Silence » a.i

2.0

I woke up to see Ashton watching me sleep. His face flushed red as our eyes met.

"Sorry." he mumbled.

"It's fine," I smiled, pressing a small kiss to his lips. "How long have you been awake?"

"I never went to sleep," he admitted. "Is that creepy?"

"If this was Twilight, it wouldn't be." I joked, pushing myself up. "You're turning into Michael."

He sighed as I swung my legs off the bed and stood up, "So, I was thinking while you were asleep and...I want Calum to erase my family from my memory."

I stopped and gaped at him, "W-what?"

He scratched the back of his head, "The thought of them just hurts too much. I can't put up with it. I don't think I could function knowing what happened."

I walked toward him. He took my hands in his as I stared up at him. He looked just passed my eyes, "It's your decision, but I don't think it's a good idea. They'd want you to remember them."

"They'd also want me to be happy more than anything," he pointed out, "and I'm not happy at all."

I gave a half-hearted smile, "Wow, thanks."

He pulled me in so he could kiss my forehead, "You know what I mean, Cooper."

"I didn't realize I was dating Michael." I joked.

"Do you prefer Bridgette?" he pulled back slightly to tilt his head down and look at me with a quizzical, yet very smug look, adding, "We're dating?"

I intentionally ignored his last question, only answering the first to mess with him, "Cooper sounds a lot cooler, right? Michael was right, Bridgette is an old lady name."

"We're dating?" Ashton repeated.

I raised my eyebrows, "You like me, I like you."

He shrugged and nodded, "You're not wrong."

I pulled away completely, but kept my hands in his, "So should we go have Calum set up?"

Ashton nodded, letting go of me to put his sunglasses on before opening the door.

-

We sat in a circle on the floor of Luke's living room with Calum's book and lit candles. I sat between Michael and Ashton, Calum sitting across from a sunglasses-less Ashton -- I assumed Joy had gone back home. Ash had grabbed some memorabilia that he grabbed from his house when he first found out about the demolishing - he hid it away in one of Luke's brothers' rooms.

"Alright, Bridgette, will you go get the stuff from the couch?" Calum asked.

I stood and walked to the couch, running a hand through my hair before grabbing the pictures we were using. This whole ordeal was stressing me out. Not only was I upset that Ashton would completely forget he had a family, but I was scared Calum would mess up and get rid of his entire memory.

I placed the pictures in the middle of the circle by the candles before sitting back down cross-legged on the floor. I looked nervously between Ashton and Calum as Cal began to read the spell from his book. My eyes drifted to the floor, looking over the pictures. There was a picture of Lauren and Harry standing together with giant smiles on their faces. Harry had on a soccer jersey and the ball under one arm. The other was just of Ashton's mom. She was standing in the kitchen, stirring something in a pot with a smile placed on her face. The same smile she had when I met her.

"Ash, put your hands on the two pictures." Calum ordered.

Ashton scooted to the middle and placed the palms of his hands on the middle of each of the pictures, almost covering both frames entirely. Calum went into the circle, leaving his notebook behind. He put his hands on both sides of Ashton's head and continued with the spell. It sounded almost like a chant. Finally, Calum let go and Ashton's head fell, his chin pressed against his chest.

"Did it work?" Michael wondered after a moment of silence.

"Ashton?" I asked, putting my hand to his back.

Ashton's head flashed up, his now greener-looking eyes sparkling as he looked at his friend, "I think it worked. I can't remember what I was supposed to be forgetting..."

"And how do you feel?" I inquired.

Ashton's entire body turned as he looked at me with wide eyes, his mouth in a thin line. He didn't respond to me in any way. Instead, he searched for his glasses, finally coming up with them from the pocket on his jean jacket. He slid them on, still not replying to me. Why wasn't he saying anything?

"Ashton, are you okay?" Luke wondered.

Ashton looked to Luke and gestured around the house and back to me. Why is she in here?

"Do you not remember her?" Michael wondered.

Ashton looked at Michael, shaking his head slowly.

"He...forgot...me..." I said quietly, trying to get that to sink in. My eyes flashed up to Calum across the room, "How did he forget me?"

"I-I don't know," he stammered anxiously, picking up the pictures and looking them over, "I made sure everything was right and I said everything correctly and- Oh fuck."

"What?" Michael demanded, moving closer to Calum to look at where he was looking on the pictures.

Calum lifted his hand, his index finger and thumb pressed together as if he were holding something. At first, I saw nothing. And then my eyes focused on the light hitting a dark strand of hair.

"If any piece of anyone was touched by Ashton during that spell, he'll forget about them," Calum explained, his voice full of worry. "And I think DNA is much stronger than just a picture."

"Shit, Cooper," Michael breathed, "you shed all over the ritual items."

"It can be undone, right?" I asked hurriedly, moving over to Calum and gripping at his forearm. "There's a spell to get him to re-gain his memory, right?!"

Calum was quiet, not making eye contact with me.

There was no way to undo this. Ashton was stuck with no recollection of who I was. I was no longer the girl he was in love with, I was just a girl.