JACOB, ALYSSA, TREVOR, AND BREE
"Thanks Mickey!" Alyssa cried, giving the mouse a big hug and taking the autograph from him, a big smile on her face. She turned and looked at Trevor and Jacob as Bree came up for her turn. They were both grinning although she knew Jacob would try to deny it. However, Jacob was thinking about how happy all this was making Alyssa. All he really wanted was for her to be happy. He was overwhelmed at how beautiful she really was when she was so happy. It made his heart melt to see her smile but he wasn't about to admit that to anyone else. Just then, his cell phone rang.
"Hello?" Jacob answered in a curious voice.
"Jake, man," came Erik's voice and Jacob was surprised to hear that he sounded panicky. Jacob instantly knew that something was wrong and his face got very sirious.
"Erik, what is it? What's wrong?" At the sound of Jacob's serious voice, Trevor, Bree, and Alyssa looked at him. All three of them got very quiet so they could listen to his end of the conversation.
"Jake, I don't know how to say this but Ashley's missing!" Jacob's eyes got very wide and his face paled.
"Missing?! What do you mean he's missing?!" The other three looked at each other and then back at Jacob. He had turned away from the three of them.
"Exactly what I said. I don't know how Jake! I'm really scared!" Jacob sighed into the phone.
"Calm down Erik, what happened exactly?"
"Well, Ashley still didn't seem to be happy and we had just come from Mickey's Starland, so Dan and I decided to take him on Space Mountain because it's his favorite ride. He was all ecstatic about it and it seemed to be working. However, he was overexcited for some weird reason and decided he actually wanted to use that special pass so that was kind of strange because Ashley never does that. Anyway, we got on the ride and everything seemed fine. About half-way through the ride, I realized, I couldn't hear Ashley cheering beside me anymore. At the time, I just figured his voice had gotten lost in all the noise so I didn't think anything of it. But then, when we went to get off, I turned to ask him how he had enjoyed the ride and he wasn't there! He was gone! The safety harness on his side of the car looked as though it had snapped! Jake, I'm afraid Ash might have fallen out of the car!"
Jacob's eyes got really wide and his face went even paler than it already was. He didn't know what to say, he didn't even know what to think so he just blurted out the first thing that came to his mind. "Listen to me Erik," he said, in as calm a voice as he could muster. "Go and get the ride operators to shut it down. We'll be right over and then we can all look for him together. If he fell out of the car and landed on the track, he could get run over by another car and we can't risk that. Do you understand me?"
"Yes." Jacob could tell that Erik was crying, he could hear it in his voice. It was bad enough that he himself had suffered a serious head injury while they were on tour and now Ashley was in a situation where Jacob, and it hurt him to admit it, completely doubted that he would be found alive. There was no way, Ashley could have fallen out of the car and lived to tell the tale. He wasn't going to tell Erik that though. Assuring him again that they would be over to help, he hung up the phone and turned to look at the other three.
"We have to go to Tomorrow Land right away. Ashley may have fallen out of a car on Space Mountain and we have to find him." At the sound of this news, Trevor collapsed onto the ground, his face getting very pale, paler than Jacob's even fore Ashley was like his closest friend in the group, even if he had blurted out on tour that Trevor liked Bree. The girls gasped heavily and tears started to leak from both of their eyes. Jacob was sure that all three of them had realized what he already knew, that it wasn't possible for Ashley to still be alive. This could very well be the end of O-town. None of them would be able to go on without Ash. Jacob smacked himself in the head, he needed to stop thinking about that. Grabbing ahold of Trevor's arm and pulling him to his feet he said, "Come on, let's go. If we hurry, we still might be able to save him." He wasn't sure if that was true but it made him feel better to say it. Trevor nodded and although he was very shaky, followed Jacob at a steady pace. The girls looked at each other sadly and hurried after them.
AT SPACE MOUNTAIN
Erik frantically ran back into the ride and pushed his way through the line so harshly that people started jumping aside to let him through to avoid getting hurt. Dan was at his heels and no one bothered to ask what was going on, they could all tell just by looking at the two O-towners that something was desparately wrong.
Erik made it to the loading docks in record time and the employee looked at him with wide eyes. "Haven't you already been on this ride? What's your hurry to go on again?" Erik glared at the employee and his eyes widened even more.
"Look," Erik said coldly, as Dan came up beside him, panting heavily and leaning over in an effort to catch his breath. "We have reason to believe that our friend fell out of the car while we were on the ride. I demand that you shut down this ride immediately and call an ambulance. We need to search for him." The employee didn't say anything so Erik added, "If you don't do as I say, I will bring both my manager and yours into the picture and there will be some serious punishment." The employee got very pale.
"Yes, at once," he told Erik. Just then, Jacob, Trevor, Alyssa, and Bree came running up to them. Jacob wasn't very happy and he glared at the employee as though challenging him to deny any request he had. The employee offered a weak smile before signaling something to the ride operator and then stepping in front of the awaiting passengers. "I am sorry to inform you that there may have been a very serious accident on the ride. Due to the possibility of such an accident, we will be shutting down Space Mountain until further notice." The crowd groaned and began heading off to go and find other things to do. Once they had all cleared out, the employee signaled the ride operator again and the operator flipped a switch. Instantly, a bout of lights illuminated the dark tunnels of the ride and the remaining O-town members along with Alyssa and Bree, headed along the tracks into the tunnel at the end of the ride.
It didn't take long for anyone to notice anything. As soon as they stepped into the track arena, they noticed a huge pool of blood that had already covered nearly half the floor. Jacob gulped heavily as he realized that there absolutely was no way that Ash could still be alive after a fall like that. Erik had said Ashley's voice cut off when they were halfway down which meant that Ash must've fell from halfway up the tracks and that was definitely high enough to easily render a fatal fall. He held up a hand to signal the others to stay where they were and followed the small trail of blood that was running down a crack in the floor.
Within minutes, Jacob had reached Ashley's body and he scrunched up his face in disgust. It was clear that Ashley's head had bashed in flat as it hit the floor and that's where most of the blood was coming from. His arms and legs were twisted at an odd angle but the most sickening part of all, was the fact that his eyes were wide open. Jacob looked back towards the others and signaled them to get out and he was relieved when they didn't protest. He looked back down at Ashley's lifeless body sadly. He was sure that there was no hope, Ash was already gone. If his eyes had been shut, then maybe, just maybe, there was a chance of saving him but they were wide open and Jacob knew that usually meant that the victim was certainly dead. So, you can imagine his surprise when Ashley's eyes suddenly shifted their gaze and it fell on him. He could tell the youngest O-towner was trying to move his head to better look at him but he was having no success and Jacob suddenly realized that his neck must be broken. If Ash lived through this, he would almost certainly be paralyzed and although he was alive, it would be the end of O-town anyway.
"Oh my God!" Jacob cried. "You're alive! Can you hear me? Blink once if you can hear me." Ashley blinked his eyes and Jacob sighed with relief. At least his hearing wasn't damaged. He gently picked up one of Ashley's hands, trying not to move his arm at all and looked back at where everyone else was still standing. They had not bothered to listen to him fully when he had signaled for them to get out as they had only left the track arena and were standing just inside the loading area. "He's alive!" he called. The rest of them didn't even bother to think about what they might find, they just ran in and to Jacob as soon as they heard those words.
When Alyssa saw Ashley she gasped and burried her face into Dan's shoulder. He put an arm around her and gazed down at his bandmate in shock. He couldn't believe Ashley was alive but he couldn't believe the sight of him even more. Bree was holding onto Trevor, trying not to look at the mess that was Ashley's body. Trevor couldn't control himself and tears streamed down his face. Erik dropped to the ground beside Jacob, a look of disbelief on his face.
Just then, paramedics came running onto the scene. They pushed Jacob out of the way but he didn't protest, he was just glad they were there. He knew the sooner they got Ashley to the hospital, the better and he was all set for them to keep pushing him out of the way if they wanted to. He was relieved that Ashley had survived the fall but he was also very surprised. He knew Ash was strong, he just didn't know he was that strong. If it had been he who had fallen instead of Ashley, he knew he would still be alive, he was that stubborn. Nothing was going to kill him until he was ready to die. But this wasn't about him this time, It was about Ashley.
The six of them stood back and watched the paramedics as they stabilized Ashley enough to be put onto a gurney. Unfortunately, by the time they had, Ashley had sunk out of consciousness but Jacob was surprised to discover that he wasn't worried about it. Ashley had been determined to stay awake long enough for someone to find him and it was obvious to Jacob that he had been fighting to stay conscious until somebody had. He watched as the paramedics wheeled Ashley out of the ride and out to an awaiting ambulance.
Chapters
Chapter 13
O-town Fan Fic
Home
