( dedication to @hisguitar bc i promised them i would update but then i couldn't sorry x enjoy the chapter love )

Warning: mentions sensitive words/topics that may be triggering to particular readers. Not many, but just a heads up.

LUKE

Life has thrown enough battles for me to realize that I shouldn't hope for miracles. It has tortured me enough for me to know that things don't always go my way, like the ocean washes up dead fish and cracked shells after a storm. I had accepted that and grew to fit its uneven form without question, without complaint. I never bothered to ask for any special treatment. Given I don't deserve one, but still. I've stayed away from all the coins in the fountains and identical numbers on the clocks.

However, I can't help but find myself sitting in the passenger seat of my mother's car, my teeth biting down on my bottom lip and fiddling with the sharp piercing there, my eyes squeezed shut as I fight the thoughts in my head. I can't help but to hope that Michael isn't hurt. I can't help but wish on the invisible stars in the sky that he's okay. Silent prayers swarm around in my mind that he's unharmed, his perfect cream colored ears sitting upright on his head.

And to be honest, it makes me feel really fucking weak. The whole aspect of wishing for something you have no control over. I'm not used to it, and it makes my chest hurt. It makes me want to throw myself out of the car and lay in the middle of the street until my blood goes cold.

My mum claims we're almost there, and we all politely ignore the uneasiness in her voice. I remain stoic in the passenger seat, my hands clasped together, knuckles white. Ashton drums on his leather seat, the beats slightly uneven from nerves. Calum stays completely still in the seat behind me, confusion radiating off him. None of us bother to explain everything that has happened, and Calum doesn't bother to ask.

The car is silent, other than Ashton's irritating drumming and the tires scraping against the asphalt. I feel like I'm drowning in it.

"Uh," Calum says, piping up his voice from the backseat. We all turn to look at him. "Do you think we lost our jobs?"

I stare at him.

"Because I kind of needed the money, and I was sort of getting the hang of being a waiter, you know?"

I turn back around. The car falls back into silence. I don't feel the need to answer him, given that the answer is clearly obvious.

We start to notice a few trucks around where we are driving, either passing us on the road or parked on the side. I glance at them nervously. They remind me of the cars that followed us near Ashton's house, and the ones that they forced Michael into. Perhaps they are the same ones.

"We should almost be there." My mum says half-heartedly, her eyes nervously raking the road in front of us. "It's supposed to be right up here, at this turn."

"Do you really trust that bartender or whoever?" I mumble.

"It's better than nothing, Luke." she says softly. Her hands clench tighter over the steering wheel as we near the turn that supposedly takes us to the facility. In a hot, white flash moment, I suddenly wish that isn't there. That is stays hidden far back away from wherever it is supposed to be. I don't want to see it. I don't want to see what kind of place Michael has been trapped in for the past couple of months. I don't want to see it.

Then the car turns to the right and my muscles clench in fright, stilling my body into a rock statue as the new scenery rolls into view. My breath stills in my lungs as I look up, my eyes widening at the low, grey, horrible building in front of me.

It's easy to tell that it isn't meant to be found, due to the trees cowering around the facility, carving menacing shadows across the metal structure. My throat closes up, and Ashton stops drumming as our car rolls closer to the building.

The parking lot, if you have the affability to call it one, is crowded with low black cars and huge trucks, like the ones we saw on our way. My mum worriedly parks the car away from all the others, and I can't help but notice how we stand out like a sore thumb.

The car halts completely and we all sit there in a numb silence, none of us moving to get out. I should be the first one getting out, running up to the tall facility doors and searching for my kitten, but I stay in a frightened paralysis. I'm afraid, to say the least, and I'm ashamed to be.

My mum takes a sharp intake of breath, and that stirs me enough out of my hypnosis to fumble for the car handle, pushing open the door and allowing the hot gust of air to blow back my hair. My mother follows my movements, and so does Ashton. I step out of the car, slamming the door shut and listening to the others close as well. I take a deep breath.

"Wait-- shit." Calum says, opening his door open just a crack to peer out at us. "Do I have to get out, too?"

"What the hell do you mean 'do I have to get out'?" Ashton narrows his eyes at our friend. Calum looks uncomfortable.

"It looks sort of scary. And dangerous." He says, seeming concerned. We blink at him. He remains in his seat.

"Oh, grow a pair." Ashton says, yanking open the door wider and exposing Calum, who looks even more uncomfortable than he did before. The curly haired boy pulls Calum out of the car, who unwillingly obliges.

I stumble forward, taking a few baby steps towards the facility doors before gaining speed, unknowingly breaking into a full-fledged sprint towards the building. Michael's name overpowers my mind, and I can just imagine his huge green eyes, round and terrified inside this facility. So close. We're so close. I can still feel his smooth skin under my fingertips.

The facility doors are wide open when I arrive, and I don't fail to notice the password lock beside it, a small light shining green. My heartbeat picks up-- someone's nearby. And I am suddenly sure that if we get caught, there is no chance in hell we will get to Michael.

"Luke, stop-stop running." Calum breathes deeply, struggling to catch his breath. "I'm not built for running. I don't-- exercise. Neither do you, by... by the way."

Ashton nods, not bothered by the sprint at all. "That is true. Luke is not fit for exercise. Maybe it's one of those adrenaline rushes. Like, when people are suddenly able to lift cars and shit--"

"Shut up, both of you!" I hiss. They shut up.

I take tentative steps through the facility doors, half expecting alarms to start ringing through the building. Fortunately they don't. I sense the others following me through the doors and I look around. We're in some sort of foyer area, a few doors in front of me, and what looks like a long hallway to my right.

After a moment of consideration, I turn and step into the hallway. I nearly start gagging when I am hit with the smell of excessive air freshener and a faint scent of bitter blood. I cover my mouth, looking around the see what the source is, and that's when I see them.

Hybrids.

Hybrids of all different kinds, shoved into metal cages and crates lining the left side of the hallway. They all look sickly looking, bones pushing against taut skin and huge, glistening eyes. They lift their glassy eyes to stare at the four of us, and I immediately take notice of how afraid they look. They cower into the backs of their cages, only a thin hospital gown covering them from the bitterly cold air.

They're dirty, having not been able to bathe in such a long time, I assume. Their ears lay flat on their head in defeat, tails peeking out of the bottom of their hospital gowns, fur matted and still. They look horrible. This is horrible.

I hear gasps come from my mum and Ashton, while Calum repeatedly mumbles, "I told you we shouldn't have come, we shouldn't have come in," and we all stare at the broken boys and girls while they stare right back at us.

They look like skeletons, hollowed cheeks and cracked lips. My eyes trail down to the nametags on each cage, and I notice how they don't use their names. They use numbers. Hybrid 384. Hybrid 135. Hybrid 937.

I can only pray that they are random, and not the number of hybrids they have kept cooped up in this torture chamber.

I slowly bite down on my hand, walking carefully down the line of sad looking hybrids. My eyes skim over the face of each one, so terrified that I might find Michael in one. I don't want to see the damage that they have caused, not on Michael's pretty face.

I reach the end of the hallway, my eyes catching on an empty cage. It's situated between two other hybrids, both of whom are clutching at the bars of their crates with interested, yet horrified eyes. I assume they haven't seen anyone relatively normal in a while.

I look at the nametag. Hybrid 303. Could that be Michael? I swallow, blinking back sudden tears that drip over my eyelids. I quickly hide my face behind my hands, wiping away the tears angrily. I have the sudden urge to burn the entire building down with a single match.

Just then, a door to the right of me at the very end of the hallway is thrown open, and all four of us jolt up, feverish eyes scanning the storm of men stomping towards us. Calum releases a high-pitched (and slightly girly) shriek, and Ashton narrows his eyes, knocking a man's hand off his arm when he tried to grab hold of him. My mum looks disordered and immensely confused, while I whip my head around, struggling to see above the heads of all the men to see if Michael is behind them.

He isn't.

Despite Ashton's constant fight against the strong men, they inevitably grab hold of him, and I am all too aware of the two people grabbing onto my arms as well. I look back to see Calum melting slightly in their grasp, looking like he could just dissolve into a puddle at any moment.

The men don't say a word, yanking us through the door and down an all-white corridor filled with heavy metal doors. The bitter smell of old blood is even stronger back here, as though that could be possible. I notice mobile tables of syringes and needles lining the hallways and my stomach drops. No. No, they couldn't. They can't.

The men pull us past all the doors until they reach the very end of the hallway, opening the door and individually shoving us all inside. We stumble into the room, which looks more like an office than anything, and catch our breath as we regain our balance.

I flip back around, ready to bolt right back out when I am met with the slamming of the door.

We're locked in.

"What the actual hell?" Ashton snaps, pacing around a very flustered looking Calum. My mum looking increasingly concerned, her eyes trained on me. I cross my arms.

"They fucking locked us in here. What the fuck did they think I was going to do?" I beat on the metal door a few times, ignoring the sharp pain in my palm.

"Oh, I don't know. Save Michael. Report them to the authorities. Destroy their entire career." Calum says from where he is sitting on the ground, and I roll my eyes.

"Stop sassing me, Calum." I say, trying to see through the small crack in the door. "You scream like a girl."

"You fight like a girl." Calum throws back.

Ashton interrupts. "Actually, girls are extremely tough fighters, so technically--"

"Boys." My mum cuts us all off, staring at us with disapproving eyes. Ashton and Calum mumble insincere apologies that my mother seems to accept, before turning to me. "Luke, it's getting late. It's already nearly six o'clock. I'm sure they're going to be shutting down for the night soon, and we can get out then."

"Yeah, but how are we going to get out? We're locked in."

We collectively sigh.

The room falls into a deathly silent, so horribly quiet and I sort of feel like grabbing one of the syringes and stabbing myself in the chest with it. It's so unbearably hard to know that Michael is so close, practically right under my fingertips, but the only thing separating me from him is a lock and a group of detectives.

I don't actually realize I'm crying until Ashton is uncomfortably patting my back and my mum is crouched in front of me, struggling to get my eyes on hers. I don't normally cry in front of people, simply because I hate the awkward stares and forced encouragements from people who could care less. But whenever Michael is brought into my mind, I can't seem to stop the tears from streaming down my cheeks.

I don't allow any comfort from my mother and I quickly force Ashton to stop awkwardly patting my shoulder blades with a swat of my hand, and then I'm gratefully left to suffer alone on the ground. Well, as alone as you can be in a small room with three other people.

We stay there for a while, and Ashton gets antsy from not having been able to move for so long, and I think my heart may have slowed down to the point that it may have stopped beating altogether. And to be honest, if it weren't that Michael is here, in this facility, in this building, I think I would have let it stop without complaint.

I truthfully never thought my life would come to this all those months ago when I made the decision to drop out of school. I never would have thought that I would have found a little kitten boy hiding in the woods when I was forced to exit my room. I never would have thought that I would have stayed in a house with Ashton and his bastard of a roommate. I never would have thought that I would have fallen in love with someone as frail and tiny and loveable as Michael. I never thought I would have fallen in love in the first place.

The facility quiets down, I take notice. The footsteps outside the metal door soften and become less and less frequent to the point that it stops altogether, and the hum of silence fills the air like bricks.

"They're probably gone now." My mum says uneasily.

"I didn't hear any cars." I say.

"Maybe they stay here? But nobody has been down this hallway in a while." She says, and I have to admit that it's true. They haven't. If we're going to try and get out of this damned room, then now is the time.

I stand up and walk over to the door, inspecting the lock carefully. I fiddle with the handle, trying to figure out a way to get it open without a key. It proves to be impossible.

"Is there anything in your pockets that we could use?" My mum asks.

I look down and cram my hands in my jean pockets, fumbling around for something, anything. I pull out a crumpled dollar bill and two guitar picks. Nothing useful.

Calum offers three pennies, a safety pin, and a pair of earphones. I rub my nose. I'm beginning to think this is hopeless.

Ashton stuffs his hands in his pockets and pulls out a pair of earphones, an iPod, a piece of lint and a paper clip. My eyes catch on the paper clip, snatching it from his hands and twisting it out of its original shape.

"Can't we use one of these, maybe?" I say, and Ashton looks up from where he was tucking everything else back in his pocket. He blinks for a moment, looking a bit disoriented.

"Uh, yeah. Yeah, we can. Here, just--" Ashton stops and steps forward, taking the paper clip from my hands and bending it around, walking to the lock. He tilts his head, curly hair flopping over his ears as he does. He sticks the paper clip through the lock and begins fiddling with it, shaking it violently in the lock and I'm just about convinced that we are totally and completely doomed, when the lock clicks.

Our mouths fall open, and so does Ashton's.

"Well, fuck me." Ashton says in surprise. "I honestly did not think that would work."

I push the lightly muscled boy out of the way, pulling open the door with ease. Relief sparks in my chest like a growing wildfire, and I make no move to contain it as I slip out of the door, glancing around to see where the little kitten boy could be.

I start at the nearest door closest to me, pushing it open to reveal an empty room, aside from a long white table in the center of the room. I switch doors, only to find another identical one. They seem to be all the exact same rooms, and something tells me that this is where the hybrids are tested on. Experimented on, with needles and syringes and I nearly want to cry at just the thought of it.

Michael doesn't deserve this.

I push open door after door, until I come across one that looks slightly different than the others. It lacks a window through the metal, and I push at the handle, only to find it locked. I'm positive that this is it, this is the room, and I can practically sense Michael from inside of it. I push at the handle harder, using all my strength to push it open, but it doesn't budge.

I spin around, seeing my mum and the two teenagers standing at the end of the hallway, not really knowing what to do. I gesture hurriedly to Ashton, who jogs over quickly.

"Where's the paper clip?" I ask, hushed. Ashton pulls it out of his pocket slowly, and I grab it the moment it comes into view. I stick it in the lock and wiggle it around until the lock clicks, and I feverishly push the heavy door open, the smell of the room dark and musky. I cough slightly, squinting to try and see through the darkness of the room. I search the walls for a possible light switch, and I can only pray that my love will be in here.

My hands run over the light switch and I quickly flick it on, blinding light momentarily destroying my sight as I shield my eyes.

Quickly regaining my stability, I peer through the light at the horrible sight of the room, my eyes scanning the corners until they fall on a slumped figure in the corner.

I am momentarily brought back to when I saw Michael slumped against the tall oak tree in the woods, the blue blanket wrapped around him. I had thought he was dead. I can only pray that this isn't the case now.

The figure slumped against the wall isn't moving, and doesn't look like it ever will. Its pale skin is glistening with either sweat or blood, and I don't know that I want to know. I notice its wrists are banded together by rough handcuffs, pressed against the wall by a restraining rope. My stomach sinks when I see the faded red hair standing in tufts on the boy's head, and I nearly jump in shock when his head rolls slightly to the side, revealing its tired and unconscious face that is so painfully familiar to my eyes.

"Michael?"

---

A/N is this foreshadowing or a cliff hanger i'm not good at grammar terms idk

i promise you guys that the next update will not take long, okay? because i feel bad for leaving it like this i mean i usually don't do that so.

hEY what's your name ??

mine's grace. in case you didn't know. i want a cooler name but whatever i'll deal.

please vote and comment and i will see you in the next chapter. BYE