Chapter Four
Ashton opened his eyes groggily. He rolled on the bed and his eyes caught the digital clock on the drawer.
8:15am.
His room door opened and his mom stepped in. She was already dressed in a wine suit and trousers and her hair was packed into a small bin with a silver pin in the middle. Her strides were long and firm, her cheekbone high and confident. And even at 39, she commanded the attention of a General Commander but yet her eyes were soft as she stared at Ashton. She looked around surprised at the neat and tidy room.
"Did the maid clean the room yesterday again?" She asked and Ashton shook his head negatively.
"No" Ashton replied.
"Then who tidied up the room?" She asked and Ashton shrugged.
"I did" he replied as his mom's eyes widened. She opened her mouth to say something and closed it before trying again.
"You did?" She asked, her eyes still wide.
"Yes. Is there a problem or I didn't tidy it up well?" Ashton asked and his mom smiled lightly.
"No. You did it well. I just didn't picture you cleaning up your room" Mrs Westlake replied and Ashton rolled her eyes and sighed.
"I know right. I didn't picture it either" He said in a low voice.
"It's Monday, won't you be going to school?" Mrs Westlake asked and Ashton shook his head.
"I need to rest. Still not feeling well" Ashton replied as he sat up on the bed.
"Where are you not feeling fine?" Mrs Westlake asked carefully and Ashton sighed.
"I just don't feel myself but I'll be fine. It's past 8, that means you are late for work" Ashton replied and his mom nodded.
"If you need anything, give me a call okay?" She said and Ashton nodded as he watched her walk out of his room.
Ashton delved back under the covers of his blanket and dozed off. He woke up few hours later and walked into the bathroom to take his bath. He changed into joggers and a round neck shirt. He walked to his computer and sat down. He punched in the password and the desktop opened. Ashton searched about the club incidence and scrolled on the news.
The school had a lot of losses. Over 20 teenagers had died, yet they had classes like nothing happened. Ashton sighed as he downloaded a game. He rose to his feet and walked downstairs. His food was already placed on the table covered. Ashton opened the food and glanced at the maid.
"Just because I woke up late, does that mean I have to eat cold food?" Ashton asked as the maid shook her head negatively.
About four maids rushed into the dining hall and started packing the plates. Ashton watched them hurriedly pack the plates of food away. He swirled his fork in between his fingers calmly without any expression. The plates of food were brought back with the sizzling heat still coming out from them.
Ashton calmly are his breakfast before returning back to his room. The game he was downloading had finished downloading. He grabbed the mouse and started playing. He needed to keep his head cleared or rather occupied for a while. It he continued thinking, Ashton felt he was going to go crazy.
He didn't play games that much, he watched movie to keep himself busy but at that moment, all he wanted to do was just to play games. Ashton didn't know how long he played the games for. He just dropped the mouse for a while and sighed. He ran his hands through his hair as he sat on the bed.
He had changed. That was a given. But he had no idea want must have facilitated the change. He took a pen and listed all the things he liked doing and started marking the ones he still liked doing. He couldn't mark any except for skating and roller skating. He then took another sheet and started writing the things he liked doing now.
He looked at the sheet of paper and pasted it on the wall before grabbing his skate board. He picked a rag and used it to clean the skate board as it had been a long time since he used it. Carrying the skateboard outside, he climbed it and tried skating in the compound. He wasn't sure if he could still skate and he was glad he could still skate.
He carried the skateboard and started skating towards the park. He watched as a bunch of guys skated displaying their skills in the park while people watched them. He stopped and watched them with calm eyes. Ashton didn't know what overcame him as he joined them and every single skill the guy who had just skated performed, Ashton repeated everything making everyone clap in excitement.
The guys looked at Ashton in shock. The guy displayed another set of moves and Ashton displayed them yet again and everyone clapped as Ashton skated away from them confused.
Since when did he have a photographic memory?
Naturally Ashton was a straight A student. He was intelligent and brilliant in his own right. Of course, one of the two biggest moguls on Earth definitely couldn't give birth to some dumb kid. Of everything that had changed, Ashton was shocked at his new found ability.
A photographic memory? He could remember everything he had seen?
Ashton stopped skating and carried his skate on his arms as he walked home. The sun was setting as Ashton walked home. He stopped near the house and looked up at the sky. The sky had turned orange with the setting sun.
"I feel like I'll go crazy anytime soon" Ashton muttered as he stood up and walked inside the house.
Just since when did he like to watch the sunset?
The house was still empty by the time Ashton came back. He asked one of the maids to order for pizza as he walked upstairs. He peeled off his clothes into the laundry basket and stepped into the bathroom to take a shower. He felt irritated being all sweaty.
Another feature of his new self that made him laugh the most, was his neat and tidy self. Ashton didn't remember taking showers after coming back from skating or even playing football. By the time he was done with bathing and had changed into another set of clothes, the pizza was ready.
"Thank you" Ashton said to the maid who brought the box of pizza upstairs and slammed the door. The maid stood in front of the door frozen as she blinked her eyes rapidly.
Ashton told her thank you?
It was unbelievable. She didn't want to believe it. But seeing the way he had become irritable and sensitive for the past few days, she shook her head. She snickered at the closed door, if he wanted to thank her, why slam the door right in her face after? She rolled her eyes before she walked back downstairs to tell others Ashton thanked her.
Ashton sat on the bed eating his pizza slowly. He if course knew he had told the maid thank you. For avoid suspicion, he had slammed the door in her face. He took another piece of the pizza, he didn't like his change at all.