Ashes and Flames

Chapter One

I was ten years old when I was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. My mother feared for me when I had told her that my best friend was a ghost named Ash and that he told me all about how he died. For months I stayed in a psychiatric hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, constantly being examined by psychiatrist after psychiatrist. It was exhausting. They would poke and prod at me. They'd check my eyes and make me follow a piercing bright flash light. They just kept giving me test after test.

After a while at the hospital, I began to actually become depressed. I was bored and lonely all of the time. I was just a young girl who needs guidance and affection. They kept me away from all of the other patients, even my own mother. When I had asked why, they had said that I would be a danger to the other patients and my mother could make me relapse. This went on for weeks until they were assured I could be deemed "safe." I was ten years old and they acted as though I could actually harm anyone.

To this day, I still don't know what they thought I would relapse into. My mother hadn't caused me to start seeing Ash. I wasn't a depressed child. I was a normal kid. Well, as normal as a ten year old girl moving to a whole new state can be.

I remember moving to the old house at the end of the street. I was upset for quite a while. My mother had wanted to get away from the cold weather of Olympia, Washington. She had gotten a new job as a nurse in a nearby hospital.

It was summer vacation, so I didn't have school yet. I didn't have any friends either. Most of my days were spent hanging out by the lake behind the house. The house was nothing fancy; it was an old two story house. It wasn't the best looking, but it was sturdy, or at least that's what the realtor said when we bought it.

My mother worked an awful lot, I mean, she had to, she's a single parent. Sometimes when I would wake up in the middle of the night to get a glass of water, I would hear her crying. Sometimes she cried about how much she missed my deceased father. Other times she'd cry about how hard it is to raise me on her own. I always felt sad after I heard that. I couldn't comfort hurt though, I didn't know how.

Well anyway, I should probably explain the day Ash started appearing.

It was a normal day for me. My mother had been working late into the evening and I had gotten bored with hearing my so called "nanny" snoring away in the living room—I couldn't remember her name for the life of me. Being the deep sleeper she was, she didn't hear me sneak out of the back door and run to the old swing attached to the large tree's thick branch near the lake.

Before I could even make it to the tree, I tripped over my shoe lace. I had sworn I tied my shoe before I left the house, but, clearly, I hadn't. When I bent down to tie my shoe, a glittering object caught my eye. Reaching for the object, I discovered it was a gold necklace with a shiny dragon as the pendant. I snatched it up and stuffed it in my pocket before tying my shoe and rushing back into the house.

I once again snuck past my nanny and rushed to the bathroom. I turned the water spout on and proceeded to wash my hands before pulling the necklace out of my pocket and rinsing that off as well.

The necklace gleamed in the light of the bathroom after a thorough washing with my little hands. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I couldn't resist the temptation of putting it on. After all, I was a young girl and like any young girl, I wanted to wear beautiful things. The moment I let the pendent rest over my heart, everything went white and all I heard was a soft male voice whispering my name.

I remember waking up in my bed with a cold towel on my forehead. My door was open and I could hear my mother berating the nanny for not keeping a close enough eye on me. Not too long after I heard the front door close, I could hear my mother's footsteps coming up the staircase. The footsteps ended at my door and I could see her through the darkness. She looked weary and she was still wearing her nurse uniform. She sighed before she turned and left towards her room.
I turned onto my side, ready to go back to sleep, when a boy appeared near my head. My first reaction wasn't to scream. It probably should have been, now that I think about it. The boy rested his hand on my cheek and leaned down to my forehead where the cloth had been only moments before and placed a soft kiss before whispering, “Sleep, sweet girl.”

That's all I have ever been able to remember of that day. The following morning was ordinary, just as the next few days afterwards. A week after that day was when Ash began to appear again.

My mother had left early in the morning and I had woken up soon after that to the smell of the pancakes my nanny was failing at making. After I had gone to the bathroom, I stood at the sink and washed my hands before grabbing my tooth brush and the tooth paste. Glancing up into the mirror, my jaw dropped. Behind me stood an older boy with shaggy brown hair, green eyes, and the palest skin I had ever seen in my short life. He wore a navy blue shirt and blue jeans, but what caught my eye was the dragon pendant that rested over his heart. It was the one I was currently wearing.

The boy offered me a gentle smile before patting my head and disappearing. I stood in the mirror for quite a while before brushing my teeth and making my way down the stairs. My nanny had just finished burning the pancakes and offered me some as soon as she spotted me. I didn't have it in me to break the old, plump woman's fragile heart so I nodded my head. Moments after I was sure she wasn't going to return to the kitchen, I dumped my plate in the trash and left out of the back door.

As I walked closer to the old tree by the lake, I could make out the boy sitting on the swing. He was swaying back and forward slowly. His eyes traveled up to mine and he flashed me a small smile before standing and turning to walk away. Being the curious girl I was, I ran after him and reached out to grab his shirt. I wasn’t surprised when I found he was solid. Considering the fact that he spontaneously disappears and reappears in front of me, I should have been very scared and surprised. I was a very accepting child. Maybe that made me crazy afterall?

He turned to face me as he grabbed my hand. His hand was soft and warm, something I didn't expect. I allowed him to lead me to the edge of the lake where he promptly sat, dragging me down with him. It was quiet for a while before I asked what had been bothering me the whole time.

"Who are you?" I asked.

"I'm—"

"Mae! Stop writing in your journal and get ready to go!"

I was startled out of my writing by Ash loudly whining in my ear. I swear if anyone else was able to hear him, I would have gotten into serious trouble.

"I am ready to go, Ash. Mom isn't here yet," I whispered back to him.

I turned around to see Ash lying on the hospital bed that had been mine for nearly six years. Today I was going home. After six years, I finally realized lying was the only way to get out of this hell hole. Every psychiatrist who saw me got the same answer, "He's gone." They were dumb enough to believe me.

"Mae Lynn Castro,” a woman called out to me as she came into my room, “your mother has arrived.”

Ash jumped up just as fast as I had. We were going home and neither of us could find the right words to express just how happy we were. I grabbed my two bags and journal before following the woman. Ash, the lucky bastard, kept up with the pace effortlessly.

We were led through the corridors I had known for so long. The red lettered word 'exit' immediately caught my attention. Out of the corner of my eye I could see Ash's eyes light up as well.

"Well it was a pleasure having you, Mae Lynn. Good luck!" The woman said in a peppy voice.

The door was opened before me and the woman I saw standing on the other side looked older and worn, more so than the last time she had visited, but I'd know those brown eyes anywhere.

"Mom!" I all but screamed as I ran into the arms of the woman I hadn't seen in weeks.

"Oh my little Mae flower! I've missed you!" my mother sobbed into my shoulder.

Out of the corner of my eye I could see Ash with a gentle smile on his face. I knew he was happy for me. I just wish I could've been able to give him this kind of happiness, too.