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Caelan sighed after another long day. It had been about a week since he got sent to the mental facility. It wouldn’t be as bad if he wasn’t sharing a room with Dr. Longsdale. Apparently, they had to dedicate a room to patients from CDSHS. Anyway, it was really awkward since they both refused to talk to each other.
Until one day, Dr. Longsdale finally got sick of the constant silence and just had to talk.
“Why are you even here?” she muttered, annoyed that she’d had to spend the last week sharing a room with a teenage boy.
Caelan took a minute to comprehend the fact she was actually talking to him before replying.
“Uh, I kinda just… I don’t know, stalked someone?” He replied, unsure of what to even say.
“Heh, I did something similar” She huffed, knowing there was no point denying her crimes anyway. “I locked them up. Twice actually. All my life I’ve been like, “what is love?”. When I saw the two of them together, I knew that’s what love was…
I had to destroy it.
You see… my husband and I… well, I just wanted the money. It was a good opportunity for me and my career. Playing the flute… But there was never that spark… These two kids, they have what I’ve always wanted…”
When she looked back at Caelan, he looked a little weirded out, but of course she didn’t clock it.
“I suppose you might know them” She continued ominously, squinting her eyes at him.
“Their names… Arik and Isaac”
Caelan’s jaw practically fell from his face at the realisation that they had stalked the same people.
She finally noticed his expression and smirked. “Ah, so you do know them…”
“Yeah… I kinda… am also here because of them” Caelan muttered, still unsure of how to act around her.
“Really!?” She sprung up to a sitting position, way too excited by this new information. “What did you do to them!?”
Caelan was caught off guard by her sudden excitement but told her regardless.
“Well… I went to Isaac’s house… Took pictures of them together, hacked his phone, hacked the school Instagram, posted all the photos I had of them together… The got exposed by someone I thought was my friend and then arrested by that stupid school police officer. Why does a school even need a police officer!?” He exclaimed, getting more and more aggravated by the time he finished explaining.
“I think you just proved why they need one… but anyway, that’s great! What if we worked together to take them down! For good! You know, I’ve got some experience with those two…”
As she yapped about all the ways she had tortured these two kids, Caelan just kept getting more and more impressed. Something about a percussion room, multicultural day, delicious fried rice (of course), having them in her basement and inevitably getting caught.
“You see? We can do this together! We just have to think of a way to get out of here…” She muttered the last part, scratching her chin thoughtfully.
“I have an idea…” Caelan muttered. The truth was he had already thought about escaping just to get away from her, but after she just told him all she just did to Arik and Isaac, he wasn’t about to tell her that.
“At free time, staff are positioned at different areas… at the very beginning of lunch when they’re walking out, we get past them and run” Caelan suggested, knowing it would be hard for her to get away without being seen but he also wouldn’t say that to her face.
“Aha! Great idea! How about today? It’s a great plan!” She exclaimed, again, way too excited about this. She really was insane.
Caelan thought it was better to wait a few days and study how the staff acted, but he was also scared of Dr. Longsdale squashing him for disagreeing.
“Okay, today it is”
Lunch time rolled around. They sat in the cafeteria, counting down the seconds until go time. Finally, the bell rang. They shot up from their seats, gaining a lot of weird looks from other patients as to why they were so eager. The (somehow) snuck around some staff to a prohibited area. There, they made their way around the building and jumped the fence.
Finally, freedom.
They pulled out their phones which had been switched off during their stay and Dr. Longsdale called them and uber.
Right to Cleveland District State High School.
---
It was a normal Wednesday afternoon over there. Isaac was getting ready for band and was about to test out how his trumpet was working when he heard a familiar song play from nearby… It was only his boyfriend’s favourite song; careless whisper x we are Charlie kirk techno remix. He immediately stood up, heading into P5 to find where he thought his boyfriend was messing around. Who else would be playing that song?
He headed down the room towards the percussion room, not thinking anything of it. It was dark inside as he headed in. Instead of seeing his boyfriend in there, he saw the last thing he’d ever expected.
---
Arik showed up at P block after school, grabbing his saxophone out and setting it down to set up. He noticed an abandoned trumpet nearby and because he’s nosey, he checked the name on the music folder next to it.
Isaac?
Arik looked around but his boyfriend was nowhere to be seen. He wondered into P5, thinking maybe Isaac was helping set up the band seats, but no, he wasn’t. He was about to go back to his instrument when he saw a triangular shape poking out of the percussion room. He did a double take and just as he thought, it was Isaac’s head poking out.
Arik headed over, wondering if he needed any help with whatever he was doing.
Just as he walked in, the doors slammed shut behind him.
Because Arik had literally no awareness, he started laughing, thinking Isaac was playing a prank on him.
That was until the lights flicked on.
---
Isaac stood in front of Arik protectively, shielding him from what was confronting them.
Caelan and Dr. Longsdale stood across from them, evil smirks on their faces. They held metals poles in their hands, gathered from destroyed timpani drums.
Arik cowered in the back, stumbling back until he hit the wall. While Isaac was trying to stay tough, everyone knew he was also shitting himself. Who wouldn’t be when the people who have ruined his life over the last 6 months were in front of him, threatening him with metal poles?
“Wait, wait, wait! Can’t we just… sort this out?” Isaac said, holding his hands up in surrender.
Caelan stepped back for a moment, guilt filling him. He has never meant to hurt Isaac… I mean he kinda did, but that didn’t matter.
His guilt was forgotten one second later when Dr. Longsdale swung at them anyway, not giving any second chances.
Isaac luckily ducked in time to miss the swing. Unfortunately for him, Arik was not expecting it and got whacked hard in the face with it. He fell to the ground in pain, somehow not screaming in agony.
Isaac immediately rushed over once he realised, checking if he was okay.
Dr. Longsdale saw an opportunity and took it, swinging the metal pole right into the back of Isaac’s head.
Isaac fell forward from the intensity, almost passing out right there but somehow still conscious.
Arik sat up, ready to fight back but also not so ready…
He stood up and grabbed a snare drum, throwing it hard towards Dr. Longsdale and then quickly grabbing another one from protection, though it wouldn’t do much.
Dr. Longsdale wasn’t expecting the snare drum to come her way, she toppled over, falling onto her butt. Arik grabbed a nearby cowbell and leaped over to where she was lying on the floor. He hit her over and over, hoping Isaac would’ve recovered by now.
Caelan, forgotten in the corner, felt guilty about hitting Isaac, Arik not so much. He remembered the plan, what he was here for. He swung his metal pole and hit Arik in the stomach, winding him as he fell back onto Isaac.
Caelan helped Dr. Longsdale up, making sure she was okay after the battle. They left Arik and Isaac in a pile on the floor of the percussion room, heading out through P5 and out of P block. Once out, they looked out at the school, the sun slowly setting over the buildings. They sighed, smiles finally creeping onto their faces. They were proud of themselves. The two of them turned to each other, noticing the satisfaction on the other’s face. Their hands intertwined as they started skipping down, past H block, the tuckshop, F and E block and finally towards the bus chutes.
Golden hour, the sun shone down on them and everything around, creating this beautiful feeling around them. A sense fulfillment suffocated them, pride also playing a big part. The two of them skipped in sync, arms swinging gleefully towards freedom.
Caelan felt a small bit of Déjà vu from only a couple weeks ago, when he had been running to escape through the very same place, though this time, he wasn’t worried, he wasn’t scared of being caught. He felt quite peaceful. His smile widened thinking about it, about how he was successful this time-
His Déjà vu increase as he tripped and fell to the ground. Well, really dr. Longsdale had fallen, dragging him down with her. Their hand’s fell apart for Caelan to brace his landing slightly, though it still hurt.
He looked over to Dr. Longsdale, seeing her rolling around on the floor. Looking up further, he saw someone he hoped he’d never see ever again.
That fucking school police officer.
Caelan didn’t even bother thinking, he got up and sprinted. With no 70 year old man on top of him this time, it was much easier. He ran past F and E block, past the tuckshop, past H block, and back to P block. He was tempted to check back to see if he was chasing him, but didn’t bother, knowing he’d still be with Dr. Longsdale, who definitely wasn’t fast enough to catch up to him. He ran back to P5, back into the percussion room, slamming the doors shut.
He breathed out a sigh of relief, hoping the police officer wouldn’t check in there. He rested his forehead on the door, catching his breath before slowly getting up and turning around and- shit…
---
Arik slowly sat up from where he had fallen on top of Isaac. He saw Dr. Longsdale and Caelan where gone. Peeking out the door of the percussion room, he saw them heading off. With a pounding headache, he shook Isaac, hoping to get him to full consciousness. He contemplated hitting him with the cowbell but concluded that probably wouldn’t make anything better. He stuck with just shaking him until he finally sat up.
Arik hurriedly explained what had just happened and what they needed to do now.
Together, they gathered a bunch of instruments they believed could serve as good weapons and started deconstructing them. They ended up with a pile of metal poles from timpani drums, a few cowbells, 2 big mallets from the bass drums and a folding chair that was left in there for some reason.
They stood, looking down at their collection. It was kinda too late to use them since Caelan and Dr. Longsdale had already left-
The percussion room doors slammed shut and the two of them jumped, immediately turning to see the cause of the noise.
They were both shocked to see Caelan inside again, not even noticing them there. They quietly picked up a weapon from the pile; Isaac a metal pole and Arik, the folding chair. They raised their objects, ready for any attack from Caelan.
But Caelan didn’t seem to notice either of them were there, not even as he turned around to lean his back against the door.
Pure terror filled his eyes as the first thing he saw after opening his eyes was a metal folding chair headed directly for his face.
The chair hit him in the face, the force also slamming his head back into the wooden door. Caelan cried out in pain, a sharp sting in his nose as blood gushed out and down his face, now the only thing he could taste.
Before he could even recover from the first blow, the swing of Isaac’s metal pole slammed his head, causing him to fall to his side on the floor. He begged for them to stop, curling into a ball to try and defend himself.
Arik raised a mallet up above his head, ready to swing down, but the percussion room doors flung open before he could. Dr. Longsdale could be seen rolling around on the floor of P5, handcuffed and not able to sit up. While she tried to silly salmon away, everyone else’s attention was on the police officer, handcuffs in hand as he kneeled down to handcuff Caelan. For the second time. Déjà vu.
Arik and Isaac watched, weapons still in hand as if they’d been frozen when the officer walk through the door.
The officer helped up a crying Caelan and dragged him towards where Dr. Longsdale had made it halfway out of the room, yet not giving up. The officer just sighed, knowing he wouldn’t be able to handle this woman on his own. He dragged her down the hallway, not caring about her carpet burn, just wanting some back up for help.
Arik and Isaac still stayed there, frozen like they were worried someone would come but for them… but nothing.
Arik was first to let his guard down, turning to Isaac, unsure of what to even say.
Out of all the things they’d endured throughout their relationship, this had to be the most insane (so far..)
Isaac also turned to look at his boyfriend, letting silence fill the room for a few more moments.
“That was…”
“Incredible!” Arik giggled, way to excited over their concussions.
“What? Are you insane? You really did get brain dama-”
Isaac was cut off when Arik grabbed him, a big smile on his face as he puled him down to kiss him. It was soft and sweet, the calm they needed after the storm that had just occurred. They stayed like that for a while, enjoying the moment while it lasted. To be honest, they needed this. It had been a rough term for both of them, they’d been separated for a while, focusing on themselves, when all they needed was each other.
They weren’t even aware of how long they’d been stuck in the moment, but by the time police officers came to interrupt them with questioning, darkness had already enveloped the sky and stars shone through the atmosphere.
In the end, police decided Arik and Isaac had attacked in self-defence, while Dr. Longsdale and Caelan were both charged with attempted murder.
Caelan was sent to a maximum security prison, described as high risk, while Dr. Longsdale was sent to the most inescapable prison in the world, a prison run by the marvellous man Little Edoardo himself, where inmates where also sent if they had insane tendencies.
Arik and Isaac were recommended to a therapist to help them through all the trauma they’ve endured. In these therapy sessions, they learned how relying on each other has helped them overcome these battles in all different was, and spending time together was the key to surviving.
The two boys decided that, yes, now they had to spend every waking moment together. They had sleepovers every other night, much to the disappointment of their parents who just wanted some peace.
Every one of those nights, they’d have the same routine. Brush their teeth, get ready for bed, and kiss goodnight. Every night they spent together ended in a soft, sweet kiss before they finally drifted to sleep, hoping to have good dreams, maybe about their sweet, loving boyfriend who had always been there right by their side.