Words Unspoken ➻ Chrashley

Words Unspoken

"Light reflects from your shadow

It is more than I thought could exist

You move through the room

Like breathing was easy

If someone believed me

They would be

As in love with you as I am"

- Angels by The xx.

Once the questioning was over, the survivors sat motionless and staring into nothingness. They didn't even bother saying anything to each other, they were tired of talking. Talking just seemed to take up so much effort and energy that those seven teenagers didn't have, the events that had happened over nine hours seemed to have lasted for weeks and every moment that lasted afterwards seemed to pass them by far too quickly. Every time they blinked, it felt as if they had just fallen asleep then woken back up again – it was a never ending cycle of the same thing over and over.

Ashley had tried to sleep but every time she closed her eyes, she'd see the horrors that had happened within the past few hours and she'd wake up calling out for Chris while her brain was going into overdrive and wouldn't calm down until a few words from him to bring her back into reality. They never let go of each other's hands as the hours slowly passed, almost in fear the other might disappear if they let go. In the end, Ashley finally slept soundly once she was wrapped into Chris' warm jacket and with her head on his shoulder, their hands still linked tightly together.

She did still have the reminders of the horrors she had lived through, but the comforting words from Chris into her ear, brought those thoughts away from her and gave her a peaceful sleep. It was unclear exactly what Chris was saying to her, but it's believed to be something along the lines of; "It was just a dream, you're safe here with me and nothing will ever hurt you again."

But even with Chris' comforting words, the events that had unfolded over those nine hours would haunt Ashley for the rest of her life, but it would be something she'd never tell anyone so she rarely spoke about the event – but she'd continue to have night terrors and constant fear of weapons and the dark for months to come.

A few hours after the questioning was done and the survivors had a chance to sleep and wash and change from their blood soaked clothes, each one of them was given a thorough medical examination; both to check for serious injuries and to see if any of them needed psychiatric care. Something that both Ashley and Jessica were against doing on their own and demanded to have someone with them, which they were allowed to do in the end.

After another two hours of full medical checks of the survivors, only Jessica would be sent to a psychiatric hospital for a few months until she felt ready to face the world and go back to being the old Jessica she was. Ashley was only placed with the care of a psychiatrist and councillor twice a week for a year to make sure she would be able to cope with the night terrors.

Professional help was offered to the others in the same way as Ashley but was refused and only accepted to have help for at least a month to make the authorities happy and to leave all seven of them alone for a while.

They were all finally released from the police station a few hours after midday, told they were allowed to go home and try to forget the event like it was a bad dream. But as the seven of them made their way out of the station, they knew they'd never truly forget. But they vowed to each other to be there whenever they needed it and to stay in constant contact – even for Jessica who had been so silent and was going to be placed into a psychiatric hospital on the opposite side of the country.

Once they were all inside a minivan to take them all home, all seven of them barely spoke to each other. They either just stared out the window, tried to sleep or had silent conversations with the person sitting next to them. But after all that time, Chris never released Ashley's hand at her request once they were inside the minivan.

The radio had been turned on but was only playing classical music, just to get away from any form of news or talk show station where people would be talking about the event. All of them knew they had to talk about the event sooner or later but in that moment, they were the children who came onto that mountain for a good time and not the bruised and scarred beings that came back down.

Ashley moved her gaze from looking out the window at the snow covered world to Chris, a small smile coming onto her lips before she pressed her lips to his for a moment. She rested her forehead against his, her eyes remaining shut as she took a sharp inhale of breath. "Thank you, for bringing me back from the nightmares."