Remember Me

Chapter Four

Ashton's POV

My alarm went off at seven AM. I'm not really sure why I set it so early seeing that I didn't have any plans, other than to unpack more useless shit into my even shittier one bedroom apartment.

Moving back to the East coast wasn't really what I had in mind after my grandma died, but my pops decided it would be best for me, so here I am. He told me he'd be fine without me around the house and that the maid could help him if he needed anything. I swear that guy will stop at nothing to make sure that the people around him are better off than him. He's quite the stubborn one if you ask me.

Nonetheless, he forced me to move to New York City and start my life over, completely. He gave me a shitload of money and even a car. How he got the money I'm not positive, but I don't think I want to know. The fact that he cares about me even though I'm not technically his grandson makes me feel a hell of a lot better about, well everything.

When I was in eighth grade both of my parents died. Though not at the same time, it was extremely hard, as you can probably imagine.

My dad had always been a mean guy, but I never thought he'd be able to do what he did. I knew of course that he beat my mother because I saw the bruises and the blood on the floor from time to time. Not only that, but when I was really little and when he'd come home after drinking all night she'd always tell me to run upstairs and hide. I heard everything. the shouting, the breaking of glass, the doors slamming, I heard it all. All the time.

I could never actually do anything though because when I eventually got bigger he did it to me too. I should have done something, but I didn't. I was too scared of the monster.

One night he came stumbling through our front door as usual, and just flipped out on my mom. I tried to stand up to him, but he pushed me so hard that I hit the back of my head on the wall and got knocked out cold. When I eventually woke up, my mom was sprawled out on the floor covered in blood, gasping for air. I saw the light that had once shown so brightly, flicker and then go out. I watched the life flood from her broken body and I just laid there right next to her.

People didn't see my dad for months until he showed up dead in an alley somewhere in queens. I would like to say I didn't care, but I did. Yes the man was a monster, yes he had every right to die, and yes he was the source of my nightmares, but even though he was a hopeless drunk, he was my father. My only father. I'm not saying I'd ever forgive him, but I didn't exactly want him to die. Dying meant he'd never be able to sober up and become an actual father, to become an actual humane person. If he hadn't died, he could have rebuilt himself after jail and eventually die as a human, not a monster.

But I guess whatever happened happened for a reason because once I got settled into my foster home in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey, and started going to high school, I met her.

At first Ellie never really talked to me except for hellos and goodbyes and excuse me's. She was in almost all of my classes and sat in the back for each one, which was odd to me because she was one of the most popular girls in school.

Of course before I got to know her I thought she was a complete snob like all of her friends, but after a while I noticed she never went to the parties and never really talked with the people she was supposedly "friends" with. Every guy fawned all over the girls around her, but they didn't do so much as look at her.

After a while of me completely and utterly following her every move, I decided to ask her to walk home with me from school.

The walk was filled with awkward glances, then finally when we got back to her house she asked me, "why?"

I asked, "why what?"

She responded with, "why did you ask me to walk home with you?"

I told her that I found her to be extremely pretty and interesting, and that I wanted to know more about her. She then laughed and looked at me as if I were crazy and said exactly, "I'm just the cover of a book not the whole story. You get what you see nothing more, nothing less. Ashton, I'm not interesting nor am I pretty, I'm just a girl full of nothingness."