*Ashton's P.O.V*
The sound of someone sniffling wakes me up... Well, kind of...
I'm standing beside the hospital bed again, staring down at my still unconscious body. I look up to see Michael closing the door
I watch Michael as he pulls a chair over to my bed and sits down. His face is all blotchy like he's been crying, his eyes look bloodshot, like he's been rubbing them to get rid of tears, his hair looks like it had been styled like normal, but has been messed up by him running his hands through it... And there are dark circles underneath his eyes, how much sleep has he been getting?
"Ash, you need to wake up" he sobs, gently grabbing my body's hand.
"You don't think I know that already?" I snap at him, rolling my eyes. "How the fuck can I?" I ask irritably.
"It's just- it's Calum" he says quietly.
"What about him?" I ask, suddenly worried. I kneel down beside Michael, desperate for him to keep talking.
"He's-" he pauses, like the words are hard to spit out. "He's been drinking..." He finally finishes.
"I know... I saw him when he got home" I tell him. I'd been there, only for a moment, when Calum came stumbling home. I spoke to him and I if I didn't know any better, I'd swear he heard me.
"You've only been in here for two weeks... But he's getting really bad" Michael says, starting to tear up.
"Two weeks?" I ask shocked. "He got worse from when I saw him?" I ask worryingly.
"The kids are starting to ask where you are... We had to lie to them and tell them you just needed a bit of a break" he says.
"I'm sorry you had to lie to them" I whisper.
"And the fans- oh god the fans" he says, bursting into tears at the mention of the FAM.
"You had to tell them, didn't you?" I ask, tears slipping from my eyes.
Michael's crying right in front of me and all I want to do is be the big brother I always was with him and wrap my arms around him tightly and tell him everything will be alright.
But I can't do that... And I'm not sure everything will be alright.
"We had to tell them" he sobs, half covering his face with his free hand. "We had to tell them you were in a coma... We didn't say how you ended up in it but they all have their theories" he says though little sobs.
"And I bet ending up comatose from a suicide attempt crossed their minds, right?" I ask.
"Most of them think it's because you tried to kill yourself.... Oh god, they are so upset about it all" he cries.
"Tell our beautiful fans how much I'm in love with them, tell them I'll be okay" I sob.
"It's Calum I'm most worried about though" he says quietly.
"Where is he?" I ask curiously.
"Luke is looking after him at the moment, when I left, Calum was asleep, snuggled up to Luke" he explains. "But I'm just so worried about him, he's breaking apart" he sighs.
"HELP HIM" I shout. "HELP HIM I DONT CARE HOW JUST HELP HIM" my screams turn into sobs.
The beeping noise coming from the heart monitor speeds up, but only a bit. I turn to the heart monitor for a second before turning back to Michael, who's looking at it in confusion. He stands up and moves closer to my body. He places his hand gently over my chest to feel my heartbeat.
Woah. I bring my hands up to rest against my chest.
I felt that.
"Hey, calm down, Ash" he says calmly, staring down at my face. "Don't want you having another heart attack" he adds with a small smile.
"Right" I say quietly.
"Calum will be okay, I'll do whatever I can to make sure of it" he says softly, still looking down at my body.
The heart monitor still says my heart is racing but Michael's not paying any attention to the machine, he's focused on the heartbeat he can feel in my chest.
He leans over the top of me and, dodging the tubes around my face, kisses me softly of the cheek.
One of my hands move from my chest up to the cheek he kissed.
I felt that too.
"I promise" he whispers in my ear before pulling back.
The heart monitor starts going back to normal. Michael just stares down at me, his hand still against my chest, until he feels my heartbeat return to normal.
"You did that" I whisper in shock, watching the amazement and confusion in Michael's face.
"I guess I should go now" he says softly.
"I wish you could stay with me" I say quietly.
"Bye, Ash" he says quietly, walking towards the door.
"Bye" I say quietly.
"Please wake up... We need you" he whispers, turning back to face my body for a moment before leaving the room.
*Luke's P.O.V*
"I still can't believe you let him get away" Michael says, his voice freakishly calm considering how pissed he looked, as he paced back and forth in front of me.
"I fell asleep, I'm sorry" I apologise again, my elbows propped on my knees and my face hidden by my hands.
"No, it's not your fault, I'm sorry" Michael says, stopping in his tracks to shake his head.
"It's only 11pm, I'm sure he'll be back soon" I say, dropping my hands into my lap as I look up at him.
"You're right" he sighs nervously, walking over to the lounge room window to look out at the road.
I was about to speak when Michael turned to face me, his face looked interested but a little freaked out. "The weirdest thing happened at the hospital when I was there" he says quietly.
"What happened?" I ask curiously, standing up and walking over to the window he is standing at.
"I was talking to Ashton and I-" he pauses. "I mentioned how worried I was about Calum" he finishes.
"And?" I ask. Where is he going with this?
"And the heart monitor started beeping faster" he says, frowning. "So I got up and placed my hand on his chest - like this-" he says, placing his hand on my chest, right over my heart. "His heart was racing... Like he was panicking" he explains.
"You think he could hear you?" I ask curiously. He nods.
"It gets weirder" he says. My eyes widen. "I told him that I would make sure Calum was okay, then I kissed him on the cheek, like to reassure him" he says before kissing me on the cheek gently.
"And?" I ask.
"His heartbeat went back to normal" he says, sounding shocked.
"That's kind of creepy" I admit.
"Tell me about it" he laughs for a moment before going serious. "But it gave me more hope that he is coming back" he says, finally letting his hand drop from my chest. I wonder if he could feel my heart racing just then.
Michael's phone goes off, indicating he just got a text. He quickly digs it out of his pocket. When he looks at the screen, his face goes white.
"What?" I ask, getting worried. He turns the phone around and shows me the screen and I read the name of the person who sent the text.
Ashton.
"B-But his phone... It's in his and Calum's room... I-It's not even on" I stutter, looking up from the phone to Michael.
Michael quickly unlocks his phone so we can view the message.
Ashton: "CALUM IS IN DANGER! HELP HIM HE IS IN A NIGHTCLUB"
"A nightclub?" I ask.
"Calum's in danger?" Michael asks.
"How are we meant to find him?" I ask. "There are heaps of nightclubs!" I point out.
"His favourite" Michael mumbles. "That one we always go to when we have time" he adds.
I know the one he's talking about, but I can't remember the name.
We call for a taxi and pray it gets here soon.
*Michael's P.O.V*
"Excuse me, have you seen this guy?" I ask the security guard as Luke holds up his phone to show the guard a photo of Calum.
"Calum Hood? Not tonight, no! Sorry, I only just started my shift" the guard replies.
"Can you please keep an eye out for him?" Luke asks.
"Sure" the guard replies, we thank him and start searching the club.
"Look!" Luke say, pointing over to the corner of the club, it was darker in the corner but I could see a group of people, crowded around maybe two or three people, who had someone pinned against a wall.
We bolt over to the group of people and over the loud music we can hear shouts coming from the group of people.
"FAGGOT!"
"WHIMP!"
"KNOCK THE LOSER OUT!"
"WHY AREN'T YOU AT A GAY BAR?!"
As we get closer I can see Calum, pinned up against the wall, head down.
"HEY" Luke & I shout together, pushing our way through the crowd.
That might not of been the smartest move... Maybe we should of gotten the security to break it up.
As we get even closer, I can see blood running down the side of Calum's face and dripping from a cut in his lip.
"LEAVE HIM ALONE" I shout.
"Or what?" One of them ask, his eyes widening slightly when he turns to face us.
I smirk slightly, these guys, compared to us anyway, are quite short and I'm convinced the only reason they got Calum was because he is completely pissed.
"Or" I say, stepping towards him as he takes a step back, bumping into his friend, who moves out of the road. "I WILL MAKE YOU REGRET IT!" I shout, pushing him against the wall with all my strength. He gasps from the force and stares at me in shock.
His friends quickly scatter away, letting go of Calum so he tumbles to the ground. Luke quickly rushes to his side.
"So what choice are you going to make?" I ask, my hands wrapping around his neck tightly, pushing his head against the wall. "Would you like to get beat up? Or would you like to walk away?" I growl, watching his face turn red as he claws at my hands.
"Air" he gasps desperately. My tight grip doesn't loosen.
I wish I could just kill him.
"Michael" Luke says worryingly. I don't look at him so he jumps up to my side. "Michael, let go" he says sternly, grabbing my wrist.
My eyes dart to his and they look like they are pleading me to obey him. My grip on the guy's neck loosens slightly as the anger that was boiling inside of me evaporates. I let go of him and step away, closer to Luke. The guy scrambles away and the crowd around us laughs.
"FUCK OFF NOW!" I shout at the crowd, making Luke flinch.
The crowd starts to disappear and I fall into Luke's arms for a hug, ashamed I let that side of me out.
We pull away a few seconds later and help Calum to his feet.
"How did you find me?" Calum slurs.
"You won't believe us, trust me" I say as I pick him up and throw him over my shoulders.
I carry him outside, Luke right behind me, and we wait for a taxi.
*The Next Day*
"You're right, I don't believe you" Calum scoffs.
"Well believe it because it happened" Luke tells him.
"Ashton is in a coma, he can't of done it" Calum says, frowning at us.
"His phone was in your room, turned off, so no one else could have done it" I say.
"But... It's not possible" Calum says, shaking his head in confusion.
"Clearly it is" Luke says in frustration, starting to pace Calum & Ashton's room, I sit on the edge if the bed with Calum as we watch him.
"Ashton saved your life, not us" I tell him. "If we hadn't got that text, we wouldn't of even known you were in danger" I add.
"This is so weird" Calum says, falling back so he is laying on the bed.
"Tell me about it" I mumble as I watch Luke continue to pace back and forth across the room nervously.