rumor has it. ➵ lashton ✔

8.

um so this chapter is going to be really intimate for me for a few reasons, just because it mirrors my first hospital visit that i inflicted upon myself, and a few of the things that luke's parents say are quoted directly from my own, and suited to fit this story. i hope you enjoy. this chapter will be a bit more somber and very slow. i just feel like the plotline isn't really there. and it isn't. i have no plotline for this story anymore. i'm going by how i feel and how i feel alone.

-

Luke had stopped going to school, now.

Explaining what had happened with Ashton to his mother, she quickly pulled him out of school and scolded him for not telling her earlier.

"You can't let people belittle you in to nothing, Luke. I've always told you that."

Luke had left out the part about him harming himself, of course, because without a doubt, his mum would've put him in an asylum or a hospital and Luke couldn't have that.

School was actually important to him and he wasn't about to quit.

"Mum, w-will you homeschool me again?" Luke asked.

He knew that 'homeschool kids' were generally regarded as antisocial, weird, and awkward, but Luke wanted to be homeschooled because he'd get all the benefits of schooling, in a safe, familiar environment.

That was just how Luke worked.

He always wanted to be safe, and comfortable, and invulnerable.

When he was at school, he felt vulnerable to Ashton.

He remembered Ashton's demands when Luke first met him, and couldn't believe how stupid he was to have followed them and lost his virginity to a man whom he now couldn't stand.

It was like they had been married and Luke had filed for a divorce.

Luke had often read stories about guys who fell for their bullies, or who fell for bad boys who had tattoos and piercings, and Luke would shudder and shiver at the things they would say. 

The innocent boy would get hurt, and the bad boy's soft side would show, and all would be well when the bad boy admitted his love, finally, and then the story would end and Luke would feel half of what he used to.

Luke, quite honestly, hated feeling vulnerable.

-

The next morning, Luke awoke in a hospital.

This wasn't really anything new, but Luke was terrified.

He was in a short-sleeved hospital gown.

Who knows what they'd seen while he was passed out?

"Mum?" Luke whispered hoarsely, looking about feebly for his mother, his head barely able to lift up before Liz was right next to him, a stern, yet scared look on her face.

"Why didn't you tell me that those boys were causing you to hurt yourself?" She asked quietly, looking down at Luke.

"I-I didn't want you to worry."

His father was on the other side of the bed, staring down at him the exact same way his mother was.

It made him feel uncomfortable.

"Stop staring at me," he mumbled, "i'm not an animal attraction." 

His parents backed off, willing to do whatever it is that they had to do to keep their son from harming himself again.

"Luke, we just want you to know that we'll always be there for you, no matter how bad you get," Andrew said softly, still a bit too close for Luke's liking.