Reversed (NEW CHAPTER!)

Chapter 11: Ashton

"I swear, I didn't talk to him! He's Ashton's friend, not mine! I don't have any friends, I promise! Just like you told me. Please, mom, please just let me go!" I cried.

    Striking me across the face she yelled, "Never call me that! You are not my daughter! I didn't raise you to be a whore! Marie is my only child!"

    I didn't understand. Was she disowning me as her daughter? Even though I upset her, she was still my mom, right? She would still love me... Right? That's her job. She can't just... Un-be my mother.

    "I promise I'll- I'll do better," I sobbed, "I won't talk to anyone but Ashton and Marie. I won't even look at them! If someone tries to ask me about Ashton again, I'll walk away! I swear! Please, mom! Don't do this!" I begged, getting dragged by my arm into the upstairs bathroom.

    "Shut your whore mouth up, you little slut! I will not have some damn tramp living under my roof. If you want to act like your mother, you'll be treated how she should have been for her sins. Maybe that will teach you to behave!" she snapped, tying me to the faucet of the bathtub. "Now let's try to wash away your misdeeds, shall we?" she questioned rhetorically, leaving me tied  under the the shower head and turning the water up until it was scalding hot.

    I screamed in agony.

    "That's right. Scream! Scream just like you did for that man as he fucked you!" She mocked.

    What was she talking about? What man? Ashton's friend? I'd only told him what classroom Ashton was in at the time. Surely I didn't deserve this! Although she was my mother... Maybe she was right. I did break the rules. I did talk to a man. But I didn't do those awful things she was saying. If this was just a misunderstanding about my actions, then I shouldn't be given the punishment I would have gotten for committing a very separate, very different crime!

    I screamed and screamed, bargaining with anything I could think of for my freedom. The water felt like it was burning me alive and it wasn't long before I couldn't distinguish the tears rapidly leaking out of my eyes from the boiling water streaming down my face.

    I heard heavy feet running up the stairs and I knew Ashton was finally home.

    "Ashton! Ashton!" I cried, still in agony but partially from the relief that my twin had surely heard my call.

    He would save me... He always did.

    "Ashton!" I sobbed, his name like a prayer on my lips.

    As he came into view, I understood I was safe, but some deeper part of me knew he wouldn't be as our mother turned on him, eyes reflecting a murderous rage that mirrored the very expression my brother was wearing when he saw the painful position she had put me in.

    And that's when it happened.

    Ashton pushed her aside, running to me, turning off the water and loosening my bonds.

    "Sang-Sweetie, are you okay? How could she do this to you?" he let a few tears of his own slip. "We're leaving, okay? She won't be able to hurt you any longer. Dr. Roberts will make sure of it. I'll make sure of it," he promised. "We're going to go live the life you deserve. The life that you read about in all those books of yours."

    He hugged me tight, lifting me out of the tub and setting me on the floor.

    "I'm going to get you a towel, we're going to get your things, and then we're leaving," he smiled sadly.