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Oh thank fuck, thank fuck. Ash began to garble "I… didn't know who else to call, I..."
"Name’s Colt," came the gruff response on the other side of the phone.
Ash puffed out abreath. "I didn’t think anyone else would answer. I've pissed everyone off, Colt." It felt good saying the guy’s name. Warm and fuzzy. How he imagined saying the word 'home' should feel. "I've really fucked up..."
Ash heard a breath in and out, crackling the phone line slightly. "Don't worry, everyone fucks up at some point," Colt answered.
That simple utterance from Colt began to ease the tension in Ash’s shoulders. Ash hadn’t realized his jaw was so tensed up. He hadn’t realized that his body was stiff as a board.
"What’s up?" Colt continued.
Where did Ash begin? What’s up? What wasn't up? How could he begin to explain what was going on in his head? That feeling of sheer utter panic from being left alone, abandoned, began to threaten again.
"This is my phone call..." Ash heard himself stammer. "I don't know what to do now..." As Ash uttered those words, he felt himself slipping. Down, down, down.
"Where are you, Ash?" Colt's life raft voice pulled his head above the water once more.
Ash’s lips moved. "Police station."
"Why?"
"My uncle..."
"Fuck," Colt's response was short, sharp.
Then he heard a quieter, softer voice. April. The angel girlfriend, or fiancée, partner to Colt. Blonde hair and pouty lips and clearly head over heels in love with Colt. She murmured something, she was further from the phone. Fuck, were they in bed or something? He suddenly felt uncertain again. Should he have called? Should he be asking this stranger he hardly knew for a favor, to help him?
"Sorry," Ash said sheepishly, "is that April? Are you busy?”
Colt's voice snapped back. Without facial expressions, Ash found Colt hard to read. Or maybe it was his panic, barely kept at bay right now.
"We're in the hospital."
"Shit," Ash shouldn't have called. “Are you okay?"
The line crackled again as Colt breathed. A deep, long sigh. Ash didn't breathe. Ash felt his panic imploding. He heard the weariness now in Colt’s voice. Shit, Ash shouldn't have called, he shouldn’t have called, he was a stupid-
"Yeah," Colt sighed," April is... we crashed the car... Ash, I'm sorry, the car..."
Ash felt heat shudder through him. It was nice to feel something other than blind panic. He felt anger. Yes, anger. Colt shouldn't have to apologize. Ash shouldn't have to find a lawyer. This was all so unjust and Ash felt angry. "Fuck the car, you both hurt?"
"Nah...”
Ash felt the need to repeat the endless racing thoughts in his head. "I'm sorry." He almost cried, almost. "I shouldn't have called-"
The life raft smacked him in the head. Colt’s voice. "No…”
“Yes Ash," her voice, bright as a bell, light as a cloud, she'd moved closer to the phone. He felt that warmth again. What home should feel like.
He felt his lips moving, voicing the thoughts in his head. "I got no one else. Yours was the only number I had left."
Ash felt his voice fade to a whisper. He felt his soul and his spirit following close behind. Fading, getting smaller, almost ready to vanish completely.
Colt didn't say anything for the longest time. "Ash, this phone call is meant to be to your lawyer-"
Panic flared in Ash. Ash garbled, "Right, right, I know, I didn’t know who to call…"
"It's okay," Colt said. And in that moment, Ash believed him. "This is what we are going to do..."
