Ash tried to rush back before Austin had time to notice her conversation with Rhea. The two girls had been strangely intimate in their brief exchange, clutching at one another in the glow of candlelight, so it was obvious to everyone that they weren't exactly discussing the weather. She pushed through the crowd of mourners towards the stone wall, and blanched when she saw that it was too late. He was gone.
She looked to the left frantically - to the place where the courtyard merged with pavement and saw his receding back only a few metres away. She ran without thinking, her hand outstretched until it made contact with, and gripped, his shoulder.
"Austin, don't go," she begged quietly.
"Let go," he snapped, shaking her off. "Seriously, what were you thinking?"
He kept his voice low, but she could sense the venom in his words - almost more impactful than if he had been shouting at her. He wasn't even willing to hear what they had been discussing over by the memorial, and she felt like she was grappling with his wrath, trying to force it down so that she could explain.
"I'm trying to help-"
"Well, you're not," Austin seethed back. "Seriously - all I asked was to be left alone. I'm sick of everyone pushing me around like I'm some kind of ragdoll - telling me how I should be grieving and how fast I should be doing it. I told you I didn't want to talk to them. I didn't want to talk to anyone. I actually trusted you-"
"They wanted to give you Izzy's drumsticks," Ash said weakly.
Her legs were trembling. She had borne the brunt of Heather's anger before, but it had never been like this - he went from tolerating her to detesting her at such a rapid pace, and she could sense it this time. It hurt her ego. The desire to fix her error sizzled and fried in her brain like electricity - her upper body seizing up stubbornly. She was overstepping again, but she didn't want him to isolate himself any further. At this rate, he'd have nowhere else to go.
He eyed her, his snarl not faltering.
"They want you to put them on the memorial," Ash continued, gesturing with a shaking hand.
"What drumsticks?" he snapped back. "She had tons. It's not like they last forever."
He made to walk off again, but she grabbed him more forcefully this time.
"Austin!" she called, louder this time.
Suddenly he grabbed her, pulling her into the shadows with his hand pressed lightly against her mouth, shushing her. She reacted instantaneously, forcefully pulling the hand off her mouth and slipping out of his grip. It was a childish, silly scramble, and as she pressed herself against the wall, away from him, she scowled like an indolent child.
"Don't pull at me like that," she scolded.
"You pulled me back first," he reminded her in exasperation.
"Yeah, well," she muttered, folding her arms, "there was no need for you to lower yourself to my level, was there?"
She sulked in the shadow of the towering building. She had briefly forgotten where they were and her gaze softened as she saw the memorial, broken up by legs, on the ground several feet away from them. She hadn't wanted to bicker with him and sighed.
"Okay, I overstepped," she admitted quietly, "but it I didn't think it was fair that these strangers are allowed to say goodbye publicly while you feel like- like... I don't know. Like you don't deserve to."
"It's all a performance, Ash, it doesn't matter," he told her. "It's not like a funeral - it's a demonstration. They've been petitioning all week for a free shuttle bus between the library and student housing, as well as better online resources so female students don't feel like they have to stay in the library till late at night."
YOU ARE READING
Fallen Ash
Fantasy* Complete * Book one in a series; can be read as a standalone. Austin has lost almost everything. On the day his girlfriend was declared missing, his whole life seemed to crumble - unable to face his family, or classmates, he has retreated further...
