Heart Struck

Chapter 10

The Letter

"Come on Steve, I have some dignity okay? I shall not go to prom until you ask me." I said mockingly. On the other side of the phone, he replied, "well then with whom would you go?" I frowned, "Uh, with Dave or Burt or John or anybody who is asking me from the past month. At least they are asking me, like gentlemen. This is final, ask me out. Bye." Well it was nice to have someone who cared for you. Anyways I had picked a blue dress for me. The sapphire and diamond locket was looking perfect on the dress. Also I planned to wear the 'Heart-Struck' bracelet, which was gifted by Ash. Ash was having a girlfriend now. Her name was Lizzie. I did not know much about them, but he went out with her when Steve and I had plans of ours. He was taking Lizzie for the prom. Al was going with Andy, who was a more civilized man now. And J was accompanied by Dan. Everything was going on perfectly fine. It was a fine September morning. Almost one year had passed since Ash arrived. He was changed, mostly physically. He was paler than ever. He had loosed weight and he repeatedly went to New York. I could never ask him the reason for doing so. He was tensed because of something. Maybe because of that tension, he had these physical changes in him. Moreover I was happy for his life with Lizzie. She was extremely good for Ashton. Our lives were a lot stabled for a month or so. I loved my beginning with Steve. I concluded that my attractions to Ash were just infatuations. The true self of me was for Steve.

My evergreen doorbell rang again. I stood up to open it. It was Steve. As I opened the door, he kneeled down and took a red rose in his hand, "Ms. Fleming would you like to become my date for the prom night?" he asked. I smiled, "Well, it shall be my pleasure to be in your company, Mr. Carter." I said taking his rose. "Thank God at least you accepted to go with me." I smiled at his innocence. "You can come in blue, like it's your prom, but if you feel like you can." I smiled and nodded. "Pick me up tonight. I shall be ready." He grinned and went towards his place. I had called over Al and J. We had decided to get ready together. I already had chosen a blue dress. I felt extremely good about that fact. I was a fan of his innocence.

The bell rang, it was Ash. I opened the door. He hugged me. "Jess, you have to know that I really do see you as my best friend. The time that I've spent with you is precious. I don't ever regret anything I ever did to you, except one thing, which you already don't mind; I mean the kiss. But really you are the best thing ever happened to me." I could not understand the reason for this kind of talk. "Ash, are you fine?" I asked taking his weak hand in mine. He took it back, "Yes, I should go, I have to get ready." As he turned, he met Al and J. they greeted each other then he hurried back. I did not wait to see their reaction and I hurried towards my room. They supposedly followed me.

"You look Fabulous! Dan shall not take his eyes off you." I said to J. She was tensed because she had a rather geeky look. But this was her total transformation and I was pretty sure a guy like Dan would love it. On the other hand Al, a dressy one, had a sober look today. Just like Andy loved. I only had three things for me, the blue gown, the locket of Steve, and Ash's bracelet. Also some light make-up or else Al would have tortured me to death. More or less, I was assured of a fact, which Al and J were not of. It was that I knew that Steve loved me the way I was. I was not required to fake up like them. I know that they were my best friends, but I hated the 'faking and changing ourselves' game. I once tried to do that and ended up hating myself. The bell rang. The first one to come was Andy. As Al was leaving, Andy commented, "You are looking good, Jess." I took a deep breath. "All thanks to Al, she has great dressing up skills." I said. He turned to Al, "God gracious Al, you look stunning, more beautiful than anyone I have ever seen." The lost smile of Al came back. Then, Dan came. I could not come out of the room as I hated to face another such comment from my ex. Then Steve came, at last. "Looking superb in tux, I said." he smiled, "Hey, I was supposed to say that first. Anyways you look, oh my God look at the locket. It suits your... blue dress. Ha! You really look perfect today. By the way, Ash found this, at our house, the other part of the anklet I gifted you." Ash had it for so long. I thought. Maybe he took it the first day we met. Steve bent down to attach the beauty with my ankle. It dangled freely just like the other one. "So, ready?" Steve gave his hand. "Yeah, why not." I said. "By the way, where is Ash?" I asked as he drove towards the venue. "He took of early with, Lizzie." I nodded.

The venue was richly decorated with a variety of flowers, and every possible thing was used. They had arranged for D.J. a bar, beautiful dance floor and everything. I spotted Al and Andy dancing. Dan and J were chatting around the bar. I also saw Ash who was dancing with Lizzie; before I could spot any details in them Steve swayed me towards the dance floor. "Whoa, easy Steve." I said. He seemed happy. It was 22nd September. Ha! 26th November will be the birthday of Carter's.

We were dancing freely. I swayed around and I spotted Ash. He went to sit a bit, Lizzie following him. I had a feeling of something being terribly wrong. There was an announcement for the competition of 'Homecoming King and Queen'. The first team was Al and Andy, followed by two others of our batch and then us. I should have guessed that Steve was a popular figure in the school. We had a few competitions. I and Steve fully enjoyed ourselves until we were disqualified in the third of the four rounds for fighting over for, who shall bent down for the dance move. We even enjoyed that. We were badly laughing when we were disqualified. On the other hand Al was trying hard to win.

The results were out soon. No doubt that Al won the competition. I suddenly remembered about Ash. I looked around every where to find him. Neither he nor Lizzie was visible. I became tensed for him. I went over to Steve, "I am having a terrible feeling Steve. Where is Ash?" I asked. "He must be out somewhere Jess. Don't worry about him." I had a highly worried expression on me. "Okay wait I will call him and confirm about his whereabouts." He continuously called him. Suddenly a worry crossed him. "Wait I shall call Lizzie." I offered. As I called here she picked it up. "Lizzie, where is Ash?" I asked hurriedly. "Well he said he had a flight for New York so he left me early." she replied. Steve drove home in hope of finding him there. He was not there. Steve went inside his house and tried to trace him. I came to mine and went upstairs to change. I felt bad, very bad. I wanted to see that whether Ash was safe or not. My sixth sense said that something was negative today. Ash was required attention. Amidst all my thinking the bracelet slipped from my hand. I bent down to pick it up. As I shifted my head further down I caught sight of a letter under my bed. I took it out. I remembered the day when it felt down. I handed the wrong envelope to Ash that day. Anyways, I thought. I opened the envelope. Something was written in Ash's writing. I opened it and read it line by line. At the end my eyes were flooded with tears. This can't happen. No, no way. Now, everything was clear. Why was he going to NY, why he said the speech, why he backed away from the kiss that day, why, he grew paler and thinner every day. Ash, no. Why did you do this? Once you might have said something to either of us, we might have done something for you. The bell rang. Hurry Jess hide it from Steve, he can't read this. I won't let that happen. I tucked the letter below my pillow. I rushed out to open the door. Steve rushed inside, "Jess, Ash is in the hospital at NY. Nobody knows why he went there. My mom is reaching there soon. You don't take tension." I cried and cried. I had to take tension, but at least his mom was there with him. Steve was also allowing his tears to pass. "Ash is coming soon to Port Anna. I swear Jess he will." Steve said.

Ibarely slept that night. The next morning when we woke, we received a call fromAsh's mom. I feared this; I feared that it might happen. No, no. No, no. Shesaid, "My son is no more." Andthen we could only hear her sobs.