Demons |¤| Lashton

We Bear News of Pain

Ashton laid in the empty bed, studying the ceiling. He didn't feel very well, and the silence was a whole new factor that contributed to his problems. At least it wasn't dark outside. Ashton didn't like being in the dark, especially when he was alone. When his friends and family were around, he was happy. They took his mind off of his troubles and comforted him. But when they were away, he questioned everything. His thoughts grew to be quite hateful and self-loathing if enough time had passed. He thought this made his a selfish person, because he technically wanted people to pay attention to him often. Of course, he couldn't be upset when he didn't get the attention, because he didn't really need it, he just didn't know how to deal with himself. But he was still a little selfish.

Ashton had nearly hit rock bottom when he was sixteen, wearing his pain on his skin. He thought that it was sad that he was so young when he had gotten to that point. No one deserved it. Ashton pulled out his phone, texted Calum about how it was going, and opened Spotify. He selected his Starred playlist and hit shuffle play.

It was a bit better now, but he still felt lonely. He looked back up at the ceiling, tracing the same system of grooves and cracks over and over again, wishing his friends would be back already.

~~~

Ashton was awoken by the satisfying sound of the bolt sliding inside the door as it was unlocked from the outside. Calum hurried in, with Michael and Luke trailing after him. Ashton noticed Luke was holding Michael's arm. The door closed again, and Calum dropped on the bed besides Ashton.

Ashton had forgotten about the text he sent to Calum earlier, and his phone was still playing music softly. He paused the music and checked his messages. Calum hadn't responded.

"So," Ashton managed. "How did it go?"

"Luke is sick," Michael informed him. "His fainting spells turned out to be seizures. He has a brain tumor." It was blunt. Michael nust be exhausted. It wasn't something to draw out and prolong anyways.

Ashton didn't know what to say to that. It's terrible news, but he couldn't help but feel slightly relieved. Had his tumor been causing his mood change? Could Luke not really hate him at all?

"That's not all," Michael said after a while. "He has to go back to see if it's cancerous."

It was very sad and all, seeing Luke laying on the other bed behind Michael, practically frozen into place. He looked defeated, and he probably felt defeated too. The truth was, Luke was sick, and this was going to get worse before it got better.

"How will we announce it?" Management and crew had left them temporarily, as they were not needed. Calum ended up calling Management, and telling them that Luke was visibly ill, so they took him to the doctor. He explained the situation as it was now and asked for advice.

Management asked if they could finish the tour, but Calum told them that the tumor can be cancerous or can spread, and it could be very dangerous.

With heavy hearts, 5 Seconds of Summer cancelled the rest of their world tour.

The first place they went was Facebook, writing a formal apology to their fans and briefly explaining that Luke was ill. They did not go into detail at all about what had happened and his diagnosis, but they promised to be back as soon as possible. The tour was over, and 5SOS had a long road ahead of them.

And God, did the rumors fly! The boys promised their fans that everything was alright, and social media went into hyper-drive. Luke even got online to talk to some fans, and they decided to do a live-stream the next day.

Luke, Michael and Calum decided that they needed to get everything over with as soon as possible. The doctor said he could withdraw the sample tomorrow.

~~~

"Are we live?" Michael asked, peering into the camera. Of course, tens of thousands of fans were already watching, and the comment section was blowing up. But Michael just had to double check, just to reassure himself.

"Of course we're live, Mike, the count is right down there." Ashton entered into view, pointing at something on Michael's screen. Ashton wasn't very excited about this live-stream, because it was going to expose the truth to the world and make Ashton unable to sleep at night, knowing that he couldn't wake up from this nightmare. But that's how it was going to be, and whether he was there on camera or not wouldn't change anything.

"Calum, get over here."

Michael, Ashton and Calum piled into the frame.

"If you're wondering where Luke is, he is behind us, in a hospital bed." A hand shot up into the air in response to Michael's words.

"Okay, guys. So we didn't go into detail, really, about what's going on. So a little while back, at the same time Ashton had his appendicitis scare, Luke was acting really weird. I walked in on him fighting a wall, and believe me, it's way more horrifying than it sounds. So after he fought the wall, he passed out. To be fair, he was also headbutting the wall, which probably gave him a concussion. I didn't think too much of it. Then, two days ago, Luke passed out again in the hotel room, right into Ashton's arms. He wasn't even doing anything, and we highly doubted it could have been a repercussion from the earlier incident. Wow, look at me, big words. Sorry. Anyways, we went to the doctor yesterday, and it turns out his fainting spells are actually seizures. And those seizures are happening because Luke has a tumor in his brain."

Ashton's eyes welled up with tears. They knew now, they knew now. This fucking sucked, really. He felt bad for the fans. He felt like he was letting them down. This was long term, not just something a quick surgery could fix. He noticed the fans screaming their heads off and expressing their appropriate (and inappropriate) emotions in the comment box.

"Right now, we are in the hospital, and Luke has just gotten some samples taken, isn't that right, mate?"

A groan came from behind them and Calum gave the camera a half smile.

"Just so you know guys, I've got an eye on him. I'm actually holding his hand, and I told him that he can squeeze if he needs something. He's a little out of it."

Suddenly, the comments went from grieving to "oh my god, Muke!!1!1!" and Ashton couldn't really hold the tears back much longer. He shifted out of view, letting the tears fall.

"Ashton, get over here!" Calum ordered playfully, not realizing that Ashton was crying. Calum was trying to stay positive, he really was. "Hey, hey, what's wrong, Ash?" He reached a hand out towards the other boy, his fingertips just missing the hem of his Joy Division shirt. Both of them were hovering in and out of the frame.

And Ashton just grabbed onto Calum and cried into his chest.

Michael, immediately noticing the little technical difficulty, used his free hand to pull the computer towards him and remove Calum and Ashton from the frame. He blushed a little.

"Sorry guys, Ashton's just upset. First him, and now Luke. You know?"

Calum took Ashton into the hall, and they sat next to each other on the linoleum floor, holding onto one another until Ashton calmed down.

"You know, it's hard," Ashton told Calum. "I still love him, I really do. It really fucking sucks," he sniffed. Calum could only nod in understanding. He looked down, goosebumps covering his skin when he noticed jagged discoloration peeking out from under Ashton's bracelets.

"Ashton, what the hell happened to your arm?"

~~~

Oh boy, that was a ride. Hm. 

Wow, this is the last chapter of Demons written and published in 2015! Goodbye 2015. I'm going to wake up tomorrow and say, "Wow, I haven't written since last year!" Hello 2016.

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