Say my Name

C h a p t e r O n e

“ASHTON!”

My eyes flew awake, and I gasped aloud. After a while of trying to recover my bearings, I blinked my brown eyes to awake fully. I wiped at the small sheen of sweat starting to form on my forehead and sighed aloud, collapsing back into my bed. For a moment, I didn’t move. I just waited for my heart beat to settle. When it did, I rolled out of bed.

The floorboards creaked under my feet as I walked to the bathroom, rinsing off my face with cool water. I leaned over the sink for a second and relaxed my tensed shoulders. For moment, I reviewed things about my life, as I normally did. Where was I? What was my name?

Then, I rose to face my reflection in the mirror. I usually had tame black hair, dark brown eyes that resembled obsidian when I got upset, and olive-toned skin.

But today wasn’t as bad as the other days, luckily. I would usually wake up from my dreams disheveled with a wild look in my eyes. Today, it was only my hair that was unruly, as if I had been stuck in violent winds for hours. I combed the locks through shaking fingers.

Who was Ashton Corra?

I wasn’t a stranger to weird dreams. I had them all the time. Lately, though, I’d been having reoccurring nightmares of twelve hooded figures harboring over something, like there lives depended on it. I would always try to figure out what they were doing, but I would wake up before i figured it out. 

The nightmare of Ashton Corra was completely different. I had never heard of him before, much less dreamed of him.

Confusion welled through my brain as I attempted to think the dream over. The boy, Ashton, had been sacrificing something. And that was, apparently, for me. I had been hugging him, and he had told me…something.

The memories of the dream were now faint. I shuddered and focused on other thoughts, like how I had to get to school. The clock on the wall ticked, telling me it was only 5:36. I flipped on the bathroom light, and peeked out the doorway, hoping I hadn’t woken my parents. But when I heard a small groan, and a bed creaking, I knew that my hopes had been dashed.

Footsteps came thumping in my direction, and I instantly knew them to be my father’s. I crinkled my nose, and felt a familiar chill go down my back. Scowling, I opened the door a little wider only to be hit full on with it.

Panic.

Ever since I could remember, people’s emotions were easy for me to feel. It was just some sort of empathy thing, and it worked on everyone. At any time, whether I liked it or not, I could interpret other’s feelings like I could my own.

That, and a few other things. 

Either way, right now, I could feel my father’s absolute panic. He clambered down the hallway and made his way to the bathroom door frame

Perseus Sophronia. Doctor, husband, and father. As he  looked at me, I waved sheepishly. "What's going on?" he asked breathlessly. "Are you okay?"

His panic reached a breaking point, and I looked away to rule his feelings out. "Dad, I'm fine," I answered through gritted teeth. "I just had a bad dream. That's all. Really." I tried to keep my tone level, but I hated the way my parents babied me all the time. I was a month away from turning sixteen, for God sake's 

My father took a small, shaken breath. "Okay, Tal. You might as well stay up now, given it's nearly six. Are you sure you're okay? Do you need anything?"

I deliberated for a second, then said slowly, "Could I have a drink of water please? My throat's killing me." That was true: my throat was on fire with a dull pain that was getting more and more excruciating by the minute. i coughed awkwardly, and the pain flared up again. i winced.