Phantasm || irwin

[ 46 ] 1963

[ 46 ] 1963

He woke up to the darkness of his bedroom barely illuminated by a sliver of moonlight coming from the balcony. He was alone, and tied to a chair, the rope was too tight and it was making the skin of his wrists sore. His legs were bound to the legs of the chair, not allowing him to move. There was a piece of cloth stuffed into his mouth to muffle out his screams, and as his hazel eyes searched his surroundings, he didn't see Harry and Lauren. 

Ashton focused his attention on noises coming from the other side of the hallway, where his parents' room was located. They were screams, screams of pain, all crying out together.

The nineteen year old tried to free his hands, but the hold of the rope was too tight. 

Just then, a man walked into his bed room, dressed in black from head to toe. His face was covered by a black balaclava, or a ski mask, to conceal his identity. From his height and build, he seemed to be not much older than Ashton, if not the same age. Ashton figured he knew the person who was doing this, since they were being smart enough to cover their face. 

The robber closed the gap between them, hit black combat boots clanking heavily against the wooden floor. He yanked the piece of cloth out of Ashton's mouth, and the hazel eyed boy was finally able to speak. "What do you want from us?" He asked, his eyes still feeling a bit groggy from being hit in the back of the head earlier.

"Its nothing personal with your family, really." The man gave an uncaring shrug of his shoulders. And Ashton noticed there was no hint of remorse in his voice, as well as no perceivable emotion. "I just came here to kill you, and I couldn't risk having any witnesses."

From the very first moment that he started speaking, it clicked in Ashton's mind like a puzzle. He knew that voice.

"Con?" He squinted his hazel eyes, as if trying to recognize him through the mask.

The raven haired boy chuckled darkly and pulled the ski mask off, revealing what Ashton already knew. 

"But..." Ashton said, sounding hurt, "I thought we were best friends."

"I never liked you, Ashton." Con admitted bluntly. "I only pretended to be your friend because you had more money than me and I wanted it."

Ashton laughed nervously. He didn't want to believe that one of the two people he most trusted in Sydney could do something like that to him. "You're joking." He said with a shake of his head. "You're playing a prank on me, aren't you, Con?"

But Con shook his head. "This isn't a joke. And you want to know another secret? Claire never loved you either." At this confession, he smiled a triumphant smile. Ever since he and Claire had started planning all of this, he had been aching to tell Ashton because he wanted to see him hurt. He wanted to see him suffer. "Your girl and I have been fucking behind your back this whole time, and you were too trusting to notice it."

With every word that left Con's mouth, Ashton could feel his heart breaking into a million tiny pieces. At one point, the tears that had begun to well up in his hazel eyes spilled out. He held his head down, refusing to let Con see him cry. He didn't want to show him how much the betrayal hurt, especially not when he knew it would be satisfying for Con. 

"You were my best friend." Ashton got out through gritted teeth. He was trying very hard to control his shaking voice. He continued, "She was my girlfriend. I loved you both. Why did you do this to me? You could have just told me you wanted Claire when I asked you, then this all would have been avoided."

Con didn't seem the least bit regretful of what he had done. Instead, he laughed at Ashton's tears and his words. 

"Everything was strategically planned." He explained to the boy who had considered him his best friend. "Claire would seduce you, marry you, and you would be stupid enough to put all your money in her possession in case of your death." Now Ashton knew why Claire had been so insisting when it came to Ashton's money. She had suggested that they would share the wealth, since she was her family's only heiress. And whoever would survive longer was to keep all the money. Ashton never suspected that she and Con were planning to kill him for his family's money. "This is the last phase of the plan." Con informed Ashton. "We kill you, and ransack your house to make it look like it was a random robbery and homicide. That leaves Claire as your widow, and she gets all your money."