River Dreams

Poison

CHAPTER ELEVEN

Poison

"What the hell is going on?!" Ashton yelled striding towards River.

I stood dumbstruck, my legs turning to jelly as I thought of all the destructive consequences. How had Ashton gotten here?

"We were just talking," River said coldly, still walking towards Ashton, his back straightening with a certain sort of strength.

"Screwing Vera isn't going to cure her," Ashton said, laughing poisonously as he glared towards me.

In an instance I knew that this wasn't like Ashton, he had never said anything to deliberately hurt someone, he was a good guy. I wondered, was this the small part in his mind where he had stored away all the poisonous words his father had given him? The tables had turned, he was the one saying them, not receiving.

"What are you doing here?" I asked.

"You said I was a liar and then you left the house," he yelled, "What did you expect? I followed you."

I walked towards him and shook my head, tears starting to turn the back of my eyes, "you have no right to be near me, I already know what you're doing."

I felt betrayed, he always said I could trust him and I did. It was a mistake because he was a liar, they all were.

River turned towards me, "Vera, stop."

I knew this was dangerous, Ashton could tell Cathy and Dean and they would tell someone else and it would be an infinite chain reaction eventually leading to our plan of leaving being destroyed.

"You know?" Ashton asked.

River reached for my hand but I shook my head, "Of course I know!"

"I was only doing it for you," he said.

"Oh really? You lied to my face, made me trust you and you think you did something noble?"

Ashton came closer but River stood in his way, "I never said it was noble but you asked me to do it, you asked for it."

"How dare you," I yelled, resisting the urge to slap him, "I asked for you to go along with the people who ruined my life? I asked you to be a part of this sick scheme to get me medicated on some bullshit drug?"

Ashton's mouth dropped open, "You know about that?"

"What did you think she was talking about?" River asked.

Ashton took a cautious step back as I reached out to grab Rivers arm.

"Ashton, what did you think I was talking about?" I asked.

He pulled at his hair, "So when you were yelling at me you thought I was talking about Cathy and Dean?"

"Yes," I yelled, "you went along with their act!"

"That's not the reason why I stayed, Vera."

River scoffed, "why else would you be there?"

Ashton turned to River, "she hired me to follow her," he gestured towards me, "she asked me to keep an eye on her."

I laughed, "this isn't the time for you to lie."

"I'm not lying! I was with the Morpheus clan and then you came and asked me to keep an eye on you. The Dream Walkers agreed with my leaving."