The Consequence

“You don’t love him, do you?”

Ashley sighed. The sky was painted a pretty navy blue, glittering stars scarring that artwork. Her phone was clamped to her ear as she staggered down the street. The pavement was empty, with just a few cars on the road.

She was stressed. She’d spent most of the day browsing bridal shops with her over excited mother. Ashley still hadn’t had the heart to tell her that she and Eric were taking things at a snails pace and tried on dress after dress and flicked through an endless stack of brochures, all to please her. At five, her mother had set her free, allowing Ashley to make her attack on a few bars and use her engagement ring to warn off sleazy old men.

She’d suffered in silence until her phone had rung a good hour ago and the smooth voice of John O’Callaghan had allowed her to spill her guts and stop pretending.

“No, I don’t,” she mumbled, staggering to the left slightly. She stopped and hitched her bag up onto her shoulder, thinking that maybe standing still would be a good move for a few minutes. Rubbing her forehead, Ashley closed her eyes. “Is that awful of me?”

“Yes. But it’s not exactly something you can help. There’s no point going through the shoulda woulda coulda’s. In all honesty, yes, you should’ve said no to getting engaged, but I know what kinda pressure you were under. Part of me thinks Halvo did it so you couldn’t say no, not in a malicious, trapping way, but in a shy guy doesn’t want to be rejected in front of hundreds, kind of way.”

“I know. I know he didn’t do it with any horrible intent behind it. I just wish it had been in private. Then I could’ve explained myself and told him why marriage was a bad idea. I don’t know how I can get out of this now, John. I don’t know what would be worse, to marry him and divorce after a while, or to call the wedding off now and really hurt him. It’s too far gone.”

“I know it’s scary and you don’t want to hurt him, but the best thing -”

Ashley zoned out of the conversation completely. Her eyes swivelled to the other side of the road. Two lanky shadows slunk along the pavement, hoods up, hands in pockets. Heading towards them was a girl, sniffling and wiping her eyes. She took a couple of steps back, concealing herself under the cover of darkness of a nearby shop.

One of the boys called out to the girl. She ignored them, letting her head drop, slowing her pace slightly. She shifted uncomfortably. Ashley could still hear John’s calm voice in her ear, but his advice wasn’t registering.

Evie glanced up at the two boys approaching her. “Hey, baby,” one called out to her. She focused on her feet, on her new ballet pumps, the pink floral design against the black background. She pulled her top down. It smelt like Logan. Her mind flashed to him, lying in his bed, his bare chest rising and falling with every breath. He had her lipgloss marked all over his face and neck. She’d only just left a fresh one. He fell asleep with her and now he’d wake up alone. She hitched her bag up on her shoulder and slowed her pace.

“Hey, what’s wrong? We’re not gonna hurt you,” the other boy said. His voice was closer, louder. He laughed bitterly at the end of his statement.

Fear bubbled up in the pit of Evie’s stomach. She reached for her phone in her pocket and pressed speed dial number one. Justin could pull himself away from Zara and come rescue her. He owed her that, at least.

“She’s a quiet one, eh, T?” The first guy laughed to himself. Both boys were standing in front of Evie by now. She glanced up at them, before going to step around them, but the first one blocked her path.

“Excuse me, I’ve got to get home,” she mumbled, trying to step around him again. He blocked her path.

“Empty your bag,” he hissed, leaning down to look into her face.

She shook her head, her hands shaking. “No.” She tried to step around him again, but he grabbed her shoulders. His rough, calloused fingers dug into her skin. She squealed and wriggled, trying to escape his grasp. Her throat burned. She tried to scream, but no sound came out. Her eyes widened in horror.

She should’ve stayed in bed with Logan.

He shook her. Harder. Again and again, demanding she empty her bag. Each time, paralysed by fear, she didn’t answer. She was terrified, but didn’t want to give up. This was one battle she was determined to win and come out with her bag and all her things still in tact and in her possession.

“What if we got really threatening?” He hissed in her ear.

Evie swallowed hard and shook her head. “No. No.” It was the only word she could manage. Her eyes widened as the second boy produced a shiny blade from his pocket. It glinted in the dim light from the street lamp overhead. The boy let her go and she tried to run, but something plunged into her side. A searing pain shot through her body and she fell to the floor, screaming out in agony.

The boys grabbed her bag and disappeared, their feet pounding against the pavement.

With shaking hands, Evie managed to prod the call button on her phone and let it fall to the pavement beside her face. She could hear Justin’s tired voice, thick with sleep. “Hello?” She tried to answer him, but no words came from her mouth.

Ashley’s eyes were wide. “John, I’ll call you back.” She cut through his philosophic ramblings and killed the call, walking across the street towards the girl. Her eyes widened at the sight of the blood pooling around her body, the handle of the blade sticking out of her chequered shirt.

“Oh my god,” she breathed, “I need to call you an ambulance.” She looked into the stranger’s pleading eyes as she punched nine-one-one into her phone.

As she spoke to the operator, all Ashley’s problems were placed into perspective. If she’d been on the other side of the road, it might have been her. Not being in love with the man she was going to marry didn’t compare to potentially losing her life at twenty two. She held the girl’s hand and waited for the ambulance to arrive, picking her phone up from the ground and looking at the screen.

“Do you want me to call anyone for you?” She asked.

She nodded feebly. “J-” her voice cracked.

Ashley scrolled through the calls list and came to the last number dialled, just mere minutes before. Justin. Whoever he was. She hit call and held it to her ear.

“Evie, what the hell? I swear if this is some kind of prank, it’s not -”

Ashley cut him off, “this isn’t Evie. I’m Ashley. Evie’s been in an accident, you might want to get to the hospital.”