Ashley came around with a start. One moment she was in darkness and within the next, pain elapsed upon her head like an explosion. Her eyelids flickered as she struggled to open them. Immediately she was aware of the wrongness of the situation but she could barely hold onto that thought through the pain.
Her body felt heavy and seemed uncooperative, even moving her head was difficult. She did her best to look up but ended up with her head lolling back onto something hard and uncomfortable.
Even though she was still, everything was spinning. It was like being mid-way between drunk and devastatingly hung over. What on earth had happened?
"Awake are we?"
Ashley jumped in her seat at the unexpected intrusion of noise. It took a great deal of strength and a few failed attempts for her to successfully lift her head up and look in the general direction of the voice.
"What, What's wrong with me?" She slurred.
She took in a blurred figure at first sight, but after a few stinging blinks her eyes settled on someone that made the state she was in so much worse.
Michael leant down just in front of her and rested his hands on his knees. He smiled ruefully at her.
"Trying to escape while we weren't around as if I would leave you somewhere unsafe. Ashley, don't you know me at all?"
Ashley felt anger sear in her chest. She couldn't remember exactly, but somehow she knew that her condition was entirely Michael's fault, him and that blonde jerk.
Her fingers twitched hopelessly by her sides as she lightly brushed the sides of the chair she was seated upon. It hurt to look around but she did it anyway in an attempt to gather her bearings.
A door behind Michael opened and two figures slipped in before closing it quietly behind. The slightest noise hurt Ashley's ears but as she flinched at the door closing, she noticed that movement was coming back to her limbs in a painfully slow manner.
"Feeling like shit?" Sam mused from somewhere behind Michael. "Elsie put a little something in your food. Apparently, she could smell the hostility on you as soon as you woke up, even after she made you a cup of tea."
Ashley could tell he thought the whole thing was a hoot, but the mentioning of Elsie's name triggered a memory or two within her. She looked down into her lap and slowly managed to lift her arms to cradle her head in her hands as Sam rambled off a few more sardonic remarks.
She remembered searching for something, according to Michael she was trying to escape but there were blotches of her memory gone. Elsie's name had triggered a memory, though, something bizarre, something that made no sense.
Slowly she looked up at Michael and caught him watching her diligently.
"The picture" she murmured, causing Sam to pause mid sentence. "Why does Elsie have the picture?"
Michael's expression took a noticeable turn as he shot a look over his shoulder at Elsie, who looked intensely frail beside Sam. When he turned back, he smiled but it was frigid.
"You're not making any sense Ashley."
Ashley rubbed her face with both hands in an attempt to wipe away the cobwebs of drowsiness.
"The picture" she snapped, trying to break through the slur caused by the drugs. "My picture, a picture of me."
Michael took a seat opposite her. The room was empty, aside from the chair he'd chosen, an old bunk bed on the far wall and a bare light bulb. The walls were poorly plastered and the carpet on the floor was tough and old. It looked like the remnants of a long since abandoned bedroom. There was no natural light, though, were they in a basement?
Michael maintained eye contact with her while he sat and then he simply shrugged off the question. "A hallucination I imagine, it is a common side effect caused by the drug in your system so it would be nothing out of the ordinary if you did see something unusual."
That made sense, Elsie having a picture of her particularly that one wasn't possible but why had Ashley hallucinated that picture and in such detail.
Michael looked as collected as ever, like a carefully carved monument of ice. Ashley glanced over his shoulder to glare at Sam and Elsie who stood by the door. She couldn't believe that Witch had drugged her. Sam was smiling, still amused most likely by her state but Elsie was the one who made Ashley's hair stand on end even in her drug drunk state. She looked nervous, Ashley could see her trembling from across the room. When they made eye contact Elsie shook her head ever so slightly.
Ashley looked back to Michael and within a moment his expression darkened. He was lying and he knew she wasn't fooled.
"No. There was a picture. I held it, I saw it."
"It was a hallucination Ashley. There was no picture, you were drugged, do you understand?"
Ashley took a long shaky breath. "Why? Why does Elsie have a picture of me?"
Michael shook his head but his face was a storm cloud. "Why would anyone here have a picture of you? You're not making any sense."
Ashley looked back at Elsie and watched the old woman crumble under her gaze. Her eyes flicked back to Michael and she studied his expression warily. Every inch of her felt rotten, but she could think and focus more with every passing second.
"What's going on?"
"Yeah, what is going on?" Sam piped up from behind. Any mirth had gone and in its place was a scowl. Ashley wasn't the only one who had clocked Elsie's unease and it appeared Sam was just as clueless as she was and disliked the fact even more.
Michael closed his eyes and took a deep breath himself. Ashley watched him with aching eyes, not knowing who she should be watching more for answers. Elsie was covering her mouth with a wrinkled hand and watching Michael. Sam was hot on Michael too, waiting for an explanation. They were all staring at him.
Sam was the first to grow impatient with the tense silence. "What's this picture she's on about?"
Michael sighed irritably and glared up at the ceiling. "Don't you start. There is no picture."
"Don't lie to me, Michael."
Micheal twisted to look at Sam. "You're going to listen to someone high on 'forget me' over me?"
Sam and Michael stared at one another the way they always seemed to. Sam caught Ashley's eye.
"What's in this picture?"
"It was taken after I was born. My mum's in a hospital bed with me in her arms."
Michael cast his eyes to the side. "You need to forget about it, you saw nothing"
Sam, Ashley and Elsie instantly began talking all at once.
"Michael what are you saying?"
"What is going on?!"
"Michael you can't, not tell-"
Micheal let out a frustrated snarl. "Shut up! Just shut up!"
Everyone fell silent. He glared at each of them angrily his temper flaring up from nowhere.
"I don't have to tell you anything!" he snapped before looking directly at Ashley. "This isn't the right time."
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.
"Sam may be fooled but I know this is some kind of sick mind game." She was pleased to hear herself sound clearer.
Michael clasped his hands together in his lap and shook his head slowly. "No game Ashley. Why else would I have the same picture as you?"
She didn't have an answer to that.
He regarded her carefully before beginning again. "You were with me until you were four then she gave you away. You remember her because she visited. I wasn't allowed to see you after a while which is probably why you don't remember me. You must have been nearly 7 when she died. After that you were adopted by the family you were staying with judging by your surname."
Ashley responded with a hostile silence. No matter what he said, it was a lie. He was intelligent, it wouldn't take someone like him a heartbeat to think of something like this. Whatever the motive, he had researched her. That's why he knew things. Despite thinking that like a mantra her skin tingled horribly; like something awful was surfacing in front of her, a monster that shouldn't be real but it was right there.
"You've got her looks. Her hair, her shape and especially her eyes." He smiled briefly before looking down at his hands. "She's dead because of me" he murmured, his expression turning hollow. "You could have come home. She kept promising that eventually, you could come home, but she was never going to bring you back. After everything that happened, I never thought I'd see you again..."
Ashley shook her head fiercely. "I had a mum and a dad. They were busy so I stayed with family. They were in an accident, she died."
"No accident and no dad. Only her and me Ashley." Michael looked up again. "and I killed her."
"Why are you doing this?" She glared fiercely at him, unable to believe after everything that had happened to her there was still more. What had she done to deserve this?
"I'm telling you the truth Ashley. When I saw your C.V, I was looking for anyone who slotted into the profile I'd created, anyone that could have provided us cover when escaping. I'd planned it all along but when I saw your picture I knew. I knew it was you, how could I ever forget? It was fate, we were meant to find each other again."
"You're wrong Michael. You've made a mistake. I am not who you think I am. You've deluded yourself somehow"
Michael stood up angrily. "You think I'd make a mistake?"
Ashley jumped in her seat at the sudden flare of anger. He shook his head at her in something that resembled disgust before turning around to face the door.
"You think I would just mistake you for anyone? I was there for you every second of every hour of every day. I picked your clothes, I read you bedtime stories and I was the one who checked under your bed for monsters. It was me! You were mine! The only thing I ever cared about was you."
He turned back around and Ashley hated the earnest expression she saw on his face.
"I know who you are better than you do."
Ashley stared hard into his eyes and searched for a slither of deceit; anything to give her reason not to believe him. How had things turned out like this? She didn't want to believe him. Even as tears had slowly filled her eyes to the brim she held her breath to stop herself from crying out. His words had created a pain like no other in her chest. She couldn't take anymore, lying about her mother's death as if it wasn't painful enough, confusing her with his crazy talk.
"You're lying" she barely whispered. It was all she could say against the life story he was spinning. Ashley could barely breathe, her mind was running away with his words, creating spaces for them in her life. Her memories seemed fuzzy and pale in comparison to his very firm account. Ashley should know her own history, her own beginning and yet she struggled to find a single relevant memory that disproved him.
"I saw my mum, she was dead. I saw her, she was attacked and that's why she and dad couldn't take me home."
Michael shook his head. "You shouldn't have seen her after what happened but just stop with the father thing" he tapped his temple. "Your father's all up here Ashley. A false memory to fill an empty void, you were told Ava was dead and you may have seen her but there never was a father. He was never around. Tell me one thing about this father's appearance that you can truthfully remember?"
Ashley could barely hold back the ache in her chest, she couldn't even see through the tears in her eyes. He was wrong. He had to be wrong.
"- Dark hair, his eyes were..." she trailed off as she looked into Michael's pale eyes.. "-The, the picture"
"It's me, Ashley, the person at the edge of the photo is me. Just stop and think for a minute," he exclaimed, suddenly pulling the crumbled picture out of his jean pocket and hitting it with his finger. "I might as well have been your father. I could have looked after you better than any of them, I did until she gave you away. You weren't hers to give away, not really."
"No. You're wrong. My mum was away, she was busy and my dad-"
"No, you're wrong! Why didn't this so called father look after you after your mum died, huh?"
Ashley was practically choking on her tears she could barely get her words out. "Aunt Kate said he couldn't look after me-"
"That's because he was fucking sixteen and on the run! It was me, Ashley, you remember me! The father you remember is your big brother! Why can't you see that, why can't you believe me!"
Ashley leant down and cried into her lap. Painful sobs racked her entire body as she tried to think of anything to prove he was nothing but a liar but all she could hear was his voice echoing over and over in her head. Memories of her mother's icy wrist with the tan line flickered against features she remembers about her and about him. Dark hair and intelligent grey eyes. She knew as soon as she thought it that Michael's most distinct feature was his intense eyes. Clearly, they were something she could never forget; even as a child.
No, she couldn't believe it. She physically couldn't but he was still talking, still telling her things she didn't want to hear. Things he shouldn't know. He was listing things. The hospital she was born in, the toy bear she had as a newborn, her favourite story and he wouldn't stop.
Her heart felt like it might break, people could die from a broken heart, she'd read it somewhere once. She felt like dying. How could she ever accept that everything she'd ever believed about her family was a lie? Ashley felt stupid. She was stupid. She had to be, to not figure out something was wrong all by herself. To go all these years without having the courage or the mind to ask a question her Aunt and Uncle wouldn't have a quick enough answer to.
Why didn't she know more? What had she been doing this whole time to not even wonder or want to know more? Was it because she was loved, was it because she didn't feel the need to know more?
Her stomach rolled over. Were Kate and Ben even related to her?
"I think I'm gonna be sick" Ashley managed to splutter before she lurched further forwards and vomited. She was a mess. As soon as she retched up what little she had in her stomach the tears flowed even harder.
What was she supposed to do, believe that her memories of a loving mother and father were just false imaginations of her younger self? Did he expect her to simply let go of years of believing that her perfect family was stolen away by some dark, faceless stranger?
If Michael was telling the truth then her world had grown darker than Alice's Wonderland. The beginning of her life had existed around this dark creature standing before her. She felt her stomach lurch at the idea of this dangerous psychopath being her brother.
"I can't do this" Ashley choked between gasps of air. Was she hyperventilating? She felt like she was drowning. "It's not real."
"Ashley, you need to calm down and take a deep breath."
Michael held a hand out to touch her shoulder but Ashley ducked away whilst holding her hands to her chest. She stumbled out of her chair over to the door.
"I can't breathe, I can't do this."
He had to be lying. Aunt Kate and Uncle Ben could never keep a secret like this from her. They loved her and they knew her if her past was this dark and tragic she could have handled the truth. They knew she was a strong person.
Ashley's thoughts were erratic, flickering from one thing to another. The truth would calm her down. If she knew the absolute truth her heart would slow down.
She should believe in Kate and Ben, trust them and ignore everything else, trust the love and care they had given her for as long as she could remember. That's what she should do but Ashley was never good at doing that.
She needed to escape. She needed to recover from this drug so she could think straight but as she stumbled towards the stairs two arms wrapped around her shoulders and dragged her back into a crushing hug.
"I won't let you leave until you believe me" He gritted into her ear. "I have videos, I have pictures all I need is for you to listen to me. "