Broken Home

XVI

Connor

I cried as I watched him run off.

"ASHTON!" Michael yelled.

He didn't run after him. None of us did. I wanted to run after him and take care of him but I was frozen still. My entire body was ice cold, and I was shivering violently.  Calum gave me his scarf and hugged me tightly.

"What happened?" He asked me.

"He tried to jump. I was pulling him back but I pushed him. I didn't mean to, it just happened." I told him, hugging him back.

It was an awkwardly warm hug, but I would take any warmth I could get right now.

"You pushed him?"Calum asked.

"I didn't mean to." I repeated.

"Why was he going to jump?" Michael asked me.

"I don't know. He's been very depressed for the past few days." I told them, letting go of Calum.

"How do you know?" Luke asked me.

"He's been staying over at my place for the past week. He's been cutting, too." I told them as we walked the way Ashton ran.

"He cut?" They all asked in unison.

"Yeah." I sighed as Calum slung his arm around my shoulder.

It felt pretty weird since he was way taller than me, so it was more like he was using me as an armrest.

"He must've really loved Bryana." I heard Michael mutter.

"Whats up with that anyways? That's who he talks about when he sleeps." I asked.

"You listen to him when he sleeps?" Calum asked me, raising an eyebrow.

"No, he's just really loud and my room is right next to his." I told them.

"Oh. Well that was his girlfriend, and managment made him break up with her as a publicity stunt. He didn't want to, since he loved her, but it was either that or we adopted a child. And that wasn't happening, so he broke up with her. He was really sad after that." Calum explained.

"Oh. Makes sense." I said.

"Is there anything else we missed?" Michael asked.

"Well, he zones out a lot, and while he's in his own world he looks angry. No, terrified. I don't know what he thinks about but it must scare him." I told them.

"He looks terrified?" Calum asked.

"Yeah. He looks like he saw a ghost." I explained.

"Is he really quiet or is he saying stuff?" Luke asked, seeming worried.

"He's dead silent." I told him.

He frowned, and walked up to me.

"Makes sense. He hates silence." He told me.

"Then why doesn't he just say something?" I asked.

"Maybe he's stuck in that state of silence. And since he hates it, it's terrifying to him." Luke explained.

"Why is he terrified of silence? I find it quite peaceful." I asked.

"I don't know, but whenever it was really quiet, he'd start drumming. He'd look like he was fighting for his life, trying to make noise to get rid of the silence." Michael told me.

"Oh."

We all stayed silent after that. We walked down new streets, and new neighborhoods. Calum held onto me tighter as we neared a shopping centre. The others looked a bit scared too, pulling their hoodies on and putting sunglasses on. They were probably trying to go unnoticed.