They sat down along the rocks. They were quiet, the creek beside them filling the silence.
“This is… awkward,” Axel commented.
“Yea…” Ashleigh smiled. “I’m not really sure how to start this conversation.”
“Just say whatever you want to say, Ash,” Axel sighed.
Ashleigh heard it in his voice, the weariness, the pain. She swallowed down the lump in her throat.
“Do you dream of her?”
“Most nights,” Axel replied after a moment.
“Do you talk? In your dreams, I mean. Do you have conversations?”
Axel shook his head.
“Mostly, I just remember the time we’ve had together,” Axel sighed. “Or, I have nightmares about what she might be experiencing.”
The last Axel said with concern, and then he looked away. Ashleigh furrowed her brow.
“You mean what she might be doing to people?” she asked.
He closed his eyes and took a deep breath.
“No,” he said. “What people might be doing to her.”
Ashleigh sighed.
