Paradox - (Luke Hemmings & Ashton Irwin FanFiction)

Chapter 21

(Ember’s POV)

I was sitting on the couch with Ashton and Luke while Calum and Michael played COD. I couldn’t play because I didn’t know if Maya was okay, little did I know that I was about to find out.

Pain and fear and shock shot, and racked through my body as I heard Maya’s voice crackle through the phone. But I needed to stay calm so she had some kind of hope, wherever she was, what ever had happened. It’s almost impossible to stay calm after you just heard that friend is in trouble and I didn’t. As soon as I hung up I screamed and cried out, like I’d been shot. I fell off the couch and curled up in a ball.

“Ember! Ember! What’s wrong?” Ashton and Luke shouted but I couldn’t answer, I couldn’t breathe. Seriousness jerked itself into my head.

“It’s…Maya.” I managed to stutter between sobs. My fingers fumbled for my phone as I stood up. The brushed over the cold screen and I dialled 000 (911).

“Police, Ambulance or Fire Brigade?” The operator spoke.

“Police, please hurry!”

“Sydney Police Department.” A new male voice spoke.

“I have a friend she’s in trouble, she’s in Melbourne!”

“Ma’am, we need you to stay calm, I’m going to put you through to Melbourne.”

“Melbourne police.” The third new voice spoke.

“My friend is in trouble, she’s in some kind of lane near the back of Frankston Shopping centre. Please hurry!”

“Do you know what kind of trouble or any details we should know?”

“No, I’m not there, please help her!”

“We will do all we can, we are on our way now, remain calm miss.”

The phone beeped and the line rang dead. I couldn’t stand any longer and started falling backwards on the couch, but hands stopped me and slowed the fall. They were Luke’s and he sat me down gently on the couch pulling me close. Neither of them had said a word. Ashton paced back and forth, running his hands through his hair.

“What’s wrong Ember? What happened to her?”

“I..l don’t …know.” I spoke again through sobs, which had broken through again.

“You must know something!” Ashton stopped pacing and gestured wildly with his hands.

I took several deep breathes having a silent debate in my head, if I should be the one to tell Ashton about Aaron. I knew that Maya would want to tell him but I also knew that Ashton wouldn’t let it go, he was going to find out sooner or later and taking that job from her would probably help, she has too much to worry about.

“Look, Ashton this is a bit complicated.” I squeezed Luke’s hand, he squeezed it back but no nerves faltered like they should have from his reassurance, this was going to be difficult. “It’s a lot to take in and you’ll probably get mad and upset and distressed. I know how it feels to find this out. She hid it from me for a bit too. I just want you to at least promise me you’ll try not to blame May.”

“I promise.” He barely whispered kneeling down in front of me, not removing his gaze from my eyes.

“Okay so,” I breathed in, averting my eyes from his. “When we were about fourteen, May met this boy called Aaron. He was nice and everything, but he was two years older than us. Eventually, well apparently they started dating or whatever.” I looked back down at my hands not wanting to look at Ashton’s reaction. “But um, basically it got really messy and Aaron was a drugo, and somehow it all went really bad and he ended up abusing May, like hitting her and burning.” I grimaced, wishing I could have been there to help her. “So yeah. Um… she ended up in hospital and that’s how I found out about who Aaron really was.” I shivered at the thought and cautiously looked up at Ashton. He had his head in his hands as he knelt down in front of us.

“And now, all I can really tell you is that she moved in with uh… Bradley…’ who is a really good friend of her’s, but he also lived with Aaron. I didn’t know this when I left and now there is some girl called uh, Andrea I think she said and I have gathered that Aaron has probably gone crazy.” I told Ashton everything really quickly trying not to stumble over my sobs.

“I’m going to get her, I'm going to the airport.” Ashton stood up and grabbed the car keys.

“No don’t. Ashton.” He stopped but didn’t turn around. “It isn’t the best time trust me she is probably has a lot to deal with after the police find her, and I know she’d need someone there but trust me, it’d be best not to get involved down there, please Ashton. I would be on my way now if there was something we could do.” I thought about mentioning Aaron and what would happen if he ran into Ashton. But thought better of it as I knew that he would want to protect her from him. And I knew that Maya would want me to do everything I could to not have Ashton even lay eyes on Aaron, for obvious reasons. Thankfully he took my reasoning and sat back down.

“I should probably be going to bed.” I say standing up. “Goodnight boys.” I give Calum and Michael a hug. I move over to Ashton and hug him, as I pull away I leave my hands on his shoulders and look sternly into his eyes. “Everything will be okay.” I say, also trying to convince myself. I give Luke a kiss and head up to my bedroom. I immediately fell onto the bed with a big sigh, looking at myself in the wardrobe's mirrors. My face painted with tears and my hair messed and teased in places. I thought for what felt like forever about Maya and what she’d done to deserve this and everything in between, and somehow I eventually managed to fall into somewhat of a sleep.

A loud bang rang through my ears and I sat up, I glanced at the clock and saw it was 12.30am.

“Ugh.” I mumbled to myself getting up. I had only been asleep for about half and hour. I walked out of my room and headed to the lounge room to see what the noise was. I stopped when I heard voices and my name.

“Calum shut up, you’ll wake up Ember!” Michael whisper yelled.

“It’s a bit late for that.” I stated, coming around the corner. I saw Calum mouth 'fuck' as he looked down quickly and then they both turned to me. “Are you all okay?”

“Yeah, um, we were actually just going to bed.”

“Where are Ashton and Luke?” Michael and Calum exchanged worried glances and started talking at the same time.

“Well, uh, ….they uh.”

“Went to bed.” Calum finished, nodding.

“No they aren’t!" I saw straight through their lie. "Where are they?” I glared at the two of them, Calum biting his lip and Michael running a hand through his hair. “Don’t lie to me.” I added sharply.

“Ashton went to the airport.” Michael quickly blurted out.

“And Luke went with him to bring the car back.” Calum quickly added.

The phone rang with a loud shrill. And Michael went to answer it. I sat down on the couch and ran my hands through my hair. Anger ran through me, Ashton had gone after I fell asleep so I wouldn’t know he left. The anger was soon replaced by the familiar emotion of worry, as I remembered Aaron. I abruptly looked up when I heard a yell from Michael. Calum ran into the kitchen and I followed. Michael stared at us in shock.

“Michael what’s wrong?” Calum yelled.

“It’s Luke and Ashton.”

“What do you mean!?” I yelled.

“They had a crash.”

“What?!” I screamed falling to the ground, tears bursting from my eyes. From then on I lost complete track of what was happening, my mind racing with possibilities of what might of happened focusing on one in particular.