Lifeline ~Lashton Hemwin~

Chapter 1

Ashton has been drowning and he's been looking to something to hold onto. So he grabs onto Luke, but little did Ashton know; Luke had been drowning longer and was on a crash course to rock bottom.

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A simple smile. A simple tug of the corners of your lips in an upward position. It can make your inner darkness turn into brightness, at least on the outside. Because on the inside, you can be dying. Slowly withering away like a flower without proper hydration. That is the thing I thought about when I saw people going through the halls, laughing and smiling like nothing could be bothering them. But everybody has a secret. Everybody has pain.

But I am just like them.

But soon, the fake smile turns real. And for a moment you forget about all the bullshit you have going on. That was me. You need to fake a smile to get through the day. Because that is your job. Be happy and move on through life like nothing could ever bother you. Humans are not a weak species. So I would smile, and it would soon appear on its own. Not because I felt happy, but because it became habit. To laugh at everybody's jokes. To have your mind feel so numb you can almost feel happy. But that feeling isn't real. Because when you are alone and you don't have to pretend; the smile goes away. Your chest will feel heavy with pain and guilt, and you will remember why you needed to pretend.

I was drowning, slowly, into the dark blue depths of my mind's vast open waters. I was trapped, unable to breath. I could feel myself scratching at the walls of imprisonment as my demons laughed from the other side of the cell as they roamed freely. There were lines on my wrists, showing off my attempts to break free from the life I was living. The times that I failed at escaping and was beaten down by the demons keeping guard.

Mentally, I was tortured. But just like everyone else, I smiled. But then, as I leaned against the painted brick walls, the front door opened. The few people who didn't fake, the few people who broke out of their prisons and became one with their demons. 

Michael Clifford. Calum Hood. Luke Hemmings.

Nobody knew much about these boys, but everyone stayed away. We cowered to the back of our cells, reminding ourselves of why we kept our demons separate. Ruthless and not at all empathetic, the boys roamed the school freely. They may have seemed like they were just teenage rebels who wanted to make a name for themselves in an insignificant environment. Michael and Calum had both illegally gotten tattoos by providing fake ID's. Each of the three had been arrested at least twice for some kind of drug possession or assault charge. But the charges would go away. They always did. Maybe it was just rumours, but that is what I have heard.

Luke Hemmings was the leader. He stood in the middle, Michael to the left, Calum to the right. Through the piercings, illegal tattoos, and dark clothing; there could have been a good person. But nobody but each other would give the other another look.

They were merciless torturers, a real life exemplar of our inner demons.

My school hated 'fags'. They were a few of the people who would kick someone's arse if they were found out to be gay. It was scary. Religious people striking down a fake word of a fake God to innocent people attempting to find love between prison cells. So I would occasionally find myself a girlfriend, to use as a show. Break up with her once she tried touching me, and give no explanation other than 'she is a whore'.

I pushed myself away from the wall and hurried over to the auditorium. It was empty, per usual. Emerson Brown found his way to me like we always did, five minutes before the bell. He walks over to me, his head down, and a smile formed on my face. 

A tug of the lips to make your darkness shine.

He didn't say a word but instead looked up at me with a dark purple bruise by his eye and a small cut on his cheek. "Goodbye, Ash." He struggled to say, pushing by me and walking out the way I came in. I couldn't explain what happened. But I began to feel the waves crush me with their weight, I began to get the water in my lungs and I couldn't breathe. The water collapsed my lungs and crushed my ribs. 

I was drowning. Steadily and forever. Falling into the abyss of never-ending waters.

I heard the door open and I saw the three boys. "Isn't this Emerson's fag?" Calum asked the other boys. I turned away and began walking away, almost at a running speed. 

I opened the door but it slammed shut again. I was shoved silently into Mr. York's room. He was the choir teacher, and first period everyday he teaches a piano class elsewhere. They closed the door to Mr. York's room and turned on the light. I had never been so close to them. "Emerson has this friend, and his name is Jake. You've probably met him. Emerson told Jake that he had this boyfriend, and Jake told me. Jake and I have been friends since primary school. Continuing forward, Emerson told us that he only stuck around with you because you are a weak faggot and he was afraid the poor fragile boy would kill himself if he was broken up with. So, we got a little bit playful and he agreed that he would do what he thought was right." Luke explained, leaning against the wall.

"Right by who? God?" I questioned them disgustingly. 

"God? Oh Ashton Irwin, you poor thing. There is no God." 

--

And that is how the story began. And in many different ways, that is how the story will end.