therapy | luke hemmings a.u

:: Two

:: T W O ::

"I killed you, mom. I killed you." Luke said in a hoarse voice.

"No, you didn't, sweetie." She said with tears in her eyes. "It's not your fault. Stop blaming yourself." She pleaded.

"No, no." he said, covering his ears. "All my fault. All my fault." He whispered rolling from side to side on his bed, his knees brought up tightly to his chest, trying to get himself out of the nightmare he was seeing.

There was a knock on the door and it opened revealing Jack, Luke's older brother, with a wide smile on his face which instantly dropped when his eyes settled on Luke.

"Not again." He sighed walking in to the room and sitting at the edge of the bed. "Have you been having those dreams again?"

Luke nodded.

"I thought they were gone." He sighed. "Luke," he said after a pause. "You shouldn't blame yourself. Mom's accident wasn't your fault."

"If it wasn't for me she wouldn't have been out in that stormy weather, Jack! I kept pestering her to buy me something. I will never get her voice out of my head. I will never forget the sound of the horn that honked before the lorry came crashing against her car." Luke yelled hysterically. "I will never okay?" his voice broke and tears flowed down his cheeks as he covered his face with his hands.

Jack sighed. "Listen to me, buddy. Mom wouldn't want you to blame yourself, alright?" he said rubbing Luke's back reassuringly. "Wherever she is now, I'm sure she's in a better place." His voice cracked. "How's school so far?" he asked trying to get Luke's mind off of the dark times, "better than the past few years?"

"Are you kidding me, Jack?" Luke laughed bitterly. "There's nothing better about that hellhole. Trust me."

"Well, if you don't get ready soon then you won't make it to the hellhole on time." stated Jack getting up from the bed.

Luke groaned, sinking back into the bed, and covered his face with a pillow. "I thought it was the weekend."

"You've got one more day, buddy." Jack said walking out the door and closing the door behind him.

-

-

It was the first period of another long day. But thanks to Ellie's luck, it was maths - her favorite subject.

"I've mar-" Mr. Walter was interrupted as the door was flung open revealing a self-conscious looking Luke. "Tardiness is not welcome here, Mr. Hemmings." He said in a strict tone.

"I- I'm sorry, sir." Luke stammered. "It won't happen again." He said as his gaze shifted towards his feet and he made his way towards the back of the class and took a seat at the only empty spot that happened to be next to Ellie who had been watching his every move.

"I've marked your papers." Said Mr. Walter taking off from where he had stopped when Luke had interrupted. "All I can say is some of you - and by some I mean just two - have done impeccably while the rest of you just scraped by." He said as he walked around the class handing everyone their papers.

When Ellie received hers she let out a sigh of relief as a smile broke across her face. A+. She got an A+! Her hard work had paid off and she was extremely happy.

But Luke, on the other hand, wasn't so lucky. He had gotten an F. Apparently he was the only one who had failed from what he could gather amongst the chatter of his classmates. Luke sighed and slumped back, sinking lower in his seat. His mind wasn't into what Mr. Walter was saying. All he could think of was how he was wasting his time in school when it had nothing to offer him except show him what a failure he is - which he already knew thank you very much. He was alone. He had no one. Sure there were people he occasionally spoke to but they didn't know him. They didn't know his story.

At the end of the class, as the bell rung, Mr. Walter said, "Mr. Hemmings and Ms. Hawthorn, would you two please remain in the class? I need to talk to the both of you."

"Uhm okay, Mr. Walter" said Ellie as she sat back down in her seat, confused. Luke, who hadn't stood in the first place, looked confused as well.

Once everyone had walked out of the class, Mr. Walter motioned for Luke and Ellie to come and stand in front of his desk as he sat down.

"Luke," he started. "To be frank, you haven't done very well on your paper have you?" he asked looking at Luke.

"No I haven't, sir." Luke said staring down at his feet.

"Don't worry, my boy. I didn't keep you here to scold you." He said kindly. "I just thought, well, Ellie you've done remarkable well haven't you?" he asked fixing his gaze on Ellie now.

"Well, uh, I guess so, sir." She said awkwardly not knowing where this was going.

"I just thought since Luke isn't doing so well, maybe you could tutor him this semester. What do you say Luke?" he asked.

Luke looked afraid. He hadn't expected something like this. Having Ellie as his tutor would mean opening up to someone, at least a little if not completely. He looked at Ellie who looked as shocked as he did. They had been in the same class since they were eight. But now ten years later, they still hadn't spoken to each other.

Just as Luke was about to open his mouth to argue, Mr. Walter butted in saying, "I'll let you both decide the times that would be convenient for the both of you. That's all." He smiled without waiting for a response, signaling the fact that the topic was closed for further discussion.

Luke and Ellie walked out of the class in silence. Ellie cleared her throat making Luke look over at her. "So, uhm, when are you free this week?" she asked.

"I guess you could say I'm always free." He shrugged. "It's not like I have anything else to do anyways." He said unenthusiastically.

"Well then, how about tomorrow? At around 4?" asked Ellie after pondering for a bit.

"Alright, I suppose." He shrugged, "at the Allison's coffee shop." He added as an afterthought.

"Yeah, okay." Ellie smiled. "See you then."

"Right, see you then." He said, a faint smile on his lips, and walked away with his hands in the pockets of his black skinny jeans.

Author's Note: Update! I don't have a fixed update day for this book but yeah xD I hope you guys like this! :)

- When Two Worlds Collide has 1.5K reads! WHAT? HOW?

- Pooji