krydwen

Where mystery meets romance...

—Excerpt—
We lay next to each other, both of us not saying a thing, but I feel comfortable. I don’t have the impulse to have to talk to him to avoid an awkward silence because it has never been awkward with Ash, I realise. 

“You asleep?” he whispers to me. 

“Nope,” I reply quietly. “It’s weird because my body is so tired but I can’t seem to shut my brain off.” 

“Me neither,” he says. I hear the crackling of the fresh sheet under us move and realise Ash has turned to face me.  

“Uhm, what?” I ask dubiously. 

“Nothing, I’m just trying to find a comfortable position.” 

“Okay,” I say as I stare at him in the dim glow of the candles. 

Ash stares back at me, his hand lifts to push away a strand of hair that has fallen into my eyes, then he closes his eyes. He is asleep in the next moment, with his hand frozen on my cheek. 

Usually, with anyone else, I would push his hand away because it feels wrong and uncomfortable. But his caress felt good against the slight burn on my skin. And as he rests his hand on my cheek, I can’t help but think about how no one has ever held me close to them and makes me feel this way. Even though Ash and I are far from holding each other close, just a touch of his hand comforts me in ways that others’ hugs have tried and failed. 

Without much thinking, I push Ash’s fallen hair out of his eyes and rest my hand against his cheek. In the next moment, as my eyes start to droop, I feel a pull of his cheek against my palm and realise he is smiling. 

——————————————————————————————————————————

When an apartment building is plagued by a strange substance in its water, its residents uncover a foreboding mystery that will perish them all. With a deadly fog that blocks their escape, they must now forget their differences and work together to overcome the horrifying events that ultimately threaten their survival.

Black In the Water

"I'm sorry for what I did, I admit it WAS stupid. But I swear that boy was alive, I really did think he was looking up at me. I guess now I know he was looking at nothing at all," I say to Ash after a moment of tense silence.

"Apology accepted. Just don't do anything like that again, you scared me half to death when I found you unconscious out there," Ash says, shaking his head slowly like the memory is too much to revisit.

Before I had time to answer, one of the assigned 'nurses' comes up to our little group. In her hand, a handful of granolas and an ancient oil lamp. "You guys hungry? This is the only thing we have left in the storage room downstairs."

"Storage? I didn't even know we have storage," Karlie says.

"Yup, one of the guys looking for medical supplies found it in a locked door in the basement, they had to knock it down. It's where we found these cute aesthetic oil light thingies. Isn't this so adorable and antique-looking?"

Apartment 21. Aiden Jenkins. New Doctor