Guardian's Redemption

Chapter Thirty Three

Ashley sat up in the soft feathery bed. Her legs soaking in the peaceful comfort that she had been missing for so long. The wool blankets were giving a warming snuggle to add to that comfort. The warmth was a duplication to echo her finally peaceful heart. Ashley's gaze went over to the man sleeping next to her where her fiance lay. The world for her had gone from a horrible little town to a beautiful reunion with family within a peaceful town.

Last night was the best night of her life. From seeing her mother and father, her cousins, grandparents, and other relatives to the comfort of her missed fiance Jason. In the reunion she had seen Ben embraced by his father and younger sister plus two more men that were old friends of his. She hadn't truly paid attention to the surrounding town except that the trees grew around the buildings as if both the structures and plants were one. The homes had once stood as a normal human structure, yet now they seem apart of the forest that grown around and threw them. The woman's mind and soul were filled with joy at being with her family again. There had been a huge celebration.

A huge bonfire roared throughout the entire night. Music had filled the cool starlit sky, its tunes running between the trees as a group of men and women picked at the strings on wooden guitars. Everyone danced to the flow of the music while singing and laughing. Ashley conversed with the people she knew and to a few strangers she had never seen before at the beginning of the celebration. They had served roasted deer with fruit. It was truly a night to celebrate.

Ashley had let the music take her over and danced with everyone. She sung to songs that they played even if she didn't know the words. Most of her time was spent with Jason and Jessica telling the story of how she was found, of what her life had been like before Ben had shown up. Of how Ben was different now and what he had done on their travels.

At one time Jessica had leaned in to Ashley to tell her sister that Jason had been waiting for just her. He had belief that Ben would succeed. Ashley took the hint to heart for she herself had been waiting even if she hadn't known about it.

Through the happy chaos of the night, her eyes did catch notice of one thing. It was now that she was thinking about it as she lay in that comfortable bed. Her brother in law had stayed on the outside of the festivities, occasionally speaking to his father and sister as they tried to persuade him to join. No, the man had kept his lean against a large evergreen tree; his gaze mostly up at the night sky or down at the ground. Women had even approached him but he merely waved them away; Ashley felt she knew what was wrong.

Her fiance began to stir for the next few minutes. His hair was far longer than she remembered, that blonde shoulder length hair with a few strands running wild. Their evening together had been years of built up passion and was more of a blur than a reality. His muscles had even felt thicker when she was enjoying herself with him last night. He then begun to wake, one eye popping open only to close again in his refusal to face another day. Then he was up putting on his clothing. Ashley smiling at him as he gave the same visage with those loving eyes. "And where are you going?" Ashley said groggily, not wanting to leave the comfort of this bed just yet. The woman spread her arms wide to try and soak in the entire mattress.

"I'm sorry, but today I'm on patrol," her fiance answered. "Things must stay in routine; besides Xavier had told me that Pockets wants to see you today." The grunted has he pulled on a boot.

"I want to spend every moment with you," Ashley stating as she rose to a sitting position. "I'm sure they can all wait another day." When he pulled on the other boot, Ashley pouted. She slowly went slipping out of the bed with her back to the man as she put her clothing on from last night. "Pockets. I've heard that name a lot since I got here. Who is he?"

"Ben didn't tell you?" Jason asked as he stood up from the bed. Ashley turning to him shook her head negatively so the man continued. "Pockets is the man that keeps us alive. It is his barrier that keeps Hell out of here. He's sort of the unspoken leader of our little community. Though the man does keep to himself." Ashley could see the pain in those brown eyes, how his family was no longer around just like many of the people that had settled here. The two said nothing more as they left the small home that the man had built with his own two hands. The boards seem to be fused to the large trees that held the structure up.