Ashley's Asylum (3)

29 | Ashleys Asylum

The front door swung open for a blurry eyed Kate, home after a long night of overtime. She had taken a great deal of time off in order to care for Ashley and, though she didn't regret a minute of it, the workload that greeted her back at the office was hefty.

She freed her aching feet from her shoes before shuffling into the kitchen. With a stifled yawn, Kate moved quietly not wanting to wake her restless daughter who still flinched at the slightest of sounds.

Kate already had a cup of tea in her hand when she noticed the slip of paper left on the counter, from afar the note reminded her of old days when their family used to leave one another sneaky messages. Once, Ben had placed a message inside the sandwiches she had packed for work which she discovered after biting into half of it.

Kate scooped the paper up fondly, a small smile pulling at the corner of her lips, as she recognised Ashley's scrawled handwriting.

Kate read the note. She read it again. With trembling hands, she read it over and over until the words finally sunk in and even then she read the note once more. The words didn't change.

Kate didn't dare to breathe as her eyes rose from the note to her kitchen, her home which all of a sudden frightened her with its silence.

Kate stood outside Ashley's bedroom door without any memory of how she got there.

Her soft, ageing hand hesitated on the door handle. Until she opened the door and looked inside it wasn't true.

Her body seized up as if it were incapable of turning the handle. Her chest felt tight and her throat strangled. The fear was suffocating her.

Who knew how much time passed before she managed to open the door. What awaited within the bedroom tore her heart apart.

Kate pressed her hands to her mouth to stifle her cries. Swamped with tears, her eyes searched the room as she shuffled inside.

It was just as it had always been except one vital thing was missing.

Kate collapsed to her knees at the bedside and shakily clawed the bed quilts towards her. She held them close to her face and inhaled the scent before she buried her head and screamed.

Her baby girl was gone and this time she was gone for good.

***

Ashley sunk down onto a small double bed. Within her short lifespan she had done a number of questionable things but now, as she felt this stiff mattress beneath her weight, she sincerely doubted the mentality behind her latest endeavour.

It wasn't unlike her to act passionately and tracking down her crazed half-brother in order to dispatch of him had seemed a formidable yet possible idea when she was sat safely on her roof many, many miles away from him.

At the time Ashley's emotions were high (when hadn't they been since this all started). Her heart had been choking on the latest death Michael had dumped on her conscience and that, paired with her weirdly inflated ego due to figuring out his location, formed a bizarre concoction of courage and optimism. Back on her rooftop, Ashley felt like anything was possible if she persevered and justice had been her deepest wish.

The last couple of hours remarkably drained the surge of confidence she had experienced.

Sitting there, in that very moment, Ashley's feelings swung like a pendulum between optimism and pessimism.

Ashley desperately wanted to believe in herself, that she was capable of defeating Michael if she really tried. Someone should be able to achieve something if they really wanted it and Ashley wanted nothing more fiercely then to end Michael and the terror he instilled in her. Yet with all that in mind, reality came crashing when she was stood eye to eye with him again.