Ashley's Asylum (3)

12 | Ashley's Asylum

He ruffled his hair and rubbed his eyes. His temper seemed to slither back from where it came and in its place was visible exhaustion; as if he hadn't slept since the day he was born.

Ashley could feel her heart beat in her chest, it made her feel sicker than ever. Her skin felt damp with anticipation and unease but other than that she was calm. "Not the right time to tell me what Michael?"

Michael shook his head. He was defiant and he'd lost his usual coolness.

"Michael" Elsie murmured. "There will never be a right time for this."

Michael bit the end of his thumb and chose to study the floor. Ashley could almost see his mind working furiously behind his eyes when suddenly, he broke out in a nervous smile. Something that made Ashley's calm shatter.

"That picture belongs to me" he murmured around his thumb before looking her dead in the eyes.

"We're related. You're my sister."

The silence after Michael's words came crashing down upon her like a wave of concrete. She leant all the way back into her chair until it rocked on the back legs. His words rolled over and over in her mind like a pair of socks in a tumble dryer. Sister?

"What?" she barely whispered. Ashley wasn't sure what she'd expected him to say but certainly not that. Never that. It had practically sucked all the air from her lungs.

"Half sister technically. Our mother was Ava Wilton but both our fathers were a no show. Wouldn't surprise you if you knew her."

Ashley's mouth gaped with words she couldn't form and so Michael continued, filling up the silence.

"You were put up for adoption young, she was afraid you'd be like me and couldn't cope with the idea."

She stared at him in a mixture of disbelief and anger. "My mum isn't Ava Wilton."

"Not to you" he finished promptly. "She used her maiden surname on your birth certificate before she changed it to Wilton for one of her 'fresh starts'. So to you, she was Angeline Holt. It's fate, Ashley. I found you by fate."

Ashley swallowed thickly, her heart beat drumming loudly in her ears. Her body tingled uncomfortably at the sound of her mother's name on Michael's lips. Before she could begin to process what was happening, Sam had his fists curled around the front of Michael's shirt.

"What is this Michael? Are you serious? Is this real?" he barked. His eyes were sparkling in the glare of the light and his hands were shaking where they gripped Michael's top so tightly.

Michael gave him a small bemused smile and it caused Sam to recoil. He released him and stared around the room startled; like he'd never seen it before. He looked at each of them too and when his eyes made contact with Ashley's, she saw how bewildered he was and an agony that she didn't understand.

Within seconds Sam turned, ripped open the door and was gone. His abrupt absence stirred the air and the open door gave way to the sight of stairs as he bounded up them and cleared them within a heartbeat.

Elsie hesitated before she hurried up the stairs after him as fast as humanly possible for a woman of her age.

Ashley watched her leave before her eyes drifted back to Michael. He didn't even turn to watch Sam leave. She regarded him cautiously like his very words were poison. They were poison. If he thought she was going to believe any of this for one second he had another thing coming.