The Piano || 𝘤𝘰𝘭𝘣𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘰𝘤𝘬

|78|

She cursed under her breath, looking away from the computer screen. Lowering her gaze to her fingers hovering over the keyboard, she saw how her hands were trembling and shaking. Ashley sucked in a breath between her teeth and blinked a few times to focus her gaze back on the game. Just this round, she promised herself, then she'd stop.

It seemed to take longer than usual to finish the round, but that was just her discomfort speaking. Not speaking a word except for the occasional, "Behind you!" or "Cover me!", she fought until the end, ignoring the pulsating behind her temples.

"Ash, you alright?" one of her friends asked, and she forced a chuckle.

"Yeah, just a headache. I'm going offline, alright?" she replied, her voice sounding more strained than she'd anticipated.

"M'kay," he said. "Take care." The others wished her good night as well in a short chorus of voices.

Ashley sighed in relief as she closed the game, shutting the computer off. The headache had relented a little, instead spreading down her entire body, settling as a weak feeling in her limbs. Her hands shaking, Ashley took a few deep breaths.

She stood up, a wave of light-headedness immediately hitting her. Her knuckles tightened around the backrest of her chair as she calmed her breathing. Wow. The dizziness wore off quickly, and as her phone buzzed on the table, she reached out to grab it. Colby had texted her.

A frown formed on Ashley's face. Wasn't he still doing the investigation? Or maybe he and Sam were taking a break. The message was a simple, "Hey, you still awake?" so she replied with "yep".

The phone buzzing in her hand after she closed it indicated another message coming through, but Ashley couldn't focus on that anymore. A trickling feeling filled her nose. She quickly lifted her hand and brushed it over the underside of her nose – a red stripe covering her nail. Shit.

Ashley dropped the phone back on the table and rushed to the bathroom, holding a hand under her nose and tilting her head back to stop the blood flow. But it steadily ran over her upper lip, especially as she stood over the sink, letting it drip onto the white porcelain.

The lights in the bathroom weren't turned on, she'd missed the switch while walking in. Now she was fumbling with the wall to her right, the drops looking almost black in the blue-ish light streaming through the open crack of the bathroom door.

The second her fingers hit the light switch Ashley looked up. The lights flickered on.

It felt quieter with the lights turned on, and she just stared at herself for a few moments. Blood pooled on her upper lip, and she watched it drip down with fascination, the liquid colouring her lips red before falling to the sink.

Her phone buzzed again and snapped Ashley out of it. She quickly reached for a tissue, pressing it to her nose. It immediately absorbed the blood, turning a dark red tone. The buzzing of the phone and her laboured breathing were the only sounds filling the apartment, and she felt goosebumps crawl over her arms.

Swallowing, Ashley took another tissue and washed off her other hand, the blood in the sink pouring down the drain. She dried her fingers off quickly and rushed back to her table and picked up the phone. Several messages from Colby, the oldest reading "Can we call rq?" and the newer sounding confused and... worried?

Yeah, we can call, Ashley quickly typed. Sorry for not replying, I just-

Before she could finish the second message, her screen lit up with a call from Colby.

"Ashley?" he said as soon as she pressed on accept.

"Hi baby," she said a little hesitantly, trying not to sound too nasal as her nostrils were still covered by paper. "What's going on?"

"Are you okay?"

The anxious pit that had settled in her stomach as soon as she'd read Colby's messages grew heavier. "Am I- yeah, I'm okay," she replied a little hesitantly. "Why wouldn't I be?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary?"

She couldn't just flat out lie to him, no matter how much she wanted to calm him down. Her evening was very much out of the ordinary, with a random headache and nosebleed. So, she just stayed silent.

"Ashley?" Colby asked, his voice more concerned now.

"Yeah, I'm just confused," she said, trying to sound light-hearted despite the obvious nervousness pooling in her stomach. Quickly lifting the paper from her nose, she saw that the blood had filled most of it, now covering her fingers in a thin red coat as well.

She cursed under her breath, not hearing what Colby was saying as she turned to go back to the bathroom.

"Ashley?" he asked again, interrupting himself. "What's going on?"

"Just a nosebleed," she replied, now definitely too nasal. "Nothing major."

Setting the call on speaker, she reached for new tissues while the blood continued running out of her nose. Not even noticing how silent Colby had gone, she ripped one of the tissues apart and rolled it to stuff it into her nose so she would have her hands free. It looked stupid but it worked better than holding the paper up to her nose.

"Colby?" she asked after brushing off her red fingertips. "What is going on? Aren't you and Sam doing an investigation still?"

It wasn't even one o'clock yet, they couldn't be done.

"Yeah, I just..." he said and then cleared his throat. "Did anything else happen tonight?"

Ashley sighed. "I watched Stranger Things, got some goldfish, played Fortnite, got a major headache, and a nosebleed," she replied, getting unnerved with Colby's evasive answers.

"Okay, that's weird," he finally said, "because Sam and I, we kept getting things in our investigation... that seemed to hint at you."

Goosebumps immediately coated Ashley's arms and she involuntarily glanced at the dark hallway. With a few quick strides, she was on the other side of the room, closing the door.

"Don't say that," she whined, turning up the LED lights. She didn't trust the receding headache not to pop up again should she switch on the big lights. "I'm alone at home, and I don't fuck with the thought of not being alone right now."

"Sorry," Colby said, at least caring to sound a little timid. "I just had to make sure you're alright." She felt her cheeks heat up at that. Just a tiny bit.

"Well, I was about to go to sleep, but I guess I can forget about that," she said with a humourless chuckle, throwing herself onto the bed. "I'm otherwise alright, though, I promise."

"Promise you'll text me if something happens?" he asked. A smile curved up Ashley's lips.

"Of course, baby," she said. "How's the investigation going?"

"Great, in terms of a ghost investigation. This place is scary as hell and we're getting loads of stuff," he immediately replied. "It's gonna be a late-night investigation, I can tell that much."

"That's great," she muttered, quickly checking the paper in her nose. Yeah, the bleeding had almost stopped. "Have a good night?" she added, a little insecure about what she was supposed to say.

"Thanks, babe," he replied with a small chuckle. "I will. You try to sleep, though."

"I will," she repeated his words. The line was silent for a few seconds before Colby hung up.

The words I love you hung on Ashley's lips, without the courage to speak them.

With a sigh, she threw herself back on the bed and closed her eyes. A slight dizziness crept up her body, and she quickly reached for the bedside table to take her water bottle. Before she could take it though, her fingers hit something else. Without thinking too much, Ashley took Ilse's ring and slipped it on, and then proceeded to drink something.

The nosebleed and headache disappeared as quickly as they'd appeared.