•Luke's Point of View•
•May 12, 2010 1 day after•
I didn't get the call until they pronounced him dead. His mom was the first to call. Then the school. I was in a daze not knowing why he would have done it on graduation. I then heard my phone ring.
"Hello." I said my voice low.
It's just me.
"What do you want Michael?"
I heard about Ashton.
"How did you find out?"
My mom told me someone committed suicide and I thought of Ashton.
"Of course that's the first person you think of Michael."
Luke, you never understood I went through the same shit Ashton did. I just never fucking told you.
"Then why did you drive him to killing himself. This is your fault Michael."
I was never the one to drive him to it.
"Fuck you Michael." I said pulling the phone away from my ear. "Fuck you."
•
•
•
I walked to Ashton's house. I knocked on the door and his mom answered.
"Hello Luke." She said tears hardened to her face.
"Do you want me to babysit Lauren and Harry? I mean while you get some things done for the funeral."
She nodded. "Thank you Luke." She said. "Come in."
I walked in to see Lauren lying on the couch. "Hey Lauren." I said. She looked up and just smiled.
"They haven't been themselves after-" she stopped. "After you know what."
I nodded. "I'll keep them distracted from everything." I looked over to Lauren. "Why don't you come upstairs with me to Harry."
She stood up. "Okay."
•
•
•
"Are you guys doing okay?" I asked them.
"No." Harry said. "He was supposed to stay here with us. I don't want him to be gone."
I pulled Harry into hug. "It's okay Harry. Ashton's going to be okay." I lied.
Harry pulled away from me. "I know what happened! He's dead! Don't lie to me!" He ran out of the room.
Lauren stood there. "Luke, why did he do it?"
"Bad people made him do a bad thing to himself."
•
•
•
•May 13, 2010 2 days after•
"Luke you're speaking today right?" My mom asked.
I nodded. "Yeah I'm speaking."
"Come here." She said. I wrapped my arms around her.
"He's gone." I cried. "They caused him to do this. He's gone because of them." Tears streamed down my face.
"Who caused him to do it?"
"The people who made fun of him." I cried harder knowing one of those people was me. But Ashton forgave me. He gave me a second chance.
•
•
•
"We do have some speakers today." The priest said. "Ashton's dear friend, Luke Hemmings."
I stood up my head held low. My hands in my pockets. I sighed and looked up at the crying faces.
"Ashton and I have been friends since third grade. To be here talking about him was never my intention. I always thought he would be reading this to me." I couldn't see my paper as my eyes became fogged with tears. I folded the paper back up and shoved it in my pocket. "No, I can't have a script to read about Ashton."
I looked at his family. "Ashton, was one of those people that once he was comfortable with you he wouldn't shut up. But that's good for a kid that never speaks otherwise. I remember our first day of high school Ashton got made fun of. I stood up for him but the next day he came in he had bandages on his wrists. I told him he had to choose what he wanted. Continue to hurt himself or friendship. He continued." I looked down. "I didn't really talk to him until last week. I regret not helping him. I could have stopped this." Tears ran down my face.
"Luke, you don't have to continue if you don't want to." His mom said. I shook my head.
"I want to continue. But his last days were his greatest. I was there with him. One thing I'll never forget about the day before he did this, is he told me to come to his house at midnight." I looked down. "He made me drive to BJs. We drove to Michael's house. We got in and snuck into his room. Ashton waxed his eyebrow off. Then we went to Calum's house and spray painted the windows. Don't worry they forgave us for that."' I sighed. "But before everything happened I told him something. I told him that he deserves a second chance. He asked me why. I told him that I believed in second chances, and I wanted him to have a good second chance." I looked at everyone. "Life can be gone in a second weather you or someone else takes it. Life is valuable. Life can only happen once. Your life can only happen once."
Life is like a book. There's a beginning, a middle, and an end. Some of these stories are cut short. Ashton's story was cut too short.
Note: I'm crying while typing this.
I loved this story so much. I can't even explain how much effort I put into this story.
This story showed real life struggles. I hope no one saw this as just another fanfic because I put meaning into it, even if it wasn't just stated.
I hope you all enjoyed this story.
