JAMES - TVD

2

The rest of the night went by in a jumbled blur. There were moments she remembered clearly like she was watching them on TV, and others were spotted and blotched.

Jamie remembered coaching herself up from the floor. She repeated encouraging words as she thought about exiting the bathroom and walking past her father's bedroom, but each time she reached for the handle of the door, she would turn around and sit in the bathtub.

She felt the same way as she did when she was ten. A part of her wished that he was screaming at her while she huddled alone. She wanted his dirty shoes kicking across the wooden door as he jangled with the handle in fury. It was a sad truth, but she believed it to be better than knowing that he would never be angry again.

Finally, after the smell from his room became too much, Jamie unlocked the door, left the light on, and ran down the hall. She left the living room behind and moved past the glass on the floor. Her feet slammed against the floor the more she pushed herself away from his body, and once she reached her front porch, she held on to the railing, taking a breath of the fresh summer air.

The air rushed through her lungs, and she could feel her head heat up. She didn't have a mirror, but she knew the tan skin on her face had reddened from the sudden sprint. The more she took breaths, the more her body shook with each intake, and suddenly she was hit with a large crash of emotions.

Her dark eyes began to blur as tears welled in her eyes. The houses and street lights meshed into one as she held on to the front railing for life. She tried to grasp for her dignity and force her sadness back into herself, but it was no use.

It had to happen.

Jamie walked along the railing, holding it like a rock climber holds the rope of their harness. She tugged on its poles and pulled herself to the steps of the stairs. Quickly, she sat down, resting her head between her legs while her arms wrapped around her head. She then reached for her pocket, pulled out her flip phone, and opened it.

"911, what's your emergency?"

Jamie went to speak, but instead, her cries answered the question, and she was left inconsolable.

*~*

Jamie blacked out, telling the police her location. One moment she was holding her phone and crying, and the next, the police surrounded the block in a flurry. Elizabeth Forbes, the sheriff of Mystic Falls, consoled the young girl while the rest of the police searched the house for the body of James Ashton.

Neighbors up and down the streets stood outside their homes, watching from their doorways in their robes and slippers as the only adult in the Ashton household was wheeled out on a stretcher and his only daughter sat watching it play out before her.

That poor child. Many of them thought so, but not one of them turned to give her privacy. They gawked and stared, waiting for the night to pass and the day to arrive to talk to their friends and family about "that poor child, Jamie Ashton."

That night, the girl was taken in by the sheriff. Jamie's house had become a crime scene until the real cause of James' death was revealed. It was also deemed unfit to live in. The mess crawled across the floor, infecting every inch of the house, desperately trying to make it past the fancy lock and into the haven that Jamie called her bedroom.

"I'm sorry that I don't have much, but the couch is really comfortable." Sheriff Forbes promised. The older woman laid down two pillows, and a few blankets were laid out for the girl.

At that point, Jamie had slowly stopped sobbing. No longer was her body racked with cries for her father, but a few tears and a runny nose were still prominent as she stared at the floor.