An Angel on Fire

Chapter One

A gasp ripped its way out of Ashley Johnston's lungs. She flung herself into a sitting position in her double bed. The sweat covered sheets clung to her skin. The room was silent bar her rapid breathing and the soft ticking of her analogue clock. She ran her warm hands through her soaked hair.

"It was just a nightmare. It's not real anymore" she reminded herself.

Nightmares used to be a common experience for Ash but since she moved into this foster home for young and at risk women just over three months ago, they were no longer a constant reminder of the abuse she'd lived through. The most recurring and vivid nightmare was the night her mother, Yasmine, had murdered her father, Jordan.

She was only six at the time when it happened, but she could accurately recall the sound that the gun made when fired. The acidic and metallic taste which lingered in the air in the aftermath. The sounds her father made as he lay dying on the floor of their home. Fear clouded his eyes when realisation that he was going to die hit him.

Ash held no ill will towards her mother for that night since Jordan wasn't exactly the best man, husband or father.

However she had a handful of good memories from her times with her father, but now she was able to see that they always had some underlying motivation. One of those such memories was from when she was six years old and he was teaching her how to crack a safe. He justified it to her by claiming that it was a life skill that every child should know.

Ash didn't want to remember his harsh tone of his voice or the pain that his hands left on her tiny body when she'd failed to open the safe after who knows how many attempts. But what she chose to remember was how proud he was when she'd managed to do it.

Once her breathing slowed down, she flicked on the right bedside lamp. The light illuminated up her room. Her eyes fixed onto the clock, it was half six in the morning. She rolled her eyes and sighed, knowing that even if she was able to get back to sleep it wouldn't be worth it. Rose Lincoln, the woman who was in charge of the house, made sure that everyone in the house was up, out of bed, dressed and doing something productive at 7:30 even on the weekends.

Ash kicked the sheet to the bottom of her bed, she swung her legs over the bed and made her way over to the main light. She flicked it on the main light. Her room was like a bomb went off in it. Clothes littered every possible place; thrown on the floor or neatly folded and placed in piles, hanging off the desk chair, they were everywhere besides the wardrobe. Plates, empty mugs, more forgotten about cups of coffee than she was willing to admit where across every surface. Her shoes had taken over a corner of her room. The books she used for school were hidden under a mix of clothes and loose paper. Her laptop and phone where at the bottom of her bed, covered by her duvet that she must have kicked down in the middle of the night. She picked up a plain t-shirt and black ripped at the knee jeans from the clean pile and quickly got changed into them.

Ash spent the next half an hour cleaning her room and making it look like presentable. The reason she let her room appear like this was due to this being the first home since she was taken into foster care that she felt safe enough to show off her belongings without the fear of them getting stolen by someone else. Her laptop had returned to its rightful spot in the middle of her desk, it was quietly playing the newest episode of her favourite podcast. Her door was wide open so she could bring the plates and mugs to the kitchen with ease so she didn't have to carefully stack them in an attempt to stop spilling of the ice cold coffee.

"Moring" Ash smiled at Rose when she entered into the kitchen for the tenth time since she woke up. Rose's eyes fixed on the four mugs that the seventeen year old had in her hands.

"I wondered where the mugs went" Rose drawled out before taking a sip of her freshly made coffee.

The younger one emptied out the contents of mug into the sink before giving it a quick run under the water.

"Sorry" Ash's head hung in embarrassment, she could feel her cheeks turn red slightly.

Rose laughed into her mug, "That's okay kid. At least there's not mould in them" she shook her head at that particular memory.

"I'm working till late so I won't be back for group. That okay?" It came out as more of a question than a statement.

"As long as you're working and not just using it as an excuse to be at the beach" Rose teased.

"That was one time and it was my break!" Ash laughed, before turning around on her heels and walking out of the kitchen.

"Breakfast in twenty" Rose said as she watched Ash leave.

As Ash crossed into her room, she closed the door behind her. All she wanted to do was throw herself onto the freshly made bed but her better judgment stopped her from doing so.

Her phone vibrated against the desk, she unlocked it and checked the recent messages. One from Deran Cody, one from Frankie West (work babe), one for Cassidy Romanov and the recent one from Peter Anderson.

She sat down on her chair before opening the messages from Deran.

Deran Cody:party tonight. You gonna come?

Ash thought it over for a moment before typing her response. "Maybe. Depends if work runs late or not"

Cassidy Romanov: Swing round for pick up.

The message from Frankie was a confirmation of her work schedule for the next month.

Peter Anderson: baby don't be like this.

As Ash's eyes scanned over the text and decided just to delete it straight away, she didn't want to deal with that cheating scum. They weren't officially together but manners and basic respect would suggest that you don't sleep with another girl.

Ash's shift at the Surf Shack had been dragging on. It felt longer due to how good the surf was, she could see the break from her position in the Shack. She loved her job, she knew most of the customers anyways since they were all fellow surfers and water people. She loved being in the surf so much more, it was the one place that she was able to clear her head.

She audibly whined as she remembered how long it'd been since she was in the ocean last. Her hand subconsciously rubbed over the large bandage on her left forearm. Just a few weeks ago, she was knocked off her board by some tourist who had no respect for the rules of the water, and as she was coming up for air, her arm got sliced by the fin of someone from the same tour group. Three hours in a doctor's waiting room and ten stitches later, her arm was no longer a stream of blood. But much to Ash's disappointment, she wouldn't be allowed back into the ocean until it healed completely.

She was busy re-organising the bucket of discount bikini bottoms as Frankie West, her favourite co-worker came over and helped her with the task at hand.

"Yes Franks?" Ash asked while they worked away, knowing that the only reason Frankie would be helping her was when she wanted something from her.

"Can you go out and do the outside stands before you go?" Frankie pleaded, her bottom lip stuck out. Ash ignored how pathetic and desperate she looked.

"Fine" Ash dropped the blue and white bottoms that she had in her hand and made her way out of the store.

The teenager busied herself with the restocking of the stands. She had a box full of sunglasses and hats at her feet, it may have been a simple task to do but she loved feeling the sun on her skin. It couldn't replace the feeling of being in the water but for the next while, it was the best option she had.

"Ash"

Her head snapped towards the location of the voice, since she instantly recognised it.

"No. Fuck off Peter" Ash hissed as she set down the merchandise she was busy restocking.

"Talk to me"

"Why?" she snapped as she turned away from him in an attempt to convince him to leave her alone.

"Baby look at me!" Peter's voice cut through the air.

"Don't call me baby!" Ash yelled back. "You don't get that privilege anymore" She spun around to face him again.

The heads of a group of local surfers turned around to the source of yelling. The dirty blond who recognised Ash's voice gave her a soft smile, before turning back around to finish getting his equipment back into his Scout. He didn't want to intervene but he was more than ready and willing to do so.

"Fine! Ashley why won't you talk to me then?"

"Because you fucked another girl" Ash ran her hands through her hair in disbelief.

"She didn't mean anything"

"But she meant enough to fuck?" venom laced her voice.

Peter opened his mouth to say something but Ash continued.

"Just fuck off Peter. We're done. Over. Finished. No longer fucking" Ash yelled as she turned around on her heels to make her way back into the store.

Peter grabbed her arm and pulled her back. He forced her to face him. Ash fell back into herself, not knowing if this would play out the way it did with almost every parental figure she had in her life. She tried to make herself as small as she physically could, her breathing quickened as Peter spoke. Everything he was saying went in one ear and out the other, which was something she was slightly grateful for, it meant that she wasn't subjected to the abusive language he was spitting at her.

She forced her eyes shut so she didn't see exactly how it happened but Peter had let go of her hand and she'd been forced into taking a number of steps back. But for some reason she felt safe enough to open her eyes. A mess of dirty blonde hair was standing between her and Peter.

"Don't fucking touch her" Deran Cody spoke through his gritted teeth, he turned his head to face Ash who was still trying to process what was happening. "Ash you okay?"

"I'm fine" she gave a weak smile.

Peter getting annoyed with Deran's presence snapped out, "Mate fuck off. This is between me and my girl"

Ash tried to take a step forward but Deran stopped her.

"I'm not your fucking mate. And you're clearly not wanted"

"What can't you understand?" Ash shouted from behind Deran. "You fucked another girl so I ended things"

"See, she doesn't want you here." Deran took a step forward, using his physical stature to immediate the younger man.

Peter glanced around to see that more locals were watching what was going on.

"Fine mate you know what? She's an easy fuck and definitely not worth the effort. But you can have her" Peter ran his finger over his bottom lip.

He turned around laughing to himself. Before Ash could tell Deran not to react, he'd grabbed him by the shoulder and he'd punched Peter so hard in the nose that it broke. Deran smirked as he felt Peter's nose break, blood began flowing down his face.

A smile came over Ash's face as she watched Peter run off with his hands covering his face.

"Thank you"

"It's okay" Deran was still fixed on watching Peter run off, he flexed his hand in some sort of attempt to shake off any pain.

Ash grabbed his arm as she moved to stand beside him. "My hero" the sarcasm dripped from her voice. "Where would I be without my wetsuit clad hero?"

Deran shrugged his shoulders before looking over at Ash, who was playfully hanging off his arm. "Still talking to that jackass?"

Before Ash managed to answer Deran's question, Owen, the manager called out for her and gave his 'you better get back to work' glare that he so often gave her. Truthfully, Ash didn't know why Owen hadn't fired her yet, it was probably due to her knowing most of the surfers from around this area. If she was there, the Shack was more likely to get their business.

"I best get back to work" she pointed in the general direction of the Shack before sticking her hands into the pockets of her jeans, "I'll be finished in half an hour if you want to give me a ride back to the house" she smiled at him, knowing that Deran was often powerless against her.

"Go" he laughed as he walked back towards his Scout.

Deran decided to wait till Ash had finished her shift in order to give her a ride back to the group home. As he drove them in the general direction of the home, Ash had stuck her legs over the door much to Deran's annoyance.

Deran pulled over two streets away from the foster home, he turned the Scout off as Ash jumped out and turned around to face him.

"I'll be twenty minutes tops. I've just got to convince Rose that I'm staying with Franks" as she spoke, she pushed her sunglasses back up her nose.

"Will Frankie cover for you?" Deran asked.

Ash shuffled on her feet, her hands wrapped around the straps of her small backpack. "Yea, she should. She's done it before"

Deran nodded as she walked down the street in the direction of the home.

It only took her a few moments to walk the distance home. She dug through her back pocket to pull out the house key, she pushed the key into the lock and turned it to the left. The door swung open and she walked in through the door.

"Rose?" she called out as the door closed behind her.

"Ash?" Rose answered from the kitchen.

The teenager walked into the kitchen, she dropped her backpack on the table, and went over helped Rose put away the clean dishes.

"What do you want?" Rose asked.

"What makes you think I want something?" Ash replied, faking her shock.

"I've worked with teenagers long enough to know that they don't help unless they're getting something"

"How could you think that is something I'd do" she laughed.

Rose sighed, "Ash what do you need?"

"Frankie wants me to come out, because it's her girlfriend's birthday and Franks doesn't really know anyone. It'll be like dinner, movie and bonfire at the beach." the words came out in one breath.

"What time will you be back at?"

"She'll leave me back around tomorrow morning" her gaze was fixed on a spot just above Rose's head.

"That's okay as long as you're back for morning group."

"Seriously?" Ash blurted out without realising.

"I trust you and you're almost an adult" Rose shrugged her shoulders before she started stacking the dirty dishes into the dishwasher.

Ash turned around and made her way to her ground floor bedroom before Rose stopped to ask any more questions which she wouldn't feel comfortable answering with a lie. It wasn't like Ash was able to tell Rose the truth about what she was actually doing, Rose didn't exactly approve of her friendship with Deran due to his brush with the law all those years ago. But what Rose didn't know wouldn't hurt her.

Ash quickly changed out of her work shirt into the one she was wearing this morning. She changed her bag from the small backpack that she used for work to one of the duffle bags she'd had for years, into it she threw clothes which would be deemed pool party appropriate since she didn't know if the party was a pool one or not. She threw in a shirt for sleeping in and few sets clean of clothes to wear coming home tomorrow. The necessary equipment to clean her arm was also packed away.

"I'll be back before group" Ash said as she poked her head into the kitchen, seeing that Rose was still busy with cleaning up the dishes from dinner.

"Go have fun. Don't do anything too illegal please" the older woman spoke without turning around to face Ash.

"When have I ever done anything illegal?" she questioned, not wanting to hear Rose's answer she made her way out and almost ran the two streets to Deran's Scout.

Once she reacted the Scout, she threw her duffle over the door. She leant over so that her hands were cupped around her knees. Her panted in an attempt to catch her breath, after a few seconds, she started messaging her burning calves with one hand and with the other, she held up her index finger in an attempt to stop Deran from laughing at her.

After a moment, Ash's breathing had slowed done enough for her to climb into the passenger seat.

"Shut up" she said in between her deep breaths.

"I didn't say anything" he chuckled before turning the key in the ignition and begin the drive to Smurf's house.

Deran opened the passenger door of the Scout for Ash, who jumped out of her seat with her duffle bag in hand.

"Such a gentleman" she rolled her eyes and made her way through the front door of the house as Deran made his way around to the pool.

Ash shoved her way past the party goers as she made her way to the kitchen, where Smurf currently was standing. The matriarch of the Cody family watching the party unfold, Deran and Craig were currently on top of ledge which was positioned over pool. From inside the house, it wasn't clear what they were currently talking about. A crowd had gathered around them to watch them jump.

Smurf rolled her eyes at her children as she looked around and saw that Ash was making her way over.

"Sweetheart, I haven't seen you in forever" Smurf stated as she handed over a still capped bottle of beer.

The teenager took it with a smile and twisted off the cap, before giving her reply "Yeah, I've been busy as hell lately with school, work and the new group home". She took a small swig of her bottle as she looked out to the pool as Craig shoved Deran off the ledge and into the pool below.

"How's the new home? Do you feel safe there?" Smurf asked, as her gaze lingered on the bandage.

Ash couldn't tell if she was just trying to make small talk or if she was genuinely concerned. Even after all this time, Ash was still unsure of what her position was with Smurf, more often than not Ash struggled to read Smurf's body language. The two women were more like than they were willing to admit, the matriarch and the teenager both kept everything close to their chest.

"Well compared to the other twenty or so homes I've lived in, so yeah I feel pretty safe." She shrugged her shoulders, before setting her beer onto the worktop.

"You're always welcome here"

"Thank you." Ash smiled, as she shifted her duffle-bag from one shoulder to the other. "Which room can I leave my duffle in?"

"Julia's old room" she pointed over to a room on the other side of the party.

Before Ash was able to start making her way over to Julia's old room, a male teenager, no older than herself walked into the kitchen and grabbed a beer for himself and he began talking to Smurf. She vaguely recognised him but she couldn't put either her finger on where she knew him from or a name to his face. Something was off about him, it was clear that he wasn't in a mood to be at this pool party, he seemed overwhelmed but by what she didn't know. When he stood across island from Smurf, his body language was tight and ridged, he hadn't taken a drink from his bottle so to Ash, and it was obvious that he was only using the bottle as a means of keeping his hand occupied. Something which Ash had done far too many times when she'd be invited to a party that she knew only a handful of people there.

Smurf directing the conversation towards Ash snapped her out of her thoughts.

"Yes?" she said with a smile and picked up her beer bottle once again.

"This is my grandson, J" Smurf explained, as she placed her hand on his back.

"Ashley Johnston. Hi" she awkwardly waved her free hand. "But call me Ash, the only people who call me Ashley are my mother when I see her, Timothy my social worker and people who're angry or disappointed with me. Maybe that's why Timothy always calls me Ashley" her voice trailed off.

"I know" J spoke, "We in the same year at school"

"We are?" she didn't mean to say this out loud.

She didn't doubt that J was telling the truth since she may have been well known throughout the school but there weren't many people who she actually liked or who actually liked her. Once people started getting to know Ash for who she really was, they didn't like to stick around or when they finally got whatever they wanted from her, they pretended not to know her.

"You were meant to be my lab partner in Chem but you left the class." J rubbed the label of his bottle.

"Oh shit yeah you were. Sorry that I didn't remember. I was high as fuck that day" as she rambled on she ran her free hand through her hair.

Sensing that her interaction with J wouldn't go much further she spoke again, "I'm gonna go leave my duffle in the room" she pointed in the general direction before taking off that way.

"You fucking idiot" she muttered to herself as soon as she was far enough away, she was lucky that he wasn't able to see her checks flush with embarrassment. And she was even more lucky that Deran or Craig didn't see it, because they'd never let her live in down.

Ash lay across one of the many pool side seats, her eyes were hidden behind her sunglasses. She'd changed out of her skinny jeans and t-shirt into something more pool side appropriate, a loose fitting white tank top, it just only slightly relieved the small trio of tattooed birds on her shoulder which she got for her seventeenth birthday and a pair of ripped jean shorts. Under her outfit she was wearing a black bikini. Two years ago, this would have been an outfit that Ash never would have dreamed of wearing to a pool party or even outside of her bedroom, it showed off every scar she'd even gotten, her body was littered with them. Every scar told a small part in her story of abuse.

She felt the warmth of the sun leave her, before two pairs of arms grabbed her and lifted her up.

"Deran. Craig! You fuckers. Let me go!" Her yelling was mixed with laughter.

Deran had let go of Ash's legs as Craig threw her over his shoulder. The well-built man carried her from her position at the side of the pool to the ledge that they'd been jumping off earlier. Her constant trashing didn't seem to cause Craig any problems.

"Craig. Put me down" she laughed as they stopped at the top. "I hate you both so much."

Craig lifted her off his shoulder and placed her onto the ledge. She stood up and when her two feet where firmly on the ledge, Deran grabbed her by the legs and Craig by the arms once more.

"No don't you fucking dare" she warned but she was ignored as they slowly started to swing her over the edge. "Put me down" she yelled.

"Okay" Deran laughed as both brothers let go of her. She hit the water in the pool below with a loud splash. Craig and the remnants of the group around the pool cheered loudly as Ash hit the water whereas Deran winced slightly, knowing that it could have hurt Ash accidently.

Once Ash's feet hit the bottom of the pool, she pushed off it. She gasped for a breath before looking up towards the two brothers, one of whom was still laughing away and the other looking ever so slightly concerned.

"I fucking hate you Craig" she yelled as she treaded water in the place she landed.

"You don't Princess" he yelled back.

She held up her bandaged arm and yelled "If this gets infected, I'm gonna kill you. I don't have medical insurance. I only just paid off my last hospital bill!"

She swam towards the edge of the pool, choosing to ignore whatever Craig was saying back. She struggled to keep her injured arm out of the water, knowing that it probably wouldn't do much good since it had already been under and exposed to the bacteria.

As she walked towards Julia's old room, she flipped off Craig and Deran. The door to the bedroom slid open just enough for her to get through. Making sure that the door was closed behind her, she quickly got out of the wet clothes and she lifted the towel up and started to dry herself off. Her drenched clothes were in a pile on top of around towel. She knew that Smurf wouldn't mind if the floor was wet but this was one home from the bad foster homes that she'd probably not be able to break. Nothing should be out of place and if anything is the punishment will make you think twice about doing it again.

Once she was dry, she dropped the towel with the rest of her wet clothes she quickly got dressed into the clothes that she was wearing to the party. She peeled off the wet bandage and threw into the trash can beside the desk.

"Shit shit shit" she audibly muttered to herself as she applied the cream to the stitches which ran along her forearm. She winced in pain as the stinging sensation made its way up her arm.

"You okay?" a soft voice broke through the quiet room.

"Yeah, I'm fine" Ash looked up towards J, "well not really" she laughed.

J looked towards her arm and dropped to his knees in front of her. He helped her finish cleaning up her arm, he lifted up the clean bandage and handed it over to her. She took it from him with a smile as she wrapped it around her arm.

"Thanks" she whispered and without him saying anything else, J left the room once again.

Ash stared at the space that J had occupied, slightly dumbfounded at him. She covered her eyes with her hands and fell backwards onto the bed.

"Why are you like this?" she spoke out loud, knowing that no one would be able to hear her over the sound of the music.

AN: Yeah so this is it. if you want to see edits for this go to my tumblr which is abcbarricadeboys and copy this after the url tagged/fic%3A-an-angel-on-fire or just head into my tag page and you'll find the link there.

Hope you enjoyed this.