Wednesday Briefs - Help Me

Here we are again on Wednesday and I'm flashing my briefs. This week Luke lives to regret he ever trusted Rio

 

The next few days were a nightmare for Luke. He wandered through life as if in a dream… a bad one. His time with Rune had been brief but so very bright. Rune had been like a comet, blazing into his life, burning away the crap and changing everything. Nothing was the same. Nothing was right.

He’d heard nothing from Rune or Rio and had no idea what Rio had told Rune about him. It didn’t really matter. It wasn’t as if he was ever going to see Rune again. That thought hurt every time he let his mind touch it. Never again would he look into those strange shifting blue/gold eyes. Never again would he run his hands through the wild white hair. Never again would he… 

Gritting his teeth, Luke shook his head and tried to concentrate on the lecturer. He’d spent too much time away from school to be able to afford any more and so, here  he was, trying to concentrate on the teacher’s words when all his mind could hold was Rune.  Rune’s smell, Rune’s touch, Rune’s… But it was over. There would be no more Rune.

He’d thought the pain would fade with time, but it had been almost a week and nothing was changing, nothing was fading, nothing was getting better. Rune had got under his skin and it was going to take a long time to work him out again. Every time the phone rang or someone knocked the door or called his name in the street, his heart lurched, wondering if maybe… possibly… 

Luke jumped when his phone began to sing. Why had he used such a stupid ringtone? He had a certain fondness for jazz but maybe not in a philosophy lecture. Why hadn’t he turned it to ‘silent’? Everyone turned to stare at him, and his fingers groped to turn it off. He glanced at the screen to see an unfamiliar number. With a shrug he slipped it back into his pocket and tried to concentrate on the rest of the lesson.

When he switched his phone back on, there were six missed calls and a couple of voice messages, all from the same, unfamiliar number. Mildly curious, but expecting someone trying to sell him something, he rang his voicemail and waited impatiently. He almost dropped the phone when he heard Rune’s voice.

“Luke? Luke, please pick up. I know it’s your number, I rang your house and they gave it to me. Please pick up Luke. I need you. I need you so much.”

With a pounding heart, Luke listened to the rest of the voicemails, which were silent, until the last one, which had been left only fifteen minutes ago. 

“Luke. Oh God, Luke… Please, please answer the phone. You’ve got to answer the phone Luke. Please… please help me.”

In a complete panic, Luke redialled the number and it seemed to take forever for Rune to answer.

“Luke? Luke is that you? Please say it’s you Luke, please.”

“Yes, it’s me. What’s wrong? What’s happened?

“It’s Rio. He won’t… he won’t let me come back. He won’t let me find you. Please, Luke, he’s hurting me again. Please help me.”

“Rio’s hurting you? But… but he said… Rune, do you remember me?”

“Remember you?” Rune sounded shocked and confused. “Of course I remember you.”

“You didn’t remember me. When I was at the hospital. When you woke up, you didn’t remember me. You wanted Rio.” As hard as he tried, Luke couldn’t help a note of accusation creeping in.

“You were there? When I woke up, you were there? But I… I don’t… Rio said you’d skipped. He said, as soon as you knew I was… that I might… He said you didn’t really care, that I couldn’t expect you to, not after such a short time.”

 

“Oh fuck. I’m going to kill him. I… I was there Rune, I swear it. The whole time. I never left your side. Ask any of the nurses… they knew. I was there every step, every minute. I watched you dream and I watched you wake and you… you didn’t know me. What could I do? Rio swore he’d tell me if you remembered. He came to see me the next day… to tell me you’d like to see me but you didn’t remember me. I couldn’t… I couldn’t face it…”

“He told me you’d said you didn’t want to come, that you… you were glad I was better but you didn’t think you were up to taking care of me and didn’t want to see me anymore,” Rune whispered.

“I’d never say that, Rune, never. I thought he’d changed. I thought he really cared about you. I thought he’d look after you, that you’d be better off without the complication of someone you didn’t remember.”

“But I did, I do.  I don’t know what happened in those first minutes. I was scared, confused, I didn’t know what was happening. Rio was there but you weren’t. I… maybe I was still out of it at the very beginning but I did remember you Luke, I did remember. I thought you didn’t care.”

“I’ve never stopped caring.”

“Then help me. Please, Luke. I was praying you’d still care, just a bit. Praying you wouldn’t turn your back on me. When you didn’t answer--”

“I was in a lecture. I didn’t know the number. If I’d known it was you I’d have run. Tell me where you are. I’m on my way.”

Luke could tell Rune was crying as he gave an address in Manchester, about sixty miles away. Luke scribbled it down on one of his school books.

“Stay put and stay safe. Do whatever you need to do to keep safe, understand?”

“I’ll be alright. He’s not here. He’s dancing tonight. He won’t be back until late. Please hurry Luke. He’s getting worse and worse all the time and I’m scared.”

“I’m coming for you, Rune. I’m coming.”

And now go visit the other brilliant briefers and drop them a comment to tell them how wonderful they are

Lily Sawyer      m/m 

MA Church    m/m

Nephylim     m/m

MC Houle     m/m

Sara York     m/m

Tali      m/m

Julie Lynn Hayes  m/m