We have started a cast! Woop woop! Picture of Ashling on the side xD
Daniel's POV
I left Hudson and Grace arguing about what movie they would watch. They could never agree on a movie, and Hudson rarely won the argument. Tonight it was between 'Saving Private Ryan' and 'Tangled'. From the sound of it, Hudson wouldn't be seeing Tom Hanks anytime soon.
I drove to a forest that was about five minutes away from my house. I always ran here because there was never anyone else around. It was such a peaceful spot, and in that moment, peace was all that I needed.
I did feel bad to leave Grace taking care of Hudson, even though she said she didn't mind. I owed so much to her; she was always there for us. Thanks to Hudson and me, she barely had a life, yet she never complained.
My cell phone buzzed in my pocket, and when I took it out the name 'Shaun' flashed up at me. However, I didn't really feel like talking to him so I switched off my phone and took out my iPod. Having turned up the volume as far as it would go, I took off full speed into the woods.
The thing about running is that it gives your mind so much to do. Sometimes this can be a good thing- maybe if something really great happened recently, your thoughts would be filled with this event, and you would really enjoy the run. But other times, all running does is give you an opportunity to reminisce about everything that went wrong in your life.
Not much good had happened to me lately, unfortunately. And on this particular run, I began to think of someone who had escaped my thoughts for a long time; Chelsea.
Chelsea was the only real girlfriend I'd ever had. Most girls at school bragged of relationships or one night stands with me, and I never bothered to deny the rumours. I didn't care about any of that high school rumour crap- I know what was important, thanks to Hudson. But if anyone ever bothered to ask me straight out, I would gladly tell them that Chelsea was the only girl I was ever with.
And honestly, I loved her. At least, I thought I did. I didn't really have anything to compare it to. I thought she loved me too... I was kind of embarrassed to admit it, to be honest. I never even said anything to Shaun about it. But anyway, Chelsea apparently didn't care much for me. The last time I had seen her, she was in bed with some other guy at my friend Josh's house party.
I ran until my legs ached and my lungs burned. I didn't want to go any further. All I could think about was Chelsea, and I knew I had to return soon anyway- I had left Grace and Hudson long enough. I turned around and started to run back. As I ran, I turned on my phone to find twelve missed calls and eighteen text messages from Shaun. I didn't bother to look where I was going because I knew the trail so well. But suddenly, I smashed into something so hard that it sent me tumbling. I grabbed onto a branch just before I would've hit the ground.
I looked up to see if I'd hit a tree or something, but instead I found a girl.
She was lying precariously on the edge of a huge, crater-like hole in the ground. Her eyes were shut. The first thing that struck me was how beautiful she was, even unconscious and covered in dirt. Her long black hair was pulled back into a ponytail and her face was pale. As I moved closer I could see blood seeping from a cut on her forehead.
"Shit," I muttered to myself, gently pulling her away from the massive hole. Why didn't I just watch where I was going? Because of me, this poor girl probably had a concussion.
As soon and I let her go, her eyes fluttered and opened before she let out a moan of pain. Her eyes were the prettiest blue eyes I'd ever seen.
The girl's expression turned from one of pain, to confusion, and eventually fear. I stopped in my tracks and bent down beside her. She shied away from me.
"Hey," I said gently. "I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to apologise for throwing you off the trail."
She regarded me cautiously, not saying a word.
"What's your name?" I asked, hoping she would respond.
"Ashling," she whispered, bringing her hand to her head and wincing in pain.
I swore. "Look, I really think you need to go to the hospital. Do you have a car?"
Ashling shook her head, which clearly caused even more pain. "No, I ran here."
"Then please let me drive you," I begged.
I could see her considering how wise it would be to let a complete stranger drive her somewhere while she was in this condition, but then again she was definitely hurt. She finally came to a decision. "Fine. But my cousin knows I'm here, if anything happens to me I swear he'll-"
"I won't hurt you," I repeated, amused. I stood up and offered her my hand but she flinched away.
"Don't touch me," she hissed.
I didn't say anything, but I didn't offer any more help as she picked herself up shakily. I searched for my phone and called Grace to tell her I'd be late as Ashling followed me to my car.
On the drive to the hospital, I asked Ashling several questions to make sure her brain wasn't damaged. She refused to answer any personal questions, so I resorted to general questions such as what day it was and who the president was. She answered everything correctly without hesitation.
Upon arriving at the hospital, I parked quickly and jumped out of the car to open Ashling's door. I noticed her shiver as she was still in her running gear in the cold night. I reached into the back seat to retrieve the jacket I knew I had in there. I was also in my running gear but I was too pumped up on adrenaline to feel the cold.
I shut the door and locked the car before offering my jacket to Ashling, who smiled in appreciation. But as she reached out for it under the streetlight, I saw several light scars on the inside of her wrist. She must've seen me staring, because she quickly snatched the jacket from me.
"Ashling..." I began.
"I don't want to talk about it," she said curtly, and when I looked at her face it was completely closed off.
Even though it bothered me a great deal, I let it go as we walked towards the entrance. I had this irritating compulsion to help people who clearly needed help. It came to a point when all I could think about was helping that person, and it drove me crazy until I did. But I had startled Ashling enough. It would only frighten her even more if I pushed this issue.
We entered the hospital and went straight to reception. The secretary was old and decrepit, and looked more like a patient in the hospital than someone working there. She also seemed completely bored. If she was unsatisfied with her job, why didn't she just retire? She was definitely old enough.
"Hello," the secretary greeted us.
"Hi, she had a bad fall and I think she might have a concussion," I told her, receiving a strange look as she took in my clothes.
After taking Ashling's details, we were directed towards the seating area.
It turns out that hospitals are very busy on a Friday night. I ended up waiting with Ashling for a full hour. No words were exchanged between us, although I did attempt to instigate a conversation a couple of times. I came to the conclusion that Ashling was just very shy, or maybe in shock. I wouldn't have known she'd said anything if she hadn't turned towards me with a questioning expression.
"I'm sorry, what?" I asked.
She allowed a smile. "I said, what's your name?"
She had such an intriguing accent. "Oh, sorry, did I not tell you? It's Daniel."
She nodded and turned away again. I heard her say my name to herself and I smiled. Then the realisation hit me that I had been gone for three whole hours, leaving Grace alone with Hudson for a total of nine hours, since they hadn't had school that day. I felt awful- that was completely unfair.
"Sorry for holding you up," Ashling said unexpectedly. "You must have so many things to do."
"Don't be ridiculous, it was completely my fault," I said dismissively. "If you don't mind me asking, where are you from? I can't place your accent."
She laughed. It was a fascinating tinkling sound. "I literally just moved here from Ireland this morning."
My eyes widened. "Wow. You must be so tired from all of the travelling. I honestly can't tell you how sorry I am."
She shrugged, smiling.
"How old are you? Are you starting school here?" I inquired.
"I'm sixteen, I'm starting at Oakland High on Monday."
"I go there!" I said excitedly, grinning.
"Maybe I'll see you there," she said, grinning too.
Grace and Hudson popped into my head again. "Look, Ashling, I'm really sorry to do this to you, but I have to get home soon. It's a family thing. I'll pay for everything, of course. Do you want me to call you a cab?" I stood up.
Her face was blank, shutting me out again. I felt sad, instantly regretting ruining the moment we had shared. "No, I'll call my cousin," she said.
I knew she'd be mad at me for pulling something like this, but I couldn't tell her about my brother. She'd be starting at my school next week, and the only person who knew there was Shaun.
I handed her some money. "I'm really sorry. I hope I'll see you on Monday."
No response.
When I got home, Hudson and Grace were asleep in the sitting room. I smiled. I'd love to leave them there, but Hudson couldn't stay in the chair all night.
I woke them up gently and put Hudson to bed before apologising profusely to Grace and explaining what happened with Ashling. She insisted that she didn't mind, but she seemed very interested in Ashling, as I was.
I went to bed soon after Grace left, and I dreamt of a black haired, blue eyed girl all night.
A/N: And now all the characters have met in some way! Yay!
I don't tend to post songs that have relevence to the story, just ones I was listening to while writing. But I suppose this one could kinda relate to Daniel while he's running? :P
Thank you for reading, and please vote and comment if you liked it! Or if you didn't like it. Or if you don't have an opinion. Anything's good with me <('-')>
Next upload is on THURSDAY, and it will be in.. I think Hudson's point of view. So you'll get to see his school xD And whether he has friends or not... (0.0)