Let Love Bleed Red

Chapter 6

*Later that day. Ash’s P.O.V.*

At the end of the day I went home from school, hoping my dad wasn’t home. I didn’t want a repeat performance of yesterday.. All the way home I thought about Eoghan and Stevie, and what I was going to do. What, I didn’t actually know.

At home, I let myself in quietly in case my dad was home. When I didn’t hear anything or anyone, I left out a sigh of relief. My dad beat me when he got drunk, and he got drunk because my mom and Danny had died a few years ago and he never got over it.. I didn’t either, I was really close to both of them, but at least I handled myself better than my dad did.

I made a peanut butter and jelly/jam (whatever you people call it) sandwich and sat down to do my homework. When I was finished it was 6:30 and my dad still wasn’t home. He was probably at a bar or something, again. I made dinner and set some aside for him.

Upstairs, I took a shower and picked out what I was going to wear to meet Stevie. Nothing I had was very ‘feminine’ or noticeably ‘sexy’ but by the time I picked something that fit that description I was happy with what I had. http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/set?id=47465540

I did my hair: https://encrypted-tbn1.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ72CGf-YGG8K6F7l-EUUrQhKNkPr2AYSLmb_IdB95suZs4gHBI (she’s not wearing the necklace or bow) and make-up: https://encrypted-tbn0.google.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQslO74BV4FLrNWLBMByFg0MyvDH7GTuVyjYTtKNGVeH2VAOqfKCQ  I danced around my room listening to P.L.U.R. by Blood On The Dance Floor, one of my favourite bands. I sang along to the music when I heard a door bang downstairs.

I quickly turned off the music and listened.

“Ashley! Get your lazy ass down hear” I cringed at the sound of my dad shouting my name. No way was I going down to him when I sounded like that, not when I was going out. I heard him stumbling up the stairs, cursing when he fell because he was drunk as a skunk. I grabbed my bag with my phone, purse, headphones and lip-gloss in it.

There was a big chestnut tree outside my window and I climbed out my window and scrambled down the tree. I was well used to doing it, I went to the woods to get away from everything and everyone. I heard my bedroom door crash open and I ran down the street.

By the time I got to the woods beside the skate-park, it was ten to eleven. I hadn’t realised it had taken me that long to get ready. I sat down by a tree and waited.

I was absorbed in my thoughts and I didn’t hear Stevie come up beside me.

“Hey” I jumped at the sound of his voice. He laughed gently. “Scare easily?”

“You caught me by surprise..” I blushed. It was cute when he laughed. He held out his hand and helped me up. I smiled at the gesture and got up. “So, um..” I wasn’t sure what to say. Stevie leaned in to me.

“I like you Ash” I was shocked by that. If he liked me why did he bully me for the past four years? I was mulling this over when he leaned down and kissed me, right on the mouth. A hard, rough kiss, pulling me roughly against him.

I kissed back because I didn’t know what I was supposed to do. I didn’t like him kissing me, I much prefers Eoghan’s soft, gentle kisses, not this rough, hungry making out with Stevie. I felt his hand slide up my skirt. I didn’t like that at all.

I tried to push Stevie off me but he wouldn’t.

“Stevie. Stop it. Please.” I struggled to get out of his grip but I couldn’t because he had me pressed up against a tree. “Stevie! Please stop!”

“Shut up bitch!” He slapped me across the face. I cried out in pain and he punched my stomach, hard. I screamed in pain, tears streaming down my face. I had enough of this from my father, but now him too?

“Nobody tries to stop me from doing what I want to do. Nobody.” He slapped my face again, grabbed my hair and slammed my head against the trunk of the tree. I screamed, feeling dizzy. Why was he doing this??

*Flashback. Ash is 12*

It’s been a few weeks since the crash. I still can’t believe my mom and Danny are gone. I was sitting on my bed playing my guitar, writing music when my dad burst into my room, drunk as usual these days.

“Come here you stupid little bitch!” He came over to the bed and pulled me up harshly by my hair. I cried out in pain, dropping my guitar on the bed.

“Shut up!! You stupid fucking whore!!” Still gripping my hair tightly, he smashed my head against the wall. I screamed and felt dizzy. I tried to push him off me but he was to strong. He grabbed my wrist tightly, so I couldn’t try push him away, and smashed my head off the wall again. He did it repeatedly, me crying in pain, begging him to stop.

He punched my face, stomach and chest. Over and over. I was begging him to stop, hardly able to breath. By the time he stopped, I was nearly unconscious. He got up, kicked my head and spat on me.

“It’s all your fault bitch, all your fault that they’re gone. It was all you.” He walked out of the room, leaving me drifting in and out of consciousness, thinking it was my fault..

*End flashback*  

I sobbed, trying to make him stop.

“Stevie please.. I’ll do anything, I promise.. Please stop..” I was desperate. I wanted this to end, I had enough of it at home.

“To late bitch. Once you make me made, there’s no going back.” I saw he pull something from his pocket and saw it glint in the moonlight. He swung his arm and I screamed. He had stabbed me, the bastard! I struggled to breath, pressing my hands against my stomach but he stabbed me again.

I fell backwards against the tree and fell. Blood was gushing from my stomach, a pool of it already forming on the ground around me. I could feel myself getting faint from the loss of blood. Stevie smiled.

“Teaches you not to get on my bad side, doesn’t it.” He spat on me, slammed my head off the ground one more time and walked away, like nothing had happened, like he was just out for a night-time stroll.

I gasped for breath, doing my best to scream for help but nobody came. I was starting to drift into unconsciousness when I thought I heard something moving in the park. I was probably the wind but I gave one last cry for help anyway. The last thing I remember is a dark haired guy kneeling beside me, holding me gently, telling me it’s going to be okay, that he was calling an ambulance.

Then I fell unconscious.