Shattered (Continuation of: The Chase) ▹ Ashton Irwin

Chapter Eleven

It was the most longest and quietest moment of silence I have ever experienced in my entire life. It was that kind of quiet that you only hear about and see in movies, but never really experience. The kind of silence that makes you think that something was going to pop out..or blow up...but nothing ever does. All I could do in that moment of when the front door shut behind us, was stand absolutely still. I was like a statue; unable to move my feet, feel my heart breat, or even blink my eyes. I was washed over with so much shock and confusion that maybe I just forgot how to function for these moments.

But these seemed longer than just moments as all four of us stood a lot like how I just explained: motionless. I was finally able to hear myself breath, but it only sounded like I was about to pass out. Honestly, I think was...which may seem a little over-dramatic, but I've come to realize over these past weeks that I can be like that sometimes.

I just stared at her; at Anne. I stared at the way she stood still, my eyes slowly traveling down her boney body. Her stature wasn't actually as boney as I had imagined, but the way her cheeks were a little sunk in and the slightly dark bags under her eyes, I could tell that what Ashton had told me about her wasn't fake at all. I looked at her face, taking in how much she actually does look like him. She looked just like the boy standing next to me, and it amazed me. Her glossy blue eyes looked not to me, but to her son. I took that as my qeue to do the same, so I somehow managed to pry my eyes from Anne, and glance up at Ashton who stood beside me.

If I could desribe what a person who has just seen the most surprising, impacting, and maybe even scariest thing they have seen in their entire life looks like...that is how I could maybe describe how Ashton looks right now. He didn't move, he didn't blink, and he didn't seem to even be breathing. It was as if the whole entire world was put into a trance of stopped time, where I was the only one who could actually move and think. Ashton's eyebrows were furrowed above his wide eyes, with his jaw tensed up. My eyes traveled along the raging pulse on his neck, to his hands that slightly shook at his sides.

Ashton really does have a way of looking so intimidating and inferior to everything...but at this moment, everything about looking intimidating and inferior was completely drained from him. He looked like how I've only seen him a few times since I've met him: undescribable. It's weird to say to myself that Ashton could ever look undescribable to me...but that's all I could see in him right now. He stared at Anne, and Anne stared back, leaving me just as quiet as them and wondering what the hell was going to happen next.

But it seemed like nothing was going to happen, ever, until Ashton finally broke the agonizing silence. But, his voice was only a little squeak; breathless if anything.

"Mummy?"

The stillness in his cheeks was gone, and his eyes squinted just a little bit. He had the heaviest look of confusion, shock, and maybe even fear in his eyes...and the way he spoke made him seem like he was a weak and frail human being. Anne shifted from her left foot to her right, her eyes growing more and more glossy. I could see the walls of tears that were just waiting to fall down her cheeks, and I could tell Ashton was probably the same way.

"Hi Ashton." Anne said softly, her sweet voice cracking into a whisper. My heart began to pound at the fact that they just spoke to each other for the first time in 11 years, and I could feel my own hands shaking as I locked my fingers together behind my back. I glanced up at Ashton to see his eyebrows had slightly slanted up and his eyes widened even more, making him look like a scared little kid. I've seen that look on his face maybe 3 times in my life, and it made my heart just pound even more. He looked like he was going to cry, which is something that I unfortunately see a lot in him.

But, then out of nowhere, he actually moved, and it felt like everything was going in slow motion. Like we were in an alternate universe, where you're forced to watch the most anticipating moments in slow motion. Ashton seemed to be the first one out of all 4 of us to take a step forward, and I watched in pure amazement as he walked ever so slowly over to his mother, with his eyes still glued to her. She had that same look on her face as well, and it wasn't until Ashton crashed his body to hers and instantly wrapped his strong arms around her body that he began to cry. At first I had to strain my neck to hear his soft cries that I do hear a lot, and I watched as he burried his face into her neck, and she did the same to him. I looked over to Ashton's grandmother to see if she was looking back at me, but her eyes were glued to the two long lost people that were embracing each other right infront of us.