Ashley's Asylum (3)

07| Ashley's Asylum

When Ashley woke the next day, she was the only one on the bed. She wondered if she had dreamed up Sam coming in the night before. On giving the sheets near her face a sniff she decided it had to of been real as his strange scent vaguely clung to them.

Along with thoughts of Sam, last night brought restless dreams of someone she was in no rush to see. It was a figment of her imagination but it was based on what her heart seemed to know was true and real. Michael wanted her despite how strange and uncharacteristic it seemed. Whether the reason was a territorial thing or something far darker it seemed to be true.

Sighing away the bad dreams she'd encountered and the uncomfortable feelings they created, Ashley turned around to face the other way on the bed and froze.

Michael lay inches away, facing her with his head propped up by an elbow. A cold terror rippled through her body.

He gave her a wicked smile. "Morning."

Ashley toppled off the bed in her haste to twist away from him. The blankets coiled and restrained her unhelpfully as she tried to wiggle free from them. Michael followed her easily his grey eyes alight with amusement, something she'd never seen before and found mortifying.

In the choppy, morning light that managed to seep through the broken blinds, Ashley saw that Michael almost looked human. His pale skin and the grey shadows ringing his eyes made him look almost ill but his good-looks compensated for his complexion. His teeth were perfect, his hair dark and untamed. He lounged on her side of the mattress watching her struggle to her feet.

"Did I startle you?" He asked naively.

Ashley sent him an unwholesome glare, and he quickly fixed her with a glare of his own. It was a feisty look that grated on her nerves. He was up to something. Always up to something.

His glare quickly vanished though in exchange for an inquiring look. She followed his gaze down to his finger drawing circles on the mattress, a gesture of innocence she didn't quite believe.

"Why is it that, I could work out the exact distance of a star from earth at the age of 5 and understand quantum physics at the age of 7 but not understand right now, how you could possibly want to spend more time with Sam than with me."

Ashley stared at him, her tongue glued to the roof of her mouth. It was a question she couldn't answer. A question she couldn't believe he was asking. She was trying to wrap her head around the larger fact that he was that mind-blowing intelligent at such a young age! Her mind whizzed maniacally in an attempt to guess his IQ, 140 at the very least.

His intensifying gaze broke her away from those attempts. She chose the only answer she could muster up in her sleepy, dazed condition. "I don't want to spend more time with either of you."

Michael's gaze lightened until he gave her a crooked smile. "I saved you from death. I protected you and provided clothing for you. Shouldn't you owe me something?"

It didn't go unnoticed by Ashley that his expression was teasing, but there was an undertone of seriousness in his question. She had a million responses flash through her mind. Angry, blunt retorts that she hoped would cut him to shreds. Instead, she gritted out something surprisingly restrained.

" I don't owe you anything. I wouldn't be here if it weren't for you" Her tone came out harsher than she expected.

Michael stared at her until it bordered uncomfortable. "Fine. If that's how you're going to be about it..."

Ashley tried her best to hold his gaze but it was knife sharp. He was still angry that much she was certain of, he didn't need to resent her being more at ease around Sam because it wasn't by choice. She wasn't sure what he couldn't understand about the situation. She was a captive! They were murderers! She didn't want to be around either of them, she wanted to go home.