Chapter 2-1

I started to feel a sharp pain on both sides of my face and for some strange reason, my neck was hurting. Finally, after a small moment, I opened my eyes a crack and saw that it was Joy smacking my face side to side hard. She smacked my face and I felt my neck pop, it felt great.

"Ashen, wake the fuck up!" She yelled out as I closed my eyes again.

"OW!" She started to pull on my bear-like ears hard. "Please stop it! I give in! I am up! I'm up!"

I raised my hands in defeat as she let go. She continued to cuss me out, under her breath. I pouted at her as I sat up while rubbing my sore ears. There are some days that I hate my sensitive ears and this was one of them.

"That really hurt and it felt like you almost ripped them off. How would you feel if I pulled on your ears?"

"Next time, get up when I tell you to."

"Aye, aye, Captain!" I pretended to salute her. "You know, with your violent hands you could be a massage master."

She slapped me again then I noticed that Bram's chair was empty.

"Hey, where's Bram?"

"He went over to his house; he said that he almost forgot something really important there and that he wanted to get it before we leave."

I got up and then tripped on her luggage. She was laughing while helping me back up.

"I better get all my stuff down, and change out of my pajamas."

"Go right ahead, your mom made me a large stack of pancakes, so take as long as you want. I don't care; maybe if you take a really long time, I could get a lot more food."

I walked to my room as she went towards the kitchen. I looked around at the small room that I knew for almost all of my life. I still could not believe that I finally have a chance to see beyond this village. I saw the beautiful drawing, on the wall, of a polar bear that Joy made for me shortly after we met. She had me pose in my bear form for three hours so she could get it right. Next to my pillow was the glowing crystal Bram made for me when we were 10 after I told him that I was afraid of the dark. I kept it next to me when I sleep even after I got over the fear. I opened up my bag and quickly put it in for memory sakes. I started to let my thoughts flow as I walked over to my dresser to change.

'I hope people like me at school, I hope to work hard in class,' I thought as I opened the drawer, 'but what if everyone hates me or someone tries to kill me? What will happen if someone important to me gets hurt for protecting me? Why must I be so different from everyone else?'

Right as I reached to grab a change of clothes, I could feel that dreaded feeling. The feeling of emptiness that tries to claw out and swallow me whole. I slid down to the edge of my dresser and started to cry. I felt like I was falling down a dark, deep hole that I was endlessly falling into with no escape. I did not realize I was starting to dig into myself until someone grabbed my wrists.

"Ash! What are you doing?!"

I jolted when I looked up at Bram with his blood-red eyes. I could feel the pressure in the wrists but he was holding them in a way that did not hurt me. It felt like he was trying to stop the bleeding. My hands were close to his face from when I jumped up in surprise.

"I-I, um, don't know! I am sorry! Please don't kill me!" I said to him fast while trying to pull away from him.

"Stop, don't move anymore or you might make it worse. Just tell me where you hide the bandages at."

"Over in the drawer next to my head."