Ashes, Ashes (READ THIS ONE)

Chapter Three

Chapter Three

Guess you really did it this time. Left yourself in your warpath. Lost your balance on a tightrope. Lost your mind trying to get it back.

-Taylor Swift, ‘Innocent’

I startle, waking up in another bright room. Instead of being in a hospital room, I'm alone in my room. My room isn't very colorful, pale and dark grays and whites. I find Addison on a white wicker chair in the corner of my room. "You're finally awake," she says, standing up and walking toward me.

"How'd I get here?" I ask her, pulling myself off the bed.

"You said you were going to go to sleep after we came home. You've been asleep for a few hours."

"So I was awake until we came home?" Why don't I remember being awake?

"No," she says, dragging out the word.

Something catches my attention at the bottom of my window. I run to the window; it looks like the girl that was in the hospital and my vision. "Did you see that?" I ask her as I look out the window. Nothing. "See what?" she asks me. She walks toward me to join me at the window.

Then the girl comes back, but not for long.

"Did you see her that time?"

"That blond girl that disappeared?"

"You saw her, too?" I say, my relief clear in my voice. I've never been happier for someone to see something as crazy as a girl disappearing. "What the hell was that?"

"I don't know,"

"There she is again!" Addison exclaims. She races down the stairs, leaving me still staring out the window.

She bounds down the stairs, the wooden stairs creaking. After a few seconds, I start to follow her.

Once outside in our large backyard, we look around for the girl. I catch her at the middle of our driveway. “Look! There she is!” I say, pointing at her. Then my feet go out from beneath me and everything goes black.

I’m in the same place as earlier today. I hear a rustling in a large, almost dead looking bush beside me. I try to find the source of the rustling and then I spot her. “Eliza!” I hear in a terrible sing-song type of voice.

“Quit playing hide and seek! You know we’re going to find you. It would be better for you to come out without putting up a fight.” Whoever was talking drops the sing-song voice. His natural voice is deep and booming. I imagine the owner of this voice is large and muscly.

I wonder if Eliza is her name. Eliza –if that’s her name- crawls deeper into the bush, trying to make herself small. “Hey,” I whisper toward her. She glances around for a few seconds, probably looking if it’s safe to come out. I have a horrible feeling it’ll never be safe for her. I know how this thing ends, and it’s not good for her.