The scary past of Ashley.

Alan's P.O.V

The school ended.

Chris and I were on our way to our bike because we decided to go to the arcade to have some fun, and again rose blocked the way. What is her problem, she is so annoying.

"Alan, do you like that bit*h?" she asked with full of arrogance on her face.

Well I know who she was referring to bit*h, still I wanted to hear this with her own mouth.

"Bit*h?" I said.

She rolled her eyes and said-"Ashley",

"I am not obliged to answer you" I said while mocking her down.

"Why? Why do you hate me so much? What is so good about her, that you speak so casually with her and formally with me? WHAT IS THE PROBLEM IN ME? " She yelled with tears in eyes, I was still giving her no expression,

She hugged me and said-"Alan, please don't give me that cold shoulder, please Alan, I really like you", She was crying, and I really don't care,

I pushed her away and said- "You are really annoying", I left her there one more time.

On my way, I saw Chris coming back with drinks. Wait, wasn't he with me?.

"Hey! When did you sneak out?" I asked.

"The moment she came, You were so busy talking to her you did not even realize it," Chris said.

We were just there when we saw Ash near....ASHLEY near Mark's cycle that was parked between Chris bike and Thia's cycle. We stopped walking and were observing what the heck she(Ashley) was doing .

Chris said"Is she removing the chain?"

" Why on earth will she do that? Does she even know him?" I said.

Both of us were really confused. She looked at us, suddenly Thia shouted her name and at the same moment the chain came out. She(Ashley) stood up in a hurry, winked at Chris and gave him a big smile and ran away. We were still confused, But for the first time I saw her smile, and it was quite refreshing and when she winked, my heart skipped a beat.....WAIT! WHAT IS WRONG WITH ME, This!!! I snapped out of the thought.

We started to walk slowly and as she was walking with Thia near Thia's bicycle, Mark came rushing to his bike probably realizing his cycle's chain is loosened, and we heard him shouting-"Jade you are dead" or something like that, We could not hear clearly because we were in a distance from the scene, I noticed Ashley's reaction, Her eyes widened in shock.

Then Thia too realized that her cycle's chain is broken, I was the one who did it for Chris this morning. Maybe she told Ashley about that, and I saw her in a sudden excitement and I exactly know what happened.

I started to laugh softly and Chris asked me-"Dude, are you insane? Why the heck are you laughing"

" Because I realized what was she doing near Mark's bike" I said.

I calmed myself and said-"She wanted to break Thia's cycle chain, but, Because she did not know which one is Thia's cycle, She accidentally broke Mark's chain" I laughed again,

" But why would she do this?" Chris asked, and seriously he was dumb found,

-"Idiot! Because you told her about your Crush on Thia, So she was trying to help," I said this with a slight smile on my face.

" I feel sorry for Mark," Chris said.

We were now near parked cycles and Thia. Chris, as planned offered Thia help, and she happily agreed. They were going to a café. As they were walking towards the bike I stopped.

-"Ashley, What were you doing near Mark's cycle" I asked her, although I already know, I wanted to tease her a bit.

She was about to answer when Thia interrupted and said-"That was not Ashley, It was another girl, Ash saw her, right?"

So this was the excuse she gave to Mark. She agreed, and I chuckled and moved toward my bike after saying-"OH" indicating her -" 'I know it was you' I sat on my bike,

"Ash you can sit on Alan's bike" Thia said.

We both denied.

" I don't want a trash to sit on my precious bike," I said while mocking her.

I thought she would show tantrums or maybe stay quite or at-least something a normal girl would do in our class, but she is full of surprises.

" And I don't want to sit on a trash's bike," she said.

WHAT? Did she just call me a trash?

"Guys come'on be a little cooperative" said Chris and for 'his' sake I said yes and coincidentally Ashley and I agreed at the same time.

She sat on my bike, and we left for the café. Her hands were on my shoulder, and it was giving me a really weird vibe. Maybe because she was the only person instead of Chris that sat on my bike with me. Whatever it was, It was quite refreshing for me, Suddenly she tapped in my shoulder rapidly indicating me to stop the bike, I immediately pull the break and was about to ask her Why the heck she made me stop the bike?, but she was so panicked at the moment that she did not even wait for a second and ran towards someone.

Chris stopped the bike and came to me.

"What happened?" he asked. Thia was worried too.

"I don't know." I simply replied.

We all were very curious. Then she with a face with full of disappointment, came towards us. As soon as she came Thia asked her, and she took a small pause before answering and said-"I thought it was my mother" she replied,

"Your mother?" Thia asked with narrowed eyes,

Ashley indicated her something that made Thia say"Oh" and then Ashley said Her aunt must be waiting, and we should go.

I did not want to stretch it, so without further wait I started the bike, and we continued. On the way, I was thinking 2 Things. 1- Why was she panicked to see her mother? It's not like that she don't see her every day. 2- She said aunt must be waiting, does that mean that her aunt owns the café we are going to?or her aunt is going to be there too?.

We arrived and Chris was ahead of us, so he parked first and as soon as Thia gets down, A woman started to talk to her and hug her, saying something like' your skin is so soft' and all. Then Ashley get down removed her helmet and said-"She feels like a girl because she is not me" and I already know what happened, That woman in café's uniform was actually Ashley's aunt who mistook Thia as Ashley.

Then Ashley was introducing all of us. She introduces Thia as her friend, and then she moved in to me, She looked at me and was probably confused of what we are and that was the same thing I was thinking, we are not friends nor are we enemy. I was trying to clear the clouds of doubt in my mind when her aunt completed it with saying"Boyfriend?" I choked, and I could feel myself turning a bit red and Ashley's ear were red too, as red as a tomato.

She quickly said No and continued saying of us as classmates and that I just gave her a ride here, because Thia's cycle chain broke. Then she introduced Chris as my friend, and we entered the café.

The café was not that big for me, because I am only used to go to the Barista and more expensive places, still it was really nice, A really comfortable vibe and slow orchestra playing that made it even better. Then her aunt showed us our seats. It was a sofa and as we sat on it was really soft and amazing.

One of us said-"This place is amazing" something like this, It was so comfortable that I was lost in it and did not realize who said it and what. Then Ashley's aunt came and asked to place orders. Chris and I ordered cappuccino and both the girls ordered Frappuccino.

Ashley left for washroom and Chris said-"I wonder why did she(Ashley) got so panicked to see her mom in the streets"

Thia was giving a serious face and said-"It's easy for you to say that, jerk"

"Come'on she can meet her mom whenever she wants to, at home" Chris said, not in a funny but a serious tone,

"What if she can't?" Thia said as soon as Chris finished, our eyes got wider

"What do you mean by that?" I asked full of curiosity,

"Here are your drinks kid's" suddenly Ashley's aunt said with drinks in her hand, She kept it on the table and said-"Why so serious?" We all snapped out of it.

" Nothing, just talking bout a matter happened in school today," Thia made an excuse quickly. Aunt left and we continued.

"What do you mean by saying'if she can't ? " I asked again with the same curiosity.

"Her mother died when she was only 12, She had a special attachment with her mom and after 1 year of her mother death, Her father married another woman, Who is currently Lisa's biological and her(Ashley) Stepmother. Like in movies, Ashley never wanted anyone to replace her mother but for the sake of her father, She tried to adjust in, but Lisa's mom will never treat Ashley like a daughter or even like a human. Ashley told me, That her step-mom usually punished her when she did something wrong like- forgetting to wash dishes etc. She has been through all this since she was only 13, and if she ever complained to her dad about it, her dad would scream at Ashley instead, saying that She is responsible for this and that it's the job of a parent to teach when their kids are wrong and if she talks back then her father would punish her, So she stopped complaining, can you believe that they did not even let her celebrate her own birthday, but Lisa would always get expensive gifts and she(Ashley) still never complained. Her life is really hard and that's why she really misses her mother and got panicked when she realized it's her on the street. There is one more thing, that she has a trauma to bus and darkness. Bus is because of her mother and the darkness is because of an incident that happened in her childhood few days before her mothers' death. She was coming home from school and a van pulled out and kidnapped her, They took her to a place, She did not know where because they put a cloth on her face, When they took it out, It was all dark, and she did not know what to do, Then suddenly someone slapped her, She could not see anything, Then someone pulled her hair and then gave her another slap, They even used a whip, and she said that it was terrifying and dreadful, and she was shaking out of pain and crying, someone tied her to a pole, and she heard the door close, she screamed, but no one came, This continued for 2 days, they did not even feed her anything, after 2 days her mother came with police officers and untied her, She was covered with blood and a lot of injuries, she was too weak to even talk and fainted and woke up at hospital, her mother told her that she was sleeping for 3 days, She stayed at the hospital for few weeks, than she was discharged. And something that was harder for her was that her father did not even come to see her condition, only her mother was there for her," Thia finally completed.

Chris and I were full of curiosity and wonder all that time. She has been through so much, since she was only 13 and still she looks so strong from outside.

" I am really sorry for that? But how did you know this much, it's been only 1 day, when you meet." Chris said,

"Actually it was not our first time, We were friends when her mother was alive, and we used to have fun, Then I shifted to this place, and it's been at least 6 years, Of course she doesn't know It's me, but hearing her story reminded me, She told me only about Lisa and her mother not treating her well and how her mother died, and I already remembered who she was because one of our classmates used to inform me all this, my classmate and Ashley's neighbor" Lisa explained.

"How is she traumatized to bus because of her mother and how did her mother died?" I asked.

Lisa opened her mouth and Ashley came. A sudden silence filled the room.

" Hey guys...is...everything okay?" she asked,

realizing that we all stared at her with sympathy. We all snapped out of it and started to drink our cappuccino trying to hide our expression, after Thia threw an excuse.

We chatted and were there for 3 hours, We left, and I drove Ashley home and all the time was feeling sad for her. After dropping her, I went to my home.

As I entered my parents asked about my day and all the stuff, I told them everything and I don't know why but, I felt like, I can understand her, A feeling that tells you no one is here for you. I would usually eat alone, But today my parents forced me to eat with them, and all the time I was thinking, how hard must it be for a 13 years girl to face this? How difficult would it have been? Feels like her mother is like my grandma in my story. She loved me a lot but few years back she had cancer and died. Only she would treat me with love and others used to mock me down, I felt like I was nothing and I don't matter, I was weak and no one ever consulted me, Even my own parents didn't and the word I used to hear the most was ' A rich person or you are royal so you can't do this or that' and one more thing in common is trauma. I also have trauma for lightning or thunderstorm. Why? Its not the right time yet.

After dinner, I went to bed and was trying to sleep but could not sleep, Ashley's story was still in my mind. I glanced at the time, and it was 12 already. I suddenly felt hungry, I did not eat properly because it was awkward for me to eat with mom dad in dinner for the first time. Likewise, I got out of my bed, wore my black jacket and took my keys for the bike and decided to go eat in the restaurant Chris once told me about, that is 24 hours open. Furthermore, I started to drove, and a bus pulled out, I stopped the bike and as the bus left, you cannot imagine what I saw, Totally unexpected, Ashley was standing there taking heavy breath like she was running or something. I smiled in my mind and drove right to her.

END OF P.O.V