Ashes of Affection (Rough Draft)

Chapter one

On a Saturday night, we all met up at Amara's house for a sleepover to celebrate our graduation of high school. We had dinner with her parents before we went upstairs to her room where her, and I would be sleeping while Kai and Jack slept in the nearby guest bedroom.
"Hey, wanna play truth or dare?" Kai suggested as he sat on the edge of Amara's bed.
"Psh, that's a child's game." Jack scoffed, leaning against the dresser.
"Aw, is the big tough jock scared of his secrets being revealed?" Amara teased.
"No!" He hesitated "Fine! Let's play."
We all sat in a circle and Kai started. "Sage! Truth or dare?"
I thought about it for a second. "Truth."
"Whimp." Jack snickered.
"Okay…" he had to think of a question which took a few seconds till his eyes lit up as if he had a great idea "what's your favorite memory?"
I wasn't too surprised that the question was something of that sort. Kai was always the kind one of the group and would always try to find something positive to talk about. I sighed. Now I had to think again. There were a lot but also so few. I hated to say it, but most of my not so bad memories involved them.
"Probably when we all snuck out and went to that river. Jack and Amara challenged each other to get to the top of the small waterfall despite it being less than five feet up, you both failed to do it."
"It was slippery, otherwise I would've won." Jack muttered.
"Lies, you barely wanted to get into the water before the challenge was set." Amara laughed slightly
"You make it sound like I'm a scaredy cat."
I rolled my eyes at their bickering. If I didn't know better, I'd think they were siblings.
"If you aren't a scaredy cat, truth or dare?" Amara had an evil grin on her face and I knew she had a plan that would get one or all of us in trouble.
"Wha- uh, dare! Obviously." He stuttered, trying to hide the fact that he was now nervous.
"I dare you to sneak out and go to the party that's near the woods."
"Guys, that isn't a good idea." Kai uttered as he stood up.
"What could go wrong?" Amara asked, half teasing.
"A lot could go wrong. Even if he does it, how do you expect him to get away with it when he gets lost in his own neighborhood?" I pointed out.
"You mean how do we sneak out?" This clearly wouldn’t end well, but none of us were too surprised by it. Still, something told me not to follow whatever plan she had. "We've done it multiple times before, just stay put for a sec." Her sudden movement of getting to her feet caused me to snap out of my worries for a second but it quickly returned.
"Come on guys, stop being such cowards." Jack said as Amara's footsteps fled downstairs.
"Are you kidding? Something bad could happen." I responded and got up.
"So what, you can see the future now?"
"Jack! Be nice. They're trying to look out for us." Kai interjected.
"More like being a helicopter parent." Jack mumbled but he backed down.
Moments later, Amara returned and told us it was all clear, I couldn't tell if that was supposed to comfort us or not.
"Let's go!" She said.
"Wait. Are you serious?" Jack asked as she opened the window.
"Oh, that's right! You get to go first." Her grin reappeared.
He huffed a breath, clearly not wanting to do this anymore. Despite his reluctance, he climbed out of the window, making a slight thud as he landed. We all paused, fearing we had been caught. When nothing happened the rest of us followed.
"Which way now?" Kai asked as we walked down the driveway.
"It's near 14th street, so we'll just have to go there and find the correct house." Amara answered.
Due to none of us having any jackets, the wind nipped at us. It wasn't too cold but it was supposed to get a lot colder within a few days, it was also likely to get colder later in the night.
Only the occasional street light lit our path. It seemed to be getting darker the farther we went. The others were talking but I had zoned them out completely, yet their voices still occasionally echoed through my ears. An extra set of footsteps snapped me out of my mind and I paused in my steps.
"Sage, you okay?" Kai asked and turned back to me.
I glanced back but there wasn't anything or anyone there.
"Let me guess, you're seeing ghosts again." Jack mocked.
"Jack, be nice." Kai said.
Jack rolled his eyes but he stopped.
"We're just a few minutes away, come on." Amara added.
I sighed but followed them. The footsteps were now in the forest. Someone was watching us and they didn't have good intentions.
"Guys, something's off." I uttered.
"It's nothing, you're just nervous about this being your first time sneaking out in a while." Amara stated.
"Someone's-"
"No one's out there! We're alone." Jack interrupted, visibly getting annoyed.
I sighed but kept quiet after that. Thankfully, about five minutes later, we arrived at the party. The music immediately became louder when the door was opened. Amara and Jack vanished into the crowd away from us.
“Are you okay?” Kai asked when he picked up on my discomfort. I just nodded despite feeling uncomfortable. The music was almost too loud for me to handle but I just tried to relax. “If it gets to be too much, just let me know and we can leave.”
“I’m okay.” I uttered. I followed him through the crowd and tried to keep close. I ended up getting separated from him when people brushed past me. My gaze wandered through the room as my heart rate began to quicken. The difference between the living and the dead was beginning to combine which made it hard to tell who was truly there. My heartbeat had made its way up into my ears as they began to ring.
“Hey! Why don’t you come dance with me?” A guy approached me. His voice echoed in my head.
“I don’t dance.” I muttered, my voice felt like claws in my throat. I then turned to walk away, though he didn't accept my answer.
“Come on, it’s fun.”
He reached out and grabbed my wrist but I swiftly pulled away. “Don’t touch me!"
Someone stepped between us, blocking the man from me. He was a lot more put together then the first man which clearly bothered with his plans.
“Is there a problem?” He asked darkly.
“No…not at all.” The first man uttered before he turned and fled into the crowd, back to his group.
“Hey, sorry to step in. Are you okay?” The second man asked when he turned to me.
“Yeah. Thanks.” I answered. My anxiety slightly wavered at his presence. Something about him comforted me but I also knew I couldn't get too comfortable.
“You don’t seem like the partying type, were you dragged here or something?”
“I guess you can say that.”
The music seemed to be getting louder as it got tighter around us.
“Why’re you alone then?” He had true concern in his voice. I couldn’t understand why he was so worried. He was cautiously scanning the room as if he was worried someone would see him or something.
“Two of them ran off and I got separated from the one I was with.”
I flinched when the music had a sudden increase in volume.
“Here, put this on.” He said and handed me headphones. I hesitated but put them on. “Let’s find your group before anyone else tries to whisk you away.”
He put some music on into the headphones so it would block everything else out then we went into the crowd. Within minutes we found Jack and Amara who were laughing next to the drink table.
“Sage, who’s this guy.” Jack immediately sounded protective which almost surprised me. The main time he seemed to get jealous was usually when someone was talking to Kai.
“He helped me find you guys.” I answered as Amara approached me.
“Thank you.” Amara said.
“You’re welcome.” The man nodded.
Jack was still standoffish and wasn’t accepting his presence.
“Jack. Stop being rude.” She instructed.
“No, it’s alright. I intruded on you guys, I’ll leave you three alone.” His gaze was now anxiously locked on something on the other side of the room. I went to give him his headphones back but he stopped me and put them back over my ears. “Go ahead and keep them, you need them more than I do.”
He then disappeared into the crowd with a quickened pace. It seemed that he was in a hurry to get out of there. Unsurprisingly, Amara blamed Jack for the man’s quick leave but it was something else, something that could be possibly dangerous to all of us.
“Jack, why must you be so rude?” She asked.
“What? He randomly approached Sage, how is that not suspicious?” Jack countered.
“That sounds like jealousy to me.”
“Believe me, I’m far from jealous.”
“Guys. We need to find Kai and get out of here.” I said.
“Sage, we get it. You hate parties.” Jack responded.
“Yeah, we just got here.” Amara agreed.
“You two can stay here but something is wrong so Kai and I will be leaving.”
I turned and walked away. I searched the crowd and was left unsurprised when Jack and Amara followed me with a huff. I picked up my pace as I was growing more and more anxious.
“Why don’t we ask people?” Amara suggested, when she finally understood how anxious I was. We started asking around but for the most part people were too drunk to know anything. Finally, someone could give us an answer.
“I think I saw him leaving with two tall men and a shorter lady, they were all wearing dark hoods.” A lady explained.
We all shared a concerned look before we rushed towards the back of the house.
“Sage, I swear to god. Tell me this is a prank.” Jack demanded.
“Why would I know if it is or not?” I asked, shocked that he would accuse me of doing something that could potentially harm Kai.
“You knew something was off.”
“Jack, enough! This isn’t a prank any of us are in so let’s stop pointing fingers and find Kai before something worse happens.” Amara interjected, stepping between us. She was always the one who would defend us and put Jack in his place when he took it too far.
“Someone took him, how could it possibly get worse?” He snapped.
I scanned the backyard till I remembered that there was an abandoned train about a quarter mile into the forest.
If anything happened to Kai, I’d never forgive myself. The music that was still playing in the headphones drowned the others out enough for me to focus.
A blurry figure rushed past into the darkness at an inhuman speed. I whistled loud enough to get their attention before I walked towards where the figure had fled. Their voices remained drowned out as I was under too much stress to focus on so many things at once.
When we fully reached the treeline, I took off the headphones. The forest was too quiet as if every animal had been scared off, the only thing that seemed to remain was the wind and the threatening feeling that always followed whoever entered the trees after dark.
“Where are we going?” Jack asked. I ignored him due to the fact that if we spoke, we could end up being in a lot of danger. “Sage.”
“Quiet.” I whispered. He seemed to get the hint now as he shut up. The farther into the forest we went, the more chills ran down my spine. We were no longer under the protection of people, we were now free game for anything to kill us. My gaze shifted to the trees when I heard what sounded like an owl but it wasn't right, it wasn't coming from the night bird.
“That sounds slightly off.” Amara stated but kept her voice down.
“That’s because it’s not an owl.” I replied quietly.
“Is it a mockingjay?” Jack asked.
“It’s a person.” They froze at my words.
I had studied animals for a long time so I had learned their sounds and how people use those sounds to communicate but since everyone uses it differently, there was no way of knowing what they were saying. They sounded about a yard and half away, getting farther. Though, it wasn’t infront of us or the direction we were going, in fact it was moving farther towards the main road. At one point, it sounded like they were all around us despite them being so far.
After that, every sound we heard made us pause. If we were going through this, what was Kai going through? Amara and Jack bugged each other and me, but we were all severely protective of Kai, most people never understood why but Kai had been orphaned since he was five so we had become his only family. Had it been any of the rest of us that had been taken, we would’ve been more confident as we knew we could handle ourselves so we’d have more time to think through things but since it was Kai, we had to act quickly.
When we reached the train I gestured for them to stay back. They were reluctant but gave in when I glared back at them. The train was rusty and dark, covered in vines, trash and other things. The closer I got to the entrance of it, the stronger a metallic scent got.
Footsteps appeared nearby so I ducked behind some bushes. A tall figure exited the train at a fast pace. They wore a long black jacket with a hood over their head. I realized I could slightly see their wrist, they had a tattoo of what looked like a bird in flames as if it was trying to escape the hot substance. They walked towards a river that was about three miles out.
When they were out of sight, I snuck closer to the entrance of the train and my heart dropped. A large buck was laying on the ground, bleeding out. It was in a lot of pain and looked terrified. I slowly approached it and knelt beside it. The animal began making a lot of sound and trying to escape.
“It’s okay, I want to help you.” I whispered as I gently placed my hand on its neck. It stared into my eyes with fear and pain. There was no way I could save him, all I could do was try to comfort him. His fur was soft but cold as I ran my hand across his neck and shoulder. “What have they done to you?” I hated watching him suffer, my side burned as if I had been the one who was stabbed.
Who would do this? Why would they do it? Time seemed to slow as the buck slowly stopped moving under my touch. Tears stung my eyes but I slowly looked up and I could see his spirit a few feet away. He held his gaze on me for what felt like eternity but was truly just a few seconds before he turned and ran off.
I stood up and realized his blood had gotten on my hands but I didn’t care. My blood boiled but I was still anxious for my friend so I turned back to the task that was at hand. You had to go two cars over in the train to reach the other side of the forest. I didn’t even know if the doors could still open but the figure that had passed moments before kind of answered the question.
When I climbed into the train, it felt like it was going to collapse or something but it was sturdy. I got the door open then whistled loudly. Amara and Jack caught up and silently followed me to the other cart.
“What took you so long?” Jack asked when we got to the other side.
“They left the buck alive.” I answered. My voice was almost numb but my anger could be heard. Amara knew how much these animals meant to me since they were more like family than the humans that raised me.
“At Least its pain is over.” She uttered, putting her hand on my shoulder.
“Let’s go.” I ignored the tears that were fighting to escape my eyes and just resumed walking. The others followed close behind in silence, clearly not sure how to react to everything that was happening, how could they? None of us had gone through something like this. We were barely nineteen and eighteen.
The forest no longer felt like home, even to me. Knowing someone was out here, especially someone dangerous, made it more terrifying than usual. I knew the longer we were out there, the more things were likely hunting us. It was getting colder the later it got, it didn’t help that we didn’t have jackets.
I paused when I heard movement and looked around. The others heard it too and we all came to the same conclusion in silence…wolves. It was doubtful they’d attack us unless they were really hungry or felt threatened so as long as we kept our distance we would be fine so we kept moving.
“Sage, we’ve been walking for over two miles, do you even know where we’re going?” Jack asked after he stopped walking.
“Jack, if any of us know these woods it’s Sage.” Amara reassured him.
“I understand that but how would they even know where to go to find Kai?”
Amara looked at me, unable to answer that question herself.
“He is right about that.”
I sighed and turned back to them, the moonlight just barely illuminated their faces. Doubt filled my mind as I knew they wouldn’t believe me unless I could provide them proof of what was happening but I also knew I had to tell them.
“I’ve been following something.” I uttered.
They looked shocked but now Jack was pissed.
“So you’re telling me that this whole time we’ve been following your imaginary friends? Have you lost your mind!? Kai is in danger, now is not the time for you to be playing your stupid games!” He yelled as he approached me.
“Jack!” Amara took a step forward but Jack turned back to her.
“No! I’m sick and tired of encouraging them. They have lost it. I’m not following their insanity!”
“Jack, shut the hell up! You’re going to get us found. I understand that this is upsetting but if you keep yelling we’ll be dead before we find Kai. We lost him too.”
“Fine, but I am done following them.”
He turned and stormed ahead. Amara looked at me but shook her head and passed me. I took a deep breath and turned my gaze to the figure that I could now make out to be the buck. He was moving the same way as Jack so I gave in and just followed in silence.
Something was off. I scanned the trees as I walked. I caught a glimpse of a wolf pup. A smile slightly peaked on to my face but it quickly faded. The pup was quickly out of sight, likely catching up with the rest of the pack.
About half a mile away, they turned to go left but the buck kept going straight. I stopped in my tracks, my gaze falling to the ground.
“Sage?” Amara stopped when she noticed I was no longer behind them. I just glanced at them. “Come on, the longer we take the less time he could have.”
Now the buck had stopped and was looking back at me. It knew I was there and wanted me to follow. Usually the spirits didn’t know I was actually there and would be speaking through me as if there was something or someone else there they were acknowledging. They would always think I was crazy but I refused to let them lead us the wrong way. If we wanted to get to Kai, they’d have to accept it and follow me or go their own way, so I put it to the test and just silently kept walking forward.
“Seriously Sage, we don’t have time.” Jack hissed but I ignored him.
They gave in and followed me but clearly had complaints about it. It was getting colder and we were losing time so I didn’t care for their words. We quickly reached a section of the forest I had never seen so even I was now going in blind sided.
About another mile out, the buck paused so I did as well which caused the others to stop. I let out a sharp whistle and the moment I did, multiple footsteps ran forward which made us all immediately get down to the ground. The footsteps ran toward the voices.
“What the hell was that?” Jack whispered.
“Did you just give those creatures a command that they followed?” Amara questioned equally quietly.
“I’ll explain it later, be quiet.” I responded.
A bunch of howls erupted from the silence so I got up.
“What are you doing? It could still be dangerous.” Jack said.
“It’s safe, let’s go.” I reassured them before I followed the buck.
My vision blurred for a second as pain slowly sunk into my head. I had never been able to see them for so long so it was causing pain. We approached a clearing and the buck slowly vanished the moment it left the tree lining.
In the middle of the clearing, there was a small shed-type-building. From what I could see, it was worn down as there was broken glass, the outer walls looked slightly burnt and the grass was severely overgrown but it was clear people had walked the same path multiple times as a path of pushed down grass rested on the ground.
We followed the path while being cautious. Anyone could still be around. When we reached the cabin, I peered in through the door window.
The building was almost pitch black but thanks to the moonlight, I could slightly see. It was only one room with four windows across from each other, all were fairly small. Across from the door, there was a chair and what looked like a nuse. My heart dropped.
Could they have hung Kai? Was he still alive? What if Jack was right and I had just led them the wrong way? My heart pounded in my chest as my throat closed up. Panic began to strike as the thoughts took over..
“Sage, you’ve gotten us this far. You can’t break now.” Amara uttered, squeezing my hand.
It took a second but my emotions quickly faded and I fell into a pit of numbness. Despite my shaky hands, I opened the door. Dust had settled on the floor but was picked up by the gust of wind that the door had created.
“Kai!” Jack gasped before he ran in, Amara was on his heels.
While they handled Kai, I scanned the room. The building was even colder than it was outside which caused suspicion.
Why was it so cold? What could possibly call for a building that was colder than a freezer? Why would they leave Kai here? Something was off. I walked over to a bookshelf that was empty except for an old box. When I opened it, my heart dropped again. Inside was a voodoo doll of me, it looked like it was at least a month old. Could it be active? How would they even have my DNA for it? Then, I knew what was happening. They had likely expected us to come find Kai.
“Sage, what’s going on?” Amara asked.
I swiftly shut the box and put it back before I turned to her.
“Get Jack and hide.” I said quietly. I had decided not to say anything about the voodoo doll.
She looked nervous now but did as I said. I looked out of the windows and was proven correct. There were figures just beyond the tree line but it appeared they weren’t looking our way and hadn’t noticed us. If we didn’t leave at that exact moment, we’d be in the same state as Kai.
“We can’t leave him.” Jack stated, holding Kai in his arms.
“Can you carry him?” I questioned and he nodded. “Good, pick him up and go north.” He looked confused, clearly not having North, South, West and East memorized. I sighed. “Follow Amara and I’ll be right behind you but stay low.”
He picked Kai up and followed Amara out of the door. I walked out after them and mimicked an owl whistle. Howling cut through the air, much louder than before. The wolves were all now on edge and were ready to attack. I couldn’t tell if it was hunger or protectiveness. I swiftly looked back when I heard yelling getting closer. They spotted us!
“Run!” I shouted. We all immediately took off running. But Jack couldn’t run as fast as Amara and I. “Amara, get Jack and Kai to the hideout, I’ll lead them away.”
“Are you crazy?!” She asked, slowing down.
“Go! Now!” I demanded before I turned back towards the people and ran towards them.
When I was within twenty feet of them, I turned left and ran as fast as I could. Bushes cut into my legs as I kept up the quicken pace. Twigs snapped under my feet so loud that I’d likely be found immediately had I tried to hide. They soon cornered me at a cliff.
“Looks like the wild cat is out of places to run.” One of the figures smirked as she approached me.
I looked at them. The wolves had followed Jack and Amara as told so there was unfortunately no safer way for me out. If I jumped, it’d likely kill me. The water below was generally shallow so I’d have a high chance of hitting the rocks or anything else below. There was a tiny chance that I’d hit a deeper section but surprisingly I didn’t care. All I cared about was that the others remain safe.
“May the forest hear their cries and lead them to safety.” I whispered before I fell backwards off the cliff.
My ears began ringing as the wind shot past me. The moment I had fallen, it began raining heavily. I could see the buck over me before a winged and bright figure shot down. Just before it could reach me, pain flooded through my body, followed by the cold darkness of me being swallowed by the water before I blacked out.

The next thing I know, I was surrounded by coldness. A sharp pressure shot through my chest and ribs which caused the rest of the pain to shoot through my body. I swiftly sat up, gasping for air as reality sunk in. Breathing and moving burned throughout my body but it seemed to mostly reside in my ribs and lungs. The feeling of my blood soaked clothes followed as my senses quickly returned. A hand rests on my shoulder and another on my shoulder blade, helping me remain stable, well, at least more stable. It also helped take more strain off of me, just it made the pain worse.
“Breathe in.” A familiar voice said. I had no choice but to listen to him but the moment I did, he shifted my shoulder, popping it back in place. I cried out in pain and almost hit him but I was able to stop myself. “Sit back.”
I did so but it just made the pain even worse. He stood up and only then did I realize I couldn’t see despite my eyes being open. Only then did the full anxiety hit. I didn’t know where I was, who that man was or really most of what happened or was happening.
“why can’t I see?” I asked weakly.
“Your vision should return soon. It’s far from my biggest concern right now.” He answered, now moving away from me. A few moments later, he returned and I felt him wrap something around my ankle which hurt really badly so I instinctively shot away from him. “Either you let me tend to your wounds or you will be useless against what’s coming.” I paused. The longer he was around, the more questions I had but I could barely speak. My throat and lungs felt like they were on fire.
“Why…Why are you helping?” The words cut into my throat as I spoke. The feeling of being light headed hit and I wanted to pass back out.
“Just sit back and stop talking. Unfortunately, I need you to stay awake.” Why did he sound so familiar? Where had I seen him and why was he avoiding my question? It hit me at that moment. He must’ve known me or have at least seen me and didn’t want me to know it was him. But why? “Look, either you let me help you, or you’ll die. You will likely bleed out within a few days or hours especially if you move a lot and I’d prefer you alive so I will do this whether you fight me or not. So you can make it easy or make it hard.”
Despite really not wanting to, I let him tend to my ankle that felt broken. As for the bleeding problem, there wasn’t much he could do as he obviously didn’t have a whole hospital in his pockets. The feeling of blood was beginning to get to me which made it hard not to move or twitch.
“Where are my friends?”
“They’re about a day’s walk away from here. We can worry about them after you get to the hospital.”
“No. I can’t…I can’t leave them.” I tried to get to my feet but he stopped me.
“You’d risk bleeding out, they should be the least of your concerns.”
“I’d rather die, then leave them.”
He hissed a breath. It was clear he had caught on to the fact that he either knocks me out or takes me to my group, unless he just left me to die. This all brought up even more questions that he would likely refuse to answer.
“Fine. I’ll get you to your friends, but the moment we get there you’ll have to stop fighting so you risk less chance of dying.” I nodded, not willing to argue at that moment more than I already had. When I got to my feet, I stumbled before I collapsed into his arms. The pain immediately shot into my legs and back completely which made it really hard to move, let alone walk. Despite this, I forced myself to stand back up. “Walking won’t do you any good.”
“I-I’m fine.”
Most of my energy went into walking without falling so I couldn’t focus too much on breathing or anything really. When I was able to walk, I had to hold on to him so I wouldn’t fall and because I couldn’t see. Though, After he realized how badly I was shivering, he put his jacket around me. It provided slight warmth but not a lot.
I could feel the sun hit me when we had left the cave. Even though I couldn’t see, my eyes burned when we entered the lighter setting.
“Just keep your eyes closed, no point in keeping them open if they serve no purpose to you.” He said. I just did as he instructed, it wasn’t like I could tell the difference either way. Although, when I closed my eyes, I realized that I instinctively tightened my grasp on his arm. He was oddly warm. Within minutes, I couldn’t take it anymore. The pain had become enough for me to collapse to my knees on the hard surface. I didn’t know where we were, what had happened or anything, I barely even knew who I was and everything that happened before we had left school that Friday afternoon. The sounds of the forest were quickly covered by my ears ringing and my breath becoming quicker. All of my senses began to fade as I got closer to passing out. The panic and stress had gotten to be too much so I was barely conscious. “Sage, come back to me!”
The man’s voice echoed through my ears as I began drifting off. It slowly became warm and silent as I lost consciousness once again.