"This traffic is horrendous." Kylie groaned, kicking her feet up so they rested on the dashboard.

Isla rolled her eyes, "When is it not?" Her eyes wandered to her right, "Also get your dirty feet off of Steph."

Kylie turned towards Isla, who's eyes focused back on the cars ahead of her - which were not moving an inch. "I still can't believe you call your car that." She shook her head, not changing her position.

"Don't discriminate, gosh, Kylie. Steph here has feelings too." Isla pouted, patting the steering wheel.

"You're so weird, Isla. But I love you, I suppose." Kylie twirled her blonde hair around her pointer finger, finally lifting her white converse off the dashboard.

"Well I don't." Isla sing-songed, sticking her tongue out.

Her friend let out an exaggerated gasp and gave her a playful punch in the arm. "You suck."

Isla shook her head in amusement, braking at the intersection. "Zack is going to love our present, dude." She noted, changing the subject.

"I know." Kylie stated, a grin playing on her face. "Ever since I could remember, he's been bugging us about these stupid tennis shoes." The shoe box rested safely on her lap.

"Makes sense because he's practically broke. He has to rely on his best friends to buy it for him." Isla shook her head, "But I guess that's Zack for you."

"He's so lucky to have us." Kylie sighed.

Isla just nodded, stepping down on the pedal once the cars in front of her moved. She reached the light at the intersection and veered into the left lane towards the Forum, where she noticed a sizable crowd of teenage girls standing.

Although the windows were closed, she could clearly hear the piercing screams of them. "Must be some stupid celebrity or something." Isla groaned, realizing that that was probably why the traffic was so bad.

"Is One Direction in town or something?" Kylie joked, leaning forward in her seat to get a better look.

"Probably." Isla scoffed, her eyes still glued to the road in front of her.

Suddenly, the screams got noticeably louder - and more and more girls crowded towards the edge of the sidewalk and almost onto the road.

"What the fück?" Isla mumbled, her hands wrapped around the wheel. The light in front of her turned green, and she accelerated, turning left. Her fingers danced around the wheel as it turned, a crowd of girls getting closer and closer to the edge of her car.

The proximity between the car and the girls grew smaller and smaller as they piled onto the bike lane -  when suddenly, a tall curly-headed figure stumbled out of the mob, falling right into the path of the car.

Isla lifted her foot onto the brakes, but before she could slam down, the collision of his body sent her frame to fly forward, her seatbelt pressed tightly against the bare skin of her neck.

Out of reflex, her mouth released a high-pitched scream, and she forgot about everyone and everything that surrounded her. She immediately unbuckled her seatbelt, and pushed herself out of the car, her heart thumping wildly.

But it was too late.

⋆ ⋆ ⋆

Michael gaped at the image before him. His dirty blonde curls, his enormous hazel irises, his tough exterior, it all looked exactly as he remembered. He held himself up high, the smile on his face pinned so it would stay forever.

"Mikey!" He squealed and engulfed Michael in a tight embrace, his muscular biceps pressed tightly against Michael's weak body. "I missed you so much."

Michael's arms remained at his sides, not returning the intimate gesture. Ashton wasn't alive, he couldn't be. His arms were not around him, his voice definitely did not just speak his name, this was all fake - it had to be. Michael felt his own chest rise and deflate with oxygen, and soon enough, he could detect the other boys' body mirror his own breathing.

This was all in his head.

He shook his head, his grown-out hair flying at the sides, and put his hands on Ashton's chest, distancing himself from his best friend. "What are you?" He managed to get out once Ashton's arm were relaxed at his sides.

He just smiled brightly. "I'm your best friend, Ashton. Have you forgotten already?"

The expression on his face only revealed complete innocence and honesty, making Michael blink a couple of times. Maybe he was just hearing things. "Go away." He grunted. Internally, he yelled at his brain to stop playing tricks on him.

Ashton furrowed his brows. "But Mi - "

Michael covered his ears with his hands and shouted, "I said, go away!"

Ashton's hand reached out to grab Michael's, but he pulled away, not wanting to touch what he believed to be his imagination. "Michael - "

At this, Michael slammed his bedroom door in Ashton's hurt face. He turned around and pressed his back against it, slowly sliding down so that his bottom was on the ground and his legs were sprawled in front of him.

His hands moved to cover his face, and he shook his head furiously, trying to rid himself of his wandering imagination. The memories of Ashton's crippled body conceptualized in his thoughts, and the same look of horror he had that day took its place beside it. Michael begged for it to stop as his hands shook against each other, but the depression was relentless. The desolation dragged his soul into a dark abyss, and he tried desperately not to let himself fall.

"Goddämn it!" He screamed, pounding his fist repeatedly on the carpeted floor.

Michael could feel his tears of frustration build up at the corners of his eyes. Each time his memory glazed over his times with Ashton, they became closer and closer to falling. He could still hear his voice so clearly; like it was his own. Echoes repeated on and on, calling for him to open the door and let him in.

But Michael knew it was not Ashton out there.

The temptation was impenetrable, and Michael could feel his own resolve slowly slipping away as he stood up. His hands trembled without moderation as he placed it on the knob.

And with one twist, his demons came flooding in.

☹ ☹ ☹

When Isla awoke, she wasn't surprised to feel sweat caching every inch of her body. She groaned and just lied there for a moment, wondering when her mind would let her sleep in peace.

She had nightmares about the incident quite frequently, however, the memories that she gained overnight faded quickly after she awoke. There was never a time when she could fully grasp the memory - but she wasn't sure she wanted to.

Nearly every night she relived that moment, yet still she couldn't recite it clearly. Not that she wanted to, of course, but her therapist had once told her that once she was able to, maybe she could fully accept it and let go. And all she ever wanted was to forget, but there was always something tugging at the back of her mind, pleading for her to stay.

Two weeks had passed since her meeting with Luke and Calum, but the events were still fresh in her brain. The way she stood up for herself - something she wasn't used to - and the way Calum glared at her with such anger she couldn't comprehend, and the way Luke seemed so mellow.They didn't fully accept her apology, and maybe that's why she couldn't move on.

Isla rolled out of bed, fumbling with a pair of leggings and a plain grey hoodie, she picked up cellphone, checking to see if she had any messages.

She had two, one from Kylie, the other from Zack. She read Kylie's first.

Kylie: im coming over around eleven. be ready.

Me: alrightyy

Zack: im coming with ky, dont bail

Me: im rolling my eyes @ u

Honestly, Isla was incredibly grateful that she still had friends who were there for her. Kylie and her had always been relatively close, but ever since the accident, the two had become inseperable. She and Zack were the only ones that actually cared about Isla's well-being and stuck with her when everyone else saw her as a murderer.

Isla couldn't even go outside anymore without being called 'disgusting' or 'sick' or being spat on.

She slipped on a maroon beanie onto her naturally uncooperative and wavy hair and placed her phone into the pocket of her hoodie. After tugging on a pair of fuzzy socks, she made her way down the stairs, and spotted her mom sitting quietly at the table, sipping on her coffee and shuffling through magazines and newspapers. Jaxon sat on the couch, watching some soccer game.

"Good morning." She said quietly, not even sure if they could hear her.

Her mother glanced over, the top of her graying hair tousled around messily like she hadn't brushed her hair since she woke up. A tired smile rested on her face, "Morning, sweetie. What do you want me to make you?"

"It's alright, mom. I'll do it." Isla reached the kitchen, grabbing her favorite winter mug.

"Okay, are you going out with Kylie again today?" Her mom asked, her eyes training back to the article in front of her.

"Yeah." She answered simply, not feeling the need to make more of the conversation. She was never that close to her mother, anyways.

Before the accident, her mom was incredibly strict. At most, she would be able to go out with her friends once or twice a month. And if her grade ever dropped below a 4.0 GPA, she would be scolded multiple times and would have her phone taken away. The way she was raised made a huge influence on the way Isla acted in front of strangers - she often couldn't speak what was really on her mind.

But now, her mom let her do what normal parents would - but to Isla it was complete freedom. The two never spoke of it, but Isla knew that her mom just pitied her for not being able to live a normal life after the accident.

Just then, the doorbell rang, and Isla immediately set her mug down, grabbed her shoulder bag, and ran to the door.

"I'm going now, mom. I'll be back soon." She called out, pulling the wooden door open and slipping on her vans.

"Hurry up, Isla," her blonde friend urged, not even bothering with a greeting. "We're going on an adventure today."

"Be patient, god. It's only eleven, we have all day." Isla groaned, hopping out of the door, her vans only halfway on.

"But we're doing a lot, so we need every second of it." Kylie countered. "Plus Zack is always so grumpy in the morning so I need you to help me deal with it."

Isla sighed but silently agreed. Zack was one of those people who's mood could change in a matter of seconds.

Kylie situated herself in the drivers seat of her blue Prius, and Isla slid into the back seat, mumbling a small hello to Zack.

They drove in silence for a whole five minutes before Isla finally spoke up, "Is someone going to tell me where we're going?"

Zack's head turned from his seat in the front, "We're going to help you." He didn't need to elaborate for Isla to know what he meant.

Isla raised her eyebrow, not amused. "And how exactly are you going to do that?"

Zack turned his head towards Kylie who had a such a wide smile on her face it looked as if it could overflow off of her face.

"We're going to turn you into someone else."

❃ ❃ ❃

so this is kind of a filler, but it's necessary so you guys can know more about the characters and what's going on in their minds. if you didn't get what went on with michael, basically he imagined ashton the whole time, and he tried to get away from his insanity, but in the end, he fell back into it by going back to the imaginary ashton that he made up.

as for isla, I haven't introduced everything about her completely, but yall will find out more later ;)

thanks for all the votes and comments, they make me smile <3