The New Irwin {Adopted by Ashton Irwin}

Chapter 5

Luke

  A few minutes after Ash went to check on Autumn, we hear shouting. Calum, Michael and I give each other looks of confusion.

  "We don't need to talk about jack shit!" She yells, slamming the bedroom door. A minute later, Ashton comes out looking stressed as fuck.

  "Ash, what's happening?" Calum asks.

"There are cuts on her ankles." He deadpans.

  "Are they intentional?" I ask.

  "No fucking shit!" Ashton yells.

  "Ashton, chill out!" Michael yells just as loud.

  "What are we going to do?" Ashton says, much quieter.

"Just try to talk to her, I don't know." Calum says. Ashton nods and walks upstairs.

Autumn

I lay on my bed, letting the tears fall freely. I hear a gentle knock on the door. My door cracks open, revealing Ashton. We look at each other, but don't say anything. He silently walks over to me, and lifts me up. He sits down where I was and then sits me on his lap. I snuggle into his chest, before speaking.

"I just can't do it, Ash." I start. "They bullied me and I believe what they told me, because it's true."

"Baby, what did they tell you?" He asks me.

"That Ryan's death was my fault, which it is." I sob. "That I'm fat, useless, ugly."

"Your brothers death was not your fault at all. Don't ever think that. You are very beautiful, so talented at so many things, and you are nothing but nice to everyone. He tells me. I snuggle more into Ashton's chest and slowly drift off into a much needed sleep.

§

Ryan and I walk into the house to the smell of weed, but that's normal. I walk passed the living room and see my mom and dad snorting a white powder on the coffee table. I try to get passed unnoticed, but my dad sees me. I try to run, but he's fast. I scream as he grabs my collar.

"No!" Ryan shouts. "Leave her the fuck alone!"

I look over at Ryan with horror as my dad let's go of my shirt and trudges to the kitchen. Ryan runs up to me and scans my body for injuries. Soon, my dad comes marching in with a knife in his hands.

"RYAN WATCH OUT!" I scream, but it's too late. My dad had slit his throat. My dad starts running towards me, screaming my name. He gets close and ends up stabbing my stomach.

"AUTUMN!" He shouts.

"AUTUMN!" I open my eyes to see that I'm in a dark room, with only a lamp on. Ash and I are in the same position as earlier and I scramble off the bed in horror. I'm shaking and crying as I fall to the ground because I had missed my footing. Ashton leaps off the bed and I put my arms in front of my face.

"Please don't hurt me!" I sob.

"Autumn, hey, hey, I'm not going to hurt you, baby. Shh, it's okay, come here." He coos, gesturing for me to come to him. I shakily inch my way forward until I'm in Ashton's arms.

"Please don't let him get me. Please don't let him hurt me." I whisper over and over, gripping his T-Shirt with a death grip, as if someone would take me.

"I'm going to protect you with everything I have, baby girl." He says softly, holding me in his grip, and softly stroking my hair. He lifts me up and lays me down on the bed. He gets in and puts the covers on top of us. He turns off the lamp and turns around, so I'm face to face with his chest. He wraps his arms around me protectively and coos me back to sleep.

§

  I wake up with light shining in my eyes and the smell of something sweet, like pancakes. I look over, and realize I'm not in Ashton's hold anymore. I somehow have pajamas on, even though I don't remember changing. I shrug it off and decide to brush my hair and go downstairs. I walk to the bathroom and use the toilet before brushing my hair and heading downstairs.

  As I reach the bottom, I'm met with four pairs of eyes on me. Suddenly, I'm attacked with hugs from Michael, Calum, and Luke, causing me to yelp in fear, but allow it, nonetheless.

  "Are you okay?" Luke asks.

  "What happened?" Calum asks.

  "Why were you screaming last night?" Michael asks, finishing the bombardment of questions.

  "I-I'm fine. Just a bad dream, is all. It's nothing new, it happens every night." I state, like it's no big deal. They look dumbfounded as I turn to Ashton. I walk over to where he is, in the kitchen, over the stove. He turns to me and smiles. I smile back and hug him. "Morning Ash." I pull back and sit at the bar, watching him cook. The boys join me, and Ashton sets a plate of pancakes and eggs in front of me and the same for the boys, but they have sausage. I mumble a 'thanks' before starting to slowly eat it.

  "I need your razors." Ashton tells me, and I nearly choke on my pancakes. The boys look over and watch the interaction.

  "No." I retort, taking another bite of my pancakes.

  "Why not?" He asks.

  "Because I need it." I state simply, already so done with this conversation.

  "If you have it, you'll hurt yourself." He tells me.

  "No shit." I mumble. He gives me a glare but I continue, anyway. "Look, it's not that bad. It's just my ankle. It's not like I can die from it."

  "But you're still hurting yourself!" He argues.

  "GOOD!" I explode as I stand up, knocking the chair and making it nearly fall over, but just screech across the floor. I stomp past the boys, who are in shock, and upstairs, but I stop. I turn around at the bottom of the steps. "Why would you even adopt someone like me? You knew I was fucked up, so why would you want such a challenge?" I ask, tears leaking from my eyes.

"Because I want to help you! I want to give my love to someone who has never had love before! I want to help you get over your anxiety! I just want to help!" He yells, the boys looking back and forth between us.

  I immediately break down and melt to the floor. Ashton rushes over to me and holds me. "Painting." I gasp out. Ashton exchanges a look with the boys before looking back to me.

  "What, babe?" He asks gently.

  "Behind my painting. My razors." I mumble, stringing together words that barely make sense and see Michael bound up the stairs. I calm down a bit, no longer sobbing, but silent tears streaming down my face. "Why me?" I ask. "Out of all of the fucked up kids there, why me?"

  "Because you're like us. You like the same things, and you have dyed hair like Michael." He states, causing me to laugh. "No, but really. You're a great girl, you just need to be shown that." He says.