Sleeping on Sidewalks // Ashton Irwin

week 5 // Monday

On Monday The Boy was on the news.

"A Sydney-wide appeal has been launched in the search for 16 year old Ashton Irwin of Bankstown, Sydney." My father was making me watch a movie with him, nd the news was on as we sat on the sofa waiting for it to begin. I wasn't watching really, I was just sat there thinking about the boy. But I looked up when I heard him gasp, and I saw why. There he was, The Boy, on screen. "Irwin went missing over a month ago. He was due to be staying with a friend  few towns away from his home, but he never reached his destination.

His mother, Anne Marie Irwin, has made a statement begging for his safe return."

My dad and I looked at each other for a moment, confused. Then, a crying woman came on screen.

"If anybody out there know where Ashton is, please come forward. These have been the hardest few weeks of my family's lives, and it is so painful not being able to see my little boy.

We never thought that this wouod happen to us, but now it has, all we can do is beg. Please pass on any information you have to the police to help me get my son back.

And Ashton, if you're watching this, please come home. I don't know what we did wrong, but I promise we can fix it. Please baby, I miss you so much, and so do your brother and sister. They haven't stopped crying since you left. Please, just come home."

My dad gave me a look, one that said 'we have to call the police', In the background, a slideshow of pictures of him were running.

Knowing his name still felt wrong. In my mind, he was still The Boy. But the name Ashton just seemed to click, fir some reason. It was the perfect name for him.

Then, a video clip came up. It was him and his brother and sister playing with some toys. The little girl asked him to play something. Then the camera panned, following him to a cajon, which he sat on top of. He started tapping out a beat. He began to sing, and his voice was beautiful.

My ship went down, in a sea of sound. When I woke up alone I had everything...

The clip ended there, and I was still shocked at what an amazing singing voice he had.

My dad handed me the phone and I dialled 000. I got through to the police and told them everything I knew about the boy. The story of how he ended up here, and how he went missing almost two weeks ago.

I didn't feel like watching a film after that, so I just went to my room and flipped through his scrapbook again, smiling at the pictures of him with his brother an sister.

He was so happy in all the photos and videos, and I was still so confused. Especially when I got to the last two pages again. The words were so angry, upset and hate filled.

How could a person seem so happy but be so broken on the inside? How could they laugh and joke and smile one minute and hurt themselves the next? How could a person who so obviously wants to die appear to love life so much?

I sighed looking at the red splodges on the page, and thinking about the scars on his wrist.

How could I save The Boy? Or was I already too late?

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I'm sorry this is so short. But yay, we finally know his name!! Anyways, did you enjoy the chapter? I quite like how it turned out tbh, Ive been planning this since I started the story.

Please let me know what you think :)