505 days ~ irwin

392 days before

sorry in advance lol

Ashton

I laid on the foot of her bed, staring up at the ceiling as the silence was torturing me, making me be reminded of all the things that I have done wrong. 

"There's a party down in main town tonight." Brinley spoke, her voice was cracking in anxiousness. Why was she nervous? 

"Isn't that Alex's party? From Westland Park Highschool?" 

"Yeah." 

"So you're going?" I asked. 

"No, just saying there is one." She didn't sound cheery, and I would've wanted to know what was wrong, but I knew how it would end. I didn't want to fight anymore, we had been through so much and another fight shouldn't be added to the mix. 

"Oh, okay." I fiddled my thumbs over my stomach. Brinley had invited me over about an hour ago, and we haven't moved an inch since I got here. It's usually never this awkward, but at least she's trying to patch things up. 

"I should do my maths." 

I sat up, watching her slowly walk towards me, grabbing her books, then back onto the window seat. She was so intent in her homework, her nose was stuck in the textbook. I laid back down, closing my eyes as I listened to her whisper the equations out loud. She always had that habit, but it was adorable, which masked her rebellious physique. 

"Did you hear that?" I asked. I swear I heard the doorbell ring, but I was so out of it I wasn't sure if I was imagining it or not. 

"The door?" She half whispered. She ran her tongue across he lips as she was looking back from her textbook to me. 

I nodded. 

She noticed me spacing out, and let out a breath of a laugh, then went straight back to her homework. Despite her constant whining, she actually loves school. She get really good grades, but she doesn't tell anyone. I didn't know why, but she had an image of herself in her head and she wanted everyone else to have that image of her too.

There was a knock this time, not the doorbell. But this time, it was more aggressive. Multiple at a time, it was like that person was angry or needed something. How I imagined how a gang would break into a house if that person owed them money, y'know, like in the movies and such. Maybe that's just a myth, and they do business in more secretive ways. Probably.

"Should I-"

"Get that? Yeah." She finished for me, without even looking up at me. I stood from her bed, instantly feeling the dizziness of getting up too fast. As I got closer to the door I heard voices -not in a crazy, insane way. Not to mention the aggressive knocks that just never seemed to get calmer. They seemed to have a rhythm, almost like they do this everyday. Wait..

I skipped down the stairs, inching closer to the voices. There was more than one person, the knocks were offset, inferring that there was more than two people knocking and yelling. I could tell they saw my figure through the blurry door window. I was hesitant to get closer. The shadows were tall, all black, fucking taller than me. I reach for the door and swing it open with caution, but right away I felt the force of someone push the door in. 

Just as I thought. 

They stepped inside without saying a word, they looked around the house, scoping the area for a second, not even. They didn't even look down at me for awhile. 

"Where is she?" The one asked. He had light blonde hair, green eyes, and a nose that was more pointy and narrow than any other nose I've seen, he was definitely the bad cop here. The other one stood behind him, the good cop, he was an olive skin tone, dark chocolate hair, and grey eyes. I looked up at the bad cop, confused, shocked, and overall fucking tired. I paused, not having quick thinking like Brinley.

"Huh?" I swallowed hard. In those moments the door opened, to then, I knew that Brinley heard everything, and knew everything about what was happening. But did she run? Did she sneak out the window and run past them? Would she leave me here to deal with them? Or would she just stay there? Because if she knew she was innocent for whatever, she would stay and fight. But if she is guilty and wants them to know she's guilty then she would have ran. Unless she's doing the opposite? Knowing she's guilty but wanting to stay to "fight" for her innocent. 

"Useless." The bad cop whispered. He looked up towards the stairs, seeing the one room with the open door. He already knew where she was by me staring up there. God, was I ever stupid. 

They started to walk up the stairs, but they walked with a purpose. Thank god we were home alone, if her parents were here, who knows. First of all, they wouldn't even really notice that she was leaving, sounds harsh I know. I blanked out for so long that I forgot they were going up to Brin. I trailed behind them, my smaller legs having to skip a couple steps to catch up. 

"Wait! What is this for?" I asked, following close behind them. "Is this a joke?" I would repeat. They pretended I just didn't exist at that point, I knew there was nothing I could say or do, but I wish there was. 

They reached her room, they didn't even have to see her, they just knew she was in there as they started to say the Miranda Rights starting before the doorway, until they made their way towards her. "You have the right to- blah blah blah," like in the movies. 

Brinley stood, looking directly ahead. Not at me, not as anyone. Just ahead. I wonder what she must have been thinking. But she never freaked out about certain things, she would just make impulse decisions and get herself out of it. So she must've this time, right? 

I caught her eyes. Usually I can read faces and eyes pretty well, but I couldn't understand what she was trying to say without using actually words. She didn't say anything the whole time as they turned her around to cuff her. 

And that was that.