My trembling hand rose to slap over my mouth as saliva filled my mouth and my stomach rolled to expel its contents. Pulling my eyes away from the sight that struck me in the chest harder than I had ever imagined it could, I turned and left the room, nearly slipping on the frost-coated carpet in my haste. Catching myself on the door frame, Rowan's concerned call of my name did nothing to slow me down as I rushed from the room.
My legs moved faster than their means, making me trip over my feet as I put some much-needed distance between me and the dead man who couldn't help but give me new nightmares even after death. Unfortunately, the gruesome sight and the trauma it would cause weren't what had been responsible for the brunt of the weight that hit my chest or the way my breaths were sawing in and out of my lungs. My dad's death wasn't enough to elicit such a deep, soul-wrenching ache, not with the kind of man he had been.
No, that pain came from the possibility of finding Ash in a similar state.
I swallowed another wave of nausea as a hand jerked me to a stop. "Greysi, I'm sorry for your loss-"
My hand snapped out to slap his, dislodging it from my arm as I cut his sympathies short to continue forward. There was no need for them.
"Don't be. I haven't lost anything," I choked out with forced confidence that a crack in my voice shattered. Not yet.
Reaching the basement door, as my finger closed around the cold metal knob, a hand landed in the center of the wood surface in front of my face to stop me from opening it before I could even begin to turn my hand.
Rowan let out a soft sigh. "Do I need to repeat myself?"
My teeth ground together as I reluctantly released the knob and took a step back. "Lead the way, Captain," I bit out instead of arguing. Whatever got me answers the soonest.
As he took my place, I blinked rapidly to keep my tears at bay.
He was fine. He was going to be okay. I was going to find him alive. Breathing.
Not beaten to a pulp and encased in ice like my dad.
Ash was-
Rowan pushed the door open for the scent of death to hit us in the face. He lifted a hand to cover his nose as it wrinkled in disgust. Me? I discovered I still had something left in my stomach to expel.
Wiping my mouth on my sleeve, I pinched my nose shut and suppressed the next retch that had me wanting to curl over to push past Rowan who showed no signs of making his way down the dark steps. A few at the bottom were visible, illuminated by the basement light that happened to already be on. The strength of its glow indicated it had been on for quite a while...
Ash hated it when the light was on.
"Wait! Greysi!" He hissed after me, a hand muffling his voice while the other reached for me.
His fingers skimmed my hair as they tried to reach for my arm, but came up short when I ducked out of his way so drastically that I nearly threw myself down the stairs in my bid to make it to the bottom and find the source of the stench of decay that held a sticky sweet tone that would forever haunt me. When his hand closed around nothing, a stand of my hair got caught between his closing fingers, causing a passing sting to follow the light tug I felt on my scalp when it was pulled free.
Grabbing the rickey banister to stop myself from rolling down the steps like my momentum seemed intent on doing, pain exploded in my knee as I landed on it two steps down. Adrenaline must have already been surging through my veins because I barely felt it as I launched myself down the remaining steps, taking them two at a time as the sound of Rowan giving chase followed.
