Secrets in her pocket

Part 22 : Happy

Lucas's POV

"When I was young, I had the perfect little family. But that changed after an incident. We used to live in Texas and when I was 14 years old, we went to Florida because my father had some unfinished business there, so we decided to make it a vacation. I was kidnapped there by Zachary, who was the leader of the Red snakes gang at that time. I was held captive for 2 months until I escaped. On the day of my escape, Alexander was in the room where they kept me and it was the first time I was untied. Just as he got a little distracted, I took that opportunity and stabbed him with his own knife. I then went out and sneakily planted a bomb in that warehouse and without getting noticed, slipped out of the building just in time and the building was on fire. Most of the gang members and Alexander died in that fire and we all thought that Zachary also died in there because all the dead bodies were unrecognizable. I was in the hospital for two months after that because of some injuries and had a therapist for the rest of the year. But to make sure that the remaining gang doesn't come after me, I changed to a lowkey life and tried my best to stay unnoticed but still, Nathaniel found me and ruined my act, putting all my efforts of years in vain."Ashley shrugged like it was nothing.

The other people in the hospital room were all trying to process she just said.

After police went out of the campus, we all were sent to the hospital. Carter had a fractured leg with a lot of bruises while Xavier had a fractured arm and also a lot of bruises. They both are laying on the bed while me and Vanessa on the couch facing Ashley and her supposedly elder brother Aaron on a different couch. Her other brother Alan went out somewhere.

Ryder wasn't leaving my side and it took a lot of convincing from Ashley to send him back to his hospital because a thorough check up was still neeeded. Paige and other students weren't injured and they all went back.

A silence fell upon us as nobody knew what to say. I know Ashley is keeping the details out and not telling us some things but I am not going to ask. Everybody was thinking seriously.

Ashley's face was blank and she was just staring at the table, probably lost in memory while Aaron was on his phone, texting someone.

I knew everybody had a lot of questions but were afraid to ask. So, I picked up the courage and asked quietly.

"Why were you kidnapped? Why did nobody came for your rescue?"

Ashley slowly blinked like she just got back from her Dreamland and looked up at me. Realizing that she didn't hear me, I repeated my questions and she sighed.

Then, she said calmly "I was kidnapped because my parents are rich and Zachary had an old grudge with my father and wanted revenge. The warehouse where they kept me was really far away and in an isolated place. They never even called my family for ransom, afraid of being tracked. But actually on the day of my escape, my family was coming to rescue me with the police and found me unconscious outside the burnt building." She explained.

I was so shocked after all of her explanations but still kept my face expressionless.

I still had a lot of questions that i wanted to ask but decided against it. Like, where are her parents now? They could already be dead. And lot more.

I could see Aaron's clenched jaw as he put his arm around Ashley's shoulder protectively which made me clench my fist and i had to remind myself that he is her brother.

Suddenly, the hospital room burst open and Alan walked in and sat next to Ashley.

He said "I can't see how you can drink this stuff, princess. I mean normal coffee is fine but black coffee! Seriously!"

She just shrugged and said "Well, I like it." She then took a sip from her cup and smiled at him.

I can tell that she is really happy after seeing her brothers.

But who is she actually ?