Broken Souls (19 page)

“Marco, leave it please...” Her voice was weak and lacked any form of strength.

“She was Ashley’s best friend through childhood. The pair were inseparable until Isabella was involved in a horrific accident that took her life,” Ashley’s father explained, his expression filled with sorrow. He moved next to his wife and gently removed her hand from Ashley’s face. “You promised me that you were not going to act like this,” he said, addressing her directly. “We were coming here today to try and mend our relationship, not for you to come and make things ten times worse. I don’t want our daughter to continue hating us, Jackie!”

Ashley
refused to listen to their exchange. Instead, she was fighting her own internal demons as the memories she had fought hard to keep away invaded her mind. Images of her childhood flashed before her eyes—birthday parties, sleepovers and Isabella’s death.

“Issy!! Wake-up!! Please
, wake-up!!”

Her own blood curdling scream pulled Ashley out of her reverie before she crum
pled at the knees and collapsed.

Ashley felt her body hit the ground...hard.

A hand had forced her out of the way, pushing her to the
ground with such power that she scraped her hands and knees against the concrete. Immediately, pain seared through her, the stinging sensation enough to bring tears to her eyes.

Pushing up from the ground, she hissed at the movement of her joints a
s the blood continued to ooze from the wounds on her body. She could do nothing but cry. Pain had never been something that she could just ‘get through’.

“Issy?”
Ashley whispered, her eyes searching out for her best friend.

“Oh God! You are alive!” A man appeared before her, his eyes wide with a mixture of panic and relief. “You need to sit back down. The ambulance will be here any second,” he said, gesturing to the road. “You look
really hurt. You’re face... It’s...” He nodded uncertainly at the birthmark that was now tinged with blood.

Raising her hands to her cheeks, Ashley touched the mark on her face with caution. “
Ouch!” She cried when her fingertips brushed over the broken skin. “It hurts. I don’t want it to hurt anymore. Where is Issy? I need to find her, she’ll know what to do.”

“No, you can’t!” The man grabbed her shoulders and pinned her to the spot. “You can’t go over there.”

“But... What about Issy?” Tears rolled down her cheeks as she frantically sought out the body of her best friend. “Move!” she screamed, trying to wriggle from his grasp.

Finally freeing herself, Ashley pushed past the man and ran into the middle of the road to find what he had been trying to keep from her.

“Don’t go near her,” he yelled, “the ambulance is on its way.”

“But I want to help her! You can’t just leave her like that!” Ashley screeched at the top of her lungs. “What if she dies and you could have saved her? Do something!”

“No! You don’t know what damage you will do by trying to help,” he argued, standing still.

“Issy!” Ashley ran forward and dropped onto her already bloodied knees in front of her. “Issy!! Wake-up!! Please
, wake-up!!” She placed her hands onto Isabella’s chest and shook her body in a futile attempt at getting her to wake. “There’s so much blood... Is she dead?” Ashley’s words came out on a strangled cry as a rush of sirens filled the area. 

Within seconds
of their arrival, she had been bundled into the back of an ambulance and swarmed, as paramedics rushed to attach monitors and cables to different parts of her body before they sped off to the nearest hospital.

“Issy... Issy...”
she had continued to croak under the bright ambulance lights.

Eventually, the continuous sound of the heart monitor mixed with the mild pain relief she had been administered was enough to sedate and send her into a docile state.

The only noise she listened for was from the monitor... She focused on its rhythmic sound.

Beep. Beep.

Beep. Beep.

Ashley
woke from her nightmare with a strangled cry. Sitting upright in an instant, she scanned the immediate area around her with alarm. The beeping sound continued to repeat itself over and over. It had to be stopped, she couldn’t take it anymore. Her heart was beating rapidly and she could feel the sweat pouring from her body.

“Woah! Calm down, Ash
ley!” Ben stood from a nearby chair and lightly grasped her hand. “You’re in the hospital. You need to calm—”

“I need to get out of here. I can’t stay,”
she sobbed, her hands fumbling at the tubes and wires stuck to her body. “They will be coming... I’ve got... I’ve got to leave!”

Ben’s grasp tightened. “
Who’s coming, Ash?”

Pulling off the covers, she swung her legs out of the bed
and ignored him. “Help me up,” she asked, squeezing his hand. “You just need to help me out of here.”

With the support of
his arms, Ashley put her weight onto her feet. Her knees quivered as she tried to withstand her own weight. She cried out with frustration as her unsteady legs refused to cooperate. This episode had really knocked the air out of her. She was weak—vulnerable. It was only a matter of time before they pounced.

“You can’t even stand properly,” Ben snapped
, the concern disappearing from his voice. “You need to rest.”

Despite the flurry of expletives
that screeched from her mouth, it didn’t stop him from lowering her helpless body back to the bed.

“Ben... Please...” She looked
at him with tear filled eyes. “I’m begging you... Get me out of here.”

“I don’t understand what you are trying to say, Ashley. You fainted at Gabby’s funeral earlier today, so you are in the hospital. They are worried about you, not just because you didn’t come around straight away, but because you seem to be demonstrating a high level of anxiety. They don’t think that you are coping very well.”

“No...” She choked as her throat closed around her words. This couldn’t be happening to her again. It was impossible. They couldn’t have gotten to Ben already? “I’m telling you now,” she tried to warn him. “You had better help me out of here, because you have no idea what harm you are doing.” Her voice was nothing but a frightened squeak.

“I’m trying to help you,” Ben said, lifting her legs back into the hospital bed. “
Please, just trust me? You won’t be in this place for long. Your parents have said that you are being transferred to a private hospital tomorrow morning.” He gave her a reassuring smile and raised the blankets under her chin.

His words stunned her.
It was the way he spoke so blasé about the fact she was being transferred to somewhere else. Did he not question why she was being moved to a private facility? Was there even an ounce of concern as to how she was going to afford something like that? He knew of her money problems. Heck, she had even told him about her needing to move house in the next few weeks.

“Wait!” Ashley gripped onto Ben’s forearms as he tried to withdraw.
“Where’s Marco?”

A sliver of hope kindled in her eyes. She had been in the chapel with Marco when she had fainted. If she knew him like she thought she did, then there was a strong possibility that he was lingering around the hospital waiting to see her. After all, he wouldn’t have just left her with Ben. He hated the man; he had even told her as much earlier.

She
looked hopefully at Ben’s face. “Where is he?”

There was a pause
before he spoke, and when he did, the words that left his mouth not only shocked her, but completely
destroyed
everything she had grown to love over the last few years.

“He
isn’t here, Ashley. He left to go and find that other girl.”

“W-What do you mean
he left? Surely he came to the hospital to check that I was alright?” Her voice cracked painfully as Ben’s words sunk in. “I don’t believe that he would just leave me... he wouldn’t.” She shook her head with denial. “You’re lying to me,” she cried, her fingernails digging sharply into the skin on Ben’s arms. “Tell me that he didn’t go after Sophia?”

Ben flinched from her viciousness and pulled himself out of her grasp. His breaths turned ragged as he surveyed the broken skin on his forearms.

“Have you completely lost your God damn mind?” he spat. “Why the fuck did you do that to me? I am here for
you
, Ashley. Nobody but
you
, and you treat me like that?” He stepped backwards and picked up his coat from the back of a nearby chair. “Do you know why he isn’t here for you? It’s because he barely knows you, and the only connection that you both shared was over Gabby. Now that she isn’t here, what do you both have in common now, hey? Nothing, which is why he’s gone after that other girl he has been seeing.”

He slung his coat over his should
er and walked towards the door. “You don’t even care that I’m here, do you?” He waited for her response, but when it didn’t materialise he let out a sigh. “I’m here because...” He stalled slightly as he gathered his breath. “Because... I think I
love
you, Ashley.”

“You don’t know what you are
saying,” she whispered, quickly finding her voice. “You don’t know what you are talking about. How could you love me when you barely know me either?”

The thought unsettled her. Yes, they had been friends for a few years withi
n their circle, but it could never have been enough for him to develop such serious feelings for her. Something was off, but she couldn’t quite put her finger on it. Why would he reveal something like this now? Had he been feeling threatened over Marco after all?

Ben exhaled and placed his hand on the door handle. “I’ve loved you for a long time, and he knows it... He
said that he didn’t want to interfere with our relationship. With Gabby gone there isn’t any reason for you to both know each other. I spoke with him, and he agreed to leave for both of our sakes and to go after that Sophia... He did you a favour, Ashley. He did
us
a favour.”

“I slept with him...” She lowered her gaze as she confessed one of the secrets she had been trying to hide
all along. It slipped out far easier than she expected, and the instant cooling relief was welcome as it pumped through her veins.

The second
secret, however, was much harder for her to confess. It tore at her heart repeatedly; especially when she knew that he was going back to Italy with Sophia. It was just too much for her to take. It wasn’t how it was supposed to be. After the funeral, they were supposed to share a moment alone where they both said their goodbyes to Gabby. At that point, Ashley had planned to come clean and confess the feelings she had been harbouring for him. She was going to tell him about what a fool she had been in believing that their night together had been a stupid mistake. It would have been her chance to fight for what she wanted.

“Y-You
fucked
him?” There was no mistaking the utter disgust in Ben’s voice as it cut through her thoughts. He released the door handle and turned towards her. “You actually
fucked
him?”

She winced at his vulgarity.
“No, you don’t understand,” she replied, raising her chin following a surge of adrenaline. His reaction to this news had been what she had feared the most. She studied his expression, his eyes fiery and his glare turning more and more heated by the second.

Ben scoffed. “
What don’t I understand? Come on, enlighten me further.”

“
I-I think that there’s definitely something more between Marco and I.”

Ashley hadn’t been surprised at Ben’s silent and swift exit from her hospital room
after she had explained her feelings. She had royally fucked up, but at least she had revealed the truth. Her heart felt more towards Marco than it did for Ben.

But it didn’t matter now because h
e had left her for someone else.

~

Despite the fight she put up, Ashley was still moved to a private hospital the next day. The nurses had told her that it was for her own safety that they were moving her, but she knew differently. Somebody had an ulterior motive, and she knew exactly who it was.

“Oh, you’re
awake.” Her mother forced a smile as she stepped into the room and took a seat at the side of Ashley’s bed. “This place is much better,” she sniffed, casting her eyes around the hotel style room. “I refuse to enter public hospitals anymore. There is just too much risk of catching something around all of
those
people.”

Ashley rolled her eyes and crossed her arms firmly over her chest. “I’m going to discharge myself shortly. I’m feeling fine now,”
she replied, making sure to keep her voice calm and low.

“Don’t be silly, darling,” her m
other lightly scolded. “You’ve only just arrived. The doctors want to assess you first because Ben mentioned that you were struggling lately. He has some concerns that you may need something to help you cope. Such a lovely, thoughtful boy.”

Although warning flags signalled in her mind, Ashley focused on keeping her composure. If she argued
back now then she knew that things would end up being a lot worse for her. She would have her opportunity once her father arrived. He was the
normal
one... He would talk some sense into her mother. It was pointless her even trying right now. She would earn herself a month stay in a private facility if she wasn’t careful. She knew the power that came with having lots of money.

“Why did you come to the funeral?” Ashley
asked, trying to keep her tone as polite as possible. “We haven’t seen each other for a long time, so why do you choose such an important day to make your reappearance?”

She watched as her mother’s face fell at her question. “
Your father and I were worried about you, Ashley. It’s been what... seven years? You just send the occasional text message and Christmas card. You need to let us back into your life,” she replied.