Chapter 7: The Silver Lining

A few days had passed since my encounter and all had been silent on the third floor.  As the days went by, Halloween drew ever closer; only a few days away. My favorite part about Ashley and I’s walks to and from school was seeing more and more Halloween decorations lining the already somewhat creepy streets of Dreary Oaks. I had a strong feeling that I was going to get the other-worldly Halloween I had always wanted. Dreary Oaks really went all out; Mrs. Lee even had us do Halloween themed drawings in class. I drew a skeleton emerging from a scary house with jack-o-lanterns. Akiko drew some sort of crazy shadow monster she had seen back in Japan. She still hadn’t said a word to anyone since the first day, but I could tell she was beginning to get more comfortable. I told Mrs. Lee after class that Akiko could come trick-or-treating with Ashley and me on Halloween if she’d like. Mrs. Lee told me that she appreciated the invitation, but Akiko had refused to dress up for Halloween ever since her father stopped dressing up alongside her. It was sad, I knew the feeling of a neglectful father, but it was Akiko’s decision to make.

After school, I rendezvoused with Ashley as per usual for our walk home. Normally she was hyper and excited to be out of school, eager to tell me all about her day; but not today. Not even a “hello,” we just walked in silence; her eyes on the ground. I felt like I should say something, but I was just terrible at helping someone who’s bothered by something. As we approached the Jenkin’s tailor shop, I saw our costumes hanging out in front of the shop, ready to be picked up.

“Ashley, look! Our costumes are done!” I exclaimed as I ran forward to inspect them. “They look so realistic!” My costume was truly exquisite. Made primarily from leather, it was composed of a long black trench-coat lined in red fabric, several large belts wrapping around the legs and torso, gloves with pointed finger tips, knee-high boots, and a plastic bag with fake teeth clothes-pinned to the cotton undershirt and vest. I managed to break the spell my costume had cast over me forcing me to admire it long enough to see that Ashley was less than overjoyed. “Ashley. Are you okay?” I timidly asked. She was looking over her equally gorgeous costume but not being captivated by it in the same way I was.

“I’m okay.” She replied, stone-faced.

“Seriously, what’s going on?” I pried. She took down her costume and began walking home. I took mine down and chased after her. “Ashley! Just talk to me!” I demanded. She stopped walking a few feet in front of me. With her back turned to me, I heard her begin to cry. I stepped forward and began to give her a hug. “Ash, I'm sorry I didn’t mea-“

“It’s my dad, okay?” she admitted, regaining her composure and pulling away from me.

“Your dad?”

“Yeah. He’s been gone a lot lately with work and going hunting out in the woods. I don’t know what’s wrong with him lately, but it’s like I don’t even exist. He’s always worked a lot, but it was always important to him to spend time with me. He’s either gone or he’s completely silent and won’t say a word to me. It’s been this way for a few weeks now. I don’t know why he’s acting like this, but he’s starting to ignore me like everyone el-“ Her voice trailed off but the meaning was clear. Whether the rumors about her father were true or not, it had scared all of the townspeople into completely ignoring Ashley. “I just don’t want to be all alone.” She added as she began to break down again.

“Hey! I'm here, and I'm not going anywhere, you can count on that!” I chimed in with a campy uplifting tone. She glanced up to saw my big cheesy smile and I could see on her face that she felt better.

“Thanks, Isaac.” She replied and we started walking again.

As we approached our homes, the mood had definitely improved and Ashley was back to her typical head-in-the-clouds self. She waited in my living room as I tried on my costume.

“Oh man! Who is this vampire hunk walking down the stairs?” Ashley called out as I walked down the stairs. “Could he possibly be here to turn me into a vampire as well? Oh no!”

“Shut it! …so, how do I look?” I nervously asked.

“You look great! Really.” She replied with a smile.

“Oooo, a vampire. How original.” Tyson added in sarcastically as he and Bear entered the room. Bear immediately ran to greet Ashley who knelt down to pet him, ignoring Tyson’s comment.

“Oh yeah? And what are you going as?” I demanded.

“I’m going to tell people I’m a ‘were-Bear,’ get it? I'm going to tell them to look away, and then Bear is going to run up and take my place. Then he just begs and they give us candy!” he answered confidently.

“Okay, yeah. That is a pretty awesome idea, Isaac.” Ashley admitted. I rolled my eyes and agreed.  Tyson glanced over and saw Ashley’s costume.

“So what? Are you guys dating now or something?” He asked loudly.

“N-“ I started.

“You know Ashley only likes you because you’re the only one who will talk to her, Isaac. There’s no way she’d be into you if she had options.” He stated as he kicked his feet up and turned on the television. Ashley didn’t say a word; she just grabbed her costume and ran out of the front door. Bear barked and sprang to his feet. Tyson sat up, alerted to what he had just done.

“What the hell, Tyson?!  How could you say that?” I screamed at him, completely blind-sided by his cruel words. Tyson was a nuisance sometimes, but he was a good kid and would never say something to hurt someone on purpose.

“I’m sorry, Isaac. I heard some kids at school talking about how their older sisters used to be Ashley’s friends but nobody talks to her now because of something her dad did.” He replied honestly, head held in shame. His last words rang in my ears; could what Mrs. Jenkins told me be true? Or were they just afraid of the rumors. “Can I go say sorry to Ashley?”

“I think that’s best.” I said back, proud that he wanted to do the right thing. We walked out of the front door and down the walkway. Around the time that we reached the mailbox, I noticed something in my peripheral vision. In the exact same place as move-in day, Ashley’s father stood staring at us from their attic window. I grabbed Tyson by the hood of his jacket and told him to stop walking. He protested at first but quickly caught on and saw Ashley’s father’s gaze himself. I opened our mailbox, grabbed the mail, and led Tyson back inside.

“No wonder everyone is scared of Ashley, Isaac! Her dad is scary! I mean, he was just standing there, staring at us. How weird is that? The kids at school didn’t know what he did and I don’t want to find out. Are you sure you want to be friends with her?” Tyson blurted out. He was even more unsettled than I was.

“Tyson, I can’t stop being her friend just because her dad is scary. Besides, she’s my best friend.” I responded, reassuring both him and myself.

“Okay, it’s your funeral!” he called out as he and Bear walked upstairs. I knew it was just a phrase, but I hoped he wasn’t right. Instead of assaulting Ashley’s phone with calls and text messages, I decided to give her some space.

I spent my evening straightening up the house for mom and getting my homework finished, as well as finally getting around to installing those extra locks on the doors I had picked up at the store. I had forgotten how boring it was to do this stuff all alone. Ashley had been graciously helping me with my chores almost every day. It was getting late and I still hadn’t heard from Ashley, so I concluded it was probably time to give her a call. As I pulled out my cell phone and began to dial, it started ringing.

“Ashley! What a coincidence, I was just about to call yo-“ I started.

“Isaac! Can I stay at your house tonight, please?!” She interrupted. I heard a commotion going on in the background but couldn’t decipher it.

“Um, yeah. Of course.” I responded, a little bit perplexed. She hung up and not thirty seconds later she was at my front door. I opened the door for her and she stepped inside. “What’s going on?”

She ignored my question and fell into my arms for a hug. We stood in silence. I knew she’d talk when she was ready. After a few seconds, I realized that she was wearing her sexy vampiress costume. Even hysterically in tears, she looked gorgeous in it. It was a tight corset and a mini skirt, with a thin black leather jacket that only stretched halfway down her back. She sniffled and released her grip. As she took a step backward, my eye caught something beneath the hair covering her face. She had pulled her long blonde bangs over her face to conceal her swollen and bruised left eye.

“Ashley, what the hell is going on?” I demanded.

“I-It’s nothing. I'm just clumsy is all.” She stated, unable to look me in the eyes.

“Ashley!”

“Okay! After I ran home I decided to try on my costume to make myself feel better. I started doing homework and I forgot to take it off. When my dad got home he took one look at it and started throwing a temper tantrum. He kept calling me horrible names and telling me to stay away from ‘that city-boy next door.’ He started throwing things and getting a little out of control…”

“So he hit you?!”

“N-no…”

“I'm going over there to have a ‘talk’ with him!” I proclaimed. I had begun to storm out the door when Ashley grabbed me by my jacket.

“No, Isaac! You can’t go near him when he’s like this.” She pleaded.

“What? So this has happened before?” I scolded as I pulled away from her and again began to head for the door.

“No! Stop! Seriously, Isaac. He could kill you, he can’t control his temper.” She yelled back in tears. Contemplating the potential truth in her words, I stopped for a moment.

“We’ll see about that. I'll have Sheriff Raditz come with me.” I said, thinking things through a bit more clearly.

“Please, Isaac. Let’s just go upstairs.” She cried. Standing with my back to the door, Ashley in front of me with mascara-soaked tears rolling down her face, I had a decision to make. I could feel the kiss of the cold night air on the back of my neck. I was fighting not to let my anger outweigh reason. The aches and pains of the beating I had received the other night were still fresh in my memory and I wasn’t eager to potentially get thrashed again. I hadn’t seen Ashley’s father up close and had no idea how big he may have been. I looked at her face and saw the desperation in her eyes. I loosened my fist and obliged to her. I took off my jacket and wrapped it around her. I locked the front door and returned to her. We walked upstairs quietly and sunk into my room.

“You can have my bed.” I offered. She smiled gratefully and nodded. I fetched some spare blankets from the hall closet and prepared myself a bed on the floor beside the bed, between her and the door, just in case. “Do you want some more comfortable clothes to put on? I have some sweatpants you can wear.” She smiled and nodded again. I presented her with the sweatpants and stepped into the hallway to let her change. Tyson and Bear were asleep already and the hallway was quiet. I stared at the staircase to the third floor. Things had been quiet ever since my last encounter with the man upstairs, maybe I scared him off. Sure, he overpowered me easily, but I almost shot him; that would intimidate almost anyone. I hadn’t been back up there and had no idea if he was up there or not. I prayed that if he was going to return, it wouldn’t be tonight, not when I’d have Ashley to protect; I couldn’t even protect myself.

“Okay! I’m done.” Ashley called out to me. I walked back into my room and locked the door behind me. Ashley was lying on my bed with her back to me, wearing my jacket and sweatpants; her costume hanging from the bathroom doorknob.

“Ready for sleep?” I asked, finger on the light switch.

“Mhmm.” She replied. I turned out the lights and took my place on the floor. She rolled over to face me. “Isaac?”

“Yeah?”

“Thanks…for everything.”

I smiled and nodded. She returned the smile and turned back over. I laid my head down onto my fluffy pillow and smiled. Life wasn’t so bad. I might be under attack by an unknown assailant twice my size, but at least I had my best friend. Mom, Tyson, and Bear were all safe and sound, and I was still managing to do well in school. Halloween was just a couple of days away and Ashley and I were going to have a great time, a Halloween like I had always wanted. I hadn’t heard from the man upstairs in a few days, maybe things were finally starting to get better.

Author's Note

This is the last chapter I have finished at the moment. I have many, many more ideas for this story and intend to bring it to its exciting conclusion as soon as possible.