The Ascent

Chapter 20

The way back seemed far longer than Jasmine remembered, but she soldiered on. She owed at least that much to the dead girl broken by the cruel world. That was the only thing that kept her going, that singular thought that she owed the girl at least that much drove her on.

Everyone deserved the dignity of a proper burial instead of being tucked away behind bushes. So, Jasmine was determined to do at least that much for the girl when she was the one who failed to save her life.

However, it was lucky that Jasmine's body switched on autopilot and moved in the right direction because her mind was a mess. It was broken into thousands of fragments that she couldn't pick up and glue together no matter how much she tried.

Once she reached the cave, she immediately proceeded in, only to stumble down the stairs and onto the ground making a loud noise that resounded through the cave, making the sound so much more terrifying. Even in the darkened state of mind that she was in, Jasmine worried that she might have frightened the children, that they might have thought the bald men were barging in.

"Jasmine, what happened?" a worried little voice asked after some time which felt both like seconds and eternity. "Are you hurt?"

Isaac was crouching beside her sprawled body, unsure what to do as he received no response from dazed Jasmine.

"Isaac, you can't just run off like that! What if it had been the bald men?" Asher scolded, hurrying after the child, worried he might fail to protect him.

"Jasmine!" he exclaimed upon noticing what Isaac was standing over. "Isaac, take my children back and keep them occupied. I'll take care of her."

The said children were a few meters behind him, having refused to listen to his command to stay put. So, they didn't notice the bloody mess that was Jasmine at that moment.

Asher quickly checked her for injuries. Upon seeing none he pulled out the water bottle from his backpack. He brought it to her lips, but Jasmine was too lost in the previously seen horror that kept repeating on a loop in her mind to even notice it.

"Here, Jasmine, drink some water," Asher said gently, hoping to snap her out of her stupor in the most painless way possible.

When she still didn't react, he poured water into his cupped hand and dipped his finger. Then he proceeded to wet her lips with it. Automatically her tongue came out, lapping up the moisture left on her lips.

The spell broke, and her hand reached for the water bottle. She drank up greedily, unaware of how thirsty she was or how long it had been since she had any water until that moment. Her eyes finally snapped to Asher's. The comfort she found in them managed to anchor her to the moment, even though she felt like she was in danger of drifting away at any second.

"Girl...dead...couldn't save her..." Jasmine said, hiccuping through tears. "Need to... bury her... Killed..."

Now that she was back from her stupor, Jasmine noticed her body was shaking as if all her blood had gone cold in her veins. And after what she had seen, she wouldn't have been surprised if that had happened.

"Slow down, what girl? What happened?" Asher asked, taking a wet tissue and slowly wiping away the blood from Jasmine's skin.

Taking a few deep, steady breaths, Jasmine managed to put herself under some semblance of control. She knew she needed to explain things quickly because she didn't want whoever was after the girl to find her body before they came back for her.

She wanted, no, she needed, to pay respects to the poor girl. It was the least she could do.

In a world that was slowly falling apart, the only thing left was their humanity; if they lost that along the way, what was there for them to live for? The fight would have been over even before it began.

Slowly Jasmine gathered up all her strength, retelling Asher everything that had happened since the moment she left the cave. Her right hand kept squeezing the girl's diary as if her life depended on it.

"So, that diary can tell us what is going on?" Asher asked, his eyes fixed on the simple-looking notebook. "It can give us clues on what we should do next?"

Jasmine's hand shifted quickly to her chest, squeezing the diary in a firm hug as if she was afraid that Asher would snatch it away.

"The diary can wait. We first need to bury the girl," Jasmine said with determination in her tear-swollen eyes. "You aren't getting the book until you help me put her to rest."

The intensity with which she held on to the diary increased. She was using all of her strength to defend it. She looked more like a mama bear protecting her cub than a terrified girl holding on to any semblance of information they could get, not wanting to share it yet.

Red sprinkled Asher's cheeks, and Jasmine wasn't sure how to interpret it. The best she could guess was that he was angry that she wouldn't share the information that would increase the chance of their survival, of his children's survival.

Only later would she learn how wrong she was about the reasons behind his anger and beg for forgiveness. But for the time being, she felt like she was just a weak woman standing before a dangerous predator who could pounce on her at any moment and take away her bargaining chip.

"Fine, wait for me here," Asher said through gritted teeth. "I'll go talk to the children. Try to find a way to convince them to stay here and listen to Isaac until we get back."

Although Isaac wasn't much older than his own children, even Asher could see the maturity with which the boy dealt with everything. He was a much easier person for him to read than Jasmine. Probably because the boy was never afraid to speak his mind, while Jasmine seemed scared of him and cautious.

"I'll come with you," Jasmine said, shakily getting to her feet. "Maybe I can help you find a way to convince them."

"No offense, Jasmine..." Asher said mildly, his anger quickly turning to hesitation. "But you look horrible. If they see you so pale and lifeless, they might be even more reluctant to let me go."

Jasmine blinked a few times at his direct words but immediately understood that he was right. At the best of times, when Jasmine wasn't feeling well, she looked like a ghost or a zombie. She could only imagine how she looked like when so much fear, pain, and horror weighed heavily on her mind.

"Alright, you are right," Jasmine said, sitting on the ground more comfortably. "I'll wait for you here and lead you to the bod... to the girl."

Asher mumbled in agreement and hurried off to fulfill his difficult task of convincing his children to let go of him. Jasmine didn't envy the job he had before him, but she did feel relieved that he didn't decline her request. She didn't know what she would have done if he had flat-out refused to help her.

Asher was back before Jasmine could pull herself back together. Immediately, Jasmine could tell that the conversation didn't go so well but that at least he seemed convinced they would listen to him. In her mind, it seemed that he used some secret weapon available only to parents that they only dared use in extreme situations, but that always worked.

"Let's go, lead the way," Asher said when he reached her.

Jasmine tried to get up, but her legs wobbled, almost making her topple down. If it weren't for Asher's strong hands holding her upright, she would have probably done exactly that.

Instead of saying anything about her pitiful state, Asher gave her a hand up. As they slowly proceeded outside into the moonlit night, his hand never left hers, leading her in the direction she pointed out.

Once again, Jasmine needed to make the scary trip to an even more terrifying place. A place that held an actual dead body, but she didn't feel as scared as the first time.

Asher's warm hand gave her the strength to go on.

He was the sun in the winter cold.