Recovering Ashley

Chapter three.

Ashley...

I put my hand in his and he pulls me off the bed, I stumble a little but he steadies me, mumbling 'sorry'.

He pulls me to the door and opens it, looking both ways. He looks back at me with a smile. "All clear." He says, pulling me behind him and out of the room.

He starts walking quickly, but I'm shorter than him so I have to semi jog behind him to even keep up. He gets to the end of the hallway and looks for more people, when he doesn't see anyone, he bolts towards the stair case.

When we get past the door, I stop and stare at the flights of stairs that have to go up. That's a lot of stairs.

Isaac lets go of my hand and takes a few of the steps up. He turns around and looks at me. "We have to climb to the top, and then you'll be able to see the sun." He smiles.

"Okay..." I say, trailing off.

I put my foot on the first step, and grab onto the railing. I frown at the ground.

Isaac...

"Isaac." I whisper.

I suddenly hear it. I see it in my mind.

I'm thirteen again. It's faint, but Isaac's there and we're on a flight of stairs.

But as quick as it came, it's gone.

A memory...

"I... I hate stairs." I say looking up at him.

He's smiling down at me. "I know you do, sunshine." He says quietly.

"Was that your plan?" I ask, taking another step.

"I didn't know if it would work. But, also the elevators are too exposed to other people, who might see you." He shrugs.

I nod my head and start walking up to meet him. Soon, we've walked up all the flights of stairs and both of us are breathing really hard.

I lean my head against the wall while we catch our breath. When he stands straighter, I do the same.

"You ready?" He asks.

I nod my head, eager to get outside. "Yes, very much so."

He smiles at me and pushes the door open.

At first it's bright and blinding. It hurts.  I blink rapidly, wiping away the water that gathered in my eyes.

After a moment, my eyes finally adjusted and we walked out onto the roof. It's huge up here. There's a ton of open space.

"Don't look directly at it. I'm not sure if you don't remember the sun or not, but yeah. Don't look at it." He says.

"Okay."

We walk around to where the sun is starting to set and I look at the sky around it. The beautiful orange color in the sky, there's also yellow and pink is in the mix.

"It's beautiful." I whisper.

"Yes. It is." He says, quietly.

I don't look at him though, I keep looking at the sky. I've missed this for four years? I've spent the past four years of my life, stuck in a coma and I've missed four years of my life.

I turn and look at Isaac, who is standing and staring out at whatever he can get his eyes on. "The sunset isn't it. And if this isn't it, then the sunrise won't be it. I'll just have to keep trying to figure it out." I say.

He looks at me and smiles. "And I'll be there every step of the way."

"I just realized a moment ago, I have lost four years of my life." I look at him hard. "I don't want to lose any more." I say.

He takes a step towards me, putting his hands on my shoulders. "As long as I am here, you won't lose another second."

I give him a small smile. "I was hesitant at first... scared as well. To do this," I look back at the sunset, taking a deep breath. "Because in the back of my mind, there's the fear that it will all be for nothing."

I glance at him and see he's looking back out, frowning. "Yeah. I have that fear, too." He says so quietly.

I quickly look away. Why does he care about me so much? What did we have? Most importantly, what does he want now?

I frown myself, what if I can't give him what he wants. I voice it.

"What if I can't give you what you want?" I ask, looking at him, he looks at me, confused. "I don't know how to give you anything."

He turns his body towards me. "This is all I need though. You're awake. I'm standing here with you, after I thought I would never get to again. You don't have to give me anything more than you being awake." He says.

I sigh. "I guess I just need to have a more positive outlook on this whole thing, shouldn't I?" I ask.

"Yes. Through the entirety of however long this takes." He says.

"I can try."

"That's all I need."

We leave soon after and head back down to my room. We sneak back in and no one was wondering where I had gone, so it was a successful trip.

He closes the door and stays close to it, I walk closer to my bed. I turn around and look at him.

"What's planned for tomorrow? Another outside trip?" I ask.

He smiles down at the ground and looks back up at me. "It's a surprise, sunshine. But, I don't think another outside trip would be a good idea so close to the other one." He says.

I nod my head, not knowing what to say now.

He notices.

"Well, I think it's time for me to go. I had fun with you." He says quietly, giving me a small smile.

I give him one back, nodding my head a little. "I had fun with you, too."

He takes a step towards me but stops, taking it back. He sends me a small wave instead. "Bye."

And he walks out of the room. "Bye..." I whisper.

Left alone with my overwhelming thoughts.

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