Ashton Enchanted » [cashton] √

1.8

seven years earlier

It was midnight, Ashton knew because his mother had bought him a clock that acted as a sort of night light, projecting the time onto the ceiling. He'd been watching practically all night, and when he wasn't it was because he was dozing off, then he'd wake and begin waiting again. His mother had gone to visit his grandparents; she never took Ashton because the few times he'd gone his grandparents had remarked about his odd behaviour. Now he stayed home with his father, and his mother would often come home in the wee hours of the morning after the long drive home. 

His father had sent him to bed straight after dinner, despite Ashton's protest that he was ten years old now and was allowed to stay up until at least ten on the weekends. But when he heard the doors of the house opening and closing, he couldn't help but bound out of bed and sneak down the stairs to try and catch his mother coming through the door. 

Hiding behind the couch looking out the front door, which was remarkably wide open, he first saw his father walking back in. He overlooked Ashton by the couch, passing him and making his way back up the stairs, the door remaining wide open. 

He came back down the stairs a moment later with a cardboard box full to the brim in his arms. Ashton's mind had started to race, why was his father packing up things for charity this late in the night? But then he went back up the stairs and came back with his golf clubs, taking them out the front of the house, and the earth-shattering realisation hit him. His father was leaving; there was no other reason he'd be taking his golf clubs out in the middle of the night. Or maybe there was?

Tears started to streak down his cheeks despite the tiny bit of him that still hoped there was another answer, and he started to find it hard to breathe, he stood as his father came back in. 

"Are you leaving?" he choked out. 

His father looked up and made eye contact with him, a small look of shock on his face, and then he kept walking back up the stairs, ignoring Ashton. 

"Dad? Why are you ignoring me?" Ashton followed him, the tears coming in thicker waves now, "when are you coming back? Does mum know?" 

"I'm leaving tonight Ashton and I'm not sure when you'll see me again, okay? Your mother will find out when she comes home," he told him, there wasn't any emotion to his voice, and Ashton followed him further up the stairs, desperate to look him in the eyes. This couldn't be his father, sure he didn't like Ashton very much, but he was his father, he couldn't just leave? 

"Wh-Why, are you leaving?" he was still unable to speak without choking on his tears. 

His father sighed but didn't pause on his way to the bedroom, "It's very complicated, when you're older you might understand. It's not a decision I just made, I've thought about it for a long time," 

Ashton reached for his father's shirt, "please don't leave!" He wept, "I'll be better, I know it's because of me, I can- I can be better I promise," His father continued walking, the grip Ashton had on his shirt not doing much to slow him. 

"Dad!" he cried, "please!"

His father grabbed at his wrists and tugged them until Ashton's tiny hands let go of the fabric, "If you know you're the problem, Ashton, why do you think screaming at me will help?" his words were vicious, and they stopped Ashton in his tracks, the tone reminding him of a villain from a tv show.

"Just tell me what to do, just say 'Ashton go and..' and whatever, and I'll do it, I promise," he told him through another mouthful of sniffles. 

The older man rounded on him, an exhausted look on his face,  "Ashton go to your room, and don't come out until your mother comes home," he told him and then he turned on his heel heading into the bedroom. 

Ashton couldn't help but mirror him, turning and walking in the opposite direction toward his own bedroom, feeling the familiar tug in his stomach until he was behind the closed door. The tears continued to cascade down his cheeks as he listened to the sounds of his father opening and closing doors. Watching the clock as he did, it was 12:45 before he heard his father close the front door, and then a car started. He'd really just left, and Ashton knew his mother wasn't home yet because he couldn't bring himself to twist the doorknob. 

So he waited, it was another hour before his mother would come. And when she did, she screamed. The moment he heard the door open, it was followed by the scream he'd never forget immediately after he raced down the stairs and into her arms. 

Ashton had to explain to her that no they hadn't been robbed, his father had taken all the missing things, as well as his car. Told her he'd said he didn't know when he'd see them again, and that he'd begged and pleaded for him to stay, and his father had sent him to his room. 

Ashton was curled up in her arms on the couch, and she was brushing his hair back, letting her fingernails scratch against his scalp. He was slowly starting to calm down when he felt the wetness in his hair and pulled back to see silent tears streaking down her cheeks. 

"I'm so sorry mummy," he told her, wrapping his arms around her and burying his head in her chest. 

"It's okay baby, it's got nothing do with you," she told him, choking on the words and continuing to pat his head, "it's his fault, he just didn't try hard enough to understand," 

They slept on the couch that night and ate ice cream for breakfast. Then his grandparents came to stay with them for a long time, and then they left, and he rarely saw them again after that. People always talked about days of your life that something happened and you never knew how much it would change everything, but Ashton had known from the moment he'd seen those golf clubs going out into the car that nothing would ever be the same again. 

Hi guys, hope you're enjoying the fic, I'm slowly working through the editing and adding of new chapters like these, I hope to have it finished within the next couple of months (hopefully sooner) so I can start working on the sequel to my fic 'The Bass Player'. 

Please let me know what you think, I know this past couple of chaps have been a lil' sad.