Ashes on your pale skin ~ Chris Motionless

Chapter 9:

After packing everything up, everyone heads back onto the bus, the crew opting to stick to the front of the bus to give space to Ash, not wanting to overwhelm her.

Chris dumps his backpack onto his bunk, before hastily making his way to the back lounge, wanting to waste as little time as possible in getting to his daughter.

Out of the four of them who had gone back to retrieve their items, he's the first to enter the back lounge, where he finds Ryan sat beside her, tracing gentle circles into her hand.

Ryan's always had a kind heart, and Chris knows that he's been good to Ash, despite the quietness of the room.

He feels a slight punch in his chest at the fact that Ash still hasn't moved, and seems to be quite out of it.

Her eyes look glassy, almost as if their is no soul behind them; and the one that is behind them is so filled with emotional distress it hurts his soul.

He softly takes the seat on the other side of her, and speaks our her name""

"Ash?"

No response.

He sighs, running his fingers through his perfectly blonde hair.

He leans back against the seat, at a loss of what to do, as Ricky walks in, followed closely behind by Justin.

Ricky takes a glance at Ash, and exchanges a look at Chris.

They both know it's not a good situation, and they need to do something about it.

Justin takes a seat on the other side of the back lounge, laptop clutched in one hand.

He doesn't want all eyes to be on Ash, but he also doesn't want to be away from her; needing to know that she's okay after earlier.

Vinny enters behind with his phone and headphones.

It's hard to exist in the bunks unless it's for sleeping really, and while the bus itself could always be bigger, it's decently spaced out in the back.

At least, spaced out enough so that they don't feel like their smothering the poor girl by existing in there.

Deep down, all five of the men in the room, whether their hiding behind technology or not, all have reserved a place in their heart for the girl, and want to know if she's going to be okay.

The short answer is no; she probably won't be okay for a while, not after what happened.

But, kids can be resilient, and they hope that the quiet, yet excitable girl that they had met earlier can come back.

Behind her sea green eyes, Ash feels like her world is crashing down. She can't think straight. All she can do is keep replaying her life and over over.

All of the hope that she had that things would work out and with her mum have fallen apart. And fuck if it doesn't hurt.

She blames herself, curses her fucked up body. Maybe her mum would've loved her if she hadn't developed her conditions. And she's certain, in her fragile, panicked state, that Chris will leave her too when he finds out. She needs to keep it all under wraps and it's all too much to process.