It was all coming back...
That day...
Eighteen months ago...
It was dark... so dark the trees were beginning to take eerie creature-like forms and the violent whispers of their leaves made Ashley uneasy. Ashley stood by a ridge, underneath the moonless sky. She folded her hands against her chest as the cold of the harsh wind slithered through her body. She had received a text from Jacob, telling her to meet him there. Waiting for almost thirty minutes now, Ashley stared at the rapids thrashing against the rocks below. Back then she thought to herself why Jacob would want to meet her at a place like this and the answer to that question came in a form Ashley would soon never forget.
At first, she heard a loud snap—the sound of a twig breaking. It came from behind her. When Ashley turned, her legs immediately lost strength and the hairs on her body stood straight. Her mouth was trembling— trying to let out a scream— but it was as if the person walking towards her was choking Ashley's neck with her wicked smile. Sharper than the gaze of her dark eyes was the large silver knife in her hand.
Panic— like a cluster of spark plugs— began to build up in Ashley's abdomen. Thoughts inside her head began to accelerate inside her head, telling her there was no escape. Behind her was a deep ridge-- just another death waiting-- and the girl in a white dress was already so close that Ashley couldn't run left or right.
Ashley couldn't even move her fingers when the person she once called friend grabbed her by the collar and raised her knife into the air. It hung there for a moment and Ashley thought; how did it all come to this? How could Stacy Hill-- someone who always stood up for Ashley-- now look at her with such a burning rage; one Ashley never thought existed in humans. Stacy was also one of the few people who accepted Ashley for who she was so why was she looking at her with immerse disdain?
Tears began to flow uncontrollably out of Ashley's eyes. She wanted to beg Stacy to stop but her mouth wouldn't open. So all she did was watch as Stacy's grip on the knife tightened, turning her knuckles white.
Raising the knife a little further in the air, Stacy finally uttered the same words she said on the day all this began:
"I cannot let you destroy us all."
"Stacy!"
Ashley's eyes shot wide open. She was breathing rapidly, her body felt like it was being baked in an oven and kept shaking uncontrollably as she slowly grasped the nature of her environment. Though had no idea of how she got there, she'd been in this room too many times to know that she was in the infirmary.
Running our hand across her eyes, Ashley tried to remember what had happened. Memories of the incident in the cafeteria came flooding back. Ashley remembered collapsing during the confusion and—
A presence...
Her right hand instinctively jolted to her left and Ashley found herself clasping another hand by the wrist. She turned and saw Sara. Sara's big brown eyes displayed both shock and anguish, making Ashley realize just how firmly she gripped Sara's hand.
"Oh God Sara... I'm so sorry," Ashley cried, letting go of Sara's wrist and leaving a red mark on the girl's pale skin.
Sara was sitting on a chair next to the bed on which Ashley slept. With a warm smile on her face, Sara waved to Ashley, telling her that it was alright.
Ashley lay her head on the pillow and closed her eyes.
"How long have I been asleep?" she asked, staring into the darkness enveloping her.
Sara tapped her shoulders twice.
"Hours or days," Ashley joked.
"Ow!" Ashley exclaimed and she opened her eyes when she felt Sara deliver a soft punch on her shin.
With a beautiful smile formed across her face, Sara began to make to sign with her hands.
"So then that happened huh? I really hoped it was all a bad dream."
Ashley was referring to the incident that happened in the cafeteria.
Sara's hands moved again.
"I see," Ashley said. "So my mom will be here any second. Who else did you text?"
Sara narrowed her eyes, pursed her lips together, and made a dark, gloomy face.
Ashley couldn't help but laugh, "Hey! Adrian looks nothing like that."
The corners of Sara's lips rose even further. For some reason, whenever Sara smiled Ashley always felt like everything would work out. She'd known Sara for about five years and always loved being around her. Sara was living proof that it was possible for someone to brighten anyone's day even without saying a single word. Ashley would never forget the first day they met.
It was at Coley's Diner— Ashley's favorite diner in town and the place she was planning on working as a part-time employee.
That day she'd ordered her favorite strawberry ice cream and was just about to leave the counter when she bumped into a girl. The ice cream splashed over the girl's black T-shirt, staining it with white and red. Ashley's heart began to hit her chest, and she wanted to run, fearing that the person— like most of the kids around that time— would begin calling her names like weirdo, dreamer, and the one she'd grown to hate the most; Luna… which was just a sarcastic way of calling her a lunatic.
But Ashley learned that day that this girl wasn't like the rest. When she tried to run, her hand was grabbed. Ashley closed her eyes and wished she could do the same for her ears. She then felt a pat on her shoulder and turned to be greeted by a smile. The girl pulled out a blue notebook-- small enough that she held in one hand-- and wrote something.
She tore off the paper and handed it to Ashley.
'You really are a clumsy one aren't you?' was what was written on the note and Ashley bit her lower lip— trying to suppress a giggle— when she saw a smiley face drawn next to the message. A warmth rose in Ashley's chest and the tension in her muscles began to fade. The girl wrote in her notebook again. It didn't take Ashley long to realize that her acquaintance couldn't speak.
'My name is Sara, What's yours?' said the note Sara gave Ashley.
"Ashley"
Ashley and Sara chatted near the counter like they'd known each other all their lives. Five minutes passed and Sara was called by who Ashley assumed to be her parents. They sat at the table near the far end of the diner and asked Sara what happened to her shirt. Sara made some hand signs at them and they both laughed. She smiled at Ashley, waved, and just before she left, Ashley— looking in the direction of Sara's parents asked:
"What did you tell them?"
Sara scribbled in her small notebook, though this time her expressions her even more cheerful. She quickly gave the note to Ashley and ran to her parents.
Immediately, Ashley's eyes gazed upon the words written on the paper her heart skipped a beat.
'I just told them that my new friend is the probably clumsiest person in the world.'
Ashley sighed happily. Just thinking about that day was enough to make Ashley forget the horrible dream she'd just had about Stacy.
A thought suddenly crossed her mind.
"That's right Sara," Ashley said. "Earlier you said you wanted to meet with me after school right? What did you wanna talk about?"
Suddenly Sara's pretty smile disappeared. It was as if she'd been reminded of something awful. She rose from her chair, paced a few times around the room, and finally looked at Ashley. She may not have been able to talk but at that moment Sara looked like someone trying to find the right words to say.
"You can tell me, Sara," Ashley said in a comforting tone.
Sara was about to make her hand signs when the door suddenly flew open.
"Ashy!" a seven-year-old girl with black hair, brown eyes, and wearing a gorgeous pale blue dress exclaimed as she ran towards Ashley. The girl climbed on the bed and wrapped her little hands around Ashley.
"L... Leah... Can't... breathe..." Ashley tried saying.
"Leah Morgan," another voice said. "Is that any way to treat your sick sister?"
It was Ashley's mother. Both relief and worry filled her brown eyes. Her mother walked into the room. She was formally dressed, black trousers, a black jacket, and a white shirt.
"It must have been quite a shock huh?" her mother said.
"It was," Ashley replied. She held her sister Leah in her hands. Actually, Leah was Ashley's adopted sister but Ashley had never once thought of her as just that.
"I wonder how Luke is doing," Ashley continued.
"No you don't," Leah said. "Well you do... but that is not the only thing on your mind."
She was doing it again, Ashley thought. From a glance, Leah could tell if someone was lying or hiding something... even what they truly felt. At first, Ashley thought it strange but now she was used to it... everyone was.