Take Me Beyond Your Heart (sequel) boyxboy

*12*

I found myself staring at the wall of pictures, and there seemed to be a thousand there, all neatly arranged by Mom. My eyes scanned the ones near the bottom - the ones of me, and how it went from my newborn portrait, to one year old, to two, three, and then five.

Desperately, I tried to remember the night of my abduction. It was hard to believe that a person could get into my room and basically steal me without Justin's knowledge. He
had always been a light sleeper... or maybe, he forced himself to become a lighter sleeper due to my disappearance. After he told me the story, I understood why he was so protective of me, and why he never wanted me to be alone. It wasn't just because of my panic attacks.

"I know I don't know you, but I don't think you've ever looked at your own pictures for that long," a voice rang out behind me. I recognized its smooth deepness, and turned
around with a small smirk on my face.

"Decided to show up, huh?"

Asher raised his eyebrows. "Yeah, I'm accompanying Justin and Kalani somewhere. So, uh, what's wrong? Something bother ya?"

"Oh, um, no. I just... found out why I was never a four-year-old." I managed to chuckle a little, but it faded rather quickly.

He gave me a sympathetic look and I frowned.

"Please don't... don't make that face." I began to walk away but he shot, "Why not?"

I faced him again and shrugged. "I don't wanna be pitied."

"In other words, you don't want me to be human and actually feel sorry? There's no shame in getting sympathy. It's an emotion just as strong as happiness or... love."

"I know. But the more people feel sorry for me, the more of a burden I become to them.

If I told you I suffer from panic attacks, you'll pity me and feel obligated to be there for me. Which I do appreciate, but I don't like feeling as if I'm a bother." With that, I turned and ran up the stairs, into my room.

I buried my face in my pillow and let out a long sigh. I didn't expect anyone, but someone knocked on my door.

"Permission to come in?"

"Asher, please..."

"No, I get it. I'm not... gonna pity you. If all you want is someone to vent to, I'll offer my ears."

I contemplated it and slowly sat up, looking towards my wide open door. "Promise?"

He smiled and nodded. "I promise."

"Come in then."

He walked into my room and shamelessly inhaled the air. "My, it smells heavenly in here."

I couldn't help but smile. "What can I say? I'm an angel."

He sat down on my bed, keeping a reasonable distance from me. "So, how come you
never turned four?" His finger traced the pattern on my bed sheet as his steel blue eyes gazed at me.

"Justin told me I was kidnapped. Gone for almost a year."

Asher slowly nodded. "I was... not expecting that."

"Yeah, me neither. My kidnapper crashed the car because he was drunk, and I was in it. That led to how I was found." I shrugged. "That's the simple way to put it. It kind of makes me feel weird. It should, actually. To think I was taken like that, and only god knows what happened to me."

"You can't remember anything?"

I shook my head. "No, the kind of amnesia I suffered made me forget everything that happened before the crash. I wish I could tell Justin how I was taken. Justin needs a peace of mind because we shared the same room that time and he
never woke up to catch the man in time. He kinda beats himself up about it, so yeah."