Unique

Chapter 6

        "Sam?  Sam," I heard a voice saying to me.  I sat up, opening my eyes, and noticed that I had fallen asleep, meaning it was now nighttime.  I looked at Ash, and saw that she was awake - and looking at her hand.  Specifically, the part of her hand that mine was grasping.  I quickly yanked my hand from hers, sure I was blushing furiously.  

        "No, no...  You don't have to do that.  It felt... kinda... nice.  Comforting."  I slowly reached over, curious at the tone of fear I heard enter her voice when she told me to continue holding her hand.  I clasped her hand in mine, enjoying the warm feeling that spread throughout my body at her touch.  

        "Tell me a story," she said sleepily.  

        "I don't really know any..." I said.

        "So make one up."

        "Okay, here goes..."  I began to weave a tale of epic proportions, with dragons, and knights in shining armor; you name it, I put it into the story.  She was the main character, the heroine.  She saved the day.

        The tale went on and on.  She fell asleep again after about thirty minutes into the story, but I kept going.  I didn't stop, becasue I feared that the tale would end too soon, left with no proper ending.

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

        I woke up before Ash the next morning.  I stayed where I was, my hand still in hers, in fear of waking her up.  She was beautiful.  

        She woke up a few minutes later.  "How are you doing?" I asked.  

        "Good, a lot better than last night."  She looked around the room, and down at our hands.  They were still intertwined.  We both began blushing furiously, and pulled our hands away from each other, laughing awkwardly.  

        "So," I said after about a minute of awkward silence, "want a tour of the house?"

        "Sure!" came the reply.  I  helped her out of the bed, and she stood up, tottering a bit.  Before she could go anywhere, I was by her side helping her stand by putting my hand around her shoulder.  We hobbled together down the stairs.

        "So, this is the main floor.  There's the kitchen, the bathroom's over there, and here," I said, as we arrived at the living room, "is the living room."

        "Is... is that an Xbox?" she asked incredulously.

        "Uh, yeah, James found it a few years ago, and he downloaded like 2,000 games for it or something..."

        "Sweet, I kick ASS at Halo!"

        She was a gamer too?  This couldn't get any better.

 . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

        I led her to the basement, where I formally introduced her to James and Adam.  They looked like they hadn't slept all night.  Turns out, they hadn't.

         "We've been up all night, builidng the simulator and trying to get it working," said James.  "We still need a conputer, though."

        "Alright," I said, anticipating his forthcoming request, "as long as you make a promise that there will be no cops or guards of ANY KIND.  Yes, that includes armed and non-armed.  And, we have to drive.  No teleporting."

        "Okay," said James.  We walked out of the house, but not before James had set the sentry gun - for "safety purposes," he explained.

        "He's just really paranoid," I whispered to Ash as I helped her into the jeep. She giggled at that.  I got into the driver's seat, and started up the car, putting it into drive.  We pulled out of the driveway, and drove to a different junkyard, because - as James explained - there would probably be a lot more guards at the one we already went to, being as we did steal a jeep.  

        We got to the junkyard, and it took James all of ten minutes to find what he needed.  He put the stuff into the jeep's trunk, and we drove off.  We got back to the house, and he ran down to the basement with Adam, taking the equipment with them.

        Ash and I sat on the couch in front of the tv monitor, which was connected to the Xbox.  

        "So, what's your story?" she asked me.  

        "Honestly?  I don't know.  I was taken by the scientists with Adam and James.  They did expiraments on the three of us, to see how we coud do what we could.  They did one expirament on me that actually gave me amnesia.  All I know about what happened in the labs is from what Adam and James have told me.  Some things, from before the labs, come back in memory flashes.  Yesterday, I had one while we were driving."

        "What was in it?"

        "My parents," I began, beginning to tear up, "they killed them right in front of us.  Our parents.  Mine, Adam, and James.  We're brothers.  I never knew until yesterday."

        "Wow... that's..." she began, unsure of what to say to console me.  She slowly reached her hand out to mine, and grasped it.  "That must have been hard to see."

        "Yeah, it really was...  I mean, I don't even know how old I am, my last name, anything about my past, and one of the first things I remember is my own parents' deaths?  Come on, I mean, really?"  We both kind of laughed at that, and then we were silent for a while, her hand still grasping mine.  All I could think of was how she looked in the car yesterday, and last night, passed out on my bed.  How beautiful she looked.  I now knew what I had been questioning for the past 24 hours. 

        I had a crush on Ash.