Silence » a.i

3.1

I kept drifting in and out of sleep. I kept having dreams of Ashton. Most of them were of him covered in blood with his family or Jeremy or Michael laying at his feet -- those were terrible. The other ones were of him smiling and laughing with me in my room, and he'd kiss me and tell me he loved me -- those were even worse.

I slept in Jeremy's room while him and Michael stayed up watching TV together. They kept the volume low, but I liked hearing the noise of the TV. That would drift into my dreams and keep Ashton out of them.

"I'm sorry we told Bridgette." Michael said during one of the commercials. I had just woken up from yet another dream of Ashton and me. I was half awake but I tried hard to pay attention to what they were saying.

"I'm actually glad you did," Jeremy admitted. "I didn't know how to. And I knew how much she liked Ashton."

"And now look at her," Michael sighed. "Poor kid's torn apart because she left him."

"She's too stubborn to go back," Jeremy said. "That's the sad part."

Why was that sad? Was he implying he wanted me to go crawling back to the psycho that got him to kill himself? He wanted me to continue to be in love with a boy who killed over five people, including his family?

"Is it weird that I feel bad for freaking out at Ashton like that?" Michael wondered. It was odd hearing him use first names, but I knew it was just because he was talking to my brother -- and actually being nice about it.

"I don't know," Jeremy said. "I mean, I understand that Ashton can get scary when he loses control of himself -- he usually came around when he was like that. But on the other hand, it's still him that's doing it."

"I just can't help but feel bad for the kid."

"Do you think those other two are going to leave him too?"

"Ashton and Calum have been best friends for a while. Ashton was even engaged to his sister. I don't think he'd leave him. And Luke doesn't have much of a choice. Ashton's old house is gone so he has to stay there. He used to stay with me at my place after his memory was gone, but he knows he's not welcome there anymore."

"So, what if Calum and Luke do end up bailing?" Jeremy asked slowly.

"I don't know." he sighed.

There was a long pause before Jeremy spoke again, "Do you think Bridgette will be okay?"

"I hope so. She's probably heartbroken, but I think girls eventually get over it," he said. Bitterly, he added, "My girlfriend sure fucking did."

"But it was like things were different with Ashton," Jeremy told him. "Back at our old school, Bridge hardly ever showed interest in any boys. Then she comes back from her first day wandering Westfield Drive and she's already got heart eyes."

Did I really? I didn't think that I had fallen for Ashton already. Sure, I thought he was cute, but he didn't even say anything to me. He just stood there and stared.

"I have to admit, Cooper and Irwin had a connection even I'd never seen before," Michael agreed. "She could know what he was saying without a problem. And he was constantly with her. When he lost his memory, both of them were affected."

"So, do you think she won't move on?" Jeremy quizzed.

Michael hummed to himself a little before answering, "I don't know if she wants to."

-

"Bridgette!" Michael and Jeremy were both shouting.

I jolted up, my breathing heavy as sweat dripped down my forehead. "W-what happened?"