I Promise (A Michael Clifford Fanfic)

Chapter 24

Our reunion was over much to quickly, as a lady wearing pantsuit with her blonde hair tied up in a tight ponytail walked in, glaring at the pair of us.

 “I’m afraid you are not allowed in here miss, so if you don’t mind, I’ll be escorting you out.”

 Normally, being the shy pushover that I am, I would have obliged and left with the unknown lady, but for some reason, I stood my ground and didn’t budge.

 “Come here miss, it’s time for you to leave.” She said, a little more sternly this time.

 I once again shook my head, my feet planted firmly on the ground. “I’m not leaving until Michael does.”

 “Well, honey,” she said, a fake smile evident on her face. “Michael was supposed to be returned to his own room today, but if you don’t leave soon I’ll make sure that he is kept in this wing a bit longer.” 

 I gasped at her remark, before turning to face Michael. Pain was evident in his eyes, I could tell he was conflicted.

 “Go, Rebecca. You’ll see me again sooner if you just leave…” His voice trailed off, as I slowly nodded my head before following the lady out of Michael’s entirely white room.

 “Good girl, I knew you could do it.” She said with an evil smirk. “He wouldn’t shut up about you the whole time he was in here, although I was expecting some gorgeous blonde haired Barbie to be the girl occupying his mind, not… Well, not you.” 

 Her words hurt. But I knew it was true. I wasn’t good enough for Michael, I wasn’t good enough for anyone. I quickly turned around before she could see my tears and ran to my own bedroom.

I jumped in bed and began sobbing. The pain was back, the memories were back. The voices in my head were back. I knew I wasn’t good enough, I knew I wasn’t pretty enough or skinny enough, but the reminder of this hurt. It hurt bad. But then again, I deserved pain. In fact, I craved it. Only when I was experiencing the cold metal slicing my skin could I truly forget about everything else. Without a second thought I got out of bed and quickly moved to the bathroom, gaining the sensation I had been longing for since the words escaped that woman’s mouth.

 I was finally numb. Nothing could bother me, not even the thoughts in my head could get their way when I was like this.

 I closed my eyes and felt myself drift into a heavy sleep, even though it was only the afternoon.

 My eyes fluttered open as I heard a gasp escape from the mouth of the body that was holding me.

I assumed it was Michael, that he had slept over in my room again and we were waking up for school. However, as I came to I realized that I was not in my room, I was in my bathroom, that the boy holding me was not Michael, but was in fact Ashton, that my arm possessed multiple new cuts, and was stinging at the contact of the wet towel being held on firmly by Ashton.

“Oh thank god, I thought… I thought I’d lost…” Never mind, just please tell me that you’re okay?” A worried looking Ashton spoke though the multiple tears slipping out of his eyes.

“Ashton, I’m fine. I can handle this myself, you can leave.” I said, not ready to deal with anyone at the point.

“I’m not going anywhere princess,” He said, calling me by the same pet name that Michael often used.

I shifted uncomfortably in this arms before standing up, letting the awkwardness of the situation take over.

Here I was in my bathroom, in perhaps my worst state, with the boy that had practically caused Michael and I’s fight, who was skipping class to make sure I was okay.

Why did he care? I was just another messed up kid in this place that seemed to house a multitude of troubled teens.

My thoughts were interrupted as I noticed I was now in bed, with Ashton sitting next to me.

“You uhhh… You zoned out just then and wouldn’t respond so I carried you to your bed…” Ashton said, nervously.

“Ashton you didn’t have to do that. I’m much too heavy, you probably hurt yourself trying to lift me.” The words that I knew were true escaped my mouth. Ashton obviously wasn’t the strongest guy here, so I knew he must have struggled.

“Are you crazy Rebecca? You weigh nothing, I don’t see why you think that about yourself.” I shrugged off his words, and I was about to respond back when his bracelets caught my eye, and I remembered. He was just like me.

“Thank you Ashton,” I managed to say, after a long silence. “You’re a great friend, thank you for helping me.” 

The look on his face confused me, he looked almost hurt, like the mention of the word ‘friend’ had caused him pain.

“Anything for you,” he whispered, stroking my hair as I fell asleep once again.

This was all so wrong. I couldn't let Ashton carry on like this, it was like he thoguht we had something. I thought he was an amazing guy, but I had no feelings for him in that way. 

All I could think of was Michael as I drifted in and out of sleep, thinking about seeing him once again, thinking about how he loved me. How I loved him. How we loved each other. 

A/N sorry that this chapter was a bit sad... It will pick up again soon! I hope everyone had a great Christmas! I got a MacBook so I can finally stop writing on my phone, which I've been having to do for a few months since my other laptop broke! This story is now at 9.9K reads! so close to 10K! I seriously can't thank y'all enough for reading, every single vote, comment, and message warms my heart! 

Please don't ever hesitate to message me if you ever need to talk. I've said it before, and I'll say it again, I'm always here for all of you :)) - Rebecca