[ 32 ] 2014

-

"You have been avoiding me for far too long, Miss Johannsson. And I'm pretty sure I know why."

-

Their brief conversation about Ashton ended and Harley wondered how long Arthur would be sticking around. She didn't know much about Arthur, and she wanted to get to know him. He was her father after all. The two sat together on her bed a moment longer until there was another knock on her door. This time, the person didn't wait for a response and pushed the door open. It was Calum, who seemed to know Arthur was there and shot him a friendly smile. It still surprised Harley that Calum was making some progress when it came to dealing with people. 

When she met him, he was hostile and cold towards everyone. Now he had a gentler side which he claimed he had gotten thanks to Harley. He said he had become a better person for her. It was a positive change she had noticed in Arthur as well.

"Uncle," Calum greeted Arthur, who was just as glad to see his adoptive step-nephew. Looking to Harley, he greeted her next, "Good morning, prom date."

Arthur looked from Calum to Harley with a smile on his lips. "She said yes?"

Calum nodded his head. 

"I remember when I asked Harleen to the prom..." Arthur reminisced. Even for him, there had been a time where things were simple and he didn't have to hide all the time. "I tried to be romantic and made a pitiful attempt at making her a cake with the word prom written out with frosting. I did such a terrible job, but she loved it anyway. I have a picture somewhere of us posing with that cake. It was very embarrassing." He chuckled at the end of his story. Harley and Calum laughed as well, finding the story amusing.

"I thought I got my lack of artistic talent from mum." Harley laughed at a memory that came to her mind. "Her drawing skills are so bad that its funny. She once helped me draw the family for a primary school art project. Billy laughed at our work, dad tried not to, but he laughed as well." She remembered being mad when Billy laughed, but she also remembered crying when Aaron laughed because they had worked so hard on their project. He really hadn't meant to, but Harleen and Harley were just so bad at drawing that it was inevitable. "I never turned in that project because I knew the other kids would laugh at me. At least now I know both parents had zero artistic talent." She looked at Arthur.

Billy, who was good at everything, was even good at the arts, just like Aaron. Both of them had always been creative.

"Lets go have some breakfast and then we can go see the Murder Tour Festival." Calum suggested. Harley and Arthur nodded, agreeing with his plan and followed him down to the kitchen for breakfast.

-

After breakfast, the three of them spent the day at the festival. It was like any other carnival with booths for games and food. But everything was death themed. There were skull shaped cake pops in one booth, a booth where there was a fortune teller who could tell people when they would die, and there were grim reapers all over who would take people to a tent in the back to die. Those people would get their face painted white in a skull design and had to walk around the festival like that all day. But the main attraction was the murder mystery tour of the Quinn's house. 

It had been decorated--thanks to police photographs of the murder scene--just like Ashton's house looked the night that he died. Each hour the cast of actors would re-enact the murder scene, as the police thought it had happened. They only had their speculations because the case had been unsolved and no one knew what had happened to the bodies.

Niall and Andrea had gone with them, but quickly separated from the group when Niall vowed to try every single food that was offered at the festival.

Harley was in line to get some ice cream with crimson red strawberry syrup and white skull sprinkles when she saw her parents at the front of the line. Arthur was standing off to the side, waiting for Harley and Calum. Harleen and Aaron were handed their ice cream and when they turned to leave, Harleen ended up accidentally crashing into Arthur, her cup of ice cream smearing all over his shirt. Harley felt her heart drop. She had never seen Aaron and Arthur face to face before, and she feared that their rivalry for Harleen when they were younger would re-surface.

She left her spot in the line to go to them.

"Oh my gosh. I'm so sorry, sir." Harleen apologized first without seeing who it was. She was too busy reaching for napkins on the table nearby. 

"Don't worry about it, Harleen. I'm fine." He assured her with a smile. She had shoved some napkins into his hand and the two of them were wiping the cold ice cream off the front of his black button up shirt. His eyes were quickly able to spot the clearly visible baby bump beneath her blouse. Aaron eyed Arthur with narrowed eyes, trying to think of where he knew Arthur from. He couldn't entirely recognize him.

When she finally looked up, Harleen instantly recognized him. "Arthur! I haven't seen you since-"

"Since we were seventeen." He finished for her with a smile. He had made her forget most memories that she had of him because he wanted her to be happy with the life she was living now. But whenever he unlocked her memories, she always remembered how much she loved Arthur as well, and how much she wanted to be with him. Arthur had loved her enough to let her go. Taking his eyes off her for merely an instant, he greeted Aaron next. "You must be Aaron Quinn." He said in a less friendly tone, pretending as though he didn't know that Aaron and Harleen had ended up together.

 "What are you doing here in Sydney?" Aaron wondered, clearly displeased to see him there.

The dark haired man gave a small shrug of his shoulders, gesturing to the boy standing in the line to get ice cream. "I came to visit my nephew."

Harley stood by. It seemed like things weren't getting out of hand for the time being.

"Oh, Calum is your nephew?" Harleen looked from Arthur to Calum with a bright smile. Even through the blocking of her memories, it was clear that she was very happy to see Arthur. It was evident that she still felt something for him. "He's Harley's best friend." She added. Harleen Quinn had also been one of the many who wanted Harley to date Calum. But she saw that Ashton and Harley liked each other, and she wanted her daughter to choose for herself.

"It was great to see you again, Arthur." Aaron started, his words rushed as he linked arms with his wife. "But Harleen and I were just headed back to our house for the murder tour."

"You could come with us." Harleen suggested.

Arthur shook his head. "I couldn't, Harleen. It looks like you and your husband were having a nice time on your own."

"Come on, love." Aaron rushed her, tugging on her arm gently. He wanted nothing more than to put a thousand mile distance between them and Arthur Vega. "I think the tour is about to start."

Harleen finally gave in and walked away with her husband, glancing back at Arthur every now and then. Harley walked up to her father and placed a hand on his shoulder, giving it a light squeeze. "I'm sorry you couldn't get your happy ending with her, Arthur."

He sighed, watching the married couple as they disappeared into a crowd that was gathering by the entrance of their home. "You don't know how much I miss your mother. What fucking hurts the most is that I didn't leave her because I wanted to. We were separated by both the circumstances and your grandmother Hayley. I really hope you never have to see the one you love being with someone else."

-

The murder tour of the Quinn's house was everything short of what Calum and Harley knew had happened. The Police Department had no way of knowing how the family died. But their re-enactment was poor nonetheless. Harley found herself scoffing through every moment of it, and they had the murders speculated as a random act of robbery gone wrong. 

They didn't even have any convincing leads. Everyone else who had gone was highly impressed by the tour. 

Harley returned to the hotel that afternoon while her parents were still at the festival. Calum offered to stay with her for a while, but she declined. She wanted to talk to Ashton now that they each had a day to cool off.

She was sitting on her bed for a moment, contemplating whether everyone else was right and she was wrong. Calum was human, while Ashton was merely a spirit left behind. She loved him, but perhaps the best thing would have been to let him go. She thought about why he was left wandering the house where she moved in with her family when they left Perth. That she knew of, most spirits who didn't leave remained because they had unfinished business. Harley would have to find out what that unfinished business was and then help him solve it so that he could continue to the afterlife like he should have done fifty years prior. 

Calum had wanted to do that for Ashton from the beginning, but not out of the kindness of his heart. He wanted to get him out of the way so that he could have a better chance with Harley Quinn.

Sensing that she wanted to talk to him, Ashton materialized in the hotel room, a nervous look on his face. "I know you want to talk to me about something, doll." He began with a sigh escaping his lips. "I felt the pull of your desire to talk to me."

"Ashton," She started, getting up off the bed and taking a few steps so that she was directly facing him. "You know that I love you so much, and I would like for this love to last forever. But it wouldn't be fair to either of us. You..." She hesitated for a second before continuing, "should have left earth a long time ago. I just--I want to help you get where you have to go, like we initially promised each other." She remembered when they had first met, he told her that if anyone was to send him off, he wanted it to be Harley. They had gotten their plans sidetracked when the two fell in love and put them on hold.

He nodded his head in agreement. "I thought about the same thing while we were apart. I don't want to drag you down into a relationship that will prevent you from living a normal life." 

Harley tried to be strong, but she already felt the tears stinging her blue eyes. "Its going to hurt." She told him, thinking about how much she would miss seeing him every day. Harley could not imagine not having Ashton around anymore.

"Don't cry." He said to her with a forced smile on his face that was evidently also on the brink of tears. "Just think that we'll meet again--hopefully many years from now--and I'll be waiting for you with the same amount of love I have for you now."

There was a strangled sob that left her lips and she brought her hands to her face, freely crying into her hands now. Ashton cut the distance between them like a flash and his arms were surrounding her in an instant, pulling her into his embrace. Harley cried into his chest, taking her arms away from her face and wrapping them around the cool skin of the spirit that had belonged to Ashton Irwin who had died in 1963. He held her tightly--desperately, like he never wanted to let go, and she did the same.

Even though neither of them wanted to let go, in the end they both decided it was for the best. Harley felt like Arthur had when he returned and found out Harleen was seeing someone else. He had loved her enough to let her go, and Harley loved Ashton enough to let him go.

-

A week past her promise to help Ashton transition into the afterlife and she couldn't bring herself to do it. She wanted to first find out what that unfinished business of Ashton's had been. She would get it done and then she would send him off to the afterlife. 

At lunch, the group of teenagers were sitting together near the hallway that led to the science hall. On that day the school cafeteria was serving cold chicken quesadillas, and everyone had gladly surrendered them to Niall. He seemed to be the only one of them who actually enjoyed eating the atrociously prepared lunch food. The rest of them drank their milk and picked at their salads, Calum had been smart enough to have brought lunch from home.

He got a sandwich out of a brown lunch bag, pulling a second one out for Harley who was sat next to him. She thanked him, unwrapped the sandwich, and took a bite before asking the group, "Lest say--hypothetically--If you were a the ghost of a guy who died in 1963, what would be your unfinished business?"

Niall was the first to offer his input. "Maybe there was a really good sandwich he wanted to try at Iggy's." They all knew that Iggy's Diner had been around since the sixties when Ashton was still alive.

"Maybe he wanted to travel." Paúl gave a shrug of his shoulders.

Harley shook her head. "I don't think so."

"Why don't you just ask him?" Calum rolled his eyes at how obvious the answer seemed to be for him.

"Because," Harley said, as though it were equally as obvious. "I can't just ask him that. He'll think I don't want him around and that's not it. I just want to help him."

"Wait." Niall eyed her, confused. "I thought we were talking about a hypothetical ghost guy."

Andrea groaned. "Keep up, love. She's obviously talking about her ghost boyfriend."

"We're kind of taking some time off." Harley informed the group sat at the lunch table.

Niall and Andrea both kicked Calum under the lunch table, only one of them managed to kick Harley Quinn as well. "This-is-your-big-chance-Calum." Andrea muttered to her friend in the most unsubtle way any of them had ever seen.

But Harley just ignored them. She didn't want to think about dating someone else at the moment. She was going to steer the conversation back to her question when she saw Dempsey shrink in her seat just as she had the first time when they saw the new teacher who so insistently wanted to meet with her.

The young chemistry teacher stopped at their table with a friendly smile on his face. He peeked over where Dempsey was hiding and called out to her, "Miss Johannsson, what are you doing under the table? Its filthy down there." He said in an American accent that matched that of his daughter Michella Barnes, and Dempsey Johannsson, who were also American.

Dempsey laughed nervously and pushed herself back up to sitting. "I was looking for my...fork." She lied, her eyes falling upon the fork that was already on her plate.

"Dare I ask if today will finally be the day you'll meet with me?" He asked her, the smile on his face remaining. "Otherwise I'll just have to fail you and your parents might not like that." Harley noticed the way he had put a special emphasis in his tone when he mentioned her parents.

"Today for sure." Dempsey assured him. But they all knew it was a lie.

He walked away, satisfied with her response and disappeared down the hall. 

"Just go meet with the man." Andrea told Dempsey. "Get it over with."

The third year student refused with a shake of her head. "I have a bad feeling about him. I'd much rather take the F in his class."

-

That afternoon during cheerleading practice, one of the hall monitors arrived before the girls went into the locker room to change into their training gear. She had a slip of paper in her hand, which she handed to Cindy, who called for Dempsey to go forward. "They want you at the front office." Cindy said, and Dempsey had to follow to find out what they wanted.

The hall monitor took Dempsey into the main building, but when they got to the cafeteria, they took a right instead of a left. That led directly into the science hall, where the chemistry class stood in the back of the sterile white halls of St. Genevieve's. 

Dempsey wanted to turn around and make a run for it, but it was no use. Soon they were at the door to the chemistry class room and the door was opening. The hall monitor dropped Dempsey off there and the door closed behind him. Her chemistry professor sat at his desk with black rimmed glasses over his eyes and a white lab coat which made him look much more professional than just a mere chemistry teacher at a high school. He looked up when he saw Dempsey enter the room and he got up from his seat at his desk, walking around to stand in front of it.

Leaning on the wooden desk, he smirked at the sixteen year old, "You have been avoiding me for far too long, Miss Johannsson. And I'm pretty sure I know why."

Depmsey scoffed. "I don't know what you're talking about, Professor Barnes."

"You know exactly what I'm talking about." He told her, and she knew in that moment he wasn't exactly talking about all her missing homework. There was something that he knew about her, and she was waiting for him to reveal what he knew. "I know what you are. You're a different breed of humans with powers the United States government has every interest in experimenting on. I'm here to take you back to America, where you'll be reunited with your parents in the chambers at Area 51. That's where we keep all our freaks of nature after all." That explained his ring. It wasn't from his alma mater. It was a special identification ring for the scientists of Area 51. He had been sent especially to capture her. He had yet to know that there were several more just like Dempsey at St. Genevieve's.

Area 51 and the mention of her parents were what triggered a memory that had been interred deep in her memory. She was only a child when a team of American soldiers--her own people--ransacked her house and took her parents hostage. Her mother had found a way to hide her in the closet of the master bedroom, inside a large travel luggage. Dempsey was scared, a little girl hearing the screams of her parents as they were dragged away.

Days later she wandered the streets in tears until Arthur found her and lent her a helping hand. She was able to train and join the hunters. The day she lost her parents was the day she vowed she would never return to America. And she would find a way to avenge them.

Taking her by surprise, the chemistry professor pulled something from the pocket of his lab coat. Dempsey only saw it for a second, it was a syringe, and he lunged forward. He overpowered her easily and dug the needle into her skin, injecting a cool liquid that quickly took effect to immobilize her and strip her on consciousness for the time being. The brunette fell to the ground with a thud.

At practice, the other girls were worried when time passed and Dempsey Johannsson didn't show up. Harley told the girls she was going to go find her. She was on her way to the administration office when she saw from the corner of her eye, the chemistry professor with a passed out Dempsey in his arms. He was taking one of the back hallways that led to an exit directly in front of the parking lot. By this time, the after school traffic had cleared and no one would take notice that he was abducting a student.

Harley chased after him, calling out, "Hey! Where are you taking her?"

She reached him in a matter of a few strides, his pace was slower than it could have been, since he was carrying a girl in his arms. Harley took a jump start and jumped onto his back in an attempt to stop him. The professor stumbled forward, but was able to regain his balance, even with the other student on his back.

"Leave her alone!" Harley yelled, hoping that she would get the attention of someone.

But most classrooms were empty at this time. Everyone was out practicing sports or on one of the upper floors where the club rooms were located. 

"Fuck off, little girl." The professor struggled to get to the door. "Michella!" He called for his daughter, who was waiting at the exit to help him escape. 

Knowing exactly what to do, Michella grabbed Harley by the arm and stabbed a needle of the same cool liquid into her arm. Harley immediately began feeling dizzy and her arms felt like jelly. She fell to the floor with a thud, slowly losing her consciousness. 

The last words she heard someone say sounded like they were coming from the end of a tunnel.

"Drag her along." Professor Barnes instructed his daughter. "We can't have any witnesses."

-

another update so soon. but i'm feeling rather inspired, and so that warrants an update. i hope you all like it. i made it extra long ans suspense filled just for you guys. 

qotd: are you upset that ash and harley are taking a break? i ship them so hard, so i had a pretty tough time writing this chapter. but like i have said, i also ship her with calum, so at the same time i was kind of happy for him. 

tell me what you think! no super long note today because im going to sleep. tired af.

and just some shameless self promotion here...go check out a few of my other stories. you know, if you want. you don't have to. a lot of people have liked 3000, which makes me happy to write because its futuristic. a lot of people also liked the weekday series (thursaday, tuesday, saturday, and sunday. sunday isn't done yet, but i'll get around to updating it eventually). just some suggestions. you don't have to do it ^.^ thank you. i love you all loads loads loads.

-clary xx