Scattering Lilac Ashes

Chapter Eighty-Nine

The silky-soft bedsheets wrapping around Lila felt like a soothing caress, lulling her into sleep almost as soon as her head hit the pillow after finishing her night-time routine.

She fell into a kaleidoscope of colours, faces, and memories, her mind producing a whirling performance of oddities. At one point, her dreams brought her to the board game shop, Asher inspecting several offerings in a clown suit, his face thankfully unmarred by clown makeup.

"Lila, this one's about ants," Dream-Asher said in a monotonous voice. "I love ants."

As Lila was about to respond, Dream-Asher began to scream, the sound chilling her blood and shaking her to her core. It wrenched her out of her dream and she sat up, her mind swirling and trying to adjust to her unfamiliar surroundings.

Her racing heart began to slow down as she took a deep breath, the air branching from her lungs to the tips of her fingers.

'Weird,' she thought, 'what kinda dream was that?'

A bewildered laugh was halfway to her lips when she heard it.

Another scream, ripping through Asher's wing of the house. Lila immediately stood up, goosebumps bursting along her skin. It was a haunting scream – one that was accompanied by a whimper. Was Asher okay?

Without a second thought, Lila stumbled out of the spare room, phone in hand to light her way. Surely he wasn't being attacked, right?

She twisted the doorknob to his room, but it remained steadfastly closed. She tried again, another scream emanating from Asher's room. Locked.

Lila didn't know what to do. What could she do? She didn't know where the lockpicks were, but she supposed they would be in his room... which was locked.

Just as she was contemplating breaking the door, the scream turned into a weak sob. Then, it clicked.

A night terror.

Lila herself only had them when she was a young child, but she always had Clare or her parents help her through them. Then, when Daniel was old enough, she, in turn, helped him. But Asher was all alone.

'He'd probably be really embarrassed if I broke in there,' Lila thought forlornly, biting her lower lip. At least it seemed that he was at the tail end of it. He might even be awake. Should she knock?

Her heart pounded in her chest as she reached a fist out, ready to knock. Before her knuckles could touch the door, she was interrupted by another whimper then a frustrated groan.

"So fucking embarrassing," she heard Asher say, his voice pained. "Fucking get it together."

She lowered her fist, taking a long and slow breath. She stood there for a couple more seconds, contemplating her next move. With a resigned grimace, Lila decided to retire to her room to spare his feelings.

She sank uneasily into bed, holding a pillow close to her for comfort. Should she ask him about it in the morning? She heard him speak, but had he been awake enough to remember?

For the next few minutes, she trained her ears, trying to hear any more sounds from Asher's room. Eventually, with nothing further, her thoughts slowed and she fell into a restless sleep.

Lila's alarm blared in her ear, waking her with a start. She rubbed her eyes, the feeling of luxurious bedsheets confusing her for a moment. Where was she?

She blinked, focusing her eyes on the room around her. It took her a moment to realise that she was in the spare room of Asher's house. With a lazy stretch, she checked the time on her phone – 8.01am.