Burn ▹ Ashton Irwin

four

I used to think that the hallway of my apartment building I walk down every morning and night was very pleasant. It's clean, nicely deccorated, and empty most of the time. Which is good, because I don't like walking in such...I don't know, tight?.. spaces with a bunch of other people. There's a reason that my mother insisted on buying me a space to live in this fancy building...and the way it looks and feels explains it all. I like it here; it's nice, comfortable...and safe.

But now, it was almost 4:00 in the morning... and I have been kidnapped, taken pretty far away from where I was used to, and threatened to be dead by sun rise. Actually, I have been threatened to be shot on the spot, infront of everyone that had taken me and watched me cry out for help. I can honestly say, that I have never in my entire life felt so much reoccuring fear in this amount of time. Just about last night around 10:00 I was doing just fine; I was walking home from work, minding my own buisness, and just trying to get home. Then just a couple hours later..I was tied to a chair in an old and run-down parking garage, with a gun held to the side of my head. It seemed like months ago..but the images were still so vividly fresh in my mind, I didn't know how long they were going to last.

I could still feel the stinging pain I felt when I fell to the ground, the way that man's strong arm knocked the wind out of me, and the way all of those...criminals...looked me up and down like they had finally found their prey. They had finally taken an innocent and nonchalant girl off the street and strapped her down while they seemed to have plotted her apparent death.

I remember the way that maniac, Derek, looked. The way his eyes were so angry and almost as deadly as fire made my skin crawl everytime the image popped into my mind. I could still feel that sensation of pure terror that wrapped itself around me about 7 hours ago, and still hasn't let go of me yet. I honestly don't understand how I am still living and breathing...able to walk and able to process everything that has happened tonight. I was so close to death...yet at the last second my life was spared. I don't know what any of those men were talking about that whole time...but I do know that my life was spared by that boy. Ashton.

I could feel his presence behind me, as it has been since I ran out of that hell-hole of an old parking garage. I didn't really take his whereabouts into consideration when I ran, because my mind told me to not look back and just keep working my way towards the safety of my apartment. Although, I don't even feel safe right now, walking down the comforting hallway of my building.

As I kept my eyes glued to my door at the end of the hall, I could hear Ashton walking behind me. I don't know why he's following me home, but I was way too scared to tell him to leave me alone. When I think about what Derek had said...about the whole 'take her with you.' thing...some part of my mind told me to let this intimidating and quite criminal-looking boy come with me here. He did look pretty banged up and hurt in some way...so maybe he needed a safe place too. Probably not, but like I said. I was way too scared to tell him to stop following me.

Every now and then I would glance over my shoulder at him, and everytime I saw the same thing. He stared down at the ground, running his hand through his dirty hair, while wearing that white t-shirt that I guessed had massive blood stains on the back. Derek and his...other people...beat that boy's back up pretty hard; I wouldn't be surprised if the red was still really easy to see. I could also hear him breathe, sigh, and walk so leisurely and casually behind me, it almost annoyed me. Honestly, I could see the way he was walking with such relaxation and carelessness...like there was absolutely nothing wrong. He hasn't said a word to me, made any effort to decrease the amount of space between us, or even act the least bit scared. From what I could tell, he was acting like nothing just happened...like I didn't just almost get murdered. I know, I only know this kid's name, but wouldn't any sane person be a little shaken up by being in his position too?