A police escort out of the hospital would make anyone feel special. As soon as Ashley was discharged, SIO C.Johnson came to collect and whisk her down to the station. He tried to make polite conversation but there was a hostile barrier preventing any sincerity from entering his tone.
She endured a very long interview in which she was cross-examined by two of very intense officers. She could sense their suspicion, in fact, they made little attempt to hide it from her. It laced every question they asked her, probing for loopholes, trying for slip-ups but Ashley had had her time in the hospital to think it all over. Her statement of events was solid enough. Four days and five nights had been spent by her thinking long and hard about what she would and wouldn't tell the police. For the most part, she said the truth, but there were some things she altered and some she omitted entirely. It helped that they provided her with a representative who advised her on what questions she should and shouldn't respond to, although for the most part Ashley was glad to offer an answer. Total transparency was a form of innocence and she aimed to appear as upfront as possible.
It was hard going and induced one hell of a migraine, but for the most part, Ashley's story was foolproof. At no point did she stray so far from the truth that she'd stitch herself up and there was no mention of a lie detector test to challenge her. By the end of the interview, Ashley felt believed, or at least more so than she had feared when she was stood in the middle of a wood, with a hostage tending to one serial killer, whilst another was tied up like a prized buck in a stolen car. She cried frequently throughout the interrogation, out of embarrassment, grief and the constant overwhelming relief that she wasn't with them anymore. Unbeknownst to the officers, she felt the most anguish when she reflected upon the reality that her freedom could be lost again in the near future.
In truth Ashley could have spent a lot longer at the station, a place even Michael wasn't mad enough to infiltrate.
The media awaited her outside the station when she was eventually released. Camera's flashed aggressively from all angles, every snap felt like a violation and made violent thoughts stir up inside her. They all shouted over one another, pushing and shoving like cattle, belting out obscene questions in an attempt to snare a bite out of her. She tried to remember they were just reporters looking for the best angles on a hot story but every question hit her deep and it aroused a poisonous resentment in her towards their well-groomed faces.
These bottom feeders wanted to see her squirm, they wanted her anguish and her trauma to be captured on camera for the whole world to see. How would they paint her to their avid watchers, as the serial killer's sister, a tragic victim or an accessory to Hanz and Wilton's recent crimes? Some of them seemed to think she had been violated, those questions were the worst. It was all over rather quickly as she sunk into the back seat of the car, shielded by officers who pushed the reporters and their cameras back but it hadn't ended quick enough. They made her feel dirty.
Her body sunk down in the seat, but her spirit sunk down much further, weighted by the insensitive questions thrown at her and the answers only she knew. Were you raped like the other victims? Are you a suspect in the escape of the Casanovas? Did you know Michael Wilton was your half brother? Any comment to the families of the girls they've killed?
The officers mumbled apologies but the damage was already done. The police didn't suspect her as deeply as she'd feared but that feeling wasn't reflected by the public. She was a freak show and no matter how fast they drove for her home, it couldn't alter the fact those people knew where she lived. Ashley prayed they wouldn't do this outside her home. Hadn't she been through enough without these headline sharks chasing after her? Still, it was better to be stalked by journalists then certain others, or at least that's what she hoped.
As soon as she stepped through the front door, the officers assured her there would be a watch car placed out front to give her peace of mind and deflect any unwanted visitors. Ashley told them she was grateful and slowly closed the door. She slotted the chub lock in place before she slumped against the wood. The interrogation had revealed the level of evidence they held against her and it was not enough to convict nor implicate her in Michael and Sam's escape or the recent murders committed by them. This meant they had been relying on discrepancies in her recollection of events but it was too bad for them that Ashley's version of events didn't slot into the criminal mould they'd made for her. So far it was all words and words wouldn't make a case in court. This knowledge brought relief, however small, to her.
Ashley hadn't divulged that Michael was potentially coming back for her only that she feared he would which was understandable, the police feared he would too. That was partly the reason they placed the watch car outside, the other purpose was to watch her.
Ashley pressed her forehead into the cool wood, feeling the full weight of her exhaustion now she was back in her own home. It was still surreal. She pressed her head hard against the door before pushing off. The scrape of shoes on the hallway floor had alerted her to someone's presence. When she turned, Karl was one of the last people she expected to see.
"You're back."
Ashley took a moment to gather up her voice.
"Yeah, I'm back."
They hovered in the quiet. Two people who thought they would never see one another again. It hadn't been long but it felt like an eternity since Ashley had last laid eyes on him. Karl opened his arms, silently asking permission to approach and hold her. The simplicity of being asked whether or not she wanted physical contact was soothing. She nodded subtly and he moved towards her.
Gently and ever so slowly Karl's arms wrapped around Ashley and pulled her against his chest. As she stood with half her face pressed against the cotton of his t-shirt, she noted the smell of his Calvin Klein aftershave and the tremble of his body beneath her. She closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. Ashley had been holding her breath until that moment.
She felt lips press against the top of her head and jolted instinctually.
His hold tightened and her immediate response was to push him away but as her hands slid in between her chest and his to create a barrier, his chest began to shudder. Ashley's body turned ridged at the wretched sound of male crying, it was a low and throaty noise that brought back even worse memories.
When she felt lips press against her head, they didn't belong to Karl, not in her mind, nor did the low sobs. Within seconds he had brought bad memories between them and Ashley had never felt more distant.
"I'm so sorry," he mumbled into her hair. "You needed me, and I wasn't there."
She could hear the devastation in his voice. He had been dealing with the other side of this ordeal, the helplessness of not being able to do anything, the guilt and it was why she felt obliged to hold Karl back, but Ashley didn't want to deal with the grief of others when she was still battling her own. Frankly, she didn't want to be touched at all now. It took this short moment of contact to realise that all she wanted was to be alone. Being back home had turned into a sensory overload with all the people, interviews and the questions. It was too much too soon. She couldn't bear to see another expression caught halfway between pity and doubt.
Her eyes closed when her mind returned to the biscuit scented room at the station, where she had to stand in her underwear while they took photos of her injuries. The process made her feel vulnerable all over again. When she looked into the eyes of the officials taking photographs, their eyes were screens to their inner thoughts. 'How could she go through that entire ordeal without being sexually assaulted'. Those looks made her feel obligated at the time to undergo the procedure reserved for victims of sexual assault to prove that she wasn't lying.
Now she felt obligated to hold Karl back.
When Ashley opened her eyes, Ben and Kate were standing in the doorway watching. Ben saw something in her eyes that no one else did.
"Do you need some space?"
Ashley nodded hastily and avoided Karl's gaze. She didn't want to hurt his feelings but equally didn't give a damn about emotional reunions. Ashley just needed to be alone and so detached herself from Karl with a no doubt hurtful eagerness. With a brief half-smile, she ran up the stairs to escape to her bedroom. That's where she stayed for four days. Waiting.
At some point during that time she overheard Kate talking to someone downstairs on the phone about her behaviour. Anxiety, depression and withdrawing from people were all symptoms of trauma it was discussed and apparently, Ashley was showing all three behaviours. The point of Kate's conversation centred around finding a way to reach Ashley and help her, so she didn't feel bitter about being talked about in fact she felt a little guilty. Hearing Kate worry about her highlighted things she hadn't even thought about. There was no surprise surrounding her behaviour, Kate simply seemed devastated that Ashley wasn't looking after herself nor confiding in her.
Ashley knew she wasn't traumatised, no, she was preoccupied with bigger things. Ashley didn't have time to be traumatised. She paced or sat all day imagining all the ways they could get into her house and all the terrible things they could do to everyone inside, then she went around the house checking all the windows and locks. She did this periodically throughout the day and the night. Kate thought she was paranoid, Ashley knew she was preparing for what she felt was inevitable. Michael (if not Sam as well) would return to take her away and she couldn't make it easy. She was focused on day 14, she didn't have time to worry about other things.
On the evening of the eleventh day, Ashley took further action. She snuck down into the garage and rummaged around for a weapon in her Uncles toolbox until she found a mallet. For a makeshift weapon, it was too close combat for her liking, but it was better than having nothing. Landing one hit on the head or kneecaps with this would give her enough time to escape. A knife had been her first thought but after consideration, she believed it would be too obvious and they'd be prepared for it.
She practised a few one-handed swings and growled in frustration. She felt weak with one hand out of action, like a wounded animal trying to avoid the hunters gun. She swung the mallet again and heard the scrape of slippers upon the floor. She looked up to see Kate standing in the utility doorway that led into the garage.
Ashley glanced down, embarrassed to be caught scavenging for weapons. Her good hand holding the mallet dropped down by her side.
"It's..." she paused and bit her lip. "It's just in case y'know."
Kate's lips thinned into a tight line. She looked at her adopted daughter, so pale and sickly and wrought with fear but there wasn't a thing she could do about it. Kate shook her head. It broke her heart.
"No, no I don't know" She murmured with a quaking voice.
Ashley looked up to witness Kate's eyes fill with tears.
Kate wrapped her arms around her middle, hugging herself. "I wish I did. I wish I knew so that I could help you. But if having that mallet makes you feel better you take it."
Ashley looked away. "They might come back" she mumbled lowly.
"They're not coming back, Ashley. It's too risky" Kate exclaimed in exasperation. "There are police stationed outside, the house is locked down, you made sure of that. They can't get to you here."
Ashley held up her hands to stop her Aunt. "You have no idea what you're talking about! They murdered three armed officers who had the advantage of surprise. Sam killed one of them with a kitchen knife, I saw it, I watched him do it" Ashley exclaimed, her body tense with the memory. "That day, they escaped a secure facility with guards and protocols and cells and security doors with a sharpened butter knife. If you really, really want to know, they wouldn't have to exert even a quarter of that effort to get into this house and kill us both."
They stood in silence. Kate swallowed loudly, her eyes still shimmering as she digested Ashley's words. Ashley's chest was rising and falling rapidly from her burst of verbal panic. She quickly regretted telling her aunt all that until Kate gestured with her head to Bens tool bench.
"Got another hammer over there?"
Ashley blinked in surprise before an uncertain smile found its way onto her lips.
"Yeah, sure."
Kate nodded before holding her hand out. "Well, best give it here. They could have escaped from Azkaban with a bloody pencil for all I care, but they haven't met your old Aunt Kate." She smiled weakly. "You just leave it to me."
Ashley's eyes softened as they regarded the woman who had taken on the enormous task of being her mother. Kate deserved better, and Ashley hoped with all her heart that no harm would come to her. She shuffled over and planted herself against Kate, holding her close with a cheek pressed into her shoulder. Deep down she knew there was nothing she could do to protect Kate from the danger coming and the pain of that knowledge scolded her throat.
That night Kate persuaded Ashley to take some of the medication prescribed by the hospital. There were tablets for depression, anxiety and a few large, highly addictive sleeping capsules. Ashley didn't want to take any of them. She wasn't depressed, she was at war, and she had all the right in the world to be anxious! As for sleeping, Ashley hadn't had more than a couple of hours sleep a night since she'd left the hospital. She was too much of a deep sleeper to leave herself vulnerable like that. Kate insisted that if Ashley took the sleeping capsule, she would feel a thousand times better. She even offered Ashley to sleep in her bed and though it might seem strange that was enough to persuade her.
Ashley laid upon her Uncle's side of the bed with her body facing Kate. The house was quiet apart from the muffled sound of the television playing downstairs from where Ben had kindly offered to sleep on the sofa.
Kate smiled and the action made her crows feet more pronounced. Her hand gently came to rest on the side of Ashley's face. "I never thought I'd see you with short hair again" she whispered, "it suits you."
She tucked all the free strands of Ashley's hair behind her ear and smiled again. "My beautiful girl. Get some rest, I've got my trusty kindle so I'll be plenty occupied."
Ashley smiled back at her aunt before she closed her eyes surrounded by the safe smells of her guardians and comforted by the gentle strokes of Kate's hand upon her hair.
***
With a foggy mind, Ashley lifted her head up off of the pillow and gave her surroundings a swift glance. She must have only been in a light sleep because a noise had woken her, or at least, she thought she'd heard a noise. She was jumpy so she could easily have shocked herself awake. So much for sleeping tablets.
Hearing nothing else she laid back down. It must have been her imagination. She pulled her quilt up over her shoulders and tucked it under her chin with a sleepy sigh.
Her ears pricked as she heard a creak in the hallway. Slowly, she reopened her eyes and listened a little more intently this time. She didn't want to cause a commotion just because her nerves were on edge. Slowly she pushed the covers back and eased herself out of bed. She glanced over her shoulder to see Kate wasn't lying beside her. Panic shot through her before she forced herself to be rational, perhaps Kate was in the bathroom. Ashley searched for her mallet and found that it was missing too. She regarded her surroundings with a new layer of suspicion.
Rolling one aching shoulder as she went, Ashley sucked in a deep breath to prepare herself for whatever lurked beyond the boundaries of the bedroom. Quietly, she padded barefoot out onto the landing and looked towards the bathroom. Even though it was dark she detected no movement. She was tempted to turn on the lights but didn't dare succumb. Slipping into her own bedroom she reached the window and peered out at the watch car. It was there but on closer inspection, she couldn't see anyone in the front seats.
Ashley turned her back on the window as her bedroom door swung shut. Her eyes grew wide as Michael smirked back at her in the dark. His sleeves were rolled up, the icy pallor of his skin contrasting dramatically with the dark liquid staining his hands.
Ashley's throat swelled shut at the sight of him, sheer terror devouring her heart.
"Did you honestly think I'd wait till day 14?" he crooned, his eyes glinting like knives. "Everyone is dead Ashley. Sam, Karl, Kate and Ben. Even those reporters outside the station. Everyone who's ever done us wrong, I've killed them all. I went and killed the world for you. It's just us now."
Ashley shook her head stiffly. She could scarcely function. "No Michael" she barely breathed out, the sense of devastation like a rock in her chest.
"Say you love me" he commanded, moving towards her. "No one is here to judge us now, you can say it. Say you love me." He reached out and grabbed her by the arms.
She shook her head, a sob rising up from deep inside. "No" she whimpered, her tears making rivers on her cheeks. "I hate you! You've wrecked everything"
Michael's face turned dispassionate. "But you wanted this, you came to me, you wanted me" he snarled. He shoved her away and she fell back onto the bed.
She shook her head, unable to form words anymore. It was as if a rock was lodged in her throat.
"You hate me?" he exclaimed darkly, each word he uttered dipped in venom. "I'll give you something to hate!"
He fell upon her, his clawed hands ripping viciously at her nightwear. The material fell apart for him like wet tissue paper. He kept on clawing until blood smeared across her skin from his grabbing hands and she didn't know if it belonged to her or everyone else. She felt his knees, one forced between her thighs to keep them from squeezing shut, the other to steady his balance on the bed. He couldn't do this to her. He couldn't do this! She screamed out for help, screamed out into the empty world for anyone to help her. Even with all her might, she was weak against him. So weak and helpless.
"Ashley! Ashley for goodness sake!"
Ashley screamed again, hitting out against his attempts to pin her down.
"Ashley! It's okay, you're safe! It's me, you're safe," came a desperate cry.
She opened her eyes, even though she could have sworn they were already open and saw Kate on her knees above her. Ashley slowed down in her rebelling and looked around in a daze. The bedroom light was on, Uncle Ben stood in the bedroom doorway looking out of breath and equally dazed. Ashley realised she was wrestling with Kate and relaxed her arms in shock.
Kate let out a long sigh of relief before she placed a hand on Ashley's sweating forehead. "It was just a dream sweetheart. You're okay" she said breathlessly.
Ashley felt tears bunch up in her eyes and she turned to bury her face in her pillow. She was overwhelmed with embarrassment. Even though it was a dream she couldn't stop herself from trembling, remnants of its realness still clinging to her. A reassuring hand came to rest upon her shoulder blades.
This is why she couldn't sleep.
It was 5.09am. Only three days left.