[ forty ] forgiveness
Ashton headed home in his car, leaving Michael to walk home by himself, which he didn't mind. The curly haired boy stomped past the front door, slamming the door shut. Luke and Calum turned to see him, both had a serious look in their eyes. "So..." Calum started, "Lucy called me. They know what we were doing and they hate our fucking guts."
"I told you we shouldn't do this." Ashton growled. "I never wanted to be part of this."
"Yet you did it anyway." Luke said.
"So did you and Michael!" The curly haired boy shouted. "Speaking of Michael, tell him to get out of this house. He's the one who told her everything and I don't even want to see him right now."
When the boys had nothing more to say to each other, Ashton whipped out his cellphone out of his pocket and tried to dial her number. There was no answer. Frustrated, he went to his bedroom and continued trying.
It was another few minutes before Michael arrived at their house.
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.
.
Many days went by with the boys attempting to contact Prudence. They did all they could. They visited her house and begged to talk to her. Mrs. Carrigan responded by asking them to leave her daughter alone. Lucy wasn't as considerate. She would curse at them and threaten to soak them with the water hose if they even dared to stand on the front lawn. She could not get over the fact that the boys had taken advantage of her sister's good nature, only to make fun of her behind her back. She carried a deep resentment towards them and she always shouted at them that Prudence never wanted to see them again.
Though they understood if she hated them, they knew better. It wasn't like Prudence to hate anyone.
When they weren't visiting her house, calling her name from the sidewalk, begging for her to come outside, they were texting her of calling her on the phone. At first the messages went through, but later they recieved error message and they assumed she had changed her number.
An entire month flew by before they saw the sixteen year old again.
In the seclusion of her own home and her destroyed mood, her condition worsened. She lost more wieght, her bones portruding on her palid skin. Her eyes lost a lot of the brightness they once held as well as the shine her hair lost. She now walked with a more tired step and her shoulders hunched as if her head weighed down her shoulders.
She was recieving blood transfusions twice in a week by then, but it was doing nothing to better her condition. All it did was slow down her deterioration.
Her violent nosebleeds and episodes of blood convulsions in which she would regurgitate crimson blood were things that happened more fequently than they once had. And once knowing she was running out of time, she decided to forgive.
Prudence reasoned with herself that God would want her to forgive the boys if they genuinely repented for playing with her feelings. She was also reminded of one of the things on her bucketlist; forgive someone who has hurt you greatly. She had already gotten over what they did and it was time to let them know she was ready to forgive them.
.
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.
.
Exactly thirty seven days later was when Prudence picked up her cellphone and dialed the number to the house where the boys lived. Luke was the one to pick up. "Hello?" He said into the phone, rather shyly.
"Hey," She breathed into the reciever nervously. "Its Prudence Carrigan. Can you and the boys come over later today?"
"Who is it?" She was able to catch Ashton's voice in the background.
"Its Prudence." Luke replied. Now speaking into the phone, he told her, "Sure. We can go to your house later."
A smile spread across her thin lips. "Great."
"And Prudence..." Luke stopped her before she could hang up.
"Hm?" She hummed.
"I'm so sorry-"
"We'll talk when you get here." She cut him off without trying to sound rude.
The boys arrived at the Carrigan house almost as soon as she had called them. All of them, including Calum, showed up at her front door. Prudence led them into the livingroom and when Lucy saw them, her eyes were full of anger and resentment. She almost asked for them to leave, but stopped herself when she saw her sister invited them in.
Knowing what this was about, she thought to forgive them if her sister could too.
Ashton frowned at the girl standing before them, while the three sat on the couch. Now it was obvious something was wrong with her, but she didn't want them to know. With her hands folded together, she began to speak. "Sorry to call you boys back after a month ignoring you." The boys were amazed that even after they were the ones that had done wrong, she was the one apologizing to them. "I was very hurt after what happened. I genuinely thought you were spending time with me because you cared."
"We do care." Luke assured her, blue eyes pleading for her to believe him.
"I just want you to know that I forgive you." She continued, as if he hadn't spoken. "And now that you have my forgiveness, you aren't forced to come here anymore. You're free."
"Oh Prudence," Ashton sighed. "I know that stupid contest was wrong, but we all really came to care about you. We aren't here just to gain your forgiveness and then be out of your life. We want to be a part of it."
Luke and Michael nodded in agreement. Calum looked to Lucy. "And I want both of you to forgive me. I was a real dick."
"You were." Lucy agreed. "But if Prudence managed to forgive you, I can too."
"Hey Pru," Ashton began, concerned. "Why do you look so ill?"
"Because," She replied nervously. "I had a really bad cold, but I'm fine now."
Since it was the beginning of October, the boys were going to head off to finish their tour with One Direction. They had taken a break for a while because they wanted to live a normal life for a couple of weeks and they didn't want to leave Sydney knowing that they couldn't say goodbye to Prudence.
Promising they'd be back in time for the holidays and that they would call her every night, the boys left for their tour of the United States, already eager to return and spend time with their favorite girl.
-
here you all have a new update.
i hope you like it.
i'm actually pretty tired since its two in the morning, but i thought i would update before going to bed.
thank you so much for reading.
i love you.
-clary xx
