Cheryl stepped into the white room. Her footsteps silent on the padded floor as she approached the bed and the figure on it. His eyes were closed, one leg hanging far enough off the side that he could gently swing it in boredom.
"Hey, Ashley."
His eyes opened sluggishly, seemingly unfocused as he stared up at her. "Hey, Cher," the words slurred together, and she sighed. They must've upped his dosage since her last visit. "You're dead."
"Yeah," she agreed easily, "and the dead wanna sit. Push over."
Ash stared blankly before shoving himself closer to the edge. Once she was settled next to him, he spoke, "Why're you here?"
"Somebody's gotta visit you or you'll go mad in here."
He snorted, eyes slipping shut again. "Too late for that."
"Besides you're my favorite brother."
"'m your only brother."
"I know. You're lucky the bar's so low."
She watched in a mixture of amusement and pity as he frowned at that and waited for it to click. After a full minute, he gave a weak laugh.
He opened his eyes again, seeming to make a conscious effort to keep them on her. "I killed you."
"Don't start that up again, Ashley." She was tried of having this talk every time she came by. All she wanted to do was give him a small amount of company for as long as she could.
"I did." Stubbornness was strengthening his voice. "Why else would Dad've let them put me in here?"
"Dad didn't have choice." Not on that anyway. It was his choice to never check on how his son was doing and, someday, she would have strong words with their father about it.
But Ash wasn't listening. "I killed you and Linda and Scotty and Shelly-"
"Scott killed Shelly."
"Why would Scotty kill Shelly?"
"Why would you kill Shelly?"
"Because she was a demon." He frowned. "Because I snapped and killed all of 'em."
"No, you froze and hid in the corner."
"It was not the corner." Ash tried to cross his arms, the drugs clearly throwing off his coordination as he smacked himself in the chin with his bandaged stump. "Okay, forget Shelly."
Cheryl drew her legs onto the bed and rested her arms on her knees. She'd rather snuggle up next to him like they did when they were kids and would spend the night talking about stupid things instead of sleeping, but that wasn't an option. "Done. Can I forget Scott too? I don't know why you were ever friends with that jerk."
He shot her a look. It was ineffective as he just looked stoned. "I killed you, Linda, Scotty, Annie... uh, whatever Annie's boytoy's name was-"
"Ed."
"-Ed, thank you. Jake and Bobby Jo. And she was so hot too."
"And why do you think that?"
He threw out his arms, one of them coming very close to her. "Well, it's either that or demons are real."
"Demons are real."
"And I summoned them and still killed everybody!"
"Technically, the professor summoned them."
"I played the tape."
"Scotty played the tape."
"Don't contradict everything I say."
"Stop being wrong then."
They stared at each other.
Ash sighed and reached for her, his hand passing harmlessly through her leg. He tried again, letting it shakily hover in the air where she should be. "I miss you, Cher."
"You don't have to." It hurt her to see him like this. She rubbed at her eyes. She physically couldn't cry but she still felt like she was.
His hand fell back against the mattress. "I'm sorry you're dead."
"It's okay. It's freeing really."
"Maybe I should die then."
She shook her head. "You can't. Not yet."
"Why not?"
Cheryl chewed her lip. She wasn't supposed to say anything but he needed some hope. "You still have things to do, the Necronomicon's still out there, Ash, but you have to get out of here first. Alive."
He was silent a moment. "I don't wanna be killed by a demon."
She hesitated. "You... you'll die by your own hand."
He raised his stump in question.
"Not that hand."
He raised his good hand and gave it the best scrutinizing look he could muster.
"Ash." She batted at it, seeing her hand go through his had him lower them.
"I'll see you after?"
"Yeah." The lie stung. She didn't know what would happen to him after. She could only peek ahead so far. Far enough to know he would go insane before the end, that he would die in Hell, and it would, technically, be by Ash's hand. By the time that future came, he'd understand what she'd meant.
But maybe not in the way she'd meant it.
"Good." Smiling, he reached for her again, seemingly having forgotten already how useless it was. "That's good."