The Red - Handed Boy

Chapter 5: The Red - Handed Boy

This isn't Indie, Ashley thought, this is a boy that looks like him, and sounds like him, but doesn't have the same soul.
Indie's eyes fixated emotionlessly on Ashley's near naked body.
Ashley thought, how could there be such sad tears dripping from such bleak eyes?
"SO WHY?!" Indie repeated once again,
"WHY'D YOU PICK HIM?!"
Ashley was snapped back into reality, Indie was in her house, he had no weapon visible, but she felt like he could kill her anytime he wanted.
"I-I don't know, I guess I just started texting him first and—"
"So if I started texting you first, would I have gotten you?" Indie interrupted.
"Gotten me?" Ashley asked, "I'm not a piece of meat."
Ashley knew she shouldn't have said that, but she would not be demeaned into a simple object.
"I didn't mean it like that Ashley. It's just, you are the first girl I've ever loved."
Ashley would've blushed if the situation was any different.
"What do you mean love? What about your mother?"
"My mother is a sick and vile woman. I used to believe I loved her, but I was disillusioned, I mistook it for love while I only put up with her. I was manhandled by society into upholding the notion of a peaceful family, even after my father left. You, Ashley, are the only woman I have ever truly loved in all my years of living. And yet my love was disregarded by you, you threw it away to be with Kent. What's the difference between us two? I showed more love and affection to you in three months, than he could have given you in one hundred years!"
Speaking such bad things about Kent, made Ashley furious. She snapped.
"KENT IS A BETTER MAN THAN YOU COULD EVER BE! YOU'RE WEIRD AND A PATHETIC MAN! YOU DON'T KNOW THIS, BUT I TEXTED YOU OUT OF PITY! ALL THOSE HOURS YOU THOUGHT I WAS BUSY, I WAS ACTUALLY TEXTING KENT! I EVEN FORGOT THAT I WAS TEXTING YOU SOMETIMES!"
Ashley was screaming, but began to lower her voice.
"And your poor mother, I can't believe the suffering she must've gone through. Whoever I'm speaking to right now, is not the Indie I knew, you are an evil husk wearing the skin and speaking the voice of him."
For a split second, she could see it, Indie's eyes turned into the Indie she knew before, a sad and naive look. But then they were gone, and Indie looked at Ashley.
"Oh, I see." Indie said dryly.
He started walking slowly towards her.
"Are you going to kill me?" She asked.
Indie stopped. He looked at her for a minute. And in that minute he remembered everything they've done. The conversations they've had. He remembered looking at a picture of her every night before he went to bed, imagining her telling him "Goodnight". He remembered how happy he was when she texted him back; and how sad he was when she didn't. He remembered the emotions he felt when she blocked him, and when her and Kent got together.
He tried to kill himself that day, but then he received a text from Kent, and while he was reading it, his mother came in and stopped him.
Indie finally responded, "Yes."
Ashley looked at Indie, and then lowered her head in silent resignation. She understood in that moment how far Indie has fallen, he WAS sick, and she could do nothing to help him.
Indie grabbed a lighter from his pocket, and alcohol from the kitchen.
"Any last words?" He asked her.
Ashley thought for a bit.
"I'm sorry. I know you may hate me, and I'm sorry for that. I love you, mom and dad. And most of all, I love you."
That made Indie stop, he was shocked for a second. Then he continued onward. He opened the top of the alcohol bottle and poured it on Ashley. He ignited the lighter, "Goodbye Ashley." He said sullenly.
Then threw the lighter onto the alcohol.
Soon, bright orange flames appeared. Indie looked at the flames with appreciation, and began to walk. Until he heard a sound, it was coming from Ashley's phone. He picked it up, and then his eyes widened.
Kent was still on the phone, Ashley never hung up.
"ASHLEY! ASHLEY!" Kent was yelling.
Indie put the phone up to his mouth and said,
"You did this to her."
And then he hung up. He threw the phone into the fire.
He grabbed a fire extinguisher from Ashley's kitchen and sprayed it on Ashley's crisp body. The flames were still spreading, everywhere except on Ashley. He dragged her lifeless body, grabbed some seeds he found in the cabinets, then put her in a trash bag. He carried the bag and seeds out of the burning house.
Indie started walking, ignoring the house, and avoiding the views of neighbors.
He looked at his hands.
They looked so red - handed.

[The Red - Handed Boy Arc - END]