We're Getting There // A.I

Chapter 9 // Ass? What.

May 7 : 189 days till due

Michael is standing in front of me, his eyebrows tilted down like he's disappointed, I don't know why he would be though. My mom is there too, and my Dad, and the twins, Casper and Ethan, and my littlest sibling, Lily.

I look around and I'm standing in a hole. There's not much room for me to move and it's almost as tall as I am. I look up and Ashton's there now too, and as I look up at all the people I love I scream out for them to help me, but no words come out.

Why wouldn't they help me?

They just stand there looking at me, not offering any help at all, not even acknowledging me.

Then they all turn and start walking away with their blank expression and the ground beneath me starts to sink. I'm sinking, suffocated by the ground and by mud and dirt gasping, clawing for air.

Why didn't they help me?

Why wouldn't they help me!

My eyes open and I'm panting, my hands clammy as I grip Ashton's arm and he lets out a tiny moan of pain.

"You okay?" He whispers, his voice muffled by his pillow.

"No, I uh, I had a really bad dream" I murmur, my eyes hot.

It was so real.

"I'm sorry to hear that" Ashton says, although he sounds like he's half asleep and doesn't know what he's talking about.

"I dreamt that everyone I loved stood there while I was in this huge hole...and then everyone walked away, you just walked away..." I say, but already the dream is starting to slip away, and I find myself not even remembering what happened, only getting a bad feeling that's settled in my chest.

"I was there?" Ashton asks, rolling over.

He's adorably rumpled, his hair everywhere.

"Yeah. Of course you were there" I say absently, frowning. I feel really unsettled now.

"Aw, Charlie, I would never walk away from you while you were in a big hole" he says, brushing my hair away from my head.

"I know. It was just really vivid. And I couldn't breathe" I say, blinking against the darkness but not being able to see more than few inches in front of me.

"I'm so sorry" Ashton apologises, pulling aside the collar of my shirt and kissing my shoulder.

"It's okay. It's not your fault. You know I read in a book in like, tenth grade that said pregnancy causes weird dreams" I ramble.

"Mmm" Ashton hums against my shoulder, his eyes closing sleepily.

He sucks on the skin and wraps his arms over my stomach and puts a hand on my waist, pulling me closer. He breathes in through his nose and sighs, kissing down my arm.

"You smell good. You smell like fruit. And like my mum's fabric softener" he says, tugging on the hem of the shirt he'd leant me.

I laugh nervously, scratching my neck as he lifts up the bottom of the shirt and exposes my stomach, where there's a baby bulge that's starting to get hard to hide. He looks at it for a really long time, blinking slowly and running his thumb over my lower stomach for what feels like hours.

"There's a person in there" he says quietly. "We made a fucking person."

I nod. It's kind of scary to think about.