#asher brooks

Brave like Ashie. Brave like JayJay. Maddie practically chanted over and over again, hand and hand with Jason as they walked down the hallway towards Asher's hospital room. He peered down at her, little features pulling into a scowl that oddly resembled one of his own, and Jason immediately stopped them at that, shaking his head as he crouched down to the little girl's level just in front of Asher's door.

"Nah, brave like Maddie, remember." Jason said and would make sure his little sister knew; that there were all kinds of bravery. It was something that Adeline, whether she meant to or not, had taught him in the short time he knew her. "You remind me of a friend of mine, ya know. She was real brave like you. C'mon. Ash's waiting for us." His head nodded towards the door while little Maddie nodded intently at him, and he scooped her up in his arms.

“Yo, Ash—" Jason called out from beyond the familiar door he'd been in and out of over the past couple of days. He pushed it open slowly as Maddie clung to him, little hands digging into his shoulder blades. There was one last nod for reassurance, and he brought them inside. “Got a 'lil present for ya.”

It didn’t matter if it was the fight of his life or a booth game at some stupid Valentine's Day Carnival. When Jason entered a competition, he sure as all hell competed with everything he had. Tonight was no different, and he settled himself in front of the Balloon Darts stand carving out some time to get to the know the family he had only just learned about. “Alright, Maddie you want the big one? You’re gunna get the big one.” Jason zeroed in on the large, stuffed multicolored unicorn hanging above them. He nodded at the little girl his sister and then back at Asher his brother.

“Let’s fu—“ He cut himself short in an attempt to sensor his language then corrected himself as best as Jasonly possible. There were times he could be just as big of a kid as the actual children were. “Er, let’s freakin’ go!”

Shiv was supposed to get work done tonight. Overlook Park was just the rendezvous point, the designated area where another Brotherhood member would come to discreetly hand over another file for [Project Fallen Leaves]. Shiv would then transport it to WashTub, edited and annotated for the next person/s to deliberate.

But plans changed. This location became compromised the second another hunter brought his chase to Overlook. A hunter Shiv does not recognize, one that is distinctly not theirs. "Shit-"

The initial plan is canceled with a single text message yet Shiv still remains. They linger a small distance away, trailing behind his pursuit. Observing, analyzing, critiquing. Clumsy. Reckless. Over compensating. The longer they watched, the more abundantly clear it was that nothing here was fair or just. The creature he is chasing has yet to actually strike and do humanity harm. This is wrong. He is actively dishonoring the hunt.

Dad laughs this angry, dark chuckle. It rings through my ears. “You love her? You don’t know anything about her. You don’t love her, Asher. And she is not anywhere near a place in her life where she can love you back.”

Asher, Juliet, what are you guys doing running around in my head?  FG is finished, and I've got so much work to do.  No time for you. 

. . . and then Raquel spent an hour using various apps and computer programs to simply edit a photo (because her computer is shit). 

If i walk would you run

If i stop would you come

If i say you’re the one would you believe me