A Dramatic Turn Of Events

Chapter 26

Chapter 26

I barely had a moment  to recover. I stood there looking down on her. Her blood had splattered onto the paper-like gown that I was put in. I heaved breaths in and out. I had to keep reminding  myself  to breathe. I felt the weight of the tears behind my eyes, but they never came. All the sounds around me were muffled. So I was surprised  when Ashton appeared  in front  of me,  shaking my shoulders. His voice slowly became louder to me. I caught the tail end of his sentence.

"..... Because they're going to come back any minute. Can you hear me?" He says the last words with an overpowering sense of urgency.  I want to speak but its like the words in my vocabulary  had vanished. I just nodded. 

He grabbed my hand and began walking. But I didn't move an inch until he yanked me towards the window. He slid the window open and climbed on it to sit on the edge. I looked at him, wide eyed.

"Are you insane?!" I said backing up.

"Hey! Listen to me. We don't have much time." He said, his eyes soft but his voice stern. "They probably  heard heard... what happened. They should be on their way back very soon. So listen to me carefully.

We are going to jump into that Dumpster down bellow. It's going to probably  hurt a little. But ill be down there waiting  for you. I'll jump  first, then move out of your  way and motion for you to jump. Now don't jump on top of me because I'm sure you don't want to be carrying a guy who's paralyzed."

"Is that a fat joke?" I asked, trying to brighten the mood. He gave me a flat look, but let out a barely audible laugh.

Suddenly  his face is serious though.

"Are you ready?" He asks. The words are familiar  to me.

And then I remember. He said the same exact  thing on the day we first met. Just after he had told me that my parents  were dead. The day this crazy, fucked up journey  began.

I nod and he thrusts himself  from the ledge with confidence, he doesn't  scream or squeak. Not even a little bit.

Just after he lands the door behind me bursts open. Two men run in looking around, they don't see me at the window yet. Damien runs in behind them, his steps falter as he looks down upon my mother's still body. His eyes burn with rage as he looks up at me, like he knew exactly  where I was. My breath hitched in my throat  as his men can tunneling after me. I looked down to see if Ashton had moved. He did, and he was waving hysterically at me. He's trying to say something, but I can't quite hear him. I take a deep breath and prepare  to jump. But just as I push off the ledge a large pair of hands grab me by the arm. My body slams against  the side of the building, and pain swarms in my stomach and shoots up to my shoulder. The man gives me a deadly smile and turns his head to speak to the other man behind  him.

"I got her." He says, his voice higher than I expected.

As he turns his attention to the other man, I pull myself up a little bit and prepared  to bite his hand. I reconsidered for a moment. Where had his hands been? Oh Jesus Christ, what am I saying?  I'm about to plunge into a Dumpster for fuck sakes. I do it anyways, while I have the chance. I bite down as hard as I can, grinding my teeth back and forth for added pain. At first I taste something like rotting meat, but it's quickly covered  up with the taste of blood. He shrieks rather girlishly, and loosens his grip on my arm and I slip right out of his grasp. Next thing I know I'm in a free  fall that seems to be longer than humanly possible. As I compact with the trash bags bellow I think about what has happened  in the past few minutes. I heave a sigh, and fight back the tears that are threatening to spill over.

"Are you alright?" Ashton asks, holding my face in his hands. I reply  with a small nod.

"Good, 'cause we gotta go. Like, now. " He speaks again, and I hesitantly get up. He jumps over the side of the Dumpster, and then gestures for me. I swing my legs over the side and he places his hands on my hips and places me on the ground gracefully. Our bodies are just inches apart and I want to lean in and kiss him, and just let him hold me for a while, but there's no time for that. He gives me a pained look, as if he is feeling  what I am thinking. He grabs my hand again and we run. Heading in no particular  direction, just trying to get aey from everything. I don't mind running much anymore. I'm used to it now. It's like second nature  to me. Damien  is screaming  something  out of the window, like an insane person. But we keep our eyes ahead. Running as fast as we can.

******

We reached the edge of a forest a few hours ago and went into. It was our best option. We are jogging now. Right after we entered the woods Ashton notice that I was barefooted, and gave me his shoes. Despite my protest. Though they are considerably  large on my feet, it's better than having sticks and old pieces of glass in my feet.

"Are you sure you don't want your shoes back?" I ask grimacing at the tiny cuts on his feet. But if they hurt, he was good at hiding it.

"I was sure the last four times you asked me, Astrid." He says, looking at me, sounding a little annoyed. He walks a little closer grabing my hand and intertwining our fingers. "I'm sorry, Princess. I'm just.. Stressed."

My heart flutters a little because of the nickname he had just called me. It's been a while. I lean into him and drop my head on his shoulder.

"I know." I say curtly. I understand his frustration. Just after we finally had relaxed a bit, and settled into life in the apartment. And then all of this happens. Lee is gone. My "mother" is gone. And none of it makes sense. Damien killed my father and he had my mother, so why on earth did he need me? But now I know that I have put an even bigger target on our backs by killing her. I didn't intend to, I just couldn't stop. Everything wonderful about our lives before all of this came rushing back to me, but knowing that it was a lie, all of it, just sent me off the edge. I went full throttle, bat shit crazy in that moment. And there's no going back.

I know now that he will never stop trying to kill me. But I'll never stop fighting to get away from him. Not only have I put my life in danger, but I've put Ashton's life at stake as well.

"What are you thinking about?" He asks, looking down at me. I snap out of my zombie-like state and look up at him.

"Nothing, just really tired is all." I lie, and look back down to the leave crackling under our feet.

I know that even though Ashton's life isn't safe when he's with me, he won't leave. I know it. So I know now what I have to do. For his sake. It's going to hurt like hell.

But I have to leave him.

Authors note:

Heyyy guys. ^_^

How are you all? Good? That's great.

Sooo, we are reaching the end of this book. I'm guessing about two, maybe three more chapters...?

But yeah.

Don't forget to vote, and comment. Thank you lovelies. (^_-)

• Terra