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 turned back to Tamara just as she bit into her veggie burrito. "You ever think about what we're doing on this Earth?"

Tamara zoomed in on me, her cheeks puffing as she chewed the food in her mouth. When she realized that I wasn't joking, she glanced away and swallowed. "Actually, yeah. Of course, I've questioned our existence. I think it's a normal thing to do, it shows that we're not just accepting this experimentation called life, and somehow that means we are meant for greater things, that it's more than just all of this—" She gestured to the cafeteria around us. "And that thought soothes me."

This was one of the very many reasons why I knew Tamara and I were going to get along when I first met her. She wasn't just your typical friend who agrees with you to avoid an argument; she agrees because she knows how much you needed the assurance. "You're a great friend, Tam," I said, hugging her.

Olivia Holton. The Happy and the Miserable