Page 44 of Ashes to Ash’s

“What? Seriously?”

I flipped dad off, and turned to Cal, stroking his cheek. The fact that he didn’t pull away, or even flinch, was fucking progress, right? No more pussying around. He was definitely mine now.

“Dad, don’t be a prick. What are Blaze and Ethan doing downstairs?” I mean, with my family, it could be anything.

“Who is Ethan anyway? I don’t remember him from when we were younger?” Cal looked adorable when he was confused. Hot too.

Dad Gray growled under his breath. “Em won’t let us kill him, trust me, we tried.”

“And failed,” Ethan practically sang out from behind him, as he crossed the room with a blanket-shrouded body over his shoulder. Cal gasped, and his coffee mug crashed to the floor, splashing our bare feet with hot coffee, and jagged ceramic shards.

“Fuck’s sake, Cal! Grow up! It’s just a fucking body,” I snapped, crouching down to try and swipe all the broken mug pieces out of the way, before the idiot stepped on something sharp.

“I… she’s… I killed her!” He gasped out, lifting his foot to back up. I grabbed his ankle, and held it in a tight grip.

“Don’t fucking move, Cal, you’ll lose more blood, and I’d rather that happen while I’m fucking you.”

“That’s my boy.”

“Dammit, Gray, shut up. Let me help you, Ash.”

Cal

Once the mess was cleared up, and I had a fresh coffee, we moved over to the seating area, which had two really plush cream sofas facing each other with a low coffee table in between. I sat with Ash on one, while his dads sat on the other.

It occurred to me that we were literally sitting with two people who not only understood what we were, and who we were, but actively encouraged it. They’d supported their kids through every want and whim, and while some of it was undoubtedly bad, or wrong, it didn’t seem to be so terrible, because shouldn’t parents support their children throughout their lives? They certainly seemed to be very involved in the lives of their children, but in a way that seemed natural and right.

“So, what’s next for you two? You’re welcome to stay here for however long you want to. The body’s gone, and Blaze and Ethan will clean up any mess. It was supposed to be just Ethan, but Blaze took pity on him.”

“Why Ethan?” I asked, puzzled, and both dads smirked.

“Because I said so,” Gray murmured, glaring at Ethan as he passed through the room again with cleaning supplies in hand.

“Eat me,” he called out to Gray, who just chuckled like it was perfectly normal behaviour for them. Who knew? Maybe it was.

“Cal wants to murder his whole family,” Ash suddenly said, and I gasped, because it sounded so awful. It was true, but it also made me feel ill deep inside, like it was a sickness in me that was growing and becoming more malevolent. I was going to kill my parents and uncle? Was I insane now? Was this because of what my uncle forced on me, or because of my cruel parents, and the abuse I faced?

“Nice. Like all at once, massacre-style, or one by one? Riskier to do separately really, in case they call the cops, but then we could just trap them all here, and you could take your time,” Gray suggested, while Dory rolled his eyes at him. At least one of them was going to be sensible here.

“Let the kid decide for himself, and stop being so pushy. Maybe he wants to hunt them down or something. Certainly he should do it slowly though, to make sure they really suffer, right?”

Oh my god. They were both insane.

“Just let us think about this. His uncle lives out of town, so that’ll be a road trip, and maybe we can kill some of the others who think being gay is something to beat and rape out of people,” Ash mused, his fingers tapping his chin as he pondered the demise of people, like it was just something that he did every day. Maybe it was, who knows. What I did know was that sometimes Ash made good sense, and other times he was a fucking psycho. Right now it was both, of course.

“So once you decide, we’ll help out if you need us to, but you might feel better if you guys do this without us. Like it’s part of your journey,” Dory said, placing his hand over Gray’s mouth as he opened it to butt in.

“Your family might have been a bunch of cunts, Cal, but you’ve got us now. As long as you don’t hurt Ash, we’re behind you, but…”

Gray dragged Dory’s hand away. “But… if you do hurt him, we’ll make sure you feel it as we burn away every inch of skin on your body.”

My heart thudded in my chest as I absorbed his words, and somehow knew he meant every last one of them. I was starting to realise just how insane and messed up his entire family was, and how much danger I’d be in if I ever messed this up. I opened my mouth to speak, unsure if disbelief, horror, or begging for mercy would come out, but Gray spoke again.

“You should burn your family. It’d be like sending them to hell or some shit, right, Dory? It’s fucking biblical,” Gray blurted, his eyes bright with excitement, and that’s creepy as hell.

Dory rolled his eyes at him, but he looked like he didn’t exactly disagree with him, and then Ash piped up again, reminding me that wrong was his middle fucking name.

“Hey, I should dress as Satan, so I can really fuck with their heads.”