EGL // lashton

fifty two

Goodbye was never an option, so please come back to say hello.

It was simple. One sentence on a scrunched up note that seemed to have been kept in a pocket for a long time. The letters were the same though, written in a crooked yet perfect kind of way that Ashton only could recognize as Luke.

None other than Luke was able to use such simple words from the English vocabulary and create something so extremely poetic. Something so beautiful. Something so.. hopeful.

And yet it had been kept away from Ashton for too long.

"You knew. You fucking knew and you didn't tell me" Ashton spoke up, his voice raspy since he hadn't spoken in hours. Michael had given him news too big to comprehend, and after hours of analyzing back and forth, Ashton still didn't understand a fucking thing.

"I didn't know" Michael mumbled in a frustrated way while running a hand through his tangled hair. A cold wet towel was still hanging over his shoulders after cleaning the long and deep scratch marks that covered his throat and chest.

"You had the fucking note" Ashton spoke through gritted teeth, his eyes avoiding Michael as stubbornly as he could.

"So what?" Michael snapped. There were so many emotions going on all at once and Ashton was patiently waiting for one of them to burst. Ever since Michael had worded out the unbelievable news about Luke it had grown tense between him and Ashton. All the emotions and feelings between them made everything worse than it had to be.

"I found the fucking envelope and that's it. I didn't know shit about any of this. I still thought Luke was dead, just like everyone else. Ty kept us all in the dark about this. You're not the only victim"

Ashton wanted to laugh in anger at the way Michael tried to make himself as innocent as possible, but Michael was just as much of a cold blooded criminal as Ashton was. There was no way either one of them could become so called 'victims'.

"Then why the fuck did you carry the note around? Was it in the envelope? Did you try to fucking hide it or something?" Ashton snapped, not leaving Michael any time to answer a question before asking a new one. He was desperate for answers. Desperate to know everything about Luke.

Michael rolled his eyes and looked at Ashton with an irritated expression.

"I didn't hide it," Michael mumbled and huffed out a breath, "I just thought I'd keep it until I realized what the fuck I was about to tell you. This shit is fucked up Ash, and I have no idea if it's real or not. Now when Ty isn't here to confirm it we don't know if this is really happening or if this is just someone else trying to get to you"

Ashton sat still on the bed, half his face lit up by the enormous moon on the night sky, trying his best to ignore what Michael had just said. Ashton knew that could easily be the case. Luke had been proven to be dead, so this could easily be someone trying to play with Ashton's mind.

Luke had always been the major use in getting Ashton's attention, either if Luke was dead or alive, that would work. But at this moment Ashton didn't care. He had a choice; either he went and got to see Luke's pretty face again, or he'd walk right in the trap and die while hope was the only thing making his heart beat.

"I just," Michael continued, a sigh leaving his lips as he ran a hand over his face in exhaustion, "I've saved your life about 4 times in the last 6 weeks. I'm kind of trying to keep you alive for the 5th time now"

Ashton sighed, finally turning to look at his friend who was seated in the doorway, his back against the wall as he glanced out to the beach. "I won't stay, Mike. There's no way in hell I won't go to Luke, whether he's there or not"