Unlock the Past

Chapter 6 continued

Both of our eyes widen and our mouths part.

His hair is slightly tousled by the wind. Causing his soft hair to look lopsided. But he obviously didn't care.

Aside from the obvious changes, Ashton looked exactly the same. It took my breath away on how much he hasn't changed.

After minutes of just plainly staring at each other. I come to my senses and rapidly step back. My foot catches on a piece of clothing that has probably been there for two years and I topple over.

Oh my god. I can't believe I just saw him. I lay there on the floor for a minute.

All of our moments together come rushing back. The way he'd hold me when I was having a bad day. The way he would hook his fingers on the loops of my jeans and drag me to his chest. The way he kissed me with so much passion and love. Everything comes back.

But with those memories come the memories of how he used to touch me. Every finger that dragged around my skin. The impureness of every part of my body brings me even more pain. It's like I'm in space and all of the oxygen and all of the heat from the sun depart from my body. I gasp as my body rapidly moves away from the window. I run into my dresser, causing knick-knacks to fall and hit the floor loudly. I fall along with them, my body numb as I sit on my floor. Did that really just happen?

I hear my bedroom door open.

"Sweetheart. Are you okay?"  My dad comes rushing to my side looking in my eyes. He sees the window open and goes towards it.

"Is she okay!?" The most gorgeous voice that I could never forget rings through my room.

"I don't know. I think she's in shock."

Dad is right. I'm in complete and udder shock. I can't comprehend the thought that I just saw someone that I was doomed to never see again. Yes. I didn't think I'd see my family again either. But Ashton and I had a really different connection. We knew everything about each other. And we wanted to for the rest of our lives. He was my everything. When I was taken he was all I ever thought about. The only person I begged to see one last time. My heart continues to break as I fall apart. My breathing, still ragged as I stare at the window. 

My father looks at me, seeing my discomfort he carefully and gently makes his way to me and I start shaking. He stops at my panic "Do you want to see Ashton?" I shake my head rapidly and my breathing become impossibly more harsh. My whole body is shaking as if I'm in a blizzard. "okay, okay don't worry I'm just going to go let him know okay? He won't come up if you don't want him to." I continue to shake as my dad makes his way out my room and down the stairs. I try to slow my breathing down.

No you don't feel anything, you are numb. Don't feel anything. 

I repeat these familiar words like a mantra and begin to calm down. My face becomes a stone and I feel myself fade away.

"Sir, I'm sorry. I didn't think she would see me. I just had to make sure she was safe" Ashtons words come out choppy and fast. 

"I know son, and thats okay but you know she isn't ready. She isn't even opening up to us. I know you two are closer but I can't have her regressing to when we first saw her." My dad sounds desperate as he talks to Ashton. I feel nothing. 

I make my way to the staircase out of pure curiosity. Old Chloe really liked him. I have to see if she was naive about him too. I peer around the corner, his normally tall build and straight shoulders are hunched over. And he's crying. I've only see Ashton cry once and that was when his mother died a few weeks after we first started dating. 

Almost as if he can feel my stare, Ashton turns and sees me hovering in the shadows at the top of the steps. His eyes hold so much pain, I almost react. Key word, almost. I feel nothing. 

"Chloe?" I hear my dad call my name, noticing Ashton staring at me. I feel nothing. With my mantra repeating in my mind I make my way down the stairs.