pay you with love ♡ malum (discontinued)

34 ➵ the same day

[A/N: Italic written phrases are a flashback. Also a little trigger warning]

C A L U M ' S P O V

"I'll see you tomorrow, when does your shift start?" Luke asked with a smile on his face.

"I think Ashton said one. Will you be here when I come?" I replied as I put on my jacket. It was already dark and also very cold outside and I didn't want to get sick.

"Yes, I'm here by nine and I work until five."

"Okay, cool. Well, I'm going to get going. I wanted to check out the new clothes at Forever 21 before they close and then surprise Michael," I explained and hugged him.

"Have fun," Luke said and waved as I walked out of the store.

The cold wind immediately pinched my face and I felt my skin getting colder. I wrapped my arms around myself to keep warm and started walking to the mall.

It wasn't a long walk, about ten minutes by foot, but it was a pretty scary walk.

Since it was dark not a lot of people were walking around, I was pretty much alone on the streets and the alleys were terrifying.

While walking, I plugged in my earphones and started playing my favorite playlist; Michael's Spotify playlist.

As cheesy as it sounds, I love listening to his music. It reminds me of him. Even though I skipped fifty percent of the songs, it was still my favorite playlist. When I was alone or when I missed him, I would start playing it so I wouldn't feel too alone anymore.

Since my volume wasn't too high, I could clearly hear someone's footsteps behind me, but I didn't really worry about it at first.

I started worrying after entering a dark alley. The person was still following me. I unplugged my earphones and put them in the pocket of my jacket, then slowly turned around to see a man walking behind me.

He stopped when he saw my face and so did I. My heart started pounding hard against my chest and I started shivering a little.

It was so quite, only the cars in the distance could be heard.

"D-Dad?" I stuttered out, not sure if it was really him.

"Calum, my gorgeous boy. We haven't seen each other in such a long time," he said with his soft voice, calm and with a smile playing on his lips.

"Y-Yeah, I mean y-you left me."

It didn't seem like he felt bad about it, though. He just smiled and took some steps forward, coming closer to me.

"But that's in the past, right? I came back to make it up to you, to see what you're up to, to see how you've been."

I eyed him and he looked exactly the same like he did before he left me years ago. Maybe a little older.

He acted like none of the stuff that happened really happened and it made me a little angry.

"I've been o-okay. I'm good," I told him, even though I had so much more to say. I wanted to tell him about what happened after he left, that I had to start selling my body just so I could buy food and pay his bills. I wanted him to feel guilty.

I wanted to punch him and kick him and throw insults at him because I was so mad and I felt so much anger, but for some reason I just couldn't. Maybe it was because of the fact that he was still my dad