Page 57 of Ashes to Ash’s

Ash laughed. “My parents will be fine with us staying here, dickhead. Ren, we’d love to have you stay, but we’ll have some ground rules, no matter how cool we might seem.”

Ren sighed, waiting for Ash to drop whatever the hell these rules might be on him.

“Rule one, don’t hide from who you are. If you’re gay, you’re gay. If you’re not, then be whoever the fuck that is. We’re not going to judge, because we’re not assholes. Oh, and rule two… if you accidentally kill someone, you call us. We’ll have your back no matter what.”

“Ash! Fuck’s sake! Don’t kill people, Ren. Despite our example, it’s not generally okay.”

Ren snorted, rolling his eyes at both of us. “I can live with those rules. Can I go to my room now? I’ll get my own room, right? Please?”

Ash grinned. “Yeah, let me show you the available ones. Anything but ours is cool. Oh, there’s a third rule.”

I watched them head out of the room, catching that ‘rule’ as they disappeared.

“… if we’re fucking, you don’t bother us. Well, unless it’s an emergency. Like a real emergency, not I can’t find the fucking crisps or something.”

Jesus Christ, we were going to ruin this kid, but then, were his alternatives any better for him? We’d keep him from being forced into anything else in life, and that had to count for something.

Chapter Thirty-Four

Ash

My parents visited later that same day, bringing armfuls of supplies they thought we ‘might need’. Translation, they were nosy fuckers, and wanted to know all kinds of shit. It was good to see them though.

“So proud of you, son,” dad Dory said, as he sat on the sofa beside me, while my other parents were unloading food into cupboards or whatever.

“Why? I was a fucking wuss. I had nightmares last night too.”

He sighed, reaching up to ruffle my very carefully fucking styled hair, the bastard.

“Dad,” I groaned, trying to resurrect whatever coolness had existed before his touch. He grinned, picking up his coffee instead.

“Nightmares are to be expected. Trust me, we’ve all been there. It was your first murder, but I promise it gets easier.”

And he was the supposedly ‘less crazy’ one. Jesus.

“Dad, I don’t want it to get easier, for fuck’s sake. After we do his parents, I’m done with this shit. I just want to fuck, and live my life, and not mess up that kid we seem to have adopted along the way.”

“Yeah, where is he?”

I faked a shudder. “Jogging. They’re actually fucking jogging. Did I pick a normie or what?”

He laughed again, watching mum and dad Gray as they joined us too, finally finished cramming food into every fucking orifice in the kitchen.

“The kid okay?”

See how amazing my parents were? They cared this much about some kid they’d barely even met, and his own parents didn’t give him an ounce of that interest, and they fucking created him. I know it might have been more logical to let my parents take on the responsibility for Ren, because they were great at it, but something in me wanted to be a parent too, even if it wasn’t done in the right way, with me having fuck all experience. I just had to emulate them, right?

“Kinda thinking about killing his parents too,” I mused, chewing the side of my mouth as I wondered if I had that in me. It kinda made a mockery of my statement to my dad just then, but we could make them the last kills. They deserved it, but I wasn’t like other members of my family. Killing wasn’t that appealing to me. I was getting scarily close to normie level, and it bothered me.

“Ash-”

“Does it make me a pussy if I think I can’t? I feel like I’m letting you all down.”

Mum held up a hand as dad Gray opened his mouth, shushing him as effectively as a dick in his mouth would.

“Ash, baby, you don’t have to try and be anyone you don’t want to be. Do we try and push you to be someone you’re not, or do we empower you to make those choices for yourself? Believe it or not, killing people isn’t a fucking pre-requisite for fitting in with the family. I know your dads are nuts, and Blaze too, but you don’t have to feel like you’re failing if you’re not.”

“Damn, did we make you think you had to be like us?” Dad Gray asked, dragging a hand through his hair as he leaned forward. “Ash, you’re an amazing person exactly as you are, and if you change, you’ll still be amazing, but the important thing is to be you. You’re the only one who can.”