Ashley's Asylum (3)

20 | Ashleys Asylum

Michael's hellish glower reflected in the rearview mirror made Ashley evermore desperate to form a plan but her mind was in utter disarray. At no point had she anticipated overpowering Michael and Sam so that she was left in control. Escaping had been unlikely enough, what was happening now was a sheer miracle and she kept wanting to pinch herself to check it wasn't a dream or hallucination.

That was enough to rattle her mentally without the added trauma that had just occurred. What Ashley had just experienced back at the Christmas cabin was like having a nightmare within a nightmare. The people who were supposed to rescue her, the moment she had dreamt about and clung to desperately to stay sane was, in reality, a shit storm. All this time they thought she was helping Michael and Sam. Helping! She didn't even have the time to register that it could get worse before they were all dead. Her hands were bloody now.

Ashley bit her lip, feeling a burn in her chest that made her throat physically ache. She let out a strangled sound, her shoulders shuddering as her despair fought to manifest physically. Her mind was utterly shattered.

What was she supposed to do now?

If the way the police treated her back at the cabin was anything to judge off of, everybody back home thought she was in league with the two freaks in the back. The thought of her friends and what was left of her family thinking like that destroyed her. Surviving this far, only to realise she couldn't return home was the last straw. What was the point in making a plan? Finding a cliff and driving off the edge seemed like the only sort of plan she could muster up right now.

"It's not fair" she squeaked, barely able to speak through the lump in her throat. She clenched her teeth together and gripped the steering wheel deathly tight. "It's not fair" she gritted louder, before shaking her body back and forth against the wheel in a furious fit.

She wanted to climb into the back and beat the two of them until the skin on her knuckles wore down to the bone. Never had she hated anything more than she hated them. She lashed out at the steering wheel, delivering a flurry of blows whilst she screamed at the top of her lungs. Why not, she was crazy now right? A twisted, demented loon who plotted and lied and killed and betrayed!

She ran out of steam and drove on breathing heavily, with her throat burning and her nose stuffed up with the tears she refused to cry. The car fell back into silence and Ashley couldn't help but allow a glance into the rearview mirror to check on the shitheads in the back. Michael was still glaring at her unsparingly but Sam had averted his eyes out of the window.

What was she going to do with them? If she left Sam as he was, he'd bleed to death. He deserved worse. Even if he died, she'd still be left with Michael. She wanted to jump out of the car and run away into the woods, leaving the decisions up to someone else. Ashley had dangerous cargo and one slip up would inevitably lead to more deaths.

Sniffing a few times, she wiped quickly at her eyes and sat up straighter. She had to get a grip.

Turning the three of them into the police was obvious. Although Ashley didn't doubt that her guilt was about as solid as setting cement in the eyes of the authorities, handing herself in was the right thing to do, wasn't it? Handing herself in was the right thing to do, but it didn't feel like the right thing. She didn't deserve to go to prison or to sit in a room surrounded by eyes who looked at her like some monster. The sister of the serial killer. That's all they would see. Guilt by association. She was reluctant to directly admit it but she had no intentions of handing herself over to the police.  That didn't mean she couldn't leave Michael and Sam somewhere for the authorities to find.

Unable to think straight, she needed a place to rest in relative safety until she could work out what was best.

"He's going" Michael murmured suddenly.