Pain & Insanity *ON HOLD* (ASHTON IRWIN AU)

Chapter 1: Ashton

Sound snores sonded from the complete strangers that surrounded me. As quietly as I could, I made my way over to the back of the room and inspected every sleeping body.

The room was filled with men who's ages seemed to range from 11 to 50. They all either lay crampt on small bunk beds which were obviously designed for young children, lay in dirty cots, or slept on the cold tiled floor. I felt for these people. Their sutuations must be horrible if you had to stay in a place like this. Watching them sleeping here just made me feel worse about what I was going to do to them.

I tiptoed my way over to the furthest cot from the front of the room. A man who looked like he was in his late forties lay as still as a log. I bent down and reached under neath his cot and moved my arm around. My right hand clasped around a small object, and I grinned in success. Without a sound, I remived the small backpack from under the man's bed.

In the darkness of the room, I tried my best to examine its contents. I found a grey beenie, a small first aid kit, and a folded up shirt. Carefully, I removed the items from his bag and placed them into my own frayed one. Stelthily, I placed the bag back and moved on to my next target.

About half an hour later, I had raided almost the entire room's worth of belongings. I only had one more person's belongings to take.

I stood over his bed and watched him for any hints of awaking. He was Asian looking, with dark hair and plump lips. He looked quite tall, almost my hight. Slowly, I bent down and repeated my actions. I removed the oddly light backpack and took a peek inside.

The bag was empty.

"What the..." I began to whisper. I snapped my head up and was met by a pair of dark brown eyes. I gasped.

"So, you're the one that's been taking everyone's stuff?" The boy whispered. His voice was higher in pitch than what I would have imagined it to be. He also had a slight lisp. "Everyone here's quite angry at you."

"Well, they have the right." I whispered back while doing a quick survey of the room. Everyone still lay sleeping. "I've been stealing their minimal belongings; but it's every man for himself out here."

The boy smirked and shifted on his bed so that he was sitting up. "It doesn't have to be like that. I'm Calum."

Calum extended his arm to shake. I looked down at it while slowly rising to my full hight. "I prefer to be by myself."

He didn't seem fased by my comment. Instead, he chuckled. "Since you've been stealing my stuff for the past week, I think that you kind of owe me this one."

I rolled my eyes and huffed. "I don't owe you anything." I scoffed. "Besides, I hate people."

Calum rolled his eyes. "That's a lie. Nobody doesn't like people. I'm coming with you to... Well, to where ever you're going."

Calum began to stand from his spot on the bed. "You must be dence if you think that you're coming with me." I chortled while taking a step back. I then noticed that he was quite tall, he was almost my hight. "Why are you so persistant?"

"You mean, why do I want to leave so bad?" Calum asked. "I understand your confusion. 'Why does this kid want to leave? Why do you want to be back on the streets so badly?'"

"Actually, I don't care." I commented. Calum closed his eyes dramatically while placing a dirty finger to my mouth.

"Shhhh. Let me finish." He sighed while fluttering his eyes open. I rolled my own. "You took everyone's things! I saw you pocket Grungy Joe's fifty dollar bill, and you have two pares of sneakers from Tommy."

A pang of guilt swept through me as he listed off the many items that I stole. "And it's a rehab clinic!" Calum exclamed loudly. I hushed him. "It's a dirty, stingy old place that smells like stale pee. The food's horrible and the showers are nasty. Plus, it's rehab."

I raised my eyebrow. "Your point is?"

"No drugs!"

I narrowed my eyes at Calum. It was then that I saw his red rimmed eyes. "You're high." I commented with annoyance. "How did you manage to sneak it in here?"

"I have my ways." He smirked lazily while winking. "It's easy to sneak it in, but a little more difficult to use."

I turned my back to him and began to silently kreep out of the small room. "Well, it was nice talking to you, but I'm out of here."

"Hey!" I heard him call after me. "Hey, wait!"

I spun around and marched back over to him. With force, I clamped my hand over his mouth. Calum's eyes went wide at my sudden action. "Will you shut up?" I hissed with much annoyance. "If anyone wakes up and finds out that I'm the one who's been stealing their stuff, I'm dead."

Calum slowly peeled my hand off of his mouth. "Dude, your hand is massive." He commented. A small spark of anger went through me. Did he really just ignore everything that I said?

"Maybe it's just because you have a small head." I snapped back. "You make so much noise. Can't you let me leave in peace?"

"Nope!" Calum smirked while making his voice daringly loud. I winced. "Only if you let me tag along with you."

"I don't like company." I rpeated for the third time through gritted teeth. "Leave me alone."

"Please?" He wined while purposly making his voice loud. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw movment. I whipped my head around and groaned.

The biggest guy in the room was begining to stir out of sleep. He had large, heavily tattooed arms that were bigger than my head, and had some scary thorny vine tattoos that rolled around his neck and up to the side of his face. His muscular frame rolled from side to side on the small cot, making it groan and squeak. I was suprised that it didn't snap in half under his weight. A cold sweat broke out from all over my body. I bet that this dude could eat me whole.

"Oh please let me go with you! I just want to get out of here and back onto the streets. Please!"

I quickly covered Calum's mouth with my hand again. "Fine." I seethed. "I'll let you leave here with me. You cannot make a sound; do you hear me?"

I could feel him smirking from underneath my palm. He whispered an okay. Slowly, I removed my hand from his face and pressed a finger to my lips.

'Quiet.' I mouthed to him as we began to tiptoe out of the room. Slowly, I placed a hand on the grimy handle of the big wooden door that separated us from the rest of the building. As quietly as I could manage, I twisted the nob and pulled on it. The old door creaked loudly, causing me to wince.

"You're taking too long." Calum grumbled while pushing in front of me. Before I could protest, Calum swung the door wide open. The heavy wood crashed against the dry wall, which made a big hole in the wall. I gasped.

The loud crack bounced off of every wall in the small room. I closed my eyes and winced. Quietly, I stood in the middle of the room and listened closely for movement. After a couple of minutes, I opened my eyes. Everyone was still sleeping.

I turned to glare at Calum. He just shrugged in reply. 'Sorry.' He mouthed as we turned to exit the room.

I sighed in contempt as soon as we stepped foot out of the room. "Let's go." I whispered.

**

AN: Horrible first chapter; the story will only get better, I promise!