Death Cannot Part Us (5SOS Fanfic) Completed

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

••Ashton's POV••

Her piercing shrieks rip through the night, her face full of terror.
'No!' She screams,
'No please. Don't do what he did, please not again.' She breaks down into sobs again and I just stand there, completely nonplussed.
'Wha-what are you on about?' I ask, 'What do you mean "what he did"?'
'NO! LEAVE NOW!' She bellows, getting to her feet and coming towards me. I put my hands up and take a few steps back,
'I'm trying to help you.' I say, 'Please let me, what's your name?'
'No, go away!' She shouts, tears falling down her face.
'I'm not going to do that,' I say,
'Now please, what's your name? I want to help.'
'No you don't! You're going to do what he-he-' She breaks off and takes a deep breath.
'Go, go now or you will regret it.'
'You can't hurt me.' I tell her,
'I'm not stupid,' She says, she's looking at me with eyes full of hate and anger, but also a tiny amount of fear.
'She's scared.' I think to myself,
'She actually thinks I'm going to hurt her.'

'I might be- I might be dead,' She says, 'But you can see me, and that means you're a Necromancer. I won't go right through you like I will for humans.' She tells me,
'I can still hurt you.'
'You can't.' I tell her, she doesn't know I can stop her with just one thought.
'Go on, try it.' I tell her. She narrows her eyes at me but doesn't say anything.
'Come on, try and hit me.'
'No.' She says eventually. I look at her, shocked,
'What? Why?' I ask her. She looks at me sceptically,
'Do you want me to hit you?' She asks.
'No.' I say quickly,
'Then why...?' She trails off,
'I wanted to prove that you wouldn't be able to hurt me.' I click my fingers and a small flame erupts out of my palm, illuminating my face in it's orange glow. Her eyes widen.
'You're- you're-'
'A freak.' I finish for her. She gives me a look,
'Says the boy talking to a fucking ghost.'
I grin slightly,
'Fair enough.' I say.

She smiles as well, but then looks down, her face full of misery again.
'Please,' I say,
'Let me help you, just tell me your name.' She sighs resignedly and then says,
'Hazel, my name's Hazel.'
'Thank you,' I reply,
'I'm Ashton, and I'm going to help you. Whether it's to you get over to the other side or to find who, you know-' I gesture to her, noticing for the first time the bloodstains on her clothes and the cut along her throat. Clearly her killer slit her neck and left her to bleed out. A long, slow and painful death.
'How did he even,' I struggle to find the words, I don't want to be insensitive. Yes, boys to care about people's feelings you know.

'How did he get me to the woods to kill me?' She asks bluntly.
'Well, yeah.' I say as we sit down against a lark, gnarled oak tree, the bluish glow she gives off lighting up our faces.
'Well basically, I was on my way back from my friend's house, it was really late, about ten, maybe eleven. Anyway, I was walking along the street and there's this man on the other side. As I went, he crossed over and started walking behind me. It was fine at first but he was getting closer and was going faster, I-I was starting to run, b-but he caught me and hit me a-around the head.

'When I woke up, I was on a bed in this room, he came in and he-he-.' She breaks off and takes a deep breath,
'I'll spare you the details. After he had...done what he did, he made me put my clothes back on and dragged me out of the hut, shack thing we were in and into these woods. He took me really far in and he-he slit my throat and then left me.' She gestures behind her into the trees,
'My body's still back there, there's not much left of it though, it's been there about a month and then animals get hungry.'

I wince slightly, trying to get that disturbing image out of my head,
'Wait,' I say, looking up at her,
'If you've been dead for a month, why were you crying earlier?'
'I saw him again, he was walking through this part of the woods and it made me remember what he did.'
'I'm going to get him for you Hazel, I'll find him and I'll make sure he's locked up. And tomorrow,' I say, getting up and holding out my hand to help her,
'I'm going to 'accidentally' come across your body, you'll be returned to your family.' She smiles at me,
'Thank you Ashton, and sorry about the whole 'I will hurt you' thing earlier, I wasn't in the happiest of places.' I grin,
'No worries, now I've got to go, my friends will be looking for me. I'll see you tomorrow okay?'
'Yeah okay.'She replies.
'Bye Hazel.' I say, turning and walking away. The blue light illuminating the small clearing disappearing as she vanishes to wherever ghosts go when they, you know, vanish.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

'Oh my god!' I shout, as I reach Hazel's corpse. Immediately, my whole class come running over, we had a class here in the woods this morning. Her skin is a mottled red and green, her clothes are rags and in some places her flesh has been eaten away to the bone. Flies swarm all around us and the smell is horrendous.

The girls start to scream and Luke, going grey, turns away and vomits against a tree a few feet away. Our rituals teacher, Mr. Watson tells us all to back away and kneels by her body,
'What is left of this poor girl must be treated with respect!' He shouts over the loud students,
'She must be taken by the police and reunited with her family, where she will have a proper burial. Ashton!' I jump slightly and turn to him, I know what happened to Hazel, I know how awful up her last hours were. She should be laid to rest.
'Yes Sir?' I ask.
'Go to the school,' He tells me,
'Tell the headmaster to phone for someone to take her away.'
'Okay Sir.' I say.

I turn around and jog back off through the trees. As I run, I catch sight of Hazel, she has tears in her eyes, but a huge smile on her face.
'Thank you Ashton. Thank you so much.' She tells me.
'It was no problem.' I tell her, 'No problem at all.'