It felt like someone had suddenly turned on an internal heater inside her system, and her pale skin slowly turned from a ghastly white to a shade of ripe strawberry. The warmth had now fully bloomed, a sweltering heat wave bursting through her pores and triggering the waterfalls in her eyes.

Too bad the water had dried up.

“Ashley…”

She started hyperventilating and gasping for air - her heart had finally started thumping again. However, it was too erratic for her liking, making her to drop the microphone on the floor and totter away from the stage in cruel, judging silence. The egg white dripped from the top of her head, all the way till her chin and downward; yet, no one stood up to help her. In fact, their snickers still rung, harsh and cold, inside her head - like a warning bell.

"Ash..."

Ashley couldn't believe it had happened, and in front of everybody, too. She stood, soaking in the cruel laughter, her head beginning to spin. She used to rule this school, but now the tables had turned.

"Sweety?"

Quickening her pace, Ashley slowly started to run out of the hall in utter chagrin and onto the terrace, where her voice finally let out a guttural cry, and tears rained down her cheeks.

They won't ever leave me alone.

“Ashley… wake up!”

Ashley let out a loud scream but nothing came from her mouth. She heard loud footsteps behind her, and she turned her head towards the door. Her eyes widened when Ashley saw herself, who was pale and skinny like her, but weaker. A knife lied on the floor in front of Ashley, and the other was in her hand. Her replica laughed and jumped to kill her. Ashley quickly picked up the knife and stabbed her, right in her heart. But Ashley didn't realize that she was her, and killing her meant killing herself.

Someone’s laughter explodes throughout the terrace and a choked cry for help forces up her throat. “Help!”

She jolted up in the bed as her Aunt pulled her into an embrace, the remnants of the nightmares still clinging to her mind. Her limbs flexed in shock. Her cheeks were wet and her body was bathed in a cold sweat. Ashley gasped, realising she had a nightmare after such a long time and her aunt had witnessed it. Now she would force her to visit a doctor.

“Calm down, Ashley. I'm here,” her aunt whispered softly, caressing her back.

Ashley swallowed and broke the embrace to look at her Aunt, only to find tear-filled eyes. Her heart clenched and she let out a cry, burying her face in the pillow. “Leave me alone.”

“Ashley, you need to talk to me.” Aunt Jenna grabbed her hand and squeezed it tightly.

“No. I am not going to see any stupid therapist. I've had enough.”

“I won't take you to a doctor. I promise. But please don't shut me out again,” Aunt mumbled quietly, not leaving her hand.

After a few minutes, Ashley felt her breath going back to normal, and she shifted to face her aunt. “I used to get these nightmares after the prom party…”

“Prom?” She interrupted, furrowing her eyebrows. “But you were in junior year then, how?”

“In our school, we used to have combined prom for juniors and seniors. I was homeschooled after the incident, but my sister and a few friends encouraged me to go to Prom,” Ashley sighed and took a deep breath, avoiding the anxiety crawling back into her stomach. “And that was when it happened. They…” Ashley choked out, “humiliated me, in front of everyone…” She cried loudly, pulling her knees into her chest. “I should never have gone there against my parent’s wishes.”

Ashley had always been so self-conscious when she cried, but now she just gave way to the enormity of her grief.

“Oh dear, I didn't know anything about this…” her aunt gasped and tried to pull Ashley towards her.

Ashley shook her head, “I need fresh air. I need to go running.”

With those words, she jumped from the bed and went to her closet, pulling out a hoodie and bolted outside, grabbing her phone on the way.  

*

It was still dark as she stepped out of the house, but she didn't care. Since she moved,  it was the first time she was having a nightmare and the irony was, her aunt had caught her.

Great!

Now, she thought about the reason for getting the nightmare. She couldn't help but to blame it on Ashton. The guy who was set to ruin her life. Her legs moved fast with the thoughts of Ashton.

She couldn't understand what the hell he wanted from her. Melissa herself told her that Ashton wasn't interested in AMC but now when he heard that she was taking part in it, he suddenly got interested and on top of that, he even passed the test they took with Mr. Sinha.

She closed her eyes and cursed herself for not preparing fully. Now, she had lost the chance to impress her father. He wouldn’t ever forgive her!

She sobbed into her hands and the tears dripped between her fingers, raining down onto the parched soil. Her breathing was ragged, as she was gasping. She sank to her knees, not caring about the the grit that dug into her skins. She was noisy, her skin blotched, but there was no-one there to witness it  or to comfort her. She could run a mile in any direction and not find another soul. She cried until no more tears came, but still the emptiness and sorrow remained.

On the first light of the day her crouched figure remained unmoved. There was nothing left, nobody left, no reason to move.

A sudden thought of ending her life came into her mind, before she scolded herself for being so negative. She was never this weak.

Not even when she was arrested for taking drugs!

Not even when Brandon...

“Ashley?”

Her chain of thoughts interrupted as she felt a hand on her shoulder. She shivered, realising it was someone familiar.

“Are you okay?”

A deep, concerned voice made her lift her head, and she turned to find Leo standing in his tracksuit. Feeling embarrassed, she rubbed her face to wipe the remaining trace of tears and stood up. “I… am fine,” she mumbled.

“You don't seem to be.” Leo crossed his arms.

Something snapped inside her at the way he was looking at her. She didn't like it. The last thing she wanted right now was pitiful glances.

Ashley narrowed her eyes, “I don't understand why you care? You tried to be nice during the test but I know there must be some hidden notice behind all this.” She threw her hands in the air, taking a few steps back.

Leo chuckled, “I'm not interested in you if you're thinking that way.”

“I never said you were,” Ashley glared at him. “Don't twist my words. Now tell me, did Ashton send you? He told you to become friends with me? So he can check on how vulnerable I'm feeling right now? Well, now you’ve done your task. Go and report to your boss.”

With a last glare, Ashley turned and started walking away when he stopped her by grabbing her hand. “Woah… wait. Who said Ashton sent me here?”

Ashley snatched her hand from his grasp but didn't say anything.

“Listen, I don't know what's going in your little brain but I'm not playing any games. I was out running like always and spotted you here. I was just checking out of concern, Ashley. Stop over analysing everything.”

She pressed her lips into a thin line, staring at him to check whether he was lying or not.  He looked dead serious, staring at her.

“Then why did you talk to me during the test?” Ashley asked, breaking the silence.

He gave her a funny look. “Seriously?” But when Ashley remained silent, Leo continued,“You were on verge of having a panic attack… you can't expect anyone to sit by and watch you dying.”

“I wasn't dying,” Ashley protested and Leo shook his head, walking towards a bench near the tree.

“My sister used to get them. That's why I could tell. You were looking so pale with the trembling hands… it wasn't hard to guess what was going on with you.” Leo, who was sitting on the bench, now looked lost as his soft lips stretched into a smile that didn't quite reach his dark eyes.

For a few moments she stared at him, almost sure his expression mirrored hers. It broke her heart.

Ashley walked towards him and asked, “How's your sister now?”

He smiled, “She’s doing better now. Out of town for college.”

She nodded and sat beside him. “I didn't pass the test.”

“I know.”

She swallowed hard, biting the insides of her cheeks. “Ashton did.”

He turned his face in her direction and asked, “do you know who is the second student?”

Ashley furrowed her eyebrows, remembering how Ashton informed her about passing the test. He didn't mention anything about the second student. “Who?”

“Me,” Leo grinned, earning a gasp from her.

“What?” She stood up. “How? I mean, I'm happy for you, but…” she trailed off.

He chuckled, “I know. I don't look like the studios type and honestly, I also can't believe that I did it.”

“Congratulations,” Ashley greeted him, sitting back on the bench. She was happy for him but the fact her chances were lost couldn't be ignored.

“Hey, don't be upset. I'm sure you could have done it better than me. You just need to focus on strengthening your confidence. I know you're good at math but you need to learn to control your thoughts.”

Ashley looked up and sighed, “It's not that easy, Leo. I have a past which I'm ashamed of. I thought I'd make my parents proud by achieving something great ,but now everything is ruined.” She kicked her feet in the dust. “Now… I don't know what to do…”

She didn't realise that tears were coming from her eyes until Leo put his arms around her. She stiffened for few seconds, but then the warmth of his body made her relax into his touch.

“Did you get a nightmare last night?” Leo asked quietly.

Ashley closed her eyes and decided to answer him in the negative, but then she remembered about his sister and the way he was holding her.  It felt like a brother holding his little sister, to whom she shouldn't lie. So, she told him the truth about her nightmare.

Leo took a deep breath, “What made you afraid, Ashley? Afraid of the future and past? Which don't even exist in any place but the imagination. Even memory must be imagined. You need to face your fear with courage and you need to understand it and then you need to let it go.” He stopped and Ashley took the moment, pulling herself from his grasp and staring at him as he continued, “Let these fears wake you up, let them show you the way to your true self, to the brave soul whose love shines like a star.”

It was then that there was no crease below her eyes as her lips curved in an upward direction.

Happiness flared in his eyes and for the first time in a while and it began to flare in hers, too.