· 。ﾟ☆: *.☽
▎ 𝑭 𝑨 𝑹 𝑭 𝑹 𝑶 𝑴 𝑵 𝑶 𝑹 𝑴 𝑨 𝑳 ▎
𝐅𝐈𝐕𝐄 ━━ REVEALED TRUTHS.
࿔·ﾟ*ೃ࿐ ࿔* 🎸🥁🎤🎶
all the 𝗺𝗲𝗺𝗼𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 come
back but he never does
･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.･ ｡ﾟ☆: *.☽ .* :☆ﾟ.
ASHLEY heard the music before she even opened the garage doors.
It stopped her in her tracks for a moment, the sounds of guitar, bass and drums spilling from an open window or two attached to the side of the studio, but only for a moment - now the studio was back in use again, and Julie was back in there from time to time, maybe Julie's dad had accidentally left the stereo on.
Ashley was forever doing that when it came to her brother's music.
Flinging open the garage doors with as much strength as she could muster - those doors had always been tough to open - Ashley spotted the guitar she was looking for on the wall of the studio. It was the first thing she saw.
The next thing that she saw however was the stereo. The stereo which was definitely switched off. Maybe even unplugged by the looks of things.
The music had stopped abruptly as Ashley had flung open the studio doors and there were hushed voices coming from her left, a direction in which she really didn't want to look. Hushed voices meant people. And it definitely wasn't Ray or Carlos from the sounds of it. She wasn't alone in the studio.
There was a part of Ashley, the responsible area of her, that was urging her to just focus on the guitar, wanting her to hone in on picking it up, leaving and not even looking in the direction of the hushed voices which were still whispering, almost as if they weren't afraid of getting caught. Could they actually see Ashley?
But as they always say, curiosity killed the cat.
Ashley took a deep breath as she stepped further into the studio, her eyes squeezed shut, turning ever so slightly to the direction of the hushed voices before opening her eyes. She didn't know what to expect when she did.
And there, right in front of her as if it was nothing, were three boys.
The two in the front of the trio both held guitars in their hands, looks of shock plastered across their faces, almost frozen in place. The boy on the drums was barely visible behind his friends, but he seemed just as frozen in place.
"Well, this is a surprise," Ashley said, the fight or flight response in her telling her to run away, but she stayed stock still where she was, crossing her arms to her chest. "Julie has been hiding cute boys in her garage all this time. Figures."
"Oh, you think we're cute?" One of the boys holding a guitar, the bassist it seemed from the music knowledge that Ashley had acquired, smirked slightly.
"Nevermind that she thinks we're cute, Reg." The boy with the other guitar had hit his friend on the chest with the back of his hand. "You can see us?"
"Of course I can see you?" Ashley's face scrunched up a little in confusion as she headed toward the studio wall to grab the guitar from the hook before going back over to the doors of the garage - the guitar had been what she had come for, after all and the boys were just an added bonus. "That's kinda the whole point of my compliment. I would have to be able to see you, to give it to you.
"Are you guys okay? You look as if you've never seen a teenage girl before?"
There was a rustling from behind the two boys with guitars as the drummer stood up from his seat to get a good look at the girl who had just entered the studio, the one his bandmates were completely speechless over.
Ashley got one look of his face and the guitar she was holding in her left hand fell to the floor with a thud which was painfully loud and echoing in her ears. If her body hadn't flooded with painful shock, she may have winced.
The blonde had to fight her urges hard not to lift a hand to her mouth and let out a gasp. He wasn't wearing a hat in the photos she was so used to looking at, but there was no doubt in the world that she was staring at the same boy.
His face was all over her house, in every photo album she kept hidden under her bed and there was even a photo of him taped to the back of her locker door so that she could see his face every time she opened it and remind herself why she put herself through the stressful strain of the music program every day.
Alex. Her big brother.
A sickening feeling curdled in Ashley's gut and the girl felt as if she might bring up her lunch all over Julie's garage doors. She swallowed down the bile in her throat as a ghostly chill shackled its way through her bones, making her tremble.
This isn't possible. This couldn't be possible.
All three of the boys were staring at her now, but the bassist's eyes had softened to an almost concerned expression and he looked as if he wanted to reach out to Ashley to make sure she was okay - maybe she had gone pale?
She definitely felt like she was going to pass out.
Ashley met eyes with the drummer once more and it felt like looking into her own - she saw those eyes every time she looked in the mirror, every time she took a selfie or a photo with her friends. Those were the same eyes that she missed with every beat of her heart, every pull of her nerves, every breath she took.
Those were his eyes.
"Oh my god." The hushed words had passed Ashley's lips before she could even think about it, quiet as a mouse. "That can't be possible. This can't be real."
The brunette of the bunch, the one who had asked her whether she could see them, made as if to say something before there was a voice, a yell from the house.
"Ashley?!" It was Julie, calling for her. "Did you find it? You've been ages!"
Ashley turned her head towards the house for the briefest of moments before looking back at the band. She thought maybe they'd have disappeared, but they were still there, looking from Ashley to where Julie's voice had floated from, almost in sync. Only the drummer's eyes lingered on Ashley's possibly pale face.
The blonde girl didn't even know what she was doing as she took off out of the garage, leaving the guitar still lying on the threshold where she had dropped it. Ashley wasn't paying attention to anything, a ringing in her ears growing louder and louder and her heart beating fast and hard in her chest.
As she was running, hauling ass out of there to god knows where, there was a sudden blinding feeling of pain in her chest and she was on the ground, groaning softly alongside whoever she had bumped into. She looked across from her to see Julie on the ground too, staring at her friend with wide eyes.
"Ashley, what's wrong?" Julie's voice was soft with concern as she shuffled towards her friend. Ashley was trembling now, unable to stop her hands from shaking. She could feel the tears building up behind her eyes. "You're pale."
"I just- they just-" Even Ashley's voice was shaking as she raked a trembling hand through her hair. "They- the studio- they just- I don't know what-."
Even though her friend wasn't making much sense, Julie understood.
"You can see them?" Julie took hold of her friends hands, recognising the signs of an oncoming panic attack before it began - Ashley always said that her parents would tell her she developed her anxiety from her brother. "Ashley, listen to me. Look at me, Ash. The boys in the studio. Can you see them?"
It took Ashley a moment to even register that Julie was speaking to her but when she did, she nodded, her bottom lip trembling like she was going to cry.
Julie let out a deep breath, almost as if it had been sitting on her chest for a while. She never once let go of Ashley's hands as she forced the girl to look her in the eyes, breathing with her as best she could until the only signs of panic in Ashley that remained were her pale face and trembling hands.
The blonde no longer felt like she was going to cry, but her heart was still beating hard and fast in her chest, like a racehorse on a track. It hurt to breathe.
It was impossible. It had to be.
"Okay." Julie was still breathing with Ashley, clinging to her hands like a human life force - there was so much Julie needed to tell the girl and it would be no use to either of them if she was taken over by a panic attack. They put her on her ass sometimes. "I'll ask again now that you're better and more coherent.
"The boys in the garage. Can you see them?"
Ashley nodded, quick to answer. She had heard Julie clearly this time.
"Alright, cool." Julie made moves as if to stand, but saw Ashley's eyes, pleading with her not to move yet and she lowered herself back down. "I don't know how that works but it's cool. There's a lot I need to explain to you right now but-"
Ashley cut Julie off by squeezing the hand that she was holding.
"No, Jules, you don't understand." The more Ashley thought about the three boys in the studio, the more her hands began to tremble. She tried to dig her nails into her palm, shock her body back to at least average function again like she always did in a panic, but it wasn't working like it usually did.
"Ashley, what is it?" Julie rubbed her thumb across her friend's knuckles, trying everything under the sun she could possibly think of to comfort her best friend. "I can explain everything, I promise, I just need you to-"
Ashley made a noise deep in her throat like she was in pain before scrabbling for something in the back pocket of her jeans. She carried it everywhere with her, just to have a piece of him attached onto her wherever she went, no matter what.
It was a photo, curling at the edges from age, scratched and worn from Ashley unfolding it and folding it again from constantly taking it out to look at, but it was still clear as day and there was no mistaking who the boy in it was.
"The boy, the drummer," Ashley was pointing towards the studio, thrusting the photo at Julie with trembling fingers, "Julie, that's my brother. That's Alex."
Julie took the photo from her friend's hand, staring down at it with wide eyes.
No wonder Alex had looked so familiar yesterday when Julie had seen him for the first time. Julie had seen his face every single time Ashley had opened her locker for the past three years. Maybe she hadn't recognised because he was younger in these photos? Julie couldn't believe she hadn't realised.
Ashley was right though. The boy in the photo, blonde and very pretty, was the same boy who had been living in Julie's studio since the night before. Looking at them both side by side, Ashley in person and Alex in the photo, she could see the family resemblance - they both had the same eyes, almost as if it had been a copy and paste in genes and now Julie understood why Alex's expressions and even his posture had been so familiar to her, almost like she had grown up with it.
The situation had suddenly taken a very drastic turn.
"JULIE!" Julie almost chuckled at the excited sound of Reggie's voice as she came into the studio, the boys gathered around the centre of the room. Reggie seemed to be the only one of the three who had any life in them at that moment - Luke looked confused and Alex looked conflicted, like he was fighting himself.
Luke looked up at the sound of Reggie calling Julie's name.
"Julie," Luke stood from his chair, coming to stand closer to her. "That girl that just came into the studio, she could see us. I mean, actually see us."
"I know." Julie raked a hand through her hair. How was she supposed to just blurt out that Ashley was Alex's sister without sounding like a crazy person? "You terrified the life out of her. She ran into me outside practically not breathing."
Julie didn't miss the flicker of concern that flashed in Alex's eyes.
"Is she okay?" Reggie was the first to ask the question, though Julie could sense that all three of them were thinking the same thing. "She turned white as a sheet when she saw Alex, like she had seen a ghost."
Alex let out a choked sound, a sound between a chuckle and a groan.
"Really, Reggie? Like she had seen a ghost?" As with almost everything Reggie said, Julie could see Alex trying to stifle a chuckle in his throat. "I somehow feel like that's a little insensitive you know, considering the circumstances?"
Reggie shot Alex a look, his eyebrows furrowed in confusion before it dawned on him exactly what he had just said. He gasped, covering his mouth with his hand and Luke barked out a laugh, unable to help himself.
"Again, you are so lucky that you can play bass." Luke was smiling.
"Seriously though, is she okay? Her name is Ashley, right? It's the one you were talking to on the phone last night." Alex was the one to voice the question this time. "I heard you calling for her. Is she alright?"
Julie sucked in a breath between her teeth.
"She's a little shaken up, but she's okay." Julie nodded, not missing the relief which flooded into each band member's eyes. "She actually wants to meet you guys, but there's something you need to know first before she can."
Julie stuck her head around the side of the garage door, holding her hand out for someone and the boys watched as a small hand slipped into hers, allowing Julie to pull the figure into the doorway of the studio.
It was Ashley, hands still trembling but her face had some colour back. There was nothing that could quite prepare her for what was about to happen, but she was calmer now and able to breathe more easily, though her chest still hurt.
Although when she looked at Alex, she felt that same stab in her heart, the same sickening feeling curdling in her gut, like some wild animal going crazy on her insides. It really was like looking at a copy and paste of herself - they had their differences in features but their eyes, the eyes Ashley had longed her whole life to see in person, they were so similar. Even their postures were the same.
She didn't realise that they had been staring at one another until Julie nudged her with her elbow, raising her eyebrows at the girl in a comforting manner.
"Do you want to tell them or shall I?" Julie smiled so softly at Ashley that she almost started crying. There had never been a day in her life when Julie Molina hadn't been gentle. It was one of the best things about her.
Ashley shook her head, already pulling out her phone. She kept a photo of Alex in her pocket and a photo of Alex and her parents in the back of her phone case, one of the last that had been taken before he died - even though Ashley had heard horror stories about how unhappy her parents had been when Alex had come out as gay, their pictures together were always beautiful.
"I can do it." Ashley nodded, unfolding the photo from the phone case and flattening it out. "Alex, come and take this photo from me, if you can."
There was a shockwave that passed over the trio of boys as Ashley spoke Alex's name, a gasp emitting from Reggie who was unable to ever mask his emotions. There was hesitance in Alex's eyes, staring confused at the girl until Julie caught his gaze and nodded towards the photo which Ashley was holding out to him.
It took him a moment to even realise he needed to move before he stepped around the table which sat in the centre of the room, coming closer to Ashley.
The whole room was silent as he tried a few times to take the photo and his hand slid right through until he managed to grab it and took the photo from the blonde girl with trembling fingers, everyone waiting in anxious anticipation to see what Ashley was trying to show the drummer that she clearly already knew.
As Alex gazed down at the picture he had taken from Ashley, an electric jolt ran through his bones and up his spine, like he was dying all over again. He resisted the urge to let out a cry as his eyes locked on a familiar pair of faces.
"This is-" Alex stuttered, unable to find his words- "these are my parents."
Reggie tried to lean over Alex's shoulder to peek at the photo but Luke grabbed him by the back of his jacket and pulled him back down so he was sitting beside him again. For some reason, Luke was able to sense that this was a moment that needed to be left uninterrupted, not a moment to be spied on.
"Yeah." Ashley nodded her head meeting Alex's gaze. "And mine too."
The silence in the room was almost deafening, if that was even possible. You could've heard a pin drop as Ashley spoke the words into oblivion, Alex's face paling to the same colour Ashley's had been only minutes before. Two worlds in the room had just been turned upside down and the silence was stabbing at it.
"You're my-" It was a long time before Alex spoke again and this time, his words came out choked, like he was trying not to cry. "You're my sister?"
"Your little sister." Ashley smiled softly, unable to help it. She had wanted to hear those words pass her brother's lips since she was twelve and here she was, facing the impossible and hearing him say it. "Although if you take into account that you're seventeen? I may only be your little sister by a few months."
Alex was stock still only for a moment before he started to move. He looked like he was going to bolt out of the door but he stopped just in front of Ashley's small frame, lifting a hand as if to brush his finger gently across her skin.
He had tears in his eyes as he did it, brushing his hand down her cheek, but Ashley felt nothing but a slight chill on her face, a chill which seemed to seep into her bones like ice. She lifted her hand as if to grab onto him but only caught air, watching as he rippled like the breaking surface of a lake.
There was nothing solid to grab hold of.
Alex was just the contents of air and soul.
"I can't touch you." Alex blinked hard a few times and Ashley noticed the tears that escaped his eyes. She wanted so desperately to lift her hand to his face and brush them away with her thumb. "I just found out I have a little sister and I can't even touch her. What kind of death punishment is this?"
All Ashley could do was smile sadly at him. When Julie had told her that she was able to meet her brother and his bandmates properly, she hadn't thought this far ahead. She didn't know what was going to happen at this point.
"I-" Alex made as if to speak again before shaking his head and suddenly disappearing from where he had been standing, leaving in a ripple of light and movement, only making a soft popping noise as he went.
As quickly as he had been there, he was gone again.
Ashley's face fell. She had already scared him away.
"Hey, Ashley." It was a voice she only faintly recognised and she looked up to see the bands bassist - she remembered her brother calling him Reggie - smiling at her as she met his gaze. "Don't worry about him. He doesn't take to change very well and he's already having a hard time dealing with the whole 'being dead thing'. This is gonna hit him personally but don't worry, he'll be back."
Ashley could barely focus on his words. She was too busy noticing how pretty his smile was, how it seemed to light up his whole face, and the room, no matter how big or small his grin was. All she could do was nod in agreement.
"Well, that was definitely something." The brunette hopped from his chair again, coming to stand in front of Ashley smiling as he did. "I can't believe Alex has a sister. I'm Luke, by the way, and that's-"
Luke turned to point towards Reggie but the bassist cut him off, waving at Ashley and introducing himself, still grinning. Ashley couldn't help but chuckle.
She could hear her heart thumping in her chest, noise pounding in her ears.
"Well, so much for that jam session we were going to have." Ashley turned to Julie, trembling slightly, and both of them couldn't hold back their laughter.