Seven Devils // lashton/muke

chapter eight

He listened intently to every word the boy spoke, watching him as he continued to fiddle with the necklace. It was making him nervous, but he tried to push it down since he didn't believe Luke would hurt him. Why would he? He hasn't done anything wrong.

"What's so special about this necklace? Nothing." Luke shrugged, dangling it from his fingers and swinging it like a pendulum. "Just a necklace."

"Well, why are you interested in it then?"

Luke moved his bracelets and then revealed a long gash along his arm, a white scar that ran from his forearm to the bottom of his wrist vertically. "When I was a recent spirit it was red and bleeding. It scared people, but it's healed as it would have if I was alive. It's only just a scar now."

"How did you get it?" Michael asked as he stretched his arms out and then folded them behind his head, staring at the dead boy as he awaited an answer.

He never thought his life would lead up to the point where he's laying on a bed with a dead blonde boy, who he actually kind of likes in a non-necrophilic way. Never in a million years would he have guessed this would happen, but he must have hit a million plus one. He assumes the word he was looking for isn't quite like, more like fascinated. He thinks the boy is interesting, and to talk to a ghost is pretty damn cool.

Luke was silent, then his eyes lifted up from the necklace to Michael's. He got a cold shiver when they met, and he found himself hanging on to ever word the boy spoke. Like he was drawn to him.

"It's how I died."

"You - You committed suicide?" Michael asked, not because he didn't know, but because he wanted clarification. "The guy you scared off, Calum, he said you killed yourself. Is that why you're clinging to the necklace?"

"That's what I looks like, right?" Luke laughed. Why was he laughing? "Some loser outcast kid who's bullied and put down constantly suddenly turns up dead. Yeah... I'd buy suicide too if I didn't know any better."

"So, it wasn't suicide?" Michael asked, sitting up a bit and furrowing his eyebrows together. "So, let me get this straight, you didn't off yourself?"

"If I had, I wouldn't be here. It's easier to let go when death was your ultimate goal." Luke replied, twirling the necklace in his hand. "Yeah, I was bullied by kids at my school, my parents didn't quite accept me being gay, and my boyfriend was a good-for-nothing asshole who thought I was his personal toy, but I had hope."

"Had?"

"Can't have hope when you're dead you know? Everything just feels like nothing. There's nothing to look forward to anymore." Luke spoke, standing up and wandering around the room. "My boyfriend didn't like that I had hopes and dreams."

"Well why not?" Michael asked him. "He's supposed to support you and your desicions."

"Like I said, good-for-nothing asshole who thought I was just a toy." Luke repeated. "He didn't support anything I wanted because they all involved me leaving him. I was gonna go to an Ivy League school and start a new life, a better life. Guess not. He was upset I didn't want to be with him. He was scared of being alone again. He was totally, completely, and utterly obsessed with me."

"So... he killed you?"

"Made it look like a suicide, yeah." Luke nodded and Michael suddenly felt bad for the boy. "No one ever knew what went on between us behind closed doors, so he was never a suspect even when they found him covered in blood beside me. I guess it doesn't take that much to hide a murder."

"You remember that? You were dead." Michael tried to make sense of the situation. Nothing made sense, but he still tried.

"Do I remember that? Of course I remember that! I remember my spirit leaving my body and standing right behind him screaming and asking why the hell was he so selfish." Luke's voice rose, and Michael flinched back at the sound.

"I had promise! I had a life ahead of me!" He yelled. The lights were flickering now, and the objects around Luke were shaking as if an earthquake had hit them. "Now I'm here, stuck for eternity in this fucking house!"

"L - Luke man, calm down. Hey, it's okay." Michael stammered as he crawled off of his bed. He held his arms up in defense in front of him, hoping to get Luke to stop whatever supernatural shit he was doing just by being mad. It was kind of frightening.

"No, no its not okay. I was beaten, battered, and bruised. I was killed." Luke spoke, his eyebrows pushed together and his finger pointed at Michael. "I was seventeen. All I wanted was to leave, now I can't even leave the house I was murdered in. How is any of that okay?"

The light on the ceiling fan broke and Michael cowered down, throwing his arms over his head as it rained glass for a second or two. It was silent after that, and Michael peeked an eye open to look at where Luke was standing.

He was gone.

He scoffed, looking around the room and picking up his necklace that was dropped on the floor. He looked at it, and then heard the doorbell ring. He sighed, curling the black rope around his hand and holding the blade in his hand as he went downstairs.

He unlocked the door, finding his neighbor from across the street. "Look sir, I had a rough day. I don't have a cup of sugar, a spare lawnmower, or even hedge clippers available. I just want to take a nap."

"That was quite a fest up there, just wanted to check. I saw your light explode, are you alright?" He asked and Michael felt a red flag raise within him. "Were they faulty?"

"Perhaps." Michael nodded. "I'll handle it. Have a nice d-"

The man slammed his hand on the door before he could close it and Michael pulled the razor blade between his fingers. "I know he's here."

"If you're looking for a tall brunet, he left. He had family business." Michael responded, standing in front of the man. "I'll here alone."

"Lights don't just flicker and bookshelves don't just shake out of nowhere kid." The man retorted, and Michael pushed him back with all his strength.

"I don't know who the fuck you think you are, but stay out of my house. Stop looking in and stop staring at me. Next time, I'm calling the police. This is my property now." Michael stated, and before he could close the door, the man laughed.

"I saw him and I know you did too. He's not Casper, gorgeous. Be careful." He warned and Michael scowled.

"Don't call me gorgeous, 'cause the next time you do, he's not going to be the only death that's falsely claimed a suicide." Michael sneered, and the man's eyes widened as he slammed the door shut.

"You - You shouldn't have let him known that you know." He heard as he locked the door.

"Why the hell not?" He asked and turned around, finding absolutely nothing and no one there.

"Now he's threatened, and now you're next." He heard Luke say and he looked at the necklace in his hand.

"Unlike you, when people pick on me, I teach myself how to fight back. So let him come." Michael chuckled, even though he was slightly afraid of what that man could do to him and his family.