Goodbye, sis! *Completed*

Chapter Ten- Crash!

Why? I cried while Max held me close to him. I buried me face into his chest, not wanting to see the fire anymore but the images were still fresh in my mind. "Come on, let's get you away from here." He steers me down the street, making sure that his body is positioned so that I can't see the flames.

Mr Travis, hearing my screams, had run out of his house and extinguished the fire. Max had started to yell at him, but Mr Travis had told him that he swears upon his own life, that he didn't put the picture in there. He had apologised to me through my sobs and removed the picture from the bonfire. He quickly placed the picture in a plastic bag and told me, first thing in the morning he would take it to the police station for fingerprint analyses. 

We arrive at my doorstep and I'm still hiccuping. I pull out my keys and try to unlock the door but my hand is shaking too much. Max takes my hand and slips the key from between my fingers. I smile at him apologetically and he looks back at me with warm, brown, loving eyes. He unlocks the door but I put my hand out before he can open it. "Thank you." I smile at him and he wipes the tears from my cheeks with his thumbs.

"Ashley, when are you going to get it? You don't need to thank me. It's part of my role as your boyfriend, you don't need to thank me." He gets a cheeky look. "Unless it's something I deserve to be thanked for." I laugh, tears still wet on my cheeks and realise that this is why I fell for him. The way that he can take me from being an emotional wreck and make me laugh whilst I'm still crying. I stand on my tiptoes and kiss him.

"I love you." I whisper. He smiles down at me and puts his hands on my back.

"I love you too." I smile at him and then turn and open the door. I take a deep breath and walk into the house. Max places his hand on the small of my back and pushes me further inside. "Remember if you need me, just call. Night or day, I'll be here." I smile at him and swipe at my cheeks once more.

"I know. Tha-" I stop myself. "I love you. Goodnight, sir." He smiles at me and I close the door.

************

Mum and Dad immediately bombard me with questions, like 'why do you look like you've been crying?' and 'Is everything alright with Max? Brook?' I decide not to tell them about the picture of me and Zoey in the bonfire. I don't want them to get upset, I don't want to see them hurting again. I tell them I'm fine, I'm just tired and then head upstairs.

I shut the door to my room and light a few candles to help me relax. I sit in my reading chair and pick up my trinket box off of the side table. The candles warm glow lights the room just enough to help me see. I dig beneath the various treasures I've collected over the years; seashells from Spain, ribbons from when I performed in my primary school's play of Dorothy and got the lead role, the cap from the very first beer I had, and at the very bottom is the thing I'm looking for. I pull out the small piece of paper and stare down at it. I feel tears run down my face, but I take no notice.

I stare at the picture of the little blonde girl and the black haired one. They're smiling and holding up a bottle of what looks like an innocent coke, but is actually coke with a whole lot of rum mixed in. It's a picture of me and Brook celebrating her eighteenth. She was so happy and bubbly and all her friends were there plus a few of mine. That's the first time I got really drunk and I remember in the morning, she came into the bathroom and held my hair back for me and sat with me, nursing me through the hangover. She was always such a good sister. She would be nineteen this year. There was a year of difference between us and when she turned nineteen in July, I would turn eighteen in October. I was planning on having a massive party like she did and I wanted us to play drinking games with our friends. I wanted her to hug me after I blew out the candles on my birthday cake, that was specially ordered from the local bakery, and tell me how much she loved me and then laugh at my drunken antics all night.