Laconic » a.i

4.5

//ashton//

"She what?" Emily repeated as Luke coughed loudly like he was choking.

"Fuck off." Ella sneered.

"She literally ran off into the woods to makeout with some creepy guy that looks like brown-haired Michael had a baby with Luke." Calum snorted. He'd been laughing about it since they got back.

"He's not some creepy guy," Ella huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. "He's the one who turned me into a vampire int he first place."

"So, yeah, some creepy guy." Calum nodded.

I could've sworn she said it was a girl who did that.

"Why would you be trying to get with a guy who essentially killed you?" Luke quizzed, looking up at her from the couch.

Ella was standing in the middle of the room while everyone else sat around on the couches and basically criticized her poor choices. I had to agree with them, though; who in their right mind would want to be with the person that took their life away? She didn't see me asking Mali-Koa for her hand in marriage again.

"He said he didn't mean to," Ella insisted. "Vampires have needs, you know."

"What's his name?" Emily asked.

"Carson."

"How old is he?" Noel asked.

"Nineteen."

"Ella, you're only fucking sixteen!" Luke yelled, throwing his arms out.

"We're both dead, why does it matter?" she shrugged.

"Oh my God," he grumbled, sinking into his seat. "This fucking girl, I swear..."

"How long has he been nineteen?" Annie followed up with a tiny snicker -- I caught onto her reference.

"Like, a few years." she said as she stared at the floor.

"Ew, oh my God, Ella!" Luke gagged as he read her thoughts. "He should be eighty-two."

"You're dating an old man!" Calum laughed, practically tossing Noel off of his lap as he did so. "And he looks like Michael!"

"Ella, maybe it's best you don't see him," Jeremy decided quietly. Surprisingly, Calum managed to get everyone out of their rooms, except Michael who was still acting like a Boo Radley. "We already have a lot going on right now and this might not be safe."

"What do you know?" she snorted. "I'm sixteen and a vampire; I can take care of myself."

"I hope I wasn't like this at sixteen." Annie breathed. Emily nodded in agreement.

"This isn't something that's up for discussion," Noel cut in. "We're leaving with Sarah soon anyway."

"How soon is soon?" Jeremy asked.

"It depends on how quickly we can drug Ashton." Calum said, nodding over at me.

I refused to leave. If Bridgette's body was here, then I was staying here. I wasn't going to risk the chance she woke up and came back here with no one here because I knew she was coming back. There was no way she could be gone forever. I wouldn't accept it.

-

It had been two days and Noel hadn't seen anything from Sarah and she never showed up to our house. She couldn't have been dead because Noel definitely would've seen that -- she was checking just about every other minute. But it made no sense because Noel usually only saw the near future. Sarah should've been here by now.

I'd managed to drag myself out of my room more often which I felt indifferent about. On the one hand, I knew Bridge would want me to continue life, but on the other, I still felt shitty and just wanted to act like Michael and stay by myself.

Speaking of which, he still wasn't leaving. Annie would still stand outside his door and try to get him to talk. She usually only got murmurs she couldn't understand, groans or sighs from him. That was the only way we knew he was still in there and hadn't run off anywhere.

Ella continued to sneak off at night when no one was paying attention. I never said anything to her because I figured if she wanted to go against what everyone thought was best, that was her own issue. Who was I to stand in the way if she actually did really like this Carson guy? I didn't believe she could actually take care of her self because she was very naive but I still wasn't going to tell her not to go see someone she really cared for.

On the third day, Noel was pacing across the living room, stopping every few minutes like she was seeing something before she'd just go back to pacing again. Ella had snuck out again but everyone thought she was just upstairs like everyone else int he house. If I wasn't in my room, I was in the living room so that's where I was sat.

"I don't know why I can't see her," Noel seemed to be muttering to herself. But she suddenly stopped and looked up at me so I realized she actually did know I was in the room. "Do you think the ghost hunter force fields make it so I can't see their future either?"

I just shrugged. I don't know.

"Because I could see it before. Do you think maybe they can turn it on and off?"

I shrugged again. I don't know.

I loud knock on the door made both of us jump a little. A smile spread across Noel's face before she scurried to the door and pulled it open. I turned and just barely caught black hair standing outside. Sarah had finally showed up.

"What took you so long?" Noel huffed, inviting her in. "I saw your future a few days ago and then all of a sudden-"

"Marcus brought home some ghosts we had to take care of so I had to have my ghost shield up," she explained. And Noel shot me a sly look that probably meant, so they can control it. "But I'm here now and we-"

"-need to leave," Noel finished. "I know. Let me just round everyone up."

Noel ran up the stairs while Sarah stood by the coffee table and looked down at me. She probably didn't know I was looking back since my sunglasses were on my face.

"Why are you wearing those?" she wondered.

I just shrugged. She didn't say anything after that.

Noel came back down with a stampede of footsteps after her. She walked into the room quickly, looking concerned. Behind her was Luke, Emily, Michael, Annie, Calum, and Jeremy. They all looked slightly worried as well -- well, Michael didn't.

"Where's Ella?" Noel asked. "She's not upstairs."

Just at that moment, the door clicked shut and everyone heard it. Noel stomped around the living room to the entrance of the short hall and folded her arms across her chest as she glared at Ella.

"Hi." Ella said meekly.

"Where the hell have you been?" Noel questioned. "Did you seriously sneak out?"

"Why are you yelling at me?" she growled, walking passed her into the living room. She flopped down on the couch by the recliner.

"Because you snuck out behind my back, Ella!"

"You're not my mom."

"I was more of a mom to you than your real one, you said so yourself."

"Well now I don't need your help so why don't you fucking fix Ashton or something."

Noel gaped at Ella, "I can't believe you let a boy turn you into a raging bitch."

"Bridgette's death turned Ashton catatonic and you're not doing anything to him." Ella said snidely.

"You know what," I finally spoke up. It was quiet but everyone still payed attention anyway. I stood and started for the door, "yeah, I'm fucked up. I'm as fucked up as fucked up gets, actually. I've realized this a while ago. I'm also not one to stand up for myself verbally most of the time. However, I don't turn against my friends for some guy I hardly know. And until you've gone through all the shit I have, you have no room to say anything about me."

With that, I left, slamming the door before flashing to the cemetery.