Unpredictable // Ashton Irwin

Chapter 29.

Ashton’s P.O.V*

I sat in the seat, looking outside the window, as Courtney turned onto a gravel road; taking in the sights around me. The silence in the car was tense as I watched rows of trees appear on either side of the car, making it difficult to see what was on the other side of them. In front of the trees were small bushes covered in flowers, blocking the view from the bottom.

Never once have I questioned what Court is doing, but the time might be a different story; it was quite a scary place and I’m sure that if it was night time, I would never be here. It wasn’t my type of place and it felt oddly eerie.

When the car was parked alongside the trees, was when I asked my first question.

“What is this place?” Silence.

Courtney climbed out of the car silently, making me worry as I got out and followed after her. My eyes focused on her expression as it stayed the same, not letting on to her true emotions.

She walked up a small path, stopping abruptly and looking down. My gaze followed her, finding a grey tombstone with a name written on it. My head looked around, seeing more tombstones around me.

Why would she bring me to a cemetery?

“Ash, I want you to meet Grace, my mom.” She whispered out so it was just loud enough for me to hear her. Confusion set in.

I didn’t think that her mom was gone. Someway, I just thought that maybe her mom and dad divorced and she left. Now that I see it, it makes me wonder if this is why she is so reserved when meeting someone.

“Court,” I sighed, thinking of how I could say I’m sorry for her loss.

“Don’t Ash, sympathy is the last thing I want.” She whimpered fiercely.

She lowered herself down, in front of the tombstone on her knees. Placing her hand on the cold, grey tombstone, she sighed, looking towards the ground.

I got down beside her, pulling her into my chest. She was quite as I held her, not crying or speaking. It was special that she brought me here, I thought; almost like an honor but I didn’t like that it made her sad.

She took a deep breath, releasing it slowly before she started speaking.                       

“She was an amazing mom. No one compared to her or what she did for me or my brothers. Anytime that one of us needed her, she was always there. If I wanted to let my feelings out, she would be the one I would go to. I’m not sure why, but one day when I was seventeen, I found myself being extremely rude to her. I hated how I treated her; calling her obscene names and just taking her love for granted but somehow she always said she loved me. 

I remember the day clearly, I was bugging her about getting my first car but she wasn’t feeling up to it. I think the doctors said that she was coming down with a really horrible cold and with the rain and snow I wasn’t making it any better by wanting to go get the car.  After begging her for a few hours she finally said yes, making me pretty happy, at the time. As we were driving, though, things just turned worse.”

She wiped at her eyes, acknowledging the fact that she was crying.  I rubbed her shoulder, trying to calm her down.

“Austin had to come, just to make sure the car was good enough but he just caused trouble. I can’t remember what all he was saying but I just remember turning around from the front seat and telling him to shut up. My mom got involved telling us to stop. Of course, I, being the bratty teenager I was, told her some nice things because she was only yelling at me.”