Why Me? || ashannie

Chapter VI

Asher's POV

Saturday -
   My mom pulled into Annie's driveway, "Bye honey, have a good time."
   "Bye mom, love you." I closed the car door and jogged up the front steps. I rang the doorbell and waited. I heard Annie's dogs going insane inside. Annie came running downstairs and unlocked the front door.
   "Hey Ash," she said giving me a hug.
   "Hey Annie," I replied wrapping my arms around her. "How you been?" I asked.
   "Good, my mom is out with Hayley grocery shopping right now, they just left so they should be home in around an hour and a half."
   "Okay," I said. Annie headed up towards her room and I followed. We hung out chatting about random things for around half an hour.
   "Have you ever gone to school?" I asked Annie.
   "Yeah, I went for a semester to this fancy private school last year but my fans figured it out and came to my school." She said.
   "Dang," I said.
   "Yeah I know. My parents were pretty ticked." She said.
   "Those had to be some hardcore fans though," I said. She giggled and flopped down on her bed. I tentatively sat on the corner.
   "Asher you can come on the bed." She said giving me a wicked smile. "Are you nervous you'll break some kind of rule?"
   "No, I just don't want to make your parents think I'm being disrespectful." I said.
   "Asher, you're the nicest, most respectful guy I know." She said her face full of seriousness.
   "Thanks." I said. Her eyes were still fixed on mine and I flicked my eyes down to the bedspread. We ended up watching Netflix together.
We'd been watching for about forty-five minutes when she hit pause and said, "I'm gonna go to the bathroom."
   "Okay," I said nodding. She got up and walked into her bathroom. I started absently humming to pass the time. She'd been in there for only a couple minutes when I heard her make a weird noise.
  "Annie?" I called. She didn't reply. "Annie?" I repeated. I heard it again. I rushed over to the door and knocked. "Annie are you okay?"
   "Yeah," she called from inside. I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. She opened up the door. Her eyes were filled with tears. My heart stopped briefly.
   "What's wrong?" I said resisting the urge to touch her but I let my eyes take her in, searching for any signs of harm.
   "Remember I told you my shoulder hurt last time I flew?"
   "Yeah," I said hesitantly.
   "Well it's hurting again, but a thousand times worse." She closed her eyes and swallowed, a tear ran down her cheek. I'm pretty sure I died slightly on the inside.
   "Annie? Is there anything I can do?" I asked trying not to show my panic.
   "No, my mom gave me medicine last time, but I can't take it until she gets home."
   "Okay just come sit down," I guided her to her bed, even though she could walk fine. Asher, it's her shoulder she can walk. I was too worried, I couldn't help it.
   "You know I can walk fine right? It's my shoulder." She gave out a short laugh that sounded slightly choked. It hurt me to hear how much pain she was in.
   "Yeah, it's pretty much the only thing I can do for you." I said. Annie was a former gymnast, she should have dealt with injuries and pain, so the fact that she was crying scared me. "What does it feel like?" I asked.
   "It's like a constantly burning ache that doesn't subside, but gets stronger and there are these zings going down my arm. It's the most painful thing I've ever felt, and I was a gymnast." She said. Obviously we had the same idea. She took a couple deep breaths and let out a groan, several tears ran down her cheeks. "Asher do something! Please!" Her eyes were filled with a frantic terror that made me want to grab her and shield her from all the pain. She used her free arm to place an ice cold hand on my cheek. "Help me," she said softly. I was frozen by her touch. "Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow, ow." Her breathing became ragged. She squeezed her eyes shut and curled her hand into a fist on my cheek. "Ash please it's hurts so much." She began rocking herself, making this horrible high pitched moans. My body finally caught up with my whirling thoughts and I grabbed Annie's phone off her bed. I didn't have Katie's phone number.
"Hey Siri, call Mom." I said.
"Calling Mom." Siri replied. The phone rang for what felt like hours before Katie picked up.
"Hi Annie," she said.
"This is actually Asher."
"Oh! Hi Asher where's Annie? Is she okay?" She said sounding thrown off guard. I was positive she could hear Annie's groans through the speaker.
"She went to the bathroom and came out saying her shoulder hurt." I said quickly. "She said she can't take medicine without you getting it for her."
"Ash!" Annie screamed. The tears were streaming down her face. "Ash I can't feel my arm!"
"Oh God," I heard Katie breathe.
In one swift movement I was in front of Annie, kneeling on the ground. "Annie, Annie, hey! I'm on the phone with your mom! She's gonna help you!"
I put the phone on speaker, and put it on the bed next to Annie.
"Katie your on speaker," I said.
"Annie? Hayley and I are on our way home right now! We're going to the car." She said.
"Asher! Ahhhh!" Annie kept saying my name over and over and crying out.
"Annie! I'm right here." I placed my hands on her face. At my touch she opened her eyes.
"Ash is that you?" Her voice was unusually high.
"Yeah," I said peering into her eyes. Her pupils were tiny pinpoints of black in her brown eyes.
"Annie can you see me?" I asked frantically.
"Ash where did you go?" She asked panicked, grabbing at my wrist with her good arm.
"Annie! I'm right in front of you." I smoothed back her hair from her face.
"Asher?" Katie said. "I have to drive, I'll be home soon, just try to do your best I know that's a lot to ask and I'm sure you're already doing amazing." The line went dead.
"Ash please, please," she said quietly. "Everything is dark, I'm scared of the dark. It hurts so much! Please just make it stop."
   "Annie, I can't help! I want to so badly, but I can't! I feel so useless!"
She dragged her good hand up my arm to my chest and then placed her head next to it. "Just stay with me." She said raggedly.
"Annie, I'm not leaving you." I leaned into her and brought my face to her neck. She buried her face in mine and clenched the hand on my chest into a fist, balling part of my shirt up in her hand. We sat like that for ten minutes, I rubbed the back of her neck with my fingers, and we rocked side-to-side. She made painful noises and kept taking sharp, ragged breaths.
   "Asher it hurts! It's spreading across my back!"
"Annie, everything will end soon, just hold tight." I tried reassuring her.
"I can't feel my back! Asher!" She pulled at my shirt with her balled fist.
I knew I couldn't do anything, so I just held onto her, scared she would fall apart if I didn't hold her.
   "Aaaahhhhh!" She gasped throwing her head back. I looked at her just as her pupils grew so big her eyes look black, then she went limp in my arms her eyelids falling shut.
"Annie?!" I used a hand to pat her cheek. "Annie?! Your scaring me! Wake up. Oh God!" I brought my ear down to her chest. Her heart was beating steadily. I breathed a shaky sigh of relief. I got behind her and situated her between my legs, her head laying on my chest. I told Siri to call Katie again from Annie's phone.
"Hey," Katie said.
"I think Annie just passed out from the pain." I said.
"Oh my God, we're pulling into the driveway right now."
"Okay." I said and hung up. A minute later I heard the front door open and Katie call, "Where are you guys?!"
"We're in Annie's room!"
She came running in with Hayley right on her heels. "Annie?" She said tapping her cheeks. "Hayley go grab a glass of water while I get a painkiller." They both ran off. I looked down at Annie's face. It was puffy from crying and a tear was hanging off the corner of her left eye, she looked so peaceful and calm. I cupped her cheek and swept the tear away. "You scare me," I whispered to her. "You will be the end of me." I began to draw circles on the side of her neck. My eyes filled with tears, I was completely unable to help her. She'd passed out because of the pain, and I couldn't help her. I was a failure. Katie and Hayley came back. I didn't pay attention to them though, I was focused on Annie's face.
"Hayley can you pour a bit of water on her cheek?" Katie asked. Hayley poured a trickle of water onto Annie. Annie's face flinched and she opened her eyes slowly, blinking at the bright light filtering through the the windows.
"Hi Annie," I said my voice getting caught on itself. My tears spilled over and rolled down my cheeks.
"Your crying," she said reaching up with her good hand and wiping at my tears. I gave out a short laugh, "Yeah, you did this to me." I said. My hand was still resting on her cheek.
"I did?" She asked and let out a grunt of pain.
"Yeah, now your mom has a pain killer for you." I moved my hand from her face and Hayley handed her the glass of water. Katie put the pill in Annie's mouth and she swallowed the pill with a gulp of water. Katie ran to the kitchen to get an ice pack and Hayley ran off somewhere.
   "I'm gonna move you okay?"
She nods "Hmmmmm," she moaned as I shift to move her towards her pillows. I stopped frozen with fear. I looked down at her face, her brows were furrowed and her eyes were shut again.
   "You okay?" I asked.
She opened her eyes, "Yeah, but i think I should just stay here," she said her brown eyes filled with anguish.
   "Whatever you want," I said starting to get up.
   "Wait," she said. I turned back to look at her. "Hold me?"
   "Yeah," I smiled, settling back down cradling her in front of me. We sat there for a few minutes undisturbed.
   "Aaaahhhhmmm," she cried.
   "I wish I could take all the pain away from you and put it on myself." I said.
   "You're so cute," she said, "not many guys would do that. Sure they would be worried but they wouldn't want to take the pain for me."
   "Did you just call me cute?" I asked teasing her.
   "Shut up!" She laughed but it turned into a groan.
Katie came back into the room, "Annie I scheduled an appointment with a doctor in an hour so we should probably get you ready in ten minutes, which should give the medicine some more time to kick in.
   "Okay," said Annie.
   "Katie can you text my mom to ask her if she will pick me up now?"
   "Of course Asher," she said. "I'm so glad you were here with Annie when it happened." Katie hurried from the room to text my mom.
   "You're not coming with me?" She asked.
   "Annie, I'm pretty sure parts of me just me just died watching you in that much pain, I don't really want to go watch you go through more of it." I said. "I'm pretty sure the doctor won't enjoy me pacing around the room."
   "There's going to be more?!" Her eyes flooded with the frantic terror I had seen earlier.
Wow Asher. That was probably just about the worst thing you could have said.
   "I don't know what to expect," I said. I didn't want to lie and tell her she wouldn't feel anymore pain.
   "Please, Asher, please. Come with me?" She pleaded. She gave out a muffled groan and tensed her body.
   "Yeah, I'll come with you." I kissed her forehead and brushed a few stray strands of hair off of it. She gave me a soft smile.
   "Thanks Ash. You're my angel."

Word Count: 2055

   OH MY FREAKING GOSH! I can't believe I just wrote that! This has to be the most dramatic, longest, and cutest thing I have ever written! It helped when I listened to sad love songs while I was writing this. Music is a very powerful thing. So is Ashannie! 💛

   -Lexy