Nicotine | Ashton Irwin ✔

0.8

Ara locked herself away in her room that night after dinner. Aaron and Cat ordered pizza because Liam was working late. Ara lied on her bed, staring up at the blank, white ceiling, one hand covering her face. She was tired. She was angry. She hadn't been there a full week, and already they'd gotten into two fights. And Ashton was only making it worse in Ara's opinion. He was rude, and nasty, and snobbish. Ara decided that she hated him, and that she would ignore him. She was usually good at that. She could block out things, control her emotion. It was a trick she learned to avoid the wrath of Craig.

It was 12:49 when Ara decided to sneak out of the house. She needed some air, and she knew just the place to go. Grabbing a sweater, and slipping on her shoes, Ara slid her window open, and jumped onto the room. She tip toed along the shingles, doing her best to not make any noise. She didn't need Teddy waking up and finding her. She climbed down a tree on the side of the house and then was running.

When their mother died, Ara requested she be buried in the same cemetery where their grandmother was buried, so that they could be together. That cemetery wasn't far from the house. That's where Ara headed. She wanted to visit her mother. She walked along the streets silently, not bringing any attention to herself. She turned down a corner, and in the distance, she saw her destination.

Ara never liked cemeteries. Not because she found them disturbing or anything. But because she found it sad. So many people who died, some not getting to live their lives at all. Ara truly believed that when she was younger, she would end up in one of this places because of Craig. She feared that Teddy may end up there too. And now that's where her mother resided.

Ara walked through the front gates of the cemetery and wqlked along the rose, staring at the many graves that she passed. Ara hated the graves with children buried in them. Children shouldn't deserve to die. The deserve to live out their lives and be happy.

She finally stopped at her mother's grave, sitting crossed legged on the ground. "Hey mom." She whispered silently. "How are you? Teddy and I are okay. But Liam is a but. I hate him. It's worse because he's a cop. He's always yelling. I hate it. School sucks too. Teddy and I can't seem to play nice with others. I mean, we have one friend. Sam. She's weird, but cool too. There's this guys too. He's so annoying. He's rude, stuck up, arrogant. In a way I guess he reminds me of myself. But he didn't have to go through what I went through. I wish you were here. Everything would be so much simpler." Ara let a few tears fall as she placed her hand on her mother's grave. "I love you mom." She whispered. "I'll come visit you soon." Ara stood to her feet and began walking back.

Liam rubbed his face as he pulled into the driveway. He'd had a rough night, and he wanted to do was sleep. He opened his door and got of the car. He turned to go inside, but he saw something out of the corner of his eye. He saw someone walk around the back side of the house. Clutching his gun, Liam followed. He snuck around the back just as someone crawled into Ara's bedroom window. Liam scowled, and turned around, wondering what her excuse would be in the morning.

Ara was awoken by someone roughly shaking her. She opened her eyes. Teddy was shaking her. "What?" She grumbled, completely annoyed.

"I don't know what you did, but Liam is pissed off Ara." Teddy said, sternly. Ara lifted her head.

"Joy." Ara ushered Teddy out of the room before changing. She slipped on a white tank top with some writing on it, her black sweater that said Parent Advisory Explicit Content. A pair of black shorts, and her converse. She quickly did her eye makeup, put her hair up in a pony tail, and grabbed her smokes and a bottle of vodka shoving them in her bag. Ara left the safety of her room, and headed downstairs.

Teddy sat on the couch in the living room, next to Cat and Aaron. Liam was standing, arms crossed over his chest. Ara hadn't even taken one step before he started yelling. "What the hell were you doing last night?" He snapped. "Sneaking out in the middle of the god damn night? What do you think your mother would say about that." Teddy's face paled as Ara stood there. Teddy was afraid that his siter would snap, but instead she spoke quietly.

"I didn't realize that it was a crime to visit my mother." Liam opened his mouth but shut it quickly.

"You went without me?!" Teddy whined.

"Sorry kiddo. We can go after school though."

"Promise?"

"Yeah. Come on. We're going to be late." Ara said. Teddy got off the couch, and followed Ara to the door. The two left silently. Liam looked to his friends, but they had no words. They just sat silently.

Ashton walked into English and scowled to himself. Once more Ara was in his seat, and Ashton was beginning to get frustrated. Ara looked out the window, unaware of Ashton sitting there. He took the seat next to her. "You would think that by now you'd take a hint and-" Ara turned to him, cutting him off.

"Look Ashton, I'm not in the fucking mood, could you lecture me tomorrow?" She sighed. "I don't need your bullshit." Ashton opened his mouth, but the teacher walked in starting her lesson. Ara turned her head to look out the window.

When class ended, Ara quickly rushed out of the class, leaving Ashton confused as hell. He walked out of class behind her. "She's so fucking strange."