Page 7 of Forgotten
Chapter 4
2004 - Ashley
When my baby brother is born, I hate him immediately. In the two years that follow, my hate for him and the twins gets bigger and bigger until one day in 2004, it explodes all at once. Like a bouncy castle I once saw after the fair was closed—just a puddle of colours of what was the greatest thing ever.
It’s the last week of October and I was supposed to have a sleepover at Ashford’s house, but Martin and Edwin are turning seven this week and the twins are everything that matters at home now.
I’m once again forgotten.
Grandma Bergman is visiting from Norway for the first time since my brother was born and when Mom and Daddy introduce her to baby Erik, she starts crying.
“Just like Grandpa,” she tells Daddy and he nods proudly.
Nobody ever looks at me that way. I could never compete with the twins before and now I guess I cannot compete with baby Erik either. He is named after the Norwegian grandfather I have never met.
Martin and Edwin start running in circles around me and they make fun of me. They scream all kinds of mean things: “Ashley is a girl;” “three brothers and a sister;” “loser, loser.”
Mom is grinning in the background. She never takes the twins seriously. She is quieter than usual, because she and Grandma Bergman never got along and used to fight a lot before we left Norway and moved to England.
Daddy doesn’t like it, and as soon as Grandma goes for a nap in my bedroom, he hisses at Mom. “Be fucking nice, Sarah.”
Mom shrinks under him like she always does, and she holds baby Erik at her chest like it is her shield. But he must be scared, too, and when Erik starts crying Daddy is more annoyed and lifts a hand in the air.
That’s when mom calls me out loud. “Ashley?”
I run as fast as I can and she hands me baby Erik. He clings at me with his mushy arms and wet chin and he weighs nothing. I feel bad for Erik and my hate disintegrates.
“Go play,” Mom tells me and then, I am invisible for the rest of the day.
The only one who seems to remember me is my friend Ashford. His dad phones home the day after the twins’ birthday.
Mom calls me in the kitchen. She’s not wearing glasses, because Daddy broke another pair when he slapped them off her face last night. “Gregory Hale asks if you want to go for a sleepover with Ashford,” she tells me and Daddy looks at her with one of his faces.
I know not to say anything and wait until they make a decision for me. Daddy looks at me and starts shaking his head, but Mom adds, “It’s one less for dinner.”
Daddy bites his lower lip then, really sinking the teeth in as if that is the only way to stop his anger. It’s the first of many times I see him do this and my stomachgrumbles.
“Okay.” He leaves the kitchen without another word.
???
Before coming to England, I never really celebrated Halloween. Ashford tells me he never celebrates either, but when we sit down on his couch and watch Nightmare Before Christmas, he knows all of the songs. Most of the words he gets wrong and when I tell him, he throws marshmallows at me. I catch one with my open mouth, but half of them fall on the floor and it makes him laugh.
We play catch in his dining-room until it is almost bedtime and then, we brush our teeth and go into his room. Ashford tells me about skeletons and how pumpkins are just his favourite because they are the same colour as his hair.
He also tells me his dad will take him door-to-door to ask for sweeties tomorrow. “You could come as well,” he offers.
I know Daddy won’t let me go out two days in a row, so I just shrug and hope Ashford will not ask again.
After we brush our teeth, Ashford and I sit down on the carpet of his bedroom floor to play UNO, and I am winning only because I got two plus four in a row.Ashford is concentrating extra hard because he’s the one who always wins. I am scared that if I win, he will be angry at me and stop being my friend.
“Ash?”
I turn around and I feel Ashford snap his head towards the door too, where Gregory Hale is standing. His mom is never around.
“Oh.” Ashford’s dad looks at us with amusement. “Ashford, sweetie, it’s quite late. There’s school tomorrow. It’s bed time now.”
With a soft smile, he closes the door behind him.
