Page 21 of Ash

"Are you ready to go?"

Her smile relaxed and a new kind of peace came over her.

The thought of starting a new chapter in her life was a genuinely happy one.

And knowing that she might wake up in her new life, spurred her on. "Yes. I can't wait."

Ash rolled over in his bed, hearing the mattress beneath him groan and settle.

He opened his eyes and looked out the window at the dark night sky overhead.

For a long time, since he'd lost his parents, first his mother and then his father, he'd felt alone up there on the mountain side.

Excuse you.

His bear's grumpy words didn't sting as they might have at another time.

Maybe it was how tired they both were.

Or maybe it was the aching hole in his chest, but he laid there thinking of his parents and for the first time in years, he felt as if they were there with him.

As if they were right outside the window looking in on him.

He was tempted to lift his hand up and touch his palm to the window.

Fanciful?

Are you asking me? Or is this just something rhetorical?

Ash didn't move or talk back.

He felt something turning as if he was buried in the ground and the whole world was spinning around him.

Deep inside his soul, he felt his bear turn and look out at him through their connection, that thin film of energy that kept them separate at times but left open every other kind ofcommunication. Ash closed his eyes and saw right through the veil at his bear. The dark, endless gaze of his bear peered back at him.

Something's changed.

His bear nodded. It was just a hint of movement and Ash felt it more than he saw it, but it was there.

So it's not just me?Ash wondered.You feel it, too.

I feel... something.

Something outside of our lives.A quiet exhale of breath teased the edges of his hearing.Something coming closer.

Ash narrowed his gaze within, focusing on the depth of emotion in his bear's eyes.This lonely feeling,Ash felt the gnawing emotion deep inside of him,it feels like the ground.

He knew he wasn't making sense, but his bear listened to him, looking deep, patiently waiting.

Like when my mother planted her garden every year.His mind was full of images, his hands feeling the grit of soil against his skin. We'd have to dig into the soil and make holes before we could plant the seeds.

Maybe, he wondered,this hole inside of me-

Inside of us,his bear added, and Ash felt his face ease from its customary hard stare.

Inside of us,Ash corrected,is just making space for something.

For what's coming.

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