the moment Liz found out she was pregnant. She tried to leave and make sure Luke could have a good life, but Peter had connections, threats, ways to harm Liz, and ways to harm Luke." Ashton began, "When Luke turned 15, Peter was shot in a gun match. He tried to flea behind his men in order to keep the dark knights alive, yet Apex's father saw him cower and shot Peter in the shoulder, it drew attention to his area and guns blazed in Peters direction. The police say he was barely recognizable." Ashton said, pausing for a breath. The boys continued to elaborate the story. Apex and Luke's innocent childhood alliance cause such havoc in both households, though the boys didn't understand why. Once Apex outed Luke's father, they were rivals, just as their family's had been. Luke had been groomed, despite Liz' efforts,to be able to run the gang if anything were to happen, once Peters death, Luke took over. The gang had always been violent but gasoline was added to Apex and Lukes flame, bringing so much attention to then underground mishaps occurring. Dealing drugs, fights, illegal business control all came to play, and Luke thrived in that setting. He shut down, turned anything human off about him, no sadness, no hurt, no fear. He'd come home late, bloody knuckled and bruised, hiding from his mother, knowing how disappointed she'd be if she knew. Luke passed the gang on to his fathers right hand man, Sater, and tried to leave as much as possible, but everyone still knew Luke was the one to fear. Although he's not the figure head anymore, he still runs everything and Sater covers any publicity. My fingers locked together, and unlocked, then running up and down my legs. "I didn't think it was gonna be like that." I spoke after a long silence. "I haven't seen him treat anyone as good as he treats you in a long time." Calum said, finally speaking. I knew that his past had to be dark, and this was only half the story, those deep eyes held so much more that I longed to ask yet feared to know. He had an anger streak, he liked the power the gang gave him, and part of me worried he liked seeing the pain he caused. I thought to myself more in the silence of the stairwell, not Luke, not the one I know, but the one who is clearly such a large part of himself. "Thank you for telling me." I said softly. They nodded, somewhat insecure that they had helped him keep the gang alive after Peters death. "We don't associate at all with them." Ashton said, beginning to walk up the stairs. We all followed. "Luke's the only one who can't seem to leave." Said Micheal. We continued up the stairs and entered back into the long, empty hallways. The walls were painted light yellow, with white bordering in the middle, small lights lit up where the windows couldn't reach and it felt still. Silent. The room started to spin, muffled words came through the speakers, calling some code that sounded like another language, every blink seemed to cause blackness that didn't disappear when my eyes reopened.
"All available nurses to room 307, I repeat all available nurses to room 307."
A/N
SORRY everyone, I got locked out and had to go through quite the process to be able to re login to my account. More chapters coming!
As always, thank you!
-Jade🖤
