Ashley

"They're bad people Ashley"

"You'll get hurt Ashley"

"You don't belong"

"Save yourself"

Judgement chases me like cat and mouse. Every corner I turn, every street I walk it's there. It's all I've ever known, to be judged. Whether it was a bad hair day, laundry day, or my friends. 

My friends. Where do I begin? Being a mysterious person has its' perks sometimes, it can attract the ones you'll later love. But sometimes it can backfire. My experiences with mystery have always been...mysterious. Ironically. 

I never had a home. My parents died young. Car crash. Worst day of my life. So whenever someone cared about me, I felt at home. I felt attached. Like I could be appreciated again. But the judgement still exists, fading all attachments to love and family.

That's how I ended up in a situation that never confused me, but definitely confused others; hanging out with a bunch of vampires. But what they didn't understand was that these vampires treated me with respect and were affectionate. They were my family. The bloodsucking Brady Bunch.

Though I wasn't a vampire. 

I have been poked by the guys, David mostly, to turn but I refused. At least they respected my decision. They could control themselves around me. I was not the person to kill. I was all too special for that, apparently or something. 

David was my father figure. His long black coat and bleach blonde hair making him just mysterious enough where it's cool and not stupid. We had the same bleach blonde hair, strengthening the family resemblance but in the winter mine turned darker; ss brown as the Santa Carla deck, according to Marko. 

Marko is more of a younger brother to me. He was playful and flirted a little but he always took care of me and I took care of him. I ruffled his tight curls whenever I got the chance, much to his displeasure of course. He secretly loved it. 

Paul was like the older brother/boyfriend I never had. He was awesome and I secretly looked up to him but no one else knew that, not even Paul. He was always the one I hung around with the most, aside from David. He always called me doll. I've yet to decide whether or not I liked it. We would sit and jam together and he would take me to gigs. Music was our greatest passion, as well as Chinese food. 

Dwayne always bothered with Laddie more than he did with me. It wasn't like he didn't like me, he was like a brother but more distant. He was my first crush when I came here but I've gotten over it now. Plenty more vampires in the sea. He always knew when I was down and could read my mind, in a non-literal sense. Not because he couldn't but because he respected my privacy. Though we always had our weekly shopping trips to keep us together. We both loved fashion. 

Star was like a sister to me always talking to me about more personal girl things that I couldn't talk about to the guys. I wasn't embarrassed I just felt like Star understood more, being a girl herself. She and Laddie were always by my side when the guys weren't. They hated seeing me alone, though sometimes that's how I preferred it. She was so beautiful and I always told her how I wish I looked like her. She would shake her head and laugh, a compliment followed after. Always different, every day.

So that was my family. 

Now the friends...

They didn't agree with my family. They tried to get me away from there as much as possible but deep down they knew they couldn't stop me. Edgar and Alan worked at their parent's comic book store on the border. Aside from the cave where I lived, you could guarantee to find me there. If I wasn't at the cave I was there and if I want there I was dead.  

Edgar and Alan feel so responsible for me and I hated it sometimes but when they forgot about the vamps they were amazing. It was tiring to see them not as they were when I first met them. 

When I first set foot into the comic store I was 13 and so were they. I walked in gracefully, my hair swaying behind me. It all felt as if I was in slow motion. My sparkly skirt and white blouse waved with my hair. I caught their attention immediately. It was my wit and sarcasm that drew them even closer. It was an achievement the first time I made them laugh by falling over boxes a couple of months later. Embarrassing and humiliating of course but it only brought us closer. So when they could go against my family we were that one step away from each other again. It would take a miracle to draw us back together. 

I remember the first time they saw me with David. 

I was scared and confused. I wasn't aware of who they all were then but all I could see was who they could be. If they tried. Brothers and fathers. Family.

I did my usual routine, walking into the store browsing a little then walking nearer to the front desk, only this time I didn't get there. The wind was knocked out of me when I was suddenly pinned against the wall I had my back to, hands gripping my shoulders brutally. All I could see was the camouflage shirt and the red bandana that sat on a menacing face. I couldn't speak. I was breathing heavily, eyes widened. 

Alan stood behind Edgar's shoulder looking at me menacingly but with a hint of regret and hurt in his chocolate eyes. They showed no emotion. They turned into the hunters they thought they were not the friends I knew they were. 

"What the fuck were you doing with them?" Edgar snarled his glare intensifying. Alan coming closer. 

I didn't answer. I gasped when I was knocked against the wall my eyes squeezing shut. 

"Answer me god damn it!" 

"Ashley just answer him" Alan spoke not as cruelly. 

"Alas, he speaks" I replied coldly. I could almost feel the bruises forming on my back. 

"Shut the hell up! Now tell me how do you know those guys?" Edgar uttered, continuing his icy behaviour. 

"I fucking live with him alright?" I yelled shrugging out of Edgar's grip. "Now get the hell away from me!" 

And with that, I left the store. 

Alan tried to run after me but was stopped by a brotherly hand on his shoulder. 

"Just leave her man. She'll come back."

"That's what I'm worried about."

Little did I know then that I could've been a threat to them. If I was a vampire I could kill both of them. Or even worse I could get the others over there to do the deed for me. I hated it when they vamped out and when Ed and Al turned into hunters. That was who they are but not who they should be. 

That's my story.

Pretty fucking interesting right?