It was dark. Ashnah looked around her. 'Why am I still here?' She heard the screaming from the table. When the screaming stopped, blood pooled down the table.
"No, No!"
"You're next!" said the familiar voice.
"Ashnah!" She felt someone shook her. She blinked her tears away. Her nightmare was gone and she soon realized she's somewhere safe. It took her a while to realize that it was Cale who shook her. He was worried and furious at the same time. Relief flooded on his eyes after making sure she was fully awake now. "Thank God, you're finally awake!" He brought her over to his chest in a tight hug.
She heard someone sniffed from behind. It was Monette who cried quietly. Norze was also relieved. He ran his fingers on his hair. He patted Monette on the head. "Stop crying, you'll scare the hell out of Ashnah." He grunted exaggeratingly when Monette's fist wen flying on his gut.
Ashnah lightly pushed Cale, realizing how close they are. She felt her heart thumped against her chest. 'Now, easy, Ash. You're not here for some kind of romance.'
"W-What happened?" She hesitated at first, thinking it may trigger something inside her when trying to recall the moments she passd out. But then her curiosity on what happened after she passed out won over her.
"The file was tampered. What we've gotten is a high classified case. It was not meant for trainees," Cale tried to summarize the whole situation. "It was an ambushed. We were knocked down before we even started."
"I'm sorry, Ash, we should have been more watchful of the situation," Norze appologized, his face guilty from not finding her sooner.
"It's okay. I-I'm alright," she looked at their faces. All of them have that guilty look in their eyes for what happened to her. "What's important is that I'm finally safe. We are safe...right?"
Silence had fallen in the room. "W-Why are you silent? You caught him, right? You've got back up. I saw it before I passed out."
"Calm down."
"I am calm!" She realized then that her vioce was raising. Ashnah felt the panic inside her heart. 'This is so not like you, Ashnah.' She scolded herself. She closed her eyes and inhaled sharply. Her eyes begin to warm up.
"Ash," Monette came to her and caressed her arm, hoping to comfort her.
"I-I'm sorry," Ashnah muttered. "I'm sorry. Can you leave me for a second? I think I need a moment."
Though hesitating, they began leaving the room. When Cale stood up, he held Ashnah's hand. "Would you want me to leave you right now?"
Part of her would want to be completely alone. Yet her shaking body relays a different message. His grasp tightened. His jaw tensed as he saw how shaken she is. He sat back and reached for her shoulders. "You should rest. I'll be here until you sleep." He took the blanket and covered her shivering body.
He switched on the lampshade on the bedside table and switched off the main light.
"C-Cale," she hesitated.
"Yes?" He felt her grabbed a tiny portion of his clothes. He stopped himself from smiling. "Would you like to hold my hand?"
She shook her head.
"I won't leave," he assured her.
In a few minutes, he heard her soft snore. Cale watched her sleep. A lot of thoughts went on his head. He heard the knob turned then the door opened. It was Arnold.
"How is she?" he whispered to Cale.
Cale shook his head. "She needs to rest."
"I'll guard her. You go--" he saw how Ashnah gripped on Cale's clothes. "I think it would be better for you to guard her. I'll took your post tomorrow. We'll ask for your leave then."
Cale smiled sympathetically.
*****
Ashnah woke up but she remained motionless on her bed. There's a lot going on in her mind. Whenever she remembered the psycho, she froze and sweat coldly. 'How can you continue in this situation, Ashnah? You, coward! Move!' But her body won't listen to her. Tears formed in her eyes in her frustration. 'Stop crying! Gosh, You're embarrassing!' A tear dropped from her eyes. The others followed, trickling down her temples.
"Ash?" It was Cale's voice. "Hey," he slowly turned her towards him. He wiped her tears gently. It only made her cry more. A sob finally escaped her throat. He got her up in held her in his arms. "It's okay. You can cry as much as you want."
She ended up bursting in her emotions. Cale was there, caressing her back to comfort her as she poured out her heart. She didn't know how long she cried. When she was finished she realized Cale would need a change of clothes since the one he's wearing is wet with tears and filled with snots. "I'm-I'm sorry. I think you need to change clothes. It's disgusting."
Cale laughed. "After all what I did."
"I'm sorry," she was guilty but she couldn't stop herself from chuckling.
Cale tugged his shirt and pulled it over his head.
"Cale!" she exclaimed, surprisingly embarrased of his naked torso.
"I'm sorry. It's the asian culture right? It's modern era, Ash, you better stare and enjoy the moment now."
Ashnah reached for something. Her hand found the pillow and threw it on his way. "Can you please do it in the bathroom?"
He laughed merrily. When he stopped, relief was obvious on his eyes. "It was good to see your energetic side again, Ash."
It took her quite sometime to realize that she somehow cheered up. "Thank you, Cale. Thank you for staying with me." She said sincerely. But then she got distracted by his torso. She avoided his eyes and looked sideways. "Can you please continue what you need to do in the bathroom now?"
"Alright, alright."
Someone knocked on the door. It was Uncle Arnold. "Hey," he greeted.
"Uncle," she said, surprised. "I thought you are on a mission."
"I finished it early. How are you doing?"
"Just fine," she smiled to assure him.
"That's great," he sighed his relief.
Cale came out of the bathroom, with his freshly-laundried shirt. His smile is refreshing. He doesn't seem surprise upon knowing Uncle Arnold is in the room.
"Cale," Uncle Arnold greeted him with a nod.
"Sir," He greeted back.
"I'll take over the situation. You can take your rest," Uncle Arnold commanded. Cale nodded and glanced at Ashnah.
"I'll visit you later on," Cale told her briefly.
A brief disappointment mirrored in her eyes that made him smile. He gathered his things and took a glance before leaving the room.
"I have filed for your leave. I just want to check if five days would be enough for you."
"It's too long."
"Yeah it's--" Uncle Arnold stopped midway and turned to her agape. "Did I hear you correctly? It's too long...?" He searched her face, wondering if she's just forcing herself for that answer. But what he saw is just a resolution.
"Yeah, you're right. It's too long," she said nodding, her brows knitted as she checked if she said anything wrong.
"Wow, you get back on your feet faster than i thought," he said, truly amazed by her decision.
"I mean, I'm still afraid but I need to get back on my feet. The culprit had fled, right? So that means I could be in danger or, worst, one of my closest friends could be in danger. I need to get stronger, I need to learn the things that I need to learn. I cannot just cower and do nothing."
"I'm not sure if you're stronger inside or it's just your pride talking. But I'm thankful that that situation did not break you down. As part of the organization, we need to be prepared, especially that we need to take heavy burdens in our shoulders for each day and each mission that we take--may it be willingly or not."
"Thank you for worrying about me, Uncle Arnold. But I think I'll be fine," she smiled slightly, trying to assure him. I mean, I'm afraid but I've got a lot of people to protect and people who would offer their help when I'm in need. Someone popped out of her head that made her smile.
"I think I'll get in trouble with your Uncle Rodney. You've stumbled with one of the guys here," his brows furrowed with worry.
Ashnah couldn't stop herself from laughing. "Come on, Uncle Arnold. Uncle Rodney isn't my father. And he's quite supportive of my decisions."
"Young lass, your uncle is someone who treats himself as your biological parent." Despite his worries, he sighed his relief. "But it's good that you have bounced back with such energy."
She didn't comment on that. Instead another thought went through her head. "Uncle Rodney, I heard others are already on their class with their chosen teacher." Right. Half of the trainings, the students will be taught by their personal masters slash teachers.
"Yeah. They currently are in their own classes. But you can take your time."
"Actually, I would like to start our class as much as possible. If it's possible, can we start now?"
"Now? Like this very hour? this very minute?"
"Yeah," she nodded. "Or do you have a plotted appointment for this day?"
"No," he shook his head. "You just never failed to surprise me."
"So, can we start now?" she said with her eyes glittering with curiosity.
"Do you want something to write on or anything?"
"Yeah, I'd like to have have my notebook or at least a paper I can jot down the important details with and a pen or at least a pencil." He tried checking on his bag. He found a pencil from his bag and tore some pages from his sketch book. "Will this do?"
"You sketch?" she asked instead, felt pity when she realized he sacrificed some pages of it.
"Yeah, a bit. Just out of hobby," He answered nonchalantly. He handed her his drawing book to write on. "Just tell me if I went on too fast or if you have some questions, alright?"
"Okay," she nodded.
They went discussing how the missions goes. According to Uncle Arnold, the cases that they do handle are classified as Class A being the highest (where the humans are conscioius with what they are doing and sometimes contracted with the demon or direclty with the devil. Mostly in this case, it ends up with killing either on their side or their enemy's--depending on who can), Class B (where humans are possessed with the dangerous devil or demons and is taken out of his or her own will in everything that they do), Class C is (where the soul was infected with the demons lurking and the energy from it was converted to the growth of the demon what can havoc in the physical world of the humans and spiritual world, infecting the other stagnant spirit), Class D (a situation where the soul was agitated by the whisper of the demons and it's spiritual gift could be wrongly used ending up in a situation.) Class E was mostly used in trainings (since the war in spiritual world for this case is easily manipulated or can be resolved easily.)
"So the case that we encountered," Ashnah felt the shiver ran down her spine but still she moved forward, "it's under Class A?"
"Yeah, it should have been Class A," Uncle Arnold answered gravely. "We're still trying to resolve the issue about that. There were numerous people who went to the office that day so they're having a hard time in their investigation."
"It's okay. I think we should focus more on our defense and honing our skills."
Uncle Arnold just nod in agreement.
***
On the third day, she decided to stop lying on her bed and went on with the group training. Uncle Arnold suggested otherwise but she's determined to do so. It's better if she can just lay down tired on her bed and sleep the whole night than stay awake and reminisce that incident. She's still afraid that nightmares might hunt her down if she's going to close her eyes. but she cannot just stay awake 24/7.
As she entered the ground, everyone's eyes were following her. She doesn't want the attention but that can't be helped. They might be curious as to why she's on the training grounds right now. However, their curiosity is the least of her concerns, that is if it even reach the botton of her list.
"Ash!" Monette called out surprised of her presence. "What are you doing here? You're supposed to be resting." Worry clouded on her eyes.
"Yeah, you should take your time while it last," Norze seconded.
"Guys, calm down. I'm doing better. I can't just stay on the bed for another whole day when I'm no longer injured. I want to keep moving." She explained.
They look at each other. Monette sighed in surrender.
"Okay, okay. Just tell us if you're in trouble," she smiled briefly.
Ash tapped her shoulders. "Thanks."
She gazed around, looking for a certain face.
"Looking for Cale?" said a familiar voice.
She turned around. And those chinky eyes met hers. "Jin? What are you doing here?" It was unusual for Jin to be around trainees. His role in the organization is highly important. So he should be busy in distinguishing people worthy to be with the organization.
"Why, am I not allowed?" Jin countered.
'His way of speaking just really get on my nerves'. Ashnah thought but she held back thinking that people varies in their approach to others. 'Maybe he just doesn't know how to express well. Cool off your head, Ashnah. You're being too sensitive.'
"No one said you aren't," she barely stopped herself from rolling her eyeballs.
"Cale is on his day off." He crossed his arms against his chest.
"So, why are you here?"
"So, again, why shouldn't I be?"
"You know what, I better not talk to you," she said and turned her back on him.
He held her arm and leaned towards her, leveling her ears. "Stop asking me questions I cannot answer." He whispered.
"On a mission?" she whispered back.
He just raised his brows in disbelief. 'You sure easily picked up.'
Ashnah chortled. "I get it."
"I got suspended and was punished to train with the newbies," he said in a voice higher than his usual one, making it obvious to anyone. His eyes are not taking off on her as he speaks.
"You know you're not making any sense," she whispered to him.
"Okay, guys, we need to start now. Group yourselves into five." Their trainors voice cut off.
"Sir, yes, sir," everyone grouped themselves.
Ashnah's attention was caught by their activities. She focused on what needs to be done and not on wondering what the absent Cale doing or how annoying Jin can be.