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Milo wriggles. His hands are tied behind him, scratchy rope is digging into his wrists. He has been in this cold, empty room for a while- he isn’t sure for how long, there aren’t any windows. Long enough that his wrists are starting to really hurt.
The door opens, making him jump. He looks up to see a very familiar face, which confirms all of his worst fears. “Sally?”
“Kiddo! It’s been a while, hasn’t it?” She remarks, closing the door behind her. He hears the click of a lock, someone locked it from outside. He gulps, trying to glare at her and not look as frightened as he truly is. “Oh, what’s with that look? We’ve been through so much with each other, I thought we would be friends by now.”
“You kidnapped me!” Milo points out. “Three times, now!”
“No excuse for bad manners.” Sally tuts. “Didn’t I teach you better?”
Milo falls silent. Angering Sally will just lead to pain. If he can just hang on, he will be rescued. Or he will have a chance to escape. Either way, this will all be alright. It will all be alright. Things always work out. They did before, even if it was scary and painful first.
“That’s it. See, it’s never as bad as you think it will be, as long as you behave.” Sally smiles, then bends down to pat his head. He winces and tries to move away, but he is tied to a pole so he just hits his head off of it. Sally giggles. “That’s just instant karma, kiddo. Stay still and let me do it this time.”
So he does, he sits still and lets her pat his head even when her touch sends shivers through his body, makes goosebumps pop up all over him. She lingers with her hand on his head, and he just sits still and stares into space. He pretends to be somewhere else, does his best to ignore her.
Finally, after so long that he knows she was deliberately trying to upset him, she removes her hand. “Well done, kiddo.”
She walks away, to the opposite corner of the room. Leaving him alone, but not alone. He tries wriggling his aching wrists again. Surely Murphy’s Law could break these ropes? Or the pole, that would work too. But nope. He is still trapped.
“Looks like they’re trying a rescue mission instead of bringing me what I asked for.” Sally breaks the silence. Her words chill him right to his core. He is glad, he really is glad that they aren’t going to give in to whatever she has demanded. He doesn’t want anyone to get hurt because of him. But at the same time, Sally is sure to have threatened him in an attempt to force them to comply. What is she going to do now? “Penny wants me to kill you. And I should, really.”
She steps closer and he winces, squeezing his eyes shut. She crouches down, too close, too close. “But that would be a shame. I think I’ll wait and see where this goes, then I’ll decide! Sounds good, kiddo?”
He stays frozen, eyes shut, leaning as far away as he can. Sally tuts. “Well, if it doesn’t sound good I could just kill you now.”
He starts nodding rapidly. He can imagine the satisfaction on Sally’s face as she stands. Then he hears her yelp. He opens his eyes to find that the light on the ceiling broke, and Sally barely avoided being hit by the glass. The corners of his mouth bend up into a pleased little smirk. Murphy’s Law always kicks it, and it affects everyone.
Sally rounds on him. “I wouldn’t smirk like that, kiddo. Not when you’re stuck with me.”
“My friends are coming. They’re going to rescue me.” He points out. And that is worth the risk of retribution. Which doesn’t stop him from tensing, waiting for the inevitable pain as punishment for talking back.
Instead, Sally just looks down at him. “Well, they’ll certainly try.” She concedes. “I suppose the question is, kiddo, should they?”
Oh, he’s going to regret humouring her. “What do you mean?” And he humours her anyway. He is cold and sore and trapped, as much as every word makes his skin crawl Sally is the only one around.
“You make everything worse by your mere presence. It is irritating even when around you for a few days. I can’t even imagine how awful being stuck with you for years would be.” Sally remarks, as casually as if she is commenting on his dress sense. “So why should they come? Really, I’m sure they’d be sad if I killed you, but I’d be doing them all a favour.”
“You wouldn’t be. They’re my friends, and my family. And I don’t make everything worse.” Milo retorts. Once again, this earns no retribution from Sally other than a cocked eyebrow.
“You don’t? How often have your beloved friends ended up in serious danger, or in the hospital, because of you?” Sally asks. “Too often for you to count, I imagine. Come on kiddo, aren’t you meant to be kind? You must understand how difficult and dangerous being your friend is.”
“I know that it’s difficult and dangerous.” Milo replies, making eye contact with her. “And that’s why I appreciate them so much.”
“If you really did love them, you’d do them a favour and leave them alone. So they wouldn’t get hurt.” Sally frowns, tilting her head a bit. “Or worse. People have died because of Murphy’s Law, right? How long until one of your friends dies because of it? And even if they don’t, don’t you care about the people who have died because of Murphy’s Law, or who will die?”
“I-“
“The world really would be better off without you in it.”
Without even realising it, she hits a little soft spot that Milo didn’t even realise that he had. That’s what Elliot said, isn’t it? That the world would be better without Milo, he had said it, Milo’s friends had reassured him, and that had been that.
Sally saying it makes him feel like she isn’t just saying horrible things because she is horrible, but saying horrible things that other people agree with. Horrible things that less horrible people, normal people, agree with.
“Ooh, that got to you! Aw, poor kiddo.” Sally bends to ruffle his hair. He doesn’t try to stop her, he sits quietly and accepts it. “Don’t worry, I don’t care about any of that. But you do, don’t you? You’re that kind of person. You care.”
She pulls his hair as she takes her hand away and stands enough, enough for him to squeak. “It must be hard sometimes, caring about other people when you hurt them just by existing. When you want to help, but all you can ever really do is hurt. Is that difficult? I don’t really mind hurting people so I can’t relate, but I’m trying to understand you.”
Milo stares straight ahead and tries to ignore her, but his head is swimming and his throat is starting to hurt a lot. “You ruin a lot of things, kiddo. Little things, like school projects and favourite toys and days at the museum. Bigger things like school dances and football games and important time travel missions. Buildings. Homes. Vacations. Days. Lives.”
“Everything you touch, you ruin. Sorry, kiddo, but that’s the truth.” Sally says, smiling with mock sympathy.
Milo hangs on until she leaves, until the door slams shut behind her. And then he breaks down. Tears start to flow out, like water flowing from a broken dam, a disaster that would lead to lots of money and time wasted, and people getting hurt, and maybe even dying, and all because of him. All because of him.
He does care. He does care, so much, and he knows that Murphy’s Law does upset a lot of people. He knows that things people care about get spoiled, that they get upset. He knows that people get hurt, seriously hurt, they end up in hospital. His friends end up hospital, and they never blame him, but maybe they should.
He likes Murphy’s Law! He really likes Murphy’s Law, he doesn’t want it gone. But he wishes it would only affect him, because he hates this. He hates that he ruins things for people, he doesn’t want them to be unhappy. He hates that people he love get hurt. He hates that anyone gets hurt, that they… that they…
A sob easily slides from his throat, and then more, and now his body is wracked with them and he is straining against the rope as pure emotion shakes his body. Very quietly, just outside, he can hear giggles. He ignores them.
———
Hours later, the door slams open again. He flinches, expecting Sally to be back for more taunting. Instead, he sees a familiar redhead. She immediately rushes to him. “Milo! It’s alright, we’re here. We’re getting you out of here.” She says, looking worried but also relieved now. She immediately starts untying him, fumbling with the knots. “Are you alright? Did she hurt you?”
Milo shakes his head once. She finishes untying him and he rubs his stinging wrists as she comes around to face him again. She puts her hands on his shoulders to look at his face. His red, blotchy, tear stained face. “Milo? What did she do?” Anger shakes Melissa’s voice.
“Nothing, she just… Melissa, why do you hang around me?”
“What?” Melissa blinks. “Because you’re my friend. Because I like you.”
“But it’s dangerous. And you get hurt. And I ruin… I ruin everything I touch…” He sobs again, when he thought he had no more of those in him.
Melissa stares at him, then suddenly pulls him into a rib crushing hug. He squeaks. “No, you don’t! Did she tell you that? I’ll kill her.”
His voice is muffled by her chest. “She did, but I don’t care what she thinks. I care about the fact that it’s true, people’s things do get ruined and destroyed, people get hurt, and I know other people think the same. Elliot does. Bradley does.”
“It’s not true! Sure, things get damaged, people get hurt, and that’s not good. But you do everything you can to prevent it, and if you can’t then you do everything you can to fix it. That’s why Amanda likes you, because you did everything you could to save the opera and fix the dance.” Melissa somehow manages to squeeze tighter. “And you’re so kind, and brave, and funny, and you’re my best friend. I don’t care if I end up in the hospital, if I get to be friends with you.”
Milo sits limp in her grip for a while. “Really?”
“There’s no way you could ruin everything you touch.” Melissa says softly. “Because you’re touching me right now, and you’ve touched me nearly every day since grade school, and you’ve only made me better.”
Milo digests her words. Then he squeezes her back. “Thanks, Mel.”
“Anytime, Milo.”
“And I love you.”
“I love you too.” They sit and hug each other for a few seconds more. Then they hear an explosion. “Ah, we’d better get going. That’s the signal.”
“The signal is an explosion?”
“Of course.”