Alaska

Chapter Thirty-Three

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

It came as a massive slap to the face.  Lexi stood, her arms beginning to shake with the snoozing infant in her grip.  Her eyes glazed over and her breath rattled and she felt a large wave of hysteria wash over her.  Ariel seemed to notice this as she rushed forward and received Julie in her arms, cradling her protectively and eyeing Lexi in worry.

Lexi immediately knew what tree Ariel was talking about.  It was the tree in Western Park.  The tree with Alaska and his initials carved into it...  The tree they had kissed under and first held hands.  It had been a long time since Lexi had heard of Ashton doing anything criminal and yet here was the worst of the worst...

"Do you need to sit down?" Ariel asked uncertainly.

Lexi felt her face being stripped of any colour and her legs were beginning to feel like jelly.  She wasn't understanding why this news was affecting her so badly, she just couldn't help hearing about Ashton committing a serious crime and the intense guilt she felt because she knew the reasons behind it.  It was his way of rebelling.  His way of hurting himself.  He was clearly in pain...

"W-what happens now?" Lexi forced herself to speak.

Ariel shrugged and shifted her grip on Julie, nervously. 

"The police station downtown called.  He's being held there and they called to see if Violet could call his lawyer since she's technically his only person in his life," Ariel explained in a quiet tone.

"And are you going to call Violet?" Lexi asked, persistently.

Ariel narrowed her eyes and chewed onto her bottom lip as though she was contemplating something and then she nodded her head and gently started forward to lay Julie down in her crib again.

"Maybe you should go home-" she began, once she was free of the baby.

"No.  I'm staying," Lexi snapped.  Her bottom lip was trembling and she could feel her heart pounding against her rib cage.  She needed to know what Ashton's punishment was going to be.  She needed to accept and understand that he was a criminal.  He wasn't good for her.

"O-okay," Ariel said softly.  She took a deep breath and moved round the couch for her phone which was sitting atop the coffee table.  Slowly and with uneasy glances at Lexi, she dialed Violet's number and brought the phone to her ear.

The phone call was quick and direct.  Ariel explained that she had received a call from the police station claiming that Ashton had set fire to a tree and that they needed his lawyer present.  She hung up after Violet's assurance that his lawyer would be called.

There was an awkward silence when Ariel set her phone down again.  She stared at Lexi with round grey eyes and Lexi stared back in a stunned silence.

The two of them waited for about two hours with no fewer words than earlier on, both of them anxious and determined to hear what happened until finally Violet bounded through the front door at midnight with a flustered look on her face.

Lexi and Ariel whipped up from the couch, ears strained to hear what was going to come of Ashton.  Violet looked at them in surprise.  Her lips were chalk white and she had dull bags sitting underneath her hazel eyes.

She sighed.  "He's such an idiot.  His lawyer went to go meet him and he'll sort him out.  I don't wanna get involved with this.  I don't know what came over him." Violet's eyes hovered over Lexi for a fraction of a second before she turned away to check on Julie.

"Y-you think this is m-my fault?" Lexi blurted out suddenly and the two of them stiffened, Violet pausing mid-action to pick up Julie.  There was a pause.  Then Violet straightened up again, her hands on her hips and a confused expression on her face.