Madness ➮ Harry Styles AU

A9

Ashley

His hand was deeply embedded into my hair, clutching it within his unforgiving grip. His other softly caressed the skin on my cheek. His touch was gentle, contrasting to the rough and dangerous personality he was bound to unleash upon my body soon enough.

As quickly as I could, I untangled myself from his suffocating grip. Breaking the contact of our lips and the rest of our lonely limbs.

His icy gaze stared me down so viciously that I could see the many dreadful things he planned to do with me through his piercing, dark blue eyes.

"Ashley?"

His deep voice sent shivers down my spine. It seemed to echo inside my body, bouncing off all the boundaries, and leaving his voice to ring within me, chattering my petrified bones.

I was too mortified to speak, and even if I did so, I feared my voice would come out as a shaky and strangled cry for help, mirroring how I felt inside. So, there I stood, right before the devil himself, disguised in human flesh.

"What's wrong?" He asked, in a tone which gave off the illusion that he was actually concerned about me.

I could not comprehend the fact that he was standing right in front of me, looking as evilly charming as I remembered him to be.

I used to believe he was angel when I was a stupid, naive, little girl. He looked so intriguing at the time that it compelled me to get closer and closer to him, like a moth to a flame. The poor, feeble insect not suspecting a thing, until it got to close and helplessly withered within the fire.

I lifted my arms to protect myself, not wanting to burn in the raging wildfire of a man. Even as I did so, my limbs felt weak and shaky, betraying my determined mindset.

"Are you okay?" He questioned, purposely mocking me.

For a quick moment I thought I had heard a different voice, a voice that did not belong to him. Although, I quickly extinguished the small flicker of hope, convincing myself it was a fragment of my desperate imagination.

"Stop." I commanded him, my voice portraying the pain I felt inside.

I began to slowly back away from him, in hopes that he would allow the extended distance. Although, he denied my pathetic request. I continued to walk away from him, just as he continued to stalk towards me, reminding me of a predator ready to pounce on it's prey.

Eventually, he backed me up into the wall, leaving me no more space to put in between us. He became so close to me, that I felt his ragged, erotic breathing pattern fan on my head.

"You're the only reason I choose to breathe." He once told me.

Out of all the lies he fed me, that is one of the ones I held most dear. He said that life was a choice, you can just simply survive, or you can live. That around me, he felt alive, breathing in the life I gave him. And I couldn't help but wonder if his desperation for me was still present in the oxygen pumping through his icy veins.

I tried to flee from the merciless trap I found myself in, only to be greeted with his hand, violently slamming against the wall.

The noise his palm created sent a ruthless wave of memories to wash over me.

"Damn it, Ashley!" He roared, clutching tighter on the fist full of my own dark hair.

He stomped into the bedroom and threw me onto the bed, my scalp aching from the previous tension.

"Chris, I-" The girl in the memory spoke, terrified and broken.

"Shut up." He snarled and began to pop open the buttons of his own shirt.