Chapter 3 - Everything Went Black
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The door to my bedroom slammed open and in walked a Melanie. Her hair was dishevelled and she had under-eye circles and she looked awfully tired for someone who takes care of themselves a lot.
"Where have you been?" She asked once she saw me her eyes wide open.
"I passed out at the gala and Brandon took me to his house," I replied to her honestly.
When Melanie and I were in primary school we made an oath to always tell one another the truth. I hated hiding anything from her.
"And you did not think to drop a text? I was worried about you." She asked raising her eyebrows which have a piercing on them.
"I was not exactly conscious of my surrounding..." I trailed off.
Melanie looked as though she was pondering my response but a few moments later she nodded her head at me before smiling widely. She had agreed and accepted my reasoning.
"Tell me everything!" She said. That was Melanie for you, she was upset and mad at you for a second and then heavily bursting with excitement.
I spent a few minutes explaining to her what was going on and she was very happy that I was apparently 'moving on' from Darren.
"What is his surname?" Melanie asked finally finishing her chocolate.
"I actually don't know," I replied honestly.
"Oh okay." She said and at that moment my phone beeped indicating that I had just received a message.
Brandon
Hey Ashley, it's Brandon.
Me
Hey!
Brandon
How are You?
Me
Fantastic thanks, and yourself?
Brandon
Amazing. Are you busy next week Saturday?
Me
Yes.
Brandon
Oh, what are you doing?
Me
Getting to know my bed better
I responded and smiled at my message before I realised he had gone offline. The smile turned slowly into a small frown. Get a grip on yourself, Ashley! You just met this man! I said to myself as I looked at my reflection in the mirror. I left my phone on my bedside table and took my shower.
I dressed in some warm, comfortable clothes before reading a book I had been gifted for my birthday. I had read through half of the book before I saw it was lunchtime and I chose to head out to help Melanie in the kitchen.
"Hey, what are we cooking today?" I asked her as I saw her madly flipping through the recipe book.
"How about chicken ala king?" She suggested and I agreed. We set to work I handled all the chopping and dicing while Melanie did the rest.
I don't know if I am the only one but I handed touching chicken bones. I hated them turning up in my food and I hated handling them during cooking. Melanie always did that part. She knew how uncomfortable and queasy I got whenever I saw the bones. I couldn't help but gag at the thought.
We sat down and ate in silence and then decided to watch tv together. We watched The Notebook and Melanie began crying at the sad scenes. That is Melanie for you, she cries about everything sad.
"Why aren't you crying, Ashley?" Melanie asked as she sniffed with a small laugh and wiped away the tears that had begun trailing down her pale face.
"Hmm, I don't know, it's just a movie after all Mel," I said patting her hand before turning the TV off as the ending credits began to roll on. I yawned and decided it was time for me to sleep since I had to work tomorrow.
***
"Good morning Miss Deliah," I greeted the lady who was in charge of making sure the children are kept healthy and safe. She flashed me a smile and I also smiled at her before sitting down behind my desk and began arranging the files and all the adoptions that were going to take place soon.
I loved working here mainly because I was able to relate to all of the kids. I, however, was very lucky that my grandmother decided to take me in. Even though she was my family and we were close nothing could replace the presence of my mother.
I always missed what could have been. I missed her when I went shopping for my first bra, I remember tearing up when I realised she wasn't there. I cried on the night of my prom because all the kids were able to bring their parents and I had no one. That night had been the hardest. I always had known that it was my fault and each and every single day I have regretted my silly decision to not listen when they explicitly told me that it was dangerous.
I spent my day organising the files before a little girl walked up to me.
"Hi, Sarah," I said as I smiled at her.
Sarah was recently brought in. Her parents had been killed in a car accident with a drunk driver.
"Ashie where's mommy?" She asked me, tears filling her beautiful big baby blue eyes.
"She's gone to a very nice place." I croaked out to her as I pulled her in for a tight hug, tears streaming down my face.
"I want my mommy!" She said sobbing.
"One day you will see her again, but for now mommy would want you to smile, play and have lots of fun."
"I miss her." She said as she nuzzled my neck.
"Oh my darling," I said as I let go of her and watched as she clutched the teddy bear she always carried around with her tightly.
"Come, Sarah!" Brielle, a teenage volunteer, called out holding a barbie doll, "Let us play with these together."
Sarah sniffed and unwillingly made her way over to Brielle. Brielle knelt down and hugged her tightly, "It will be okay!" She told her as she handed her a barbie doll and they walked off towards the playroom together.
When I finished my work for the day I went to Sarah's room to check that she was okay before I went home and changed into my restaurant work attire. I headed over to the restaurant, it wasn't too far just a couple of kilometres, I waited for all the tables I had to and finally, a few hours later my shift ended. I was glad David didn't try anything on me today so I went back home and fell asleep as soon as my head was on my very soft pillow.
***
In the past few weeks, Brandon and I had begun to go out a few times. He had taken me to multiple restaurants so that we could taste food from all the different cultures. I had to confess, Lebanese, Mexican and Italian were definitely top tiers for my tastebuds. That is not to say that other cultures don't have amazing food. We had gone for picnics together and gazed at the stars. We had shared together beautiful memories from our pasts and had even played the typical game of twenty questions. We took long night drives and sat together in the car gazing at the beauty of the night lights in the city, creating inside jokes and giggling about the most random of things.
Before I knew it, he and I were pretty good friends. We were basically the best of best friends. I loved spending every spare minute that I had with him. Brandon had this way of making you feel as though you had known him for years, he was like a safe haven someone you just knew that you could trust.
However, all of the time that we had spent together put a slight strain on the relationship that I had with Melanie. We were spending less and less time together as the relationship between Brandon and I progressed and further blossomed. Every night we would stay up until late talking about everything and anything. We had the weirdest conversations anyone could possibly think of but alas I would not have it any other way.
I sighed when I woke up and a weird kind of happiness made me realise that it was Saturday which meant I had no work to do and I could get to know my bed better. I rolled over and continued sleeping when my noisy best friend burst into my room screaming.
"Come on Ashley! Get your lazy butt out of bed!" She yelled bouncing up and down on my poor bed.
"No!" I groaned and turned around covering my face with the pillow.
"It's Saturday so hurry up!" Mel said and I groaned some more.
"Go away!" I said swatting her hand away which was tickling Me, "It's Saturday I want to sleep."
Then poof my blanket was gone and so was my pillow but I just turned around and carried on sleeping.
I screamed when I felt something cold and wet fall down onto my face and hopped out of bed immediately. I rubbed my eyes and glared at Mel when I saw her clutching her stomach while laughing. There were tears streaming down her face.
"You bi-" I began to yell before she cut me off.
"Now, now no need to swear little Ashley!" She said and laughed.
"Melanie get out of my room!" I ordered her and she giggled.
"Ooh so scary!" She mocked.
****
I finally managed to get Melanie out of my room and then took a highly refreshing shower. I scrubbed my hair and body before glancing into the mirror and blow-drying my brown hair.
I stepped out and got dressed into cute deep dark pink shorts and a white tank top with my white takkies. I pulled my hair into a ponytail and released two strands. I added a minimal amount of make-up before stepping out and coming face to face with Melanie.
"Oh good your up and you are dressed let's go! I need to get a cute outfit, I have a date soon and I need your opinion." She says and excitedly grabs my hand and pulls me with her to her car.
I sat in the passenger seat and put on my seat belt. Melanie slid into the driver's side and we began to slowly cruise down the highway in the slow lane. We were listening and jammed to our favourite songs together.
It all happened so suddenly. All I could hear was a loud blare of a horn.
"Melanie watch out!" I called as I saw a large truck swerving onto us.
I started trying to control my erratic breathing before I saw black spots. I felt like I was beginning to lose all my senses.
First flashing black coloured spots clouded my vision and then every single thing went pitch black.
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Hey guys!
The third chapter yay! I hope you enjoyed Ashley and Brandon's story so far. Do let me know what you think!
Make sure you leave a vote and comment!
Xoxo
Perla