Opposites Attract

Chapter Twenty Five

Ashley's POV

A hear a shot fire and I look up; a sick feeling washes over me when I realise it must've hit someone. Looking around, things around me drifts almost like slow motion and I see my dad fall to the ground and watch as he tells me to get back in the truck. I see his shirt stain red and immediately, a scream falls from my mouth. I look over at the tall man, the one who started all of this smirk and turn around, walking off. I feel anger rush through me and I rip the gun out of Julian's hands and fire at the man.

"Hey!" I yell through the tears and he turns around and I fire again, and again. I feel the gun kick back and see the man fall to the ground, I hear about four other trucks pull up to the scene and I drop the gun to the ground, once I see the men who my father work with rush over to him and cuff him, I begin to bawl.

Rushing over to where my dad is lying, I rest my head on his chest.

"Dad, dad, just stay awake. You're going to be okay." I look into his deep blue eyes and see the color start to dim.

"I don't think I'm gonna make it out of this one, sweetheart." He manages to push my hair back behind my ear and cups my cheek in his rough hand.

"Yeah, yeah you will. You have to dad. You're gonna be fine. You and mom and me, together? You're gonna stay with us, you have to dad. Please!" I cry out, pleading him to stay with me.

"Ashley." He whispers, I hear sirens from down the street and focus into what my dad was saying.

"Yes?" With my chest pounding, I think of a world without him in it.

"I love you. You're the perfect daughter. Tell your mother and brother that I love them." Once he let his breath go, I hear him wheeze. His eyes shut and I grab onto his shirt, shaking him as hard as I could.

"No!" I scream, Julian wraps his arms around me and holds me, I fight away from his grasp and grab onto my dad once again.

"No!" I yell over and over, this has to be some sort of dream. It just has to be... My dad isn't going anywhere, he can't. Julian grabs me as I see the medics push me away and try their best to bring my dad back to life. They rush him off of the scene quickly and I stay standing, watching him be taken away.

"He is gone." I hear one of the nurses say to the other. I scream falls from my mouth again and I shake with tears.

"Come here." A woman, Julie, a girl that my dad works with takes me into her embrace and I don't move my arms from my side.

"Shh, calm down honey. I know, I know, it's sad. Just calm down." She speaks, I watch while they put him into the vehicle and someone grabs me and puts me in the back of another ambulance. Silent tears fall from my eyes as we drive away.

Nothing matters.

Nothing.

It felt like only short minutes and the doors opened, revealing a small team of medics with a wheelchair. Once they begin to wheel me inside of the hospital, I keep my eyes down at the ground, seeing each line that breaks the sidewalk into wide squares. I swallow once, he isn't here anymore. I think of all the memories between me and my dad since I was adopted.

Thinking back to when I first arrived, he spoke so soft to me, showing me around the house. And telling me that no matter what, I am going to be alright. And that I am safe now and I wasn't going anywhere. I needed to hear those words back then, but now? I wish they would've worked on my dad.

Now he's gone. It should've been me. My dad was an amazing person, no one could amount to how he gracefully managed to take care of his family, while managing his career. He believed in the best in people, he was too good to go. Not like this. He died because of me, he died because of who I am. I look down at my nail polish, I see what little is left on each nail and I shut my eyes, accepting the numbness.

I open them again to see a team of nurses around me, the light above my head was bright and a woman looked down and told me to count backwards from ten. I tried to speak, but my throat was dry and hoarse.

"Ten, nine... Eight... Seven-six, five. Four..." Soon enough darkness falls around me.