My eyes flutter open and my ears are filled with the sound of Ashton on the piano in his living room. I throw my legs out of the bed and my feet hit the cold wooden floor, I walk into the living area and spot Ashtons figure, his hairs messy, eyes puffy like he'd been crying and his fingers hover over the keys "Ash?" I ask, his red eyes turn to meet mine. He has been crying "Are you okay?" I walk towards him but he doesn't speak a word. He turns back to the piano and presses the keys, creating a melody with its music. He parts his lips and hums the words
"So I drown it out"
His voice becomes louder, the words he's singing become more evident
"Like I always do"
A tear falls from his eye and lands on the instrument
"Dancing through our house"
My heart begins to race, sweat balls up on my forehead.
"With the ghost of you"
I look at my hands, now covered in blood. My legs are bloody and bruised. My clothes torn and my breathing begins to fall unsteady
"And I chase it down"
The lights begin to flicker, Ashtons figure still sitting at the piano. Tears streaming down his soft face
"With a shot of truth"
My head begins to spin and my body falls numb
"Dancing through our house"
Ashtons voice echos through my mind, growing more distant with every word. My eyes grow heavy and everything turns black
"With the ghost of you.."
I jolt awake, my body shaking. I look to my side and see Ashtons sleeping figure beside me. "Ashton" I say, shaking him softly "Ashton wake up" His sleepy eyes flutter open and quickly flash over with worry "Britney, Whats wrong?" He sits up and takes my hand, rubbing his thumb across the back of it "I had a dream" I say, trying to control my breathing "We were- we were here and you, you were crying an-and singing this song" I choke out, sweat dripping down my forehead "What song?" He questions, trying to calm me down "I-I don't know. You were sitting at the piano. I was covered in blood, I-" Ashton cuts me off "Shhh, It's okay. I'm here. You're okay" He wraps his arms around me and traces circles on my back. I cry into his chest, scared of what just happened "Britney, I think you should talk to someone about these dreams and things you've been having. I'm worried" He speaks, softly and unsure. I nod my head into his bare chest before drifting back off to sleep
"Hey guys" I smile, walking into the little cafe and walking towards the table where Starla, Abbie, Miriam, Connie and Alyssa sit. Wait, Connie and Alyssa are here? They haven't spoken since they found out about the funny business with Calum. At Least that's what I thought. "Heyyy" The girls all sing in unison. I give Starla a confused look, looking back between her and the 2 girls sitting across from her. She gets the message and mouths 'I'll explain later' I nod and take a seat beside Abbie. "Have you guys ordered?" I ask, Miriam shakes her head "We were waiting for you" She smiles, I awh at them. Earning a glare from Starla. "Can I take your order?" A young blonde girl asks, her name tag reads 'Trainee' I flash her a smile and look to the other girls "I'll take a straight black, large please" Starla responds "A hot chocolate with whipped cream" Miriam smiles to the shy girl "An iced coffee, with cream too" Abbie smiles "I'll have an iced mocha please" I reply, looking to the girl. She scribbles the words onto her notepad "A banana smoothie please" Alyssa speaks up, looking up from her phone "Make that 2" Connie says with a bright smile "Is that all?" The young girl asks, we nod our heads and she walks away "You good Star?" I ask, as I notice her head buried in her phone. Which is unlike her when she's with us. "Oh uh yeah" She says, flashing me a fake smile and placing her phone down on the table. I'm not stupid, I know somethings wrong but I don't push it. "I need you guys help with something" Miriam speaks up, pulling a large sketch book out of her bag. She places it on the table and opens it up. The pages are full of sketches of different outfits and magazine clippings "Woah" Abbie says, saying what we are all thinking. She stops on a page with images of button up shirts and skinny jeans. "The boys have a shoot this weekend, for the album cover. They've said the covers going to have some pretty intense colouring so I'm trying to dress them accordingly. I'm just stuck on these now" I look at the section of the page titled 'Ashton' she has images of black leather jeans, button up shirts and trench coats. I point to an outfit, a striped button up shirt and black denim jeans "I like that one, for Ashton" She smiles at me "I was thinking the same" She circles the outfit "And Calum?" Connie and Alyssa look to each other before dropping their heads. I hate seeing them like this. "The leather jacket" I reply with a smile "Cool cool"
I sit on Starlas bed, legs crossed upon her fitted sheets "Is everything okay?" I ask, her eyes seem heavy. Like she hasn't been sleeping "Yeah I'm fine" She replies, not bothering to meet my gaze "I'm not stupid Starla, I've known you for almost my whole life. I know somethings wrong. What is it?" She sighs, sitting down on the bed "You can't say anything to anyone. Especially Luke" She says, playing with the hem of her grey sweater "Okay" I nod slowly "I've been having these weird dreams and delusions. I see blood and I hear voices. Almost like a hospital. The weirdest things trigger it too. Like I was at this thrift store with Luke the other day and saw this Led Zeppelin shirt and I saw you.. You were wearing the shirt and we were in a car. And it crashed and I'm scared" She buries her head into her hands, confusion washes over me as it clicks. I've been having the same delusions "Star.. I've been having the same problem" I trail off, confused as to what's going on "Wh-what?" She looks to me, just as confused as I am. I nod my head "Ashton gave me a Led Zeppelin shirt the other day and it triggered something like that and in the hospital the other day I saw myself lying in the bed.. connected to all these machines" She looks at me, almost as if she's scared "What the fuck"
