Page 22 of Ashes to Ash’s

“Oopsie Daisy,” I murmured right behind him, watching him nearly take another tumble as he spun on his heel to face me.

“Ash! Jesus! I’m sorry, fuck, I’m so sorry,” he babbled, backing away a step at a time as I followed him, my hands tucked in my pockets like I wasn’t itching to grab the bastard.

“Sorry? You’re sorry? For what, babe, what are you apologising for?”

He made a ragged sound, that was suspiciously like a sob, and trust me, I’d learned the sound of gut-wrenching fucking sobs over the last few days. I’d learned how it felt to tear your soul out through your lungs like that. Thank fuck nobody was there at those times to hear me, even though my dads had both stopped by a few times a day to look in on me.

“Ash, please…”

“Please? What are you begging for, babe? You wanna get raped? Or is that something we only do to poor unsuspecting bastards who trust us?”

“Oh god,” he practically whimpered as he lifted his hands between us. Was that supposed to protect him from me? I’d break both his fucking wrists if he touched me right now.

“God can’t save you now, you stupid little choirboy. You set me up. You let her do that to me. The only way you escape me now, is into your precious afterlife, but I’m really not sure if you’re going up or down, are you?” I know which he’ll be doing soon enough, but I was having way too much fun scaring him first.

“Ash! It’s wrong. What we… what you want to do is wrong. It’s against everything I believe in. I tried to help you.”

Did he think these were the right words to explain what he did? Did he think this was a response that’d have me going, ‘oh yeah, fair enough’? Did he think he was getting away from me without giving me his blood, sweat, and tears in retribution? Did he think he was going to get away untouched, unharmed, un-fucking broken?

I slammed a fist into his face, watching with satisfaction as he tripped backwards over a fallen branch, and landed hard on his ass. Aw his poor ass. If he thought that was the worst his ass was going to suffer, he was dead wrong.

“Do I give a fuck what you believe in? Do your beliefs define me too? What the hell happened to you? I mean you were always a repressed fuck, but you weren’t this insane. I planned to be the one to drive you nuts, baby, so now I’ll have to break you first.” I leaned closer with a grin. “That’s the part I’m looking forward to the most. Feel free to cry like a little bitch, when I break through that virgin asshole of yours.”

Cal tripped again, landing hard, just after he’d struggled to his feet again.

“Fine. Do whatever it is that you need to do to feel like the big man, but just remember this. I was broken a long fucking time ago, so do your worst, because I think you’ll find there’s nothing left to destroy.”

I leaned over him and grabbed his throat in both hands, squeezing until he made a choked sound, and started desperately pulling at my fingers with both hands.

“There’s always something left to destroy, Cal. I’ll find yours. If it kills me, I’ll find it, because this is your penance now. You will worship at my fucking altar, and pray only to me. I’m your god now.”

Releasing him with one hand, I dragged the syringe from my pocket that my dads assured me would knock him out for a few hours without hurting him, and I eased the needle into the side of his neck, watching the betrayal in his eyes as I emptied the contents into his vein.

“Please, Ash,” he whispered, his body already starting to relax in my grip.

“Your only job now is to ‘please Ash’, so I’m glad you realise that,” I hissed at him, as the lights went out and he slumped on the ground. Now the fun could begin, for me at least. It’d be his own personal hell, but it was one of his own making, after all.

Chapter Fifteen

Callum

Iwoke up feeling like hell. I was groggy, my head was pounding, and I was aching all over. Had I been in an accident? It was dark all around me, and I was on cold hard ground. No wait, I ran my hand over the surface beneath me. Tiles. The wall behind me was also tiled. It was cold, but not drafty, so I think I was inside somewhere, but I had no idea where.

“H…Hello?” I choked out, my throat dry and sore. Suddenly my entire world was flooded with bright light, and I gasped, using both hands to cover my face, trying to block out the painful glare, which seemed to want to burn my retinas out.

“Morning, sunshine. Did we sleep well?” What the… that voice was chillingly familiar. Jesus. Ash Cross.

“Huh? What’s going… what the fuck, Ash?” I forced myself to uncover my eyes and look around, but the room was probably the size of my parents’ living room, and completely empty. Devoid of anything but me, tiles on all surfaces including the ceiling, and there was a drain in the middle of the floor. Why the fuck was I in what seemed to be either a huge shower room, or a fucking death room?

“You’re not a morning person, huh? That’s a shame, because neither am I, and I hoped you’d be the one waking me with coffee and a blowjob each day.”

“In your dreams, Ash. Why are you doing this? It’s not going to change who I am, or what I believe.”

He chuckled, and it echoed around the room, each reverberation sending another trickle of fear down my spine. I wished we could talk face to face rather than like this, so impersonal and detached.

“Actually, yeah, let me tell you about my dreams, Cal. When I was a teenager, I remember seeing my dads fucking, and that’s when it clicked for me. The reason I wasn’t chasing the girls around school, or doing the whole first date bullshit was because I was gay. I was so lucky to understand that about myself so young. So lucky to see a guy who really made me believe I could be that person, and explore the future with him.”

Oh god, here we go.