Subject A.S.H

Chapter 23

I opened my eyes, and found myself in a room; a plain, white room with white walls and a white floor. I guess it was more like a white box, about the size of my bedroom if not bigger, because there were no windows, or furniture, although there was a single light bulb that hung from the centre of the ceiling, as well as a white door, which had a small crystal-like handle. 

Was I dreaming?

There were sudden knocks on the other side of the door, but it sounded more like someone was trying to break the door down, but it wouldn't budge. I flinched at the suddenness of the loud sounds, that echoed in the room. What was that? 

The banging stopped, and was followed by a low growl and scratching, which scared me even more. The growling stopped, so I ambled towards the door, and pressed my ear against it, to see if I could hear any other noises. I heard something, which was most likely bones, cracking repeatedly and then there was some kind of whimpering behind the door.

It took me at least five seconds to realise that it was Ash, outside the door, so I instantly turned the crystal door handle, to open the door. "Lexi!" He said happily as a big, cute grin appeared on his face, and I could feel one coming on to my face too. He stepped forward and engulfed me in a warm hug, nuzzling his face into my neck, which sent tingles in my stomach.

I asked after we pulled away, "Where exactly are we?" He lifted his hand, a second later, and pointed to my head. "My head?" He nodded, "We're in my head?" He nodded again. "How are we in my head? Don't get me wrong, it's creepily cool, but how are we in my head?" He gestured to my chest and then his chest over and over again, and looked at me with hopeful eyes as he tried to explain, whilst I guessed, "chest to chest? Heart to heart?" He did a thumbs up, and gestured for me to continue guessing, "heart to heart..." I mumbled to myself, and guessed the first thing that came to mind, "love?"

He motioned his hand as if he was trying to say 'kind of', so I listed the first appropriate things that came to mind, that related to basic love, "Relationship? Valentine? Bond? Friendship? Titanic?..." Ash poked my shoulder, to stop listing, and then put up three fingers. I thought back to the third word I said, "Bond?" He nodded. My thoughts immediately drifted to what I read from Dad's book, and I blurted out, "Mate bond?" He smiled proudly, and patted my head.

"So, what would you like to do?" He took hold of my right hand, and placed it in both of his warm ones. I was too busy enjoying the warm feeling his touch gave, that I was unprepared for when he pulled me closer towards him. I tripped, and stumbled head first into his chest, which made me lose tons of brain cells. Realising that I was still leaning against his chest, I awkwardly moved backwards.

I gasped when I saw that we were no longer in the plain, white room; rather, we were standing on a somewhat large hill, with soft grass that tickled the bottom of my feet. There were huge rocks placed near the edges of the hill, which were big enough to stand on, to see the view below. At the bottom of the hill, there was a blanket of trees, a forest, and above the hill, was a curtain of black sky, that was filled with endless numbers of glistening stars, and in the distance, a glowing moon. A gentle breeze brushed across my face as I stared at the scenery in front of me, in amazement and bewilderment. 

What broke me out of my trance, was the cracking of bones from Ash (who was changing into his wolf) which although I had heard a number of times, still made me flinch a little and feel weird. I heard his paws padding towards me, and I felt his muzzle rub against the palm of my hand, and I crouched down to stroke his fur, because he had laid down. He yapped, and once I moved my hand away, he got up and began running down the west side of the hill. He stopped, and turned around, yapping at me again.