Daylight Savings. [Private 1x1]

No matter what house belonged to whom, it was always a new form of territory to Nate, and no matter how many times he had entered someone else’s house, an uncomfortable set of butterflies would flutter around in his stomach. But this house would be different from the rest because one of the residents was still living here this time.


Doesn’t mean that this place has no story to tell.


When Ashlyn opened the door, Nate stared inside before following, taking in what he saw like a cautious animal that was testing the waters. He waited to see if this was all a crazy illusion, or the resulting damage from hitting his head. The air about the place, it felt strange…almost alien to him. Two years ago the home could’ve been his best friend’s house, but at present it was a surprise to his senses.


Taking a step inside, he went by what Ashlyn told him to do and locked the door behind him. Double-checked the lock to make sure it stayed that way.


His eyes moved back and forth between the rooms in the widely-spaced open floor plan, barely able to believe what he was seeing before him. The mentality Nate took hold of seemed akin to that of a deprived child, one who hadn’t seen something so well put together in quite some time. A rare sight the place was indeed.


Finding himself moving about the room in a stupor of some sort, he found himself stopping by a wooden shelf painted black on the wall he was walking by. A few pictures of what looked like a younger Ashlyn sat above him, the frames untouched by dust and age. Smiles seemed to take hold in every photo, smiles that reminded him of the one he’d gotten to know so well. Seeing this caused a smile to spread across his own lips.


It wasn’t the first time he’d seen family photos lined up like this, but seeing these in particular and knowing that the person in them was still quite alive, helped draw him into the story of better times.


For some reason he moved his eyes down to his feet and realized that his dirty, torn up, bloodied sneakers remained on his feet and felt a pang of guilt, as if he was defiling such a beautiful, untouched place with his filth. Immediately he kicked said shoes off to the side of the wall and continued on his merry way into the kitchen where Ashlyn bustled about.


Watching her as she place the pot on the stove and ignited the flame, Nate turned around and moved over to the boarded up window the kitchen once possessed. At one time, he imagined that said window gave out a good view of the house in front of hers. He felt inclined to ask Ashlyn if she knew the neighbors across the street from her but quickly realized how stupid a question that was.


A smirk rose to his lips at her comment about the house. “Yeah, it’s really nice.” His voice came off a bit absentminded as he continued to stare around at his surroundings, figuring that it would take him a good while before he got used to being here. “Nice” definitely wasn’t the appropriate word to describe the ground he was standing on.


Curiosity getting the better of him, Nate moved away from the kitchen and towards the living room, taking in the pictures on the wall that gave a black and white centered home splashes of color. Being in her house made him forget about what was going on outside in the world almost completely, like a ghost of the life he once knew well. He now fully understood why Ashlyn reacted the way to the outside, because inside her home it actually felt safe.


Out of the corner of his eye Nate saw his reflection in a small mirror on the wall, and when he turned to look at it he nearly jumped out of his skin. Dirt and grime were slapped over his features like a mask, his hair a giant shag ball that had grown an inch longer since the last time he viewed himself, and his face in desperate need of a shave. The only decent thing about his appearance was the dirt had given his blue eyes a more striking effect. A miniscule plus that did not outweigh the minuses in the slightest.


“Uh…I think I can cope with cold water, that’s fine.” Nate ripped his eyes away from his reflection and looked over at Ashlyn, the displeased and disgusted expression on his face very apparent.
 
Everything was okay. Nate was here, she was home, they had supplies to last them at least two days and things would work out. Repeating the statement in her head only made it feel more real. Moving to an angle where she was able to see Nate she gave a small smile, he was looking at her old pictures. Usually she would've thrown out some sort of smart-ass remark but she couldn't, he seemed uncomfortable in a sense.


Who wouldn't be?


Granted, the surroundings might be familiar to her. But to him? Well this must have been just another building. No story, just materials. Watching him move about, she giggled to herself quietly, she imagined before the outbreak that he might have been a bit awkward. Not that it bothered her but seeing him in surroundings that were fairly normal spoke of who he might have been before everything went to hell. Interesting didn't begin to cover the feeling Ashlyn had about seeing his movements, facial expressions, and body language.


Hearing his statement she picked up on the fact that his mind was elsewhere, so she moved towards the staircase. It was rather large and covered up the small hallway enterance that lay behind it. For a split second she fell out of sight and then returned with an armful of supplies. A few small wash-towels, a bottle of bodywash, and shampoo. Walking back over to the table where the water was heating up, she shrugged, "Okay, if that's what you want." Placing the small towels next to the stove and turning it off.


Turning back towards Nate she now saw why he was in such a rush. The small mirror that lay on the wall had caught his attention. At first she tried to keep her laugh quiet, "Worried about your apperance?"


An amused grin lit up Ashlyn's face, it was funny to think that he had forgotten he had a relfection but then again, it wasn't the most important thing in today's world. It was understandable to say the least. Closing the gap between them she looked up at him, "Why don't we go up to my Dad's room and find you some clothes?"


Ashlyn immediately regretted the offer, she hadn't opened her father's door in... months? Keeping the smile plastered on her face she forced the childish feelings away, he needed new clothes. Plus it was the only house that was safe enough to go through without worrying about the infected. Forcing the discomfort away she turned on her heel and headed towards the staircase.


The stairs, like the rest of the house, were black and white. The stairs were a shiny black and the railings along it were white. Laying her hand on the familiar white wood that she used to climb multiple times a day, she smiled. Walking up them slowly, the pain of her ankle returned fairly quickly. Trying to keep her limp minimal she thanked that her back was to Nate, allowig her to grimace in pain.


Attempting to keep her mind off the pain she decided to take a stab at conversation.


"You know the pictures you were looking at on the shelf? That's my dad in all of them. He was crazy about taking pictures, it was irritating. I swear he had enough pictures of me to last him years." Pausing for a moment, she felt her sprits beginning to drop, but she continued on anyways. "The newest picture on the shelf is 2 and a half years old. A month before the outbreak hit the news. We were in florida. That's why my hair is that ungodly bright orange." Swallowing away the feelings in her throat she stopped once she got to the top of the stairs, "Maybe later I can show you some other pictures. We have a lot from traveling and stuff."


Turning around she looked down at Nate, giving him a small smile. She wondered if it was easier to not have a home or to be surrounded and haunted by the memories of a past life. Asking was out of the option though, she had no desire to make him any more uncomfortable then he already was.
 
Nate found himself clicking his tongue at her remark, nodding his head in a joking disbelief as he looked over at Ashlyn. “Yeah, because the number one thing on my mind while tangoing with the infected is looking fabulous. Damn you, dirt.” Despite his sarcastic statement a chuckle came to surface.


When she told him to follow up the stairs he nodded and followed suit, thankful that she peeled him away from the filthy homeless person he viewed so distastefully in the reflection. When he reached the foot of the stairs he stopped and took one last stare-around at the ground floor. His hand was on the railing, a railing that was swiped clean of any dirt, grime or dust. Nostalgia rang true throughout his mind and whole body like electricity, something that one would feel when they remembered their favorite television show as a kid when they heard said show’s theme song. Only said feeling was much more intensified.


Uncomfortable as he was at first, a sense of calm seemed to overtake his senses. The floor he stood on felt refreshing, a safe place to rest his head from all other problems out there. And lord knows after the hell he went through these past few days, a place like this was a blessing for his sanity.


The urge to thank the girl climbing the stairs above him pushed to the front of his mind, but he decided against it until they were both properly cleaned up and relaxed.


Watching Ashlyn as she climbed the stairs, he noticed that her posture seemed slightly different most likely due to her injured ankle, which caused him to feel a tinge of sadness for his struggling friend. Her attitude however, seemed to be quite the opposite. She was happy, cheerful and more upbeat than he imagined her to be in a world like this. Actually, it surprised him that anyone could seem this happy with what the outside was. But in the desperate situation she was thrown into with such incredible odds against her, coming home must’ve meant more to her than anything else in the world. It was the silver lining, her version of a piece of heaven. As long as she could come back to this building, all would be well.


Nate wished that he felt the same. Wished that the delightful feeling of returning to a place he called home was present like Ashlyn's was. The feelings of joy and happiness…serenity, it was all there inside of his heart, but they felt disconnected and distorted, similar to headphones when the jack is pulled halfway out of the outlet. And something in his gut told him that that’s how far it would go.


As she talked on about her father and his crazy knack for photography, he noted the steady decline in Ashlyn’s voice, but he couldn’t blame her because the incident with her father happened only a few days ago. That was perfectly understandable, but was she ready to face all the memories, the scents and the sentimental baggage that lay behind the wooden door beyond them?


When he reached the top of the stairs, Nate’s eyes met with Ashlyn. His expression was pretty straight, only showing his concern when his eyebrows knitted closer together.


“Are you sure this is okay?” Such a question meant a multitude of things, and he figured that she might be puzzled by what he meant. However he waited to see what her response was.
 
Giving a smile, she attempted to relax her body language, however it's effect was minimal to say the least.


"Of course, you need new clothes and shoes. I'm just being a girl about it."


Giving a bigger smile she turned on her heel and headed down the hall way that lead to her father's room. It was dark, only illuminated by the sunlight that had found it's way through the boarded up windows. Ashlyn's stomach began to knot, every step, another nerve came alive in her torso. Surprisingly she didn't hurt though, she felt hollow. It was as if she were walking in to a strangers house, and perhaps this feeling was worse then pain. Trying to keep her thoughts straight she finally came to the black door. The silver handle carried a sharp glow, as if it dared Ashlyn to try and touch it without getting hurt.


Walking up to the door, she placed her shaking hand on the door knob, and opened it slowly. Slowly the door revealed a large room, and like the rest of the house, decorated with black and white furnishings. To the right of the room was a piano that lay against the wall, sheet music spread out around the bench, as if it had been left in a hurry. In reality, it was just Ashlyn's lack of want to clean up after herself. Her eyes moved towards her father's bed, which lay in the center of the far wall, behind it a large window which was boarded up however a few strips of light managed to find it's way through. Walking quietly and slowly she made her way towards the wall to her left, where the wall was almost entirely made of mirrors. Grabbing one of the handles that protruded from the first mirror she slid it to her right, revealing an array of clothes all hung up on racks. Going down the row she opened up the four mirrors.


"These are all of his clothes," Pointing towards the first door she had opened, "That's all of his nicer clothing so I doubt that'll do you any good, but it progressively gets less and less professional. This last closet has all of his sweatshirts, socks, and shoes." Keeping her eyes away from him, she headed towards the door, "Pick what you want. Feel free to take any of it, it won't do me any good." Despite her rather sad body language her voice sounded light, perhaps even happy. Finally she got to the door, and turned around.


"I'm going to go and get some water for myself and clean up, I'll be in the bath room behind the stair case, just shout if you need me. Oh and the first aid kit is sitting on my desk in my room if you need it."


Giving a smile she turned and headed towards her room. Down the hall her white door stood out among the shadows and darkness. Opening it quickly, she headed towards her closet. Her room was identical to her father's, piano and all. However opposite of her bed, right next to her door, was a desk. Spread across it were multiple maps, newspapers, books, and partially filled out piano scores. Dragging her hand softly against the papers she began to feel better, her familiar surroundings putting her mind at ease. Above her desk was a shelf, where multiple trophies and ribbons sat. Looking up at them she absorbed the familiar sight and finally let the weight that was holding her spirits down go.


Finally regaining her thoughts she moved towards the closet and began to rummage through it. She decided on a pair of black jeans, a grey University of Washington sweatshirt with purple lettering, and purple socks. Moving towards her desk, she reached underneath it and withdrew an un-opened first aid kit and lay in on top of the clutter of her desk.


Exiting the room she headed towards the stair case where she moved down the slowly, due to her ankle. Finally she got down towards the opening between the living room and the kitchen and smiled. The familiar scene was a blessing that many couldn't say they had, being at home was something that Ashlyn would never take for granted again.


Going through the same steps she had to get Nate's pot of water, she returned inside and locked the door behind her. Staring at the lock, to make sure it stayed lock, she turned on her heel and propped the pot of water between her left hand and her hip. Grabbing her clothes with the other hand she disappeared to the hallway that lay behind the staircase. Pushing the swing-door open with her hip, she entered and was greeted by warm sunlight.


The window that allowed for such a sight was to high for Ashlyn and her father to reach and board up, so they left it. It was on the highest point of the house, so the chances of the infected getting in were slim to none. Dropping her clothes down and then setting the pot down, she disappeared in to the bathroom to the left of her. Returning with soap and shampoo she went to work stripping off her dirty and bloodied clothes.


As she cleaned herself up, she finally got to her leg, grimacing at the sight of the scratch she cleaned it brutally. The skin was red and the wound threatened to start bleeding again, tearing her eyes away from it, she grabbed the bandage she had gotten from her room and placed it over the cut.


Getting dressed she inhaled the familiar scent of her strawberry shampoo, it was strange how such little pleasures could be the things to keep you sane in today's world. Sliding her sweatshirt over her black tank top, she pulled her newly washed hair out from the confines of the grey material. Entering the bathroom again she came out with her hair wrapped in a towel. With that she began to clean up the mess she had made and tried to think of how to dispose of her ragged, dirty, and bloody clothing.
 
Knowing that he should've said something along the lines of a thank you, he remained silent as Ashlyn left the room, went over to the last door she spoke about and slid it to the right. Though his closet wasn’t filled to the brim with various clothing fabrics, some of the clothes her father owned made Nate question what sort of profession her father had before the apocalypse.


Pulling out a faded, darker grey t-shirt and a pair of black jeans, he plopped said items on her father’s bed with the intention of going back for more. However, a certain picture of a man and a little girl caught him from the corner of his eye. It was hanging on the wall to his left and like a magnet, the black and white contrast styled photo drew him in. The man in the photo had a young Ashlyn propped up on his shoulder, and in the background was tall grass and a small swimming pool for toddlers. Both had swimsuits on, making Nate assume that this photo was taken on a warm summer’s day. Smiles were etched into both of their faces like a brilliant piece of artwork.


Seeing this caused Nate to not understand. Why would a man, who from what he could tell loved his daughter more than the world itself, simply take off and leave said daughter for dead? Something wasn’t connecting, like trying furiously to fit puzzle pieces in the wrong place. Obviously, something must’ve transpired for such a dramatic turnaround in their relationship to happen. What that was exactly, Nate wasn’t sure of.


But it sure as hell irked him. And as far as he was concerned, the man he saw in the photo was a lie. No, maybe not a lie, because in the state of things, when the world changed so did people. The people he would view in photos were either dead or completely different from how they used to be. That’s why he gravitated to Ashlyn, because through the crisis she still seemed to retain the attitude of a girl who just came home from school. But even with that, she seemed to struggle with it. Would she continue to retain such an attitude, amidst all the chaos that she had only just begun to see?


Thinking deeply about all of this made him wonder how much he had changed himself. He remembered not having a care in the world about certain things, but he never took what he had for granted, either. A trait that he was more than thankful for carried over and helped him survive more times than he could count.


Different, nostalgic feelings arose and Nate caught himself biting the inside of his lip. Deciding not to ponder on any of this anymore, he moved back over to Ashlyn’s father’s closet and pulled out a random sweat shirt. Not to wear right away, but just in case he got cold later. Laying the item somewhat neatly on the bed, he grabbed the two items he needed before and shut the door to the room, making sure to lock it.


Stripping off all the filthy clothing made him feel somewhat cleaner already. Hopping into the clean, untouched jeans, he stopped before grabbing the t-shirt and decided that he would put it on after he washed himself. Taking the material with, he left the room and went back downstairs to the pot in the kitchen. Hearing Ashlyn in the bathroom down the hallway brought a slight smile to his lips as he stared at his reflection in the pot water.


Seeing the outside door from the corner of his eye made a sudden light bulb go off in his head. Knowing that there might’ve been another bathroom in the house somewhere, Nate really didn’t feel like searching around to find out when the answer was right in front of him, so he grabbed the pot with both hands and carried it to the door. Resting the pot on his thigh for a second as he opened the back door, he placed it on the ground, went back inside to grab the cleaning materials he required, then used his foot to shut the door behind him.


Untying the bandana from his injured hand so it wouldn't get wet, with no hesitation he took both hands and splashed the water in his face. Like hell was he going to wait for his turn in the bathroom. The coldness was a small shock that he really didn’t register and went off scrubbing at his face, hair and anywhere else he could manage to clean. He threw the shampoo and soap into the mix as well, stripped his blackened socks off his feet and cleaned them too, ran his fingers vigorously through his hair-


“Ouch!” The sharp pain had reminded him of the night before as he accidentally ran his hand too roughly across the tender area on his head. Being more careful with the cleaning, Nate rinsed the shampoo and soap off himself completely. The morning sun assisted him in drying off as he slipped the t-shirt on over himself, and he shook the soggy wet hair out of his eyes as they made their way from one end of the yard to the other. His eyes caught the area where the summer photo on the wall was taken, which spoke volumes to him on how different things were from then to now.


Back then, everything was normal and for the most part, sane. Safe. The news would announce things that wouldn't mean a thing to regular people, but when they began to talk of strange incidents about people getting bit, expanded to a virus that Nate had forgotten the name of...that's when the ball began to roll. Doctors, scientists...they all said they had the cure to the virus. That they could contain it, and the foolish people believed the lies they were fed, or some flat-out didn't care because their ignorance led them to believe the virus was something miniscule, like a new form of the flu.


Until it came to their towns in waves, and when it finally hit his, devastation could not even begin to describe what he saw that day.


Things that he thought he'd forgotten about were surfacing more than they ever did before, and all he did was step into a clean house. Things that he thought he'd left underneath the rug, left behind him and he knew what was bringing it out. The prospect of clean clothes, water, food, a bed to sleep in...all qualities of a perfect home life. Something akin to a long-lost friend, and lord knows that he had quite a few of those too. But the question that stuck in the back of his mind, forcing it's way forward was whether or not staying in this place was good for him. After all this time of ignoring the ghosts, could he handle fighting them back into their shadowy domains? Was it worth it?
 
Tossing her old clothes in to the trashcan in the bathroom, she headed back out towards the swing door. Earlier she had heard the back door open and shut, signaling to her that Nate was outside. Daylight had made it's way through multiple cracks in the boarded up windows, and it cast a glow to things that once seemed dead. Feelings of happiness and joy danced in Ashlyn's stomach and the fact Nate was here, only made it better.


Leaving him to think of finish grooming himself she turned towards the kitchen. Looking through the cabinets, she started to realize why she had left in the first place. Granted they weren't completely empty however they were a sad sight to say the least. Settling fro a granola bar, she quickly grabbed for the box, hoping that some still lay inside. When she pulled the box back, a photo fell to the ground. At first Ashlyn's heart froze but shortly after she realized it was simply glossy paper with an image imprinted on it.


Picking up the photo was probably the worst idea she had, had in a while. Immediately she knew what it was, the tattered edges and scribbled ink on that back were to familiar. Carefully she bent down and retrieved the small rectangle and flipped it over.


In the frame was a young girl, her hair done up and a tiara placed at the front of the crown of hair. Her make up was done in bronze and multiple others earthy tones, and placed on her ears were diamonds studs. The small set of rose colored lips were curled in to a curve of happiness and her eyes glittered with anticipation. The dress hung from one shoulder, and draped down the fairly short frame of the girl in a wave of champagne colored material. It was shiny, and the sweetheart top was decorated in a fine lace. Pulling her eyes away from the details she saw it was herself. All fancy for a night out... but what was it that she was dressed up for? What pointless, high school, human event had she gone out of her way for to dress so nicely?


Homecoming, 3 years ago.


The sight of such a normal teenager was no longer part of Ashlyn. She had killed that part of herself off so long ago, that she had almost completely buried it within the depths of her mind. Everything she had loved was no longer essential to who she was, despite what she wanted to tell herself. In a world where survival was on the line, socializing fell to the bottom of that list. Instead of tears, a strange coldness set in about her veins, leaving her shivering. Shaking her head she finished her granola bar quickly, she left the picture face down on the island and wandered towards the living room. Being alone wasn't doing her any good, so she might as well go seek out the only company she would have for a while.


No matter how much she told herself things were going to be like that again, someday, she always dashed her own hopes. The logical part of her mind steered away from making up petty fantasies of what the world could be and focused on survival. Any friends, boyfriends, acquaintances, had all died with the rest of the world in the apocalypse. That was that, and there was no reason to give up such firm reasoning now. Pressing her ear up to the back door, she heard no sounds, but still knocked three times. "Hey princess, are you decent enough for me to come and join you?"


Despite the joking tone in her voice, the pain of the memory was not completely gone from her voice. Hoping she had hid it well enough, she swallowed, and pushed away any other feelings she had about the pointless photo. Because it was exactly that, pointless. Nate had dealt with her insane knot of emotions for long enough, maybe he needed someone to vent too? Or maybe she just felt guilty for forcing him to carry her emotional burden for so long.


Turning away from the door for a minute, she reached for the living room table, which had a small plate decorated with various hair accessories. Grabbing a plain black band, she quickly pulled her chaotic knot of orange hair in to a messy bun. Pushing her bangs out of her face, she focused on her own movements, letting the dark thoughts settle back in to the places they had come from. Maybe things weren't as great as they had been, but they sure as hell were getting better. Finally she had stumbled across some shred of humanity and more importantly a shred of humanity that she enjoyed being around.
 
Letting the sun soak up all the moisture in his heavy hair down to the roots, Nate blinked the light out of his eyes a few times before closing them, allowing the minimal breeze to take him somewhere else. He enjoyed doing this whenever he was puzzled with something, like his feelings, even if they didn’t disappear completely.


But this time it didn’t seem like his method wanted to work. The outside morning reminded him of early Saturday mornings when he would hang around with his friends from high school. Said hang outs became more frequent in his senior year, but one time in particular came to surface and surpassed the others. It was a weekend evening when he snuck out of his house through his bedroom window to join his friends for a wild night on the town. He couldn’t recall said night very well because of how drunk they all were, but he did remember sneaking back inside through the back door before the sun fully rose. Almost got caught too, due to the amount of stumbling around he did while he attempted to make it to his bedroom.


That was one of the last few times he’d hung out with his friends, and that was the first and last time he‘d experienced the taste of alcohol as well. The cons of it definitely outweighed the pros - he couldn‘t even begin to describe the hangover - even if it was fun. Helped him to forget about his mother lying in the hospital bed, even if it was immature of him at the time. It was something he came to regret later on, however.


Then the virus hit his town shortly after that, and he never saw any sign of his friends again. Did they leave town together? Were they separated but still made it to safety? Or did they fall to their knees at the massive wall of infected only to become the very thing that everyone feared?


Forcing the memory away as it started to become vivid, he lifted up his knee with a groan and rested his head there firmly as he mentally reprimanded himself.


Why are you thinking about this it happened so long ago why when you left it behind you there’s no point in bringing it back it’s all dead shut up and let it go-


Hearing the sound of Ashlyn’s voice made him snap his head up. Taking a moment to check if any remainder of dirt residue was on his face in his watery reflection, he got up off the ground and sluggishly made his way to the door. Opening it, he caught his friend tying her hair up across the room from him, and immediately a smart-ass remark came out of his mouth before he could stop himself.


“Well what do you know? You don’t actually look too bad underneath all the dirt.” A teasing smile spread from ear to ear as he leaned against the door frame, his body blocking most of the early sunlight from coming in the doorway. The lightly felt warmth was like a subtle reminder of the dark places his mind whisked him away to, and he desperately tried to toss it all in the back seat of his thoughts in order to continue pursuing remotely decent conversation.


But it didn’t matter how often he’d repeat it to himself. Nothing would come of it or alter anything, telling himself to shut up was akin to making conversation with a brick. It made him wonder if he ever truly let it all go, or if his mind simply found a clever way to cope with it all. Did anyone ever truly let their old life go? He figured that Ashlyn was fighting something similar, even while he was looking right at her and saw no signs of an internal struggle. But for the sake of not only Ashlyn, but for his own sanity, Nate knew he needed to get a grip on himself and enjoy where he was while they were still there, instead of allowing memories to cast a dark shadow over the wonderful change of pace.
 
"Well lucky for you, I couldn't find my make-up bag. If that was the case I'd knock you speechless, smart ass."


The smile fell in place on her facial features, and she let her hands drop giving up on the knot of hair that was trying to desperately fall free. Walking up to him and pushing a single index finger in the center of his chest, she looked up, "You're not half bad looking yourself."


She paused and tilted her head in an over-dramatic thinking motion.


"You might even be cute, but I'm afraid your personality kind of overrides that feeling." Letting a soft laugh slip from her mouth she backed up a step and put all of her weight on her healthy leg, her ankle had turned in to a dull pain, and keeping weight off of it made it seem like it wasn't even there.


Looking around as if to encompass the house, she started to speak again, this time her voice much softer.


"You know, I always wondered what it would be like if I moved out. I was an incoming senior when everything started to happen. My dad said he would never let me go anywhere because I was his little girl," imitating her father's voice and putting the expression in hand made quotation marks she looked over to the island. "I guess this is kind of like moving out, since were on our own and stuff, but I always hoped of making a career out of my life." She chuckled, as if a joke had been said and she was the only one who could hear it.


"You know, I was determined to be a musician for most of my life. And then I decided going in to the medical field would be more realistic. So one week a couple summers ago my dad sent me off to this nurse camp. It was the most boring thing in the world, you have no idea, it was terrible." During her talk she had made her way to the black couch that lay across from the door, curling up in the corner she kept her face pointed towards the ceiling and began to talk again.


"So two nights before this camp was over, I snuck out. Not a big deal for a teenage girl. My friends had invited me to some big party. Alcohol, hot guys, the whole deal. On my way there though I was stopped by this sound, it was unlike anything I had heard in the world, Nate. One of those once in a life time things you hear about it dumb romance movies and what not."


Ashlyn finally brought her eyes down to meet Nate's, they were shiny showing that her mind was elsewhere, whisked away in the memory of a night that had happened so long ago.


"It was a piano cafe, just some little shop where people could come and play for tips or dinner, their choice. So I walked in determined to only stop by." Laughing, she shook her head no, "That was a doomed plan from the start. From 8pm til about 2am I sat and listened to all of the various people play their songs on the piano, waiting for the courage I needed to go up and play."


Her smile dimmed and she pushed her gaze back up towards the ceiling, her voice coming just above a whisper. "You know, that's the only thing I've ever truly regretted. I'm still not sure why, but I guess it's because my Dad always told me it only takes a few minutes of uncharacteristic courage to change your life."


For a moment Ashlyn sat quietly, letting the memory melt away, and reality came back in to focus. Looking over at Nate, she couldn't help but notice that the sunlight really did make him cute... well maybe more then cute. Border-line handsome, smiling inwardly she shrugged her shoulders.


"There's a little bit about my less then exciting life. What about you, princess? Anything you've ever truly regretted?"


Pushing her legs out from underneath her, she let them sprawl across the length of the couch, however her small stature only covered about three fourths of the entire thing. Flicking her eyes towards the empty spot, a grin appeared on her face, "I know you like to talk about yourself, so you might as well take a seat."
 
Raising both his hands and moving his fingers back and forth in a “Ooh, I’m offended” sort of manner while she wasn’t looking, a grin spread across his lips as he stepped out of the doorway.


When her voice softened and began to talk about more serious topics, Nate remained silent for the most part besides smiling lightly and nodding occasionally to show he was paying attention. The only exception was when Ashlyn spoke of finding a career, he found himself unable to stop the inward snort and mumbled, “Yeah, kind of tricky to find a job in this economy.”


Doubling-back to shut the back door after taking a few steps into the room, he continued to listen to Ashlyn, not really noticing that he was taking steps towards her little by little, being drawn into the story more than he thought possible.


As she wrapped up the interesting tidbit of her life, he shrugged his shoulders. “Well one thing’s for sure, your Dad was a smart man and it seems like he taught you well. I guess that explains the piano up in his room.” A chuckle left his lips, leaving a light trace of a smile there.


When she turned the tables of the conversation onto him however, his eyes moved up to the ceiling and sighed inwardly. He pondered on what the hell he was supposed to tell her, because it certainly wouldn’t be the alcohol incident with his friends. It wouldn’t have made for a very interesting story when all the good bits were blanked out from his memory, and it didn’t make the top of his regret list anyway.


“Hmm…where do I begin?” His voice had an airy, exaggerated sound to it as he moved over to the couch and practically fell back into his seat. And despite making himself sound like he was joking, there was a lot of actual truth to the sentence. Biting the inner part of his lip, there was a few moments pause before something noteworthy finally clicked.


“Well, since we’ve been stuck on the subject of fathers I might as well tell you about mine.” Readjusting himself so he sat comfortably on the soft cushion beneath him, his eyes moved up to the ceiling once more as he thought about what he wanted to say. “Unfortunately my story isn’t as enthralling as yours was, but you’ll have to make do since you demanded for it.”


His eyes met Ashlyn’s again and a smile crossed his face, but the simple movement of his facial muscles felt vastly different than before. Tense.


“My Dad…what can I say about the guy? He was brilliant. Big on fishing and everything that involved the ocean. He could tell you what kind of fish you were looking at from just a glance at it.” Moving his eyes down to his knees, a faint smile had surfaced, “We used to go to this beach every weekend. It was about two hours away from where I lived, and my Mom would always complain about wasting gasoline, but…it was the one place where my father went to clear his head. Like therapy almost, and he always took me with him…so yeah, I practically grew up with seaweed and sand in between my toes."


A chuckle left his lips at the memory. To his surprise, bringing it all back from the depths of his conscious actually felt nice, and simultaneously raised the desire for the soft, warm sand and water he used to know so well.


“But getting back on topic…despite all the things my Dad did with me as a kid, when it came high time for my parents relationship to spiral out of control, I took my mother’s side in the matter.” His smile fading, he slowly shook his head, “None of it mattered at the time because a young kid doesn’t factor in everything when he sees his parents arguing almost every night about things that he didn’t understand. What did matter was what showed on the surface, like my mother crying.”


More chuckles, but they were more airy and fake as if to break up the tension. Nate’s eyes met Ashlyn again and this time his line of sight stayed in her direction. “So they went through a divorce and yadayada. I still got to see my father every now and then, so I adjusted to it fairly quick. Until my Mom got sick…and from there I can’t recall what fired it off, but I basically blamed my father for all of it. Said these outrageous statements…I said I hated him.”


Swallowing felt a lot more rough than he was used to, but Nate intended to wrap up the drawn-out story anyway.


“So like that, that was the last time I saw him. My Dad…he took offense to certain things, he was among the sensitive type. He drove me home after our little spat on the beach, and as far as I know according to my Mom he continued to pay for child support. But that was pretty much it. My grandmother moved in shortly afterward to help us out…”


His voice drowned out for a second with a glazed over expression, knowing that if he didn’t compose himself, the newfound anger pent up inside would begin to leak into his tone. It wasn’t an anger directed at himself specifically however, but the memory in general. What he said next came with an odd, cool tone glossed over his voice.


“That’s my regret right there. I know I was just a kid, I didn’t have all the evidence laid out on the table…heard it all already. No, it was later on when I had all the time in the world to patch up the relationship with my father, but my feelings never changed. And it gets me because maybe if I did try and fix things, events would’ve played out differently. Way differently.”


Putting emphasis on the last bit of his sentence, he looked at Ashlyn again and shrugged. Somehow, his lighthearted tone returned itself to him alongside a tension-free smirk, “So did that satisfy your insatiable curiosity for two seconds?”
 
It was strange, as soon as she asked the question she immediately regretted it. Contemplating how she should take back such an intrusive question she realized that he had already placed himself on the couch and was lost in thought. Bringing her knees up to her chest she rested her head on them, trying to push the guilt away. If he didn't want to talk about it, he wouldn't however it didn't help the strange sense that she had opened a door she shouldn't have.


As soon as he started talking Ashlyn could see that the memories were playing themselves in his head, and the first bit was happy. She tried to imagine a younger Nate playing around in the sand. For some reason she couldn't conjure up an image for his father, so she left it blank, quickly she returned her attention to his words.


Suddenly Nate's facial expressions got darker, more pained then amused, and despite the smile he put on his face she could see that he was less then comfortable. Finally she deicded that she could tell him he didn't need to go any further, but he had beat her to it and continued to speak.


"You know, sometimes teenagers say things we don't mean... He might have been sensitive but I'm sure he understood it." Realizing how stereotypical and hollow her words sounded her face expression showed one of temporary panic, "I'm not saying that this wasn't a bad thing! It's just, you know..." Her words drowned in to silence and she sighed heavily, frustrated with her own ignorance.


"I'm sorry your mother got sick, I'm sure she was a lovely woman." Switching topics was the only way Ashlyn knew how to handle conversation mishaps and realizing that the subject wasn't much brighter she gave up trying to fix her words. "I guess your relationship with your dad is a lot like mine with my mom." The second sentence was a lie, beings the fact that she never knew her mother. There was a single picture of her in the house and it was locked away in her father's safe.


Realizing she still hadn't answered his question she gave a small smile, "Yes it did actually. I think the only reason that is, is because you didn't talk about yourself to much." Giving a soft laugh, her mind wandered to an earlier statement he had made about her father.


"My father was a lawyer. A really large lawyer at that. He held the largest law firm in Brooklyn. Granted, that's not saying much since finding work was easy in such a corrupted place. You know it was funny because he was a smart man, yet the people he affiliated himself with weren't the best characters."


Thinking of the many nights where people dressed in all black would appear and shortly after her father would follow them out the door, saying that he had to go to the office. When she was younger she wrote it off as part of the job but as she got older she started to clue in to the less then normal visits.


"He played piano, violin, guitar, and a little bit of trumpet. Music was his escape from everything. He wrote his own music and he taught me how to sight-read, play, and write a score. I only play piano and a little bit of violin and guitar. I've never been as good as him but he always said it was because he had more time. Despite what I knew about my father I always knew he was looking out for me. A lot of people were concerned with his 'underground' career, if that's what you want to call it, and a lot of people made rumors about him being a bad parent. I guess he wasn't that bad, but hey, what do I know right?"


Progressively as Ashlyn made her way through her small speech she realized that saying the words out loud did make her feel better, as if by having another set of ears hear the feelings and thoughts she had hidden made them real. It was painful yet strangely satisfying. Finally, she looked back over at Nate and gave a genuine smile and shrugged.


"They're parents. What can you do?"


Standing up she walked back towards the kitchen and grabbed for the box of granola bars she had before. Bringing them down, she looked down and quickly counted, there were only 4 but he was probably much hungrier then she was. As she walked back across the couch she set the granola bars on the table, "I've already had some, so please eat if you need too."


Walking to the front door she pushed on it and unlocked it, letting it sit there for a moment, she pulled up on the handle and re-locked the door. Soon she made her way over to the back door where she did the same thing. Looking through the windows she saw that it was still daylight and they had plenty of time however it was old habit for her to go through the house and double, if not triple, check everything.


"I've got another question for you, princess. Where was your favorite place to go before all hell broke loose? You don't have to answer of course but, my curiosity always gets the better of me."


Making her way back towards the couch she sat down, knees drawn up to her chest, and looked at Nate waiting for him to answer.


Cleaned up like this he was handsome. Tall, dark haired, and his eyes were such a contrast to everything. They weren't overly blue but they weren't dark either. It was a strange balance, the type of blue you might find right after a storm. Giving a small smile she realized that's how she felt, he was the calm after the storm. The irony amused her and left her in a better mood then before. Sunlight only complimented his strong features and brought out more subtle ones she hadn't noticed before.


Such as, his laid back posture, it was hard to belief anyone could seem as comfortable as he did knowing what was lurking outside. Also, his need to let his eyes wander, at first Ashlyn decided it was out of the simple necessity of knowing his enviroment. Now it seemed as if he just enjoyed letting his thoughts wander. The small traits she hadn't known before were now sitting at the front of her mind and any other time it would've bothered her but she was much to comfortable now, there wasn't a whole lot she could do to keep herself from thinking about him.
 
“It’s okay.” Nodding his head as he tried to clear away all the lasting negative feelings pent up inside of him, Nate snapped his head up when she said that her father was a lawyer.


“I knew he had some form of power. I got that from his clothes.” Taking in the knowledge that Ashlyn’s father held such a high position, he pictured the man as quite the strict parent. Did that have something to do with his sudden act of abandonment? Did Ashlyn disobey his commands, therefore creating the sudden rift?


The more he pondered on these questions, the more his itch to ask about it grew. But he held his tongue regardless, because he was a firm believer of good things come to those who wait. Even though the information he yearned for was anything but good, it still applied. And he didn’t intend to pressure his friend over something that was still fresh in her mind.


Listening as she went on about her father’s career and his capabilities, he waited until she finished before saying, “Well at least he had your back, and everything he got involved with was all for you I’m sure. From the looks of things, it seems like he succeeded in making sure that you both were well off.”


Remaining touchy on the subject of her father, he took a granola bar out of the box Ashlyn put down but rolled the plastic packaging in his hands instead of eating it. He figured if he waited this long to eat he could manage through a few more minutes of conversation. As if to lighten the air in the room a bit more, he smiled and said, “Oh, and I used to play guitar too. Sucked at it, but I played.”


Watching Ashlyn double-checking the locks on both doors reminded him of OCD, but quickly realized that wasn’t the case. In the state of the world now, it wasn’t uncommon to check the locks periodically. Paranoia wasn‘t as negative a trait as it used to be, in fact paranoia was what saved most people from the infected ones unexpected attacks. Nate realized that her father probably pounded the idea of checking all the doors twice into her head, and it was a smart thing too.


Eyeing her bright red hair dancing behind her while she still was at the back door, the question she asked him barely registered, forcing him to blink twice. “Favorite place?” Seeing no indication that she said otherwise, the warm feeling left Nate‘s face and smirked, “Enjoying putting me on the spot?”


Despite the satirical comment, he placed the granola bar to the side of him, readjusted himself into a more comfortable sitting position with his right leg resting on his left knee and sighed. “God…favorite place besides the beach?”


Putting his elbow on his right knee, he rested his chin in the palm of his hand and furrowed his eyebrows, plain as day that he was in deep thought. After a moment or two a light bulb went off and realized that Ashlyn returned to the couch with him.


“Me and my friends would sometimes go to this construction site. It was supposed to become an office building, but they ran out of money and never finished it off. It was on top of this tall hill, so it took a while to make it obviously…but it was worth it.”


Staring at Ashlyn, the expression that went with them showed a feeling of past awe. “We’d go up there just for the sunset. Honestly, best damn view of it in the entire city, but it was special to us because nobody else knew about it.”


Clearing his throat and lifting his head up, he added with a innocent and angelic gloss over his tone, “Okay I lied, we’d use the building as an obstacle course too…but I swear, nobody died or anything. My friend might’ve broken his arm once, but no deaths!”


A genuine chuckle left his lips, reliving the moment where they had to haul the idiot out of a hole in the floor and to the nearest hospital. It took a lot of convincing on their part to get said friend to keep his mouth shut, too.


Placing both hands in his lap, Nate looked over at his friend with an eyebrow raised. “Okay storyteller, your turn. Enlighten me about your favorite place in the world.” As he said this, one of his hands moved up to the ring on the chain around his neck and left his fingers to trace the outer part of the gold object.
 
"If I would have seen his clothes I would have assumed he was a pompous asshole. Then again, I guess most rich people are pompous assholes."


Letting a sarcastic grin crack through her lips she continued on to make fun of Nate some more, it seemed to be the one thing that they had in common. Playfully terrorizing one another was a pass-time that was always entertaining.


"You sucking at guitar?"


Letting her mouth form in to an over-dramatic 'O' shape and put her hand to her mouth.


"My god, I didn't think it was possible."


Dropping her hand and pressing them both against her cheeks she tilted her head and batted her eyelashes up at him, "I knew you couldn't be that perfect." Laughing at her own performance she finally returned to silence as she listened to him ponder his decision.


She listened to the tales of Nate and his friends running around and entertaining themselves as best as they could.


"Putting people on the spot gets me honest answers. I like honesty and don't act like you don't love my attention."


A soft chuckle escaped her lips and she felt silent once again, listening to the short tale of Nate and his friends running around this abandoned structure simply trying to entertain themselves.


"As an obstacle course!?"


The surprise in her voice was now real and it was obvious on her face that she disapproved of the idea of him running about a crumbling, un-finished, building. When she heard the part about his friend breaking his arm, she thought she would be upset, but instead she just laughed. Boys, they were such an interesting group of people. It felt like they went out of their way to get in to trouble.


"Well getting severely injured is a good way to make friends, I guess." Letting a smile paint itself across her face she realized that the question had been turned on her.


Tapping her left index finger on her bottom lip she stared at the space just beyond Nate, her eyes glazing over with thought.


"Well... a lot of places really. We traveled all over the world. Tokyo, Berlin, Moscow... none of it was really life-changingly great."


Letting her words drown out in to a soft whisper, she searched her thoughts for something that was close to it. Suddenly an idea formed in her head and a smile cracked her thoughtful face expression.


"Follow me."


Standing up, she let the blood rush to her legs for a moment, and headed towards the stairs. Searching her mind for what piece she would play was agonizing, something soft? Happy? Angry? A ballad or perhaps something classical? The question plagued her mind like they always did right before she played. The answer to Nate's question was simple. Her favorite place in the entire world was where she had the best memories of her father.


In front of a piano.


Moving down the hall way towards her door, she pushed on it to reveal the belongings that lay behind it. Picking up quickly and setting things on her desk, she moved towards the piano. Going down to one knee she paged through the piles of sheet music on the ground. Ashlyn had decided that a happy piece would most definitely be best and a few seconds afterwards she knew exactly what piece she wanted to play.


Looking back over her shoulder, either Nate was out of her line of sight, or perhaps he hadn't caught up with her yet. Either way she hoped that the soft sound of a piano would be a nice break from the symphony of chaos he was probably used too. Maybe she could play more, only if he liked it, however the urge to play was racing through her veins. Suddenly, her fingers movements became fluid and smooth, as they were when she played piano. The headache that had pounded in the back of her head had been replaced by a growing sense of familiarity and comfort.


Music was one thing she missed. Being able to turn the radio on in the morning and listen to the newest music was a luxury Ashlyn had never really appreciated. Piano, violin, guitar, bass, even man-made sounds blending together to make a song was something that would always bring her out of her worst moods. A piece of humanity that she was allowed to keep in the crumbling world around her.
 
Another smirk went as he said, “Yeah, I thought so too.” A grin flashed across his face, “Getting to know people through situations that would raise anyone‘s blood pressure, that’s how you find real friendship.”


This statement rang true not just for his friends in the past, but for a certain someone now Nate realized. He certainly met Ashlyn under some wild circumstances, and the thought of made him smile inwardly with an expression of pleased disbelief showing on the surface at the two different situations matching like puzzle pieces.


Doing a double-take when Ashlyn took off for the stairs, he slowly and sluggishly got himself to his feet with a look of slight bewilderment on his face.


Christ sakes, when is this girl going to pass out?


Whatever she wanted to show him had caught his interest however, and as much as his exhausted body urged him to sit, he forced his legs to quickly follow suit up the staircase. He took a glance at her father’s room at the other end of the hall before turning towards her bedroom door. When he went inside he took a glance around at the decently sized room in front of him before letting his eyes land on the upbeat red-head, sitting at the piano. She was flipping through the pages of what looked like sheet music.


“I guess since your Dad’s not here to pull a shotgun on me for entering your room, I take it that it’s safe to enter?” A smile was plastered on his face as he moved over to Ashlyn’s side by the piano. Was she going to play something? Surely he wanted to hear it, but what did a piano have to do with their previous conversation?


He almost really kicked himself once he realized what a stupid question that was. Coming to rest both of his arms on the wooden top of the piano, he laid his head softly on his arms and watched as Ashlyn seemed to have finished setting things up. The look on her face showed happiness but also a sense of concentration, an expression that reminded him of the one professional pianists would give right before they performed. Or any musician in general.


Keeping a chuckle from leaving his lips, he said with a light mocking tone, “Aw, I feel special. In fact, I’m surprised that you appreciate me enough to play music for me.”


Unable to keep the genuine smile from breaking the surface, he sighed and stared up at the ceiling, “On a serious note, you’ve got me curious to hear how well you can play. Considering all the gloating you were doing.”


Thinking that he was going to get smacked for all of his little teasing stabs, Nate decided it best to shut up and wait for her to start playing. Despite what he said, a rather odd feeling of excitement was bubbling up in the pit of his stomach. It had been so long since he’d heard actual music, aside from a malfunctioning radio he passed by around three months ago, but the tunes it played were so heavily coated over in static he associated it more with the word snow than music. Maybe her piano playing would bring his mind some peace in the new environment.


Or at least Nate hoped it would.
 
(



<-- that's the instrumental I'm thinking Ashlyn is playing! haha)
Barely able to keep her hands still she responded to all of Nate's comments with a single sentence, "Shut up and listen."


Her voice was light with anticipation and excitement, negating the harsh meanings of the first two words, and showing her child like tendencies once again. Sitting down she pulled up a piece that was printed out and slightly wrinkled, it was obvious that the piece of paper had been used many times before. Lightly placing the sheet music on it's stand above the pure white keys she smiled at it, and looked over at Nate. In the dim room her eyes absorbed what little light there was and spat it back in the form of a shiny coat that made her eyes look alive.


"A Drop in the Ocean, Ron Pope."


With that she went quiet again however her lips were set in a curve, it was playful but confident. Placing her hands on they keys, her healthy ankle moving towards one of the three golden pedals below, she pushed down on the first key. Testing it out to make sure it still made sound, when the chord emitted the soft sound she knew so well, her heart beat increased. Without another second of hesitation she began to play.


Her frail fingers no longer looked clumsy and weak but perfectly comfortable with every key. Delicately she moved her hands across the piano, only pausing for a moment to readjust her foot below, adding a new element of sound to the song. Ashlyn's eyes were closed but her face spoke of a feeling close to ecstasy, as if everything in the world didn't matter. The slim shoulders and frame swayed when she leaned to press keys outside of her normal reach, making her body language match the music almost perfectly. Stumbling across a key, the song was broken for a second, but quickly recovered. Ashlyn's face was hard with concentration, slowly it faded back in to the smile she wore before.


Playing the music softly, not wanting to make enough noise to attract danger, was painful. The piano when pushed to it's fullest abilities could fill the house with a noise unlike any other. Multiple memories of neighbors coming by just to listen to her father play started to show up in her memory, they were closely followed by a feeling of warmth. A few years ago finally she had caught up to her father's street appeal and now she could attract a few neighbors as well.


Slowly her hands slowed to, no longer keeping up the pace they had once before, and the room started to fall in to silence. The closer the end of the song got, the more softly Ashlyn pressed on the keys, as if to signal that the song was falling back asleep. When she pressed the last key she let her finger sit there until the sound had completely left the room. Opening her eyes slowly, the roaring happiness she had was now stronger. It was refined, all-over, and concrete nothing was going to change it for at least a few minutes.


"I'm not as good as I'd like to think but I'm not terrible either."


Her voice was soft, just barely a whisper, not wanting to break the mood she had so carefully pieced together with the piano. It was ridiculous and she knew it was, but the younger Ashlyn refused to let her speak and break the spell so quickly. Giving a smile she caught Nate's eye, trying to search for any sort of response. Was it good? Bad? Wonderful? Atrocious? Did he want to hear more or had he had enough of her today?


Hoping she'd have another opportunity to play she let her eyes scan the ground for another piece, trying to think of what would best fit the situation.
 
Watching as her finger moved towards the first key, he buried his face into his arms in a way that only the blue eyes were visible. His expression resembled that of a curious child with all the eagerness to hear Ashlyn play pent up inside of him. Realizing this, he quickly changed his expression into a look of skepticism. He didn’t intend to give her the satisfaction that he was excited. Not yet anyway.


And suddenly she went right into playing, surprising Nate completely. The combined sounds of the different piano keys met his ears started off slow and gave him a melancholy feeling. Not to say that it wasn’t good, but in a strange way he felt as if he could relate to the piece she played.


Then it suddenly kicked off into something happier, immediately lifting his spirits up. Eyeing her fingers as she went back and forth along the keys, he was amazed at Ashlyn’s crystal perfect precision with the notes. Granted, he had never heard of the song before in his life, but to him it sounded like a song and not grumbled bits and pieces of noise. To him it sounded like the redhead knew what she was playing.


It sounded like something more than music to him. He couldn’t explain it even to himself, but being there to witness her play the song and saying it was special was an understatement. It was the first time he’d heard music in a long while, and he was blown away by it. By her.


When she slipped up on the one note Nate barely registered it at all, it only made him realize that he’d lifted his head up from his buried position. But she quickly recovered and continued on, not leaving him hanging for one second.


His eyes were on Ashlyn now, not the keyboard. He took in her whole expression, her whole face and the way the small amount of sunlight was reflecting off it and her eyes. During the rest of the song her eyes did not waver to his for a second and he was glad for it, because the way he watched her might’ve thrown her concentration off in some way.


Finding his heart beat speeding up towards what he figured was the climactic ending, a feeling of longing had started small and grew as the notes began to space and grow softer. As much as he didn’t want the piece to end, all great pieces had to eventually. But the place that the song took him to felt almost euphoric, a place that he didn’t want to come back from. A world without music was nothing in comparison.


After the last key faded, Nate straightened himself with his arms still on top of the piano. His expression of awe had not changed in the slightest since she started playing, and all of his smart-ass comments that he could’ve and normally would’ve made were thrown out the window by her song.


Hearing her voice caused him to blink, and his expression became rather deadpan, “You’re right.”


Letting what he said hang in the air for a second, he added with the raw emotion he’d held in for the whole duration of her piece, “You’re not terrible. You’re amazing.”


The tone of his voice sounded just as serious as if he were outside with the infected all over again, but it told of no anger whatsoever. Soon after this a surprised chuckle left his mouth and a smile cracked.


“Best part about it? I could picture you up on a stage performing.” Saying this made him think about Ashlyn, and how hearing this made him see the young redhead in a different lighting. She showed him that no matter what was going on out there, that there was a whole other world on the inside.


That world was brought by her, and it was beautiful.
 
Hearing his words at first it was like he wasn't talking to her. During some part of the song another girl must have come in to the room and stood behind her, because there was no way such emotions could be directed at her. He was amazed, impressed, and he looked happy. Perhaps a little dazed but he was relaxed and complimenting her. Emotions knotted themselves in her head and she looked down at the keys, tracing her fingers over them lightly, and let the blood rush to her cheeks.


"Amazing? Ha. That's a bit much..."


Letting her words drown themselves out, she kept her voice low, not wanting to let him know how good it felt to hear the words. Suddenly a thought itched at the back of her head and she knew that if she allowed it to enter her head she would regret it. The curiosity got the best of her though and she opened her mind to the emotions and it came quickly.


The words are nothing compare to the person who said them.


It was true, the fact that the words had found their way out of Nate's mouth made the compliment that much more important. That much better, more meaningful, and it only added to her feeling of hope. Letting her eyes move up towards Nate she realized she hadn't answered his second statement.


"Performing was never for me, I mean you heard me mess up," letting a tense chuckle leave her throat.


Standing up she walked over to her bed, knocking clothes and other various items off on to the floor, "If you want you can sit or lay down, you must be exhausted." Her body felt light, as if all the burdens of the outside reality were left at her bedroom door. The soft sunshine had managed to find a way through the boarded up window and Ashlyn allowed herself to stand in it, absorbing the natural heat. Granted, she wasn't cold but she felt strangely alive. It left her limbs feeling hollow, due to the new wave of energy. Seeing her overly-bright hair in the sunlight made her wince, it was painfully orange, almost obnoxious. Nervously she combed it behind her back, trying to hide a majority of it. Ashlyn never got nervous, however, standing here in front of Nate with him in a state of awe made her feel as if each of her movements could affect his opinion of her.


Finally she couldn't stand to stand still so she moved back towards the piano. She returned to the ground, scouring through other pieces of music. Clearing her throat, her voice came out soft and somewhat shy.


"Umm... if you want. I could play another piece." Shrugging and trying to make herself seem relaxed, she added on quickly, "Only if you want. I imagine you're tired of it already." The chuckle that left her lips was even more tense then before, almost getting caught in her throat.


Deciding on a slower piece she replaced the previous sheet music with the new score in her hand. Placing the sheet music she had recently removed on the ground among another pile of papers she stood up to her full height. Her cheeks were bright red with color and her eyes screamed of a sheepish embarrassment from Nate's obvious reaction to the music. Letting her eyes trace over his physical features once again the knot in her stomach began to ease, replaced by the occasional flutter of butterflies, and eventually it was gone. Something about him gave her a sense of calm that was unlike anything else. He was a security blanket in a world devastated by an apocalypse Ashlyn could have only dreamed of. Through it all though he had come in to her life, so perhaps there were brighter days ahead, or at least that's what she would like to believe. Giving a smile, her cheeks almost normal colored again, she tilted her head.


"I'm glad to see someone shares my love of music. It's nice to know you're not annoyed by it. I was worried. But to answer your earlier question, my favorite place in the world, is when I'm not even really sure of where I am. Getting lost in that," pointing towards the sheet music, "is a gift that I wish all people could experience."
 
Shrugging his shoulders, he raised his arms and stretched in hopes of ridding the stiff feeling that plagued his entire body, “I thought the word I chose for your musical ability was pretty appropriate.” Leaning against the piano now with his arms crossed, the smile on his face hadn’t left for a second. Faded a little maybe, but it was never gone completely.


Seeing her reddened face when she looked at him, Nate resisted the almost overwhelming temptation to laugh. Not in an offensive manner - though if he did laugh no doubt would she take it any other way - but seeing her shy like this, especially after all the bark and fire she proved herself to own and own well, amused him greatly.


Hearing her comment about messing up forced him to roll his eyes, “Yeah, because all great performers don’t mess up sometimes, they’re perfect!” Once he finished the sentence he realized that he spoke in a present tense. Performers? In the state of the world now? Maybe there were still performers out there that got up on stage to play instruments, Nate didn’t know. But as far as his not-so-extensive knowledge of the humans around him went, Ashlyn was the only person with the ability to play like a true pianist. That and she had the piano to boot, of course.


When she offered him a place on her bed Nate took her up on it without any hesitation. Setting himself comfortably on the almost overwhelmingly soft comforter, he placed both of his hands on the bed beside him. Tired as he was and knowing if he hit the sheets surely sleep would grab him and whisk him away, he made sure that he remained in a sitting position.


Looking up at Ashlyn as she brushed the piece of her hair away from her line of vision, he tilted his head slightly and furrowed his eyebrows in confusion. Seeing this normally would’ve caused him to say something, but with the state of her personality - one side of it that he had not come to know very well just yet - he decided it wise to keep his mouth shut and analyze her further. One thing he did pick up on: the sunlight really brought out her nicer features, like her fiery hair color and her skin tone. A slight smile rose to his face. A smile that didn’t stay very long at all as he mentally reprimanded himself yet again.


He was grateful when he heard her voice; it distracted him from the urge to smack himself in the head with something, “Well, considering I haven’t hit the sheets yet, do you think I’m tired of it?”


There was a light tease in his voice, but he stayed conscious of it and kept it to that minimum as he took in how tense her body frame was. A wide smile spread across his lips, something he couldn’t prevent, and quickly looked over at the plain white wall next to him.


Her voice calling back to his attention, Nate looked back at her with a straighter expression, “To be honest, I never used to be that kind of person. I used to think of music as just…music, you know? But considering how things have changed, I think music is like a blessing to people. It’s not something that you can simply turn a knob to get anymore. That’s why it’s so widely appreciated now.”


Sighing and stretching his arms again, he made eye contact with Ashlyn, “It’s something more than amazing, hearing you play. I can’t find a word to describe it, but you gotta take my word for it.”


Crossing his arms, his traditional trademark smirk surfaced and he leaned back, “So are you going to play again or sit there acting all bashful? Either way, you definitely have my attention.” The last sentence was mixed with amused chuckles. At this point he had completely forgotten about the silly things in the past. They didn't matter to him in comparison to such a positive moment.
 
( Forever and Always by Parachute is the song she'll play at the end of this post.)


Allowing herself to smile and fall in to a more relaxed air she nodded to his statements, to busy watching his movements. Everything he did was concise, even if he didn't know it, all decisions were made and his body language spoke of it. A smile spread across her face. Maybe it was the sunlight, or her going crazy, but he did speak in present tense... didn't he? The way the sunlight caught his eyes illuminated them to an eerie shade of blue that reminded her of summer days and partial memories. Her thoughts began to whirl about in her head, blurring together making puddles of color and clips of audio.


Well it didn't matter now, because she found herself talking, and before she could stop herself the words were flowing out.


"You know despite what you might think I was rather arrogant before everything happened. My father instilled a large amount of self-confidence in to me and for awhile it was beneficial. But one day a girl at school got mouthy with me. She found my sore spot, my mother. Or my lack there of, I guess. Either way it doesn't matter because she was never around. To be quite honest I'm not sure if she's dead of if she left, neither happy answers but it would be nice to know. However, after that girl decided to terrorize me about my mother that self-confidence turned in to a nasty form of arrogance. It was overwhelming and began to turn me in to someone I didn't recognize."


She stopped and swallowed for a second, looking at Nate, he looked strangely natural sprawled about her bed. Her head hurt, and she gave a weak smile, "Music is the only thing that has kept me sane before you came along."


The honesty that spilled from her mouth usually would have sent her in to an emotional breakdown unlike any other but now it seemed necessary. He had shown her a side of him he probably hadn't meant to, it was only fair he got to know about her.


Sighing heavily she shrugged, "Every teenagers got their own sob story, right?" Though her voice was light-hearted her eyes were cold. Not out of anger but perhaps a simple lack of emotion, as if she knew how she was suppose to feel but couldn't feel anything at all. Placing her self down delicately on the piano seat she fixed the scores on the stand and placed her hands on the piano.


"Anyways, I guess I can play you another piece princess. This one's not as happy but I think you'll like it."


Just like that Ashlyn's normal personality had returned and all hints of her previous emotionless was gone, not even her body language spoke of any discomfort. Ashlyn had a nasty habit of venting large amounts of information only to back-track and realize that it was wrong to reveal so much of herself, so she would shut down her confessions like a valve. Many people found it agitating, another explanation to Ashlyn's few friends in high school, but it was something she couldn't help. Eventually she learned to live with it and moved on, sticking to things that didn't care about how she vented. Such as piano and other instruments.


Without another thought her fingers began to glide against the keys. This time more precise and more slowly, the song was slower and spoke of a broken fairy tale. Again Ashlyn's body began to sway with the movement of the song and her thoughts were lost. For some reason though she couldn't quite let go of reality completely, the weight of the truth she just spoke hung in the air, and it hurt. Tears stung at her closed eyes and perhaps a single one fell. Shortly afterwards Ashlyn found that she was tripping over a few keys. For a moment she stopped and looked down at the keys, her eyes blank, but her mind was working so hard she was afraid it might explode.


Letting out a shaky laugh, her voice wavered as she spoke, "You know it's weird. You'd think that in the midst of the world ending you could let go of your humanity and the only things that would matter would be survival. Yet the longer this hell goes on, the more and more I find myself thinking about ridiculous emotional issues."


Exhaling heavily, she began to play again, using the music as a pain-killer for the time being. The waves of emotions that raged up inside of Ashlyn were strange and hadn't happened before, maybe it was Nate? Or the music?
 
The sudden outburst of information that came from his redheaded friend was another surprise that he didn’t expect, and it all seemed to flow out when she looked at him. Unsure of what he planned to reply with, the last part of her sentence reached him and echoed in his mind a few times.


Before you came along.


Such a simple four-word sentence. So simple, and yet it made his heart skip a few beats.


Seeing her cold and stony expression, Nate pushed himself off the bed and back onto his feet. He was unable to understand why, but whenever he could see that something troubled Ashlyn, he forgot about petty things like exhaustion and soreness. His nature was always somewhat protective of his loved ones, but never once had he come to a stranger’s aid so quickly no matter what the situation was. They had to break through his barrier first to gain anything from him.


But that was just it. Ashlyn wasn’t a stranger despite the fact that he only knew her a couple of days. She had done things that others hadn’t and couldn’t have done in her place to save his life and protect him, and that was more than enough to qualify for his trust. His concern for her was nothing out of the blue or abnormal, she was just the fastest person on record to get on the inside.


Realizing this, he took a few steps towards her only to stop when he saw her body posture change. She no longer had that dark overcast on her features, and a relieving feeling spread through his system. As he opened his mouth to speak, Ashlyn had already begun playing the piano. The song in particular that she played took a stab at him; it was a complete contrast to the pleasant melody she played before and it threatened to bring the content feelings he had down with it. It told him that even though she showed her normal self on the outside, her music conveyed what was all inside. In a way the music helped him better understand her, like an open door or a portal.


Moving over to his original spot by the piano once she stopped playing and spoke, Ashlyn's voice was considerably different and unstable, but began to play again almost as soon as she’d stopped. He decided to take this time to think about what he wanted to come back with, what choice of words he would pick out to say.


Biting the inside of his lip, he stuffed his hands in her father’s jean pockets. “That’s because those ridiculous emotional issues are what make you human.”


His eyes wavered around the room until they finally came to fall on Ashlyn. His tone was straight and honest, but there was nothing cold about it, “The day that all humanity is gone is the day we become like that guy.” Putting emphasis on the last word to show he was talking about the sniper they so valiantly fought with, he continued, “He only cared about survival, and wiping out everyone for their supplies was how he saw fit to keep himself floating.”


Resting his back against the piano, he stared at the plain white wall across from him and left his focus on it, “Think about it. In order to keep going like you were, you have to have some kind of shred of humanity somewhere. For someone who's been keeping herself sane by means of music you understand that, Ashlyn.”


Turning his body ever so slightly towards Ashlyn, his eyes stared into hers whether she was looking at him or not, “Don’t beat yourself up over something that you can’t help, okay? Be thankful that you still resemble you, it's a rare thing. Because the world now...it destroys people. And I'm not just talking about their hope.” While he spoke his entire voice stayed level, not wanting to raise or stress anything and cause his friend to blow up.


Saying all of this made him think again of the kid that would spend weekends running around with his friends on a deserted construction site. The kid that grew up on the beach and wore a bean cap every now and then. Sighing slowly as he felt the exhaustion take hold in more ways than one, he said with a gentler tone, "I'm really sorry about your mother."


He said his piece. So then he waited and watched to see what her reaction would be.
 
His words were processed but didn't help anything, however there wasn't much to help at this point. He was right the ability to put a song together on an instrument was a gift that had been given to her, the only thing keeping her sane.


Letting him stare down at her she gave a half smile, letting her face expression soften itself. "I know you're right but after a while emotions get the best of us I suppose."


Pulling her eyes away from Nate she looked at the sheet music and brought it down from the stand and messed with the corners of the soft paper. "I just miss it, you know? I think that's one thing we have that one guy didn't, we want to fix things. Or at least dream about it, he gave up."


Dropping the sheet music on the ground and picking up another set she let her eyes wander back up to Nate. Turning her body so her face pointed towards Nate direction she brought her knees up to her chest and propped her head on her knee. Blowing a stray hair away from the center of her face she kept his stare for a just a few moments longer.


"I find it agitating that you can manage to keep yourself as calm as you do but then again I guess emotions don't bother you, huh?" Though her voice was coated in sarcasm there was subtle element of truth in each of the words. It was true, in the worst of situations, he had always managed to keep his head about him.


Placing the new set of sheet music on the piano, she turned and let her legs dangle off the front of the bench, and she turned her eyes away from Nate. "You look crazy tired and you probably are. If you want you can sleep here or in my Dad's room."


Letting her voice come-off softly she let the smile sit on her face comfortably. Her body's aches and pains hadn't necessarily gone away but they were numbed for a while. Now, rather then pain, a bone-deep exhaustion began to set in and Ashlyn found herself yawning. Rubbing at her eyes with her frail hands, she stretched, allowing her back muscles to expand and her spine to pop in response.


Placing her hands on her lap she placed her chin on her shoulder and gave smile, "It's been a long few days, I think you could benefit from a decent night's sleep."


Her words were soft, compassionate, and she stood up. Re-arranging the pillows, fixing the blanket, and pulling curtains over the boarded up window the room fell in to near darkness. Light still illuminated the curtains but it was no where near as strong as direct sunlight. Small particles of dust and various things floated in the air of her room, everything cast in a grey shadow.


Ashlyn headed towards the door, "That's enough of my beautiful performing skills for now. Where would you like to sleep princess? Here or down the hall?" Her voice was joking and coated with blatant amusement at the nickname she had adopted for Nate. Leaning against the door frame she tried to keep the exhaustion from spreading to her facial expression.


Even if he fell asleep, she had a solid half an hour of work. Double-checking locks, pulling curtains, setting out candles for the night if they woke up, cleaning up, and checking the locks/house one last time. It was a necessity and Ashlyn felt compelled to do it but her bones called for a bed, to collapse and fall in to a much-needed deep sleep.
 
Nodding to show he understood what she was saying, he took a step away from the piano and stretched again, raising his arms up high. He was beginning to get frustrated with all the stretching his body needed him to do, but it was necessary to assist in getting the blood circulating to his overtired muscles.


“This is all a giant test of willpower, I guess. And a twisted one at that.” Not that he was saying it was a good test, like something that should’ve happened to the world. The world deserved a lot of things before, but he’d never dreamed that something like this would ever transpire. Nobody really anticipated their lives becoming like one of those cheap TV movies fit to get some sort of a rise in people, whether it be fear, excitement, whatever. Nobody knew or could even remotely guess that the evolution of a product with a wide reception would cause such a calamity.


Smirking at her statement about his collectedness, he let his hands drop to his sides and said with an airy, satirical tone, “Yeah, it’s not an easy task to hold onto either. Being emotionless and all.” The first sentence had a certain truth about it however. It wasn’t easy to stay so calm and hold in everything, but he learned to cope with it.


That was his problem before the apocalypse: he would subconsciously put out a barrier and hold in his feelings whenever it got rough. Maybe it was his parents divorce and the incident with his father that reflected on how he was later? Or it could’ve been something else completely. Nate had a lot to deal with before the end even started, and after a while his mind found it easier to disconnect itself from it than face the hardships head on. It wasn’t something he had complete control other, either.


To Ashlyn’s comments about him being tired, he shrugged his shoulders and raised an eyebrow, “Speak for yourself, lady. But I do agree, sleep sounds really nice right about now.”


His legs were beginning to give off a dull pain whenever he stayed stationary for too long, and not registering it until then his head had began to pound again, coming back with a vengeance in the form of a headache moreso than simply hurting due to the blow. He was grateful when she darkened her room; the slight amount of sunlight only added to the amount of head pain he had to deal with.


When she moved to the door he followed suit, only stopping himself when she associated him with the word princess again. It was funny, usually he hated the nicknames that girls gave him because they were so mind-bendingly stupid and made no sense to him. He figured that the feisty redhead would call him whatever she wanted no matter how much he disliked it regardless, it’s how most girls were. However, the nickname was something that he’d dealt with for what felt like a long time, and it didn't really bother him all that much so why put an end to it?


“I’ll take the room down the hall. I mean, it would be cruel to steal a peasant’s room away, after all…” The last bit of the sentence came out as a mumble. Snickering lightly at the comment, Nate shook his head and stepped past Ashlyn into the open hallway. Staring down over the banister, he got a pretty good view of the mess he accidentally tracked into the house from upstairs and almost cringed. Even though his body strongly disagreed, he wouldn’t be able to sleep properly knowing that he didn’t help clean up the mess somehow. Especially a mess that was his.


Turning his head and looking over his shoulder at Ashlyn, he sighed deeply out of a means to keep the smile from showing up on his face, “It seems I’m lacking of servants for clean up duty, however. So allow me to assist the matter, as painful as that is.”


Somehow he got his legs to manage a power walk as he made his way towards the stairs and swung himself around to the foot of the steps using the railing. Something about him felt different, happier. All he understood was that he wanted to pass on that energy to Ashlyn. Stopping to look at her he gave a wide smile, one that resembled an energetic child. Figuring that she had certain things she needed to set up before hitting the hay such as light sources for the evening, he said, “That doesn’t mean you’re off the job though. Let’s go.” Reassuring his aching body that he would ignore the pain only a little while longer, he took off with a surprising speed down the steps.
 
Ashlyn was to tired to come up with a retort she jogged to catch up with Nate and hurried down the steps behind him. As soon as her foot hit the floor she bent over to began picking up micellaneous pieces of trash and large debris. Hurrying to the kitchen she grabbed a broom and began to push all the dirt they had tracked in to the house in to a neat pile. Walking back in to the kitchen she pulled out a small dust-pan from underneath the sink.


Nate was keeping himself busy, so she continued to clean the area around the front door. For being there just a few short hours everything did seem a bit unorganized. Usually this would have caused Ashlyn to go insane but she realized that the untidiness gave way to a feeling of familiarity.


It was like she was coming home after school, just another day where her and her father had put off cleaning up the house. Smiling she felt her ankle give a sharp cry in pain and decided that the remainder of the mess wasn't noticeable in the dark and therefore was not a problem. Despite her decision she found herself picking up some last bits of debris and she continued to do so until she made her way to her final destination.


Feeling her muscles get heavier she let herself limp to the kitchen where she placed the broom and dust pan back in their respective homes. Walking out towards the opening in the wall that connected the hallway in front of the door and the living room she let her left shoulder lean against it. Yawning, she rubbed at her eyes again. Her head fell to the side and rested itself against the wall and shortly afterwards Ashlyn's body weight was soon being supported by the wall.


"I think that'll be good for now, we can finish the rest tomorrow."


Before she could add anything else another yawn had escaped her throat, her eyes were dim with exhaustion. Lifting her head up she gave Nate a smile, it was bright in the darkness of her house but controlled. Not one of sheer joy but of quiet content, the one might feel after a nice night out with loved ones. Tilting her head backwards she turned her head to either side, allowing the multiple joints in her neck to pop.


Ashlyn pulled herself a way from the wall and made her way towards the front door. Unlocking it she inhaled deeply and opened the front door just enough to see outside. The moonlight was strangely bright giving everything almost a harsh glow, squinting her eyes she saw no movement and closed the door. Shivering she noticed how sharp and cold the air outside was, it only added to the feeling of danger and death that the outside world brought in to Ashlyn's heart.


Locking the door lock, the deadbolt, and placing the chain on the top of the door in place she turned and headed towards the back door. As she did so she stopped in the living room and pulled the curtains over all of the already boarded up windows leaving the room in almost complete darkness.


"Sorry about this, your eyes will adjust I promise."


Her voice came out as whisper. She wasn't really sure why, she wasn't afraid of anything however the lack of light seemed to set a mood that was fragile. Shaking the strange thought away from her head she headed towards the back door, opening it, peering out, and re-locking it just as she did with the front door. Once the door was locked she pulled the last curtain over the window sitting next to it. Letting her hand guide her body back to the door she leaned her back against the cool wood.


It was strange being in the dark with someone else. Before Ashlyn enjoyed it, no sounds meant no threat. Nate's breathing was soft and relaxed but it was silent in the house, for the first time in a long time. Ashlyn pushed herself up from the door and stood on her own feet. Blinking multiple times she hoped her eyes would adjust faster however it seemed much more difficult then it did before. Just barely, she could make out Nate figures and so she headed towards it. Stepping almost silently she made her away across the room and stopped when she was about an arm's length away from Nate.


"Ready to go to bed, princess?" She let a soft chuckle fall from her lips. Her exhaustion was only made worse by the lack of light and the familiar scent of what she used to call home.
 
Eyeing the mess he made with a cringe, Nate shrugged his shoulders inwardly and went towards the back door to grab the pot of water he cleaned outside. Carrying it inside and only plopping it down to shut the door, he carried it over to the pathway to the front door. The water itself was clean for the most part, so he figured it would work rather nicely. Why let all the water go to waste?


Placing the pot down at the scene of it all, he made his way over to the kitchen and grabbed a cloth towel off the counter. Taking notice of Ashlyn zipping by and cleaning things up, he searched the kitchen for another towel he could use to dry the floor with. When he found just that on the side of the fridge he moved swiftly back to the floor, got on his hands and knees traditional style, and dunked the towel he selected in the water.


Scrubbing away, he blew a piece of his hair out of his line of sight. Whatever he tracked in seemed like it wanted to stick to the floor. Mild frustration began to plague his expression, one that he neutralized in fear of Ashlyn seeing it. Even though a dirty floor was the last thing his friend seemed to worry about he still would've felt bad, so away with cleaning he went.


A smirk came to his lips at the whole thing in particular. A few days ago he was leaving someone's house to hunt for food and such. Fast forward time, he was helping some girl by cleaning her floors. But he wasn't ashamed of any of it, not for a second. And Ashlyn wasn't just some girl anymore.


Catching her smile when he went to grab the dry towel, he grinned back at her and hastily wiped up the water knowing that she was pretty much done with her work. It amazed him that she could push herself to do so much, but he figured she was used to it just like he was used to changing shelters. It was all a necessity to survive, one that they had to feel compelled to do.


Wiping up the last of the dirt, he lifted up the pot and carried it past Ashlyn into the kitchen. "Okay, give me a second." Placing it up on the counter and dumping the remainder of the water into the sink, Nate couldn't help but notice the lingering, fatigued feeling that had plagued his body since he was down on his knees. His body apparently saw then as good a time as any to finally give into exhaustion, and it wasn't long before it all spread to his brain as well.


Suddenly, he felt a strange falling sensation and grasped the counter with both hands to steady himself. During this his vision blurred, and like a television screen his mind recalled to surface the memories of being on an open truck bed, driving out of the hellhole that became his town with three other guys. The scene changed and he saw the face of a man in a white coat with his face so blurred and distorted, one wouldn't be able to tell who it was.


But Nate had an odd feeling he knew. His vision came back to him in what was less than two seconds, but obviously felt much longer than that to him and the exhaustion immediately took a back seat to the overbearing alertness that automatically grasped his senses. Obviously it was all a product of his exhaustion, considering the most sleep he got recently was around three hours last night.


Still, it managed to bring that night back. Something he hadn't thought about in God knows how long.


Quickly regaining himself knowing that Ashlyn was approaching him, he turned away from the counter and did his best to clean up his expression and not focus on the tension in his shoulders. When his eyes met Ashlyn's he pushed a smile on a face that didn't want to comply. He only noticed then that she dimmed the room, forcing him to blink a few times to see her properly.


"Yeah, sounds good to me." He spoke quick but stayed extra careful in making his tone stay level. He wasn't sure why, but for some reason the longer he stared at Ashlyn, the longer he felt vulnerable. Like she could read what he was thinking right then and there. So he quickly remedied this and passed her, stuffing his hands in his pockets as passed her and made his way towards the staircase. He knew that he wasn't acting casual and figured she probably knew that too, but he had to hope that she'd mistake it for his exhaustion clouding his personality. Which wasn't exactly a lie but despite being spotlessly clean, Nate felt dirty.
 
Ashlyn stepped forward when Nate's hands fell on the counter. Something wasn't right, was he just tired? It was possible, decided that he was alright she saw his hands find refuge in his pockets and once he passed her she suddenly felt cold. What had happened in the split second she wasn't paying attention? Did he hear something? Maybe he was hurt, however, he looked more agitated then anything. It was frustrating how easily the situation could change and it made Ashlyn felt as if she had lost control of the fragile home she had put together.


Noticing that Nate had recovered and no longer was in need of assistance Ashlyn stepped backwards allowing him as much room as she could offer. Blinking she wondered if the moment of weakness she saw was real and even if it was he seemed to recuperate fairly fast. Granted the lack of light gave Ashlyn's eyes a run for their money so she wasn't completely reliant on them.


Moving towards the staircase she stood at the bottom, staring up at Nate. He was moving fairly slowly and the exhaustion was visible on his body. Reaching out she felt her fingers just brush his back and she tried to think of something to say. For the first few moments she got lost in her thoughts, it was one of the strongest side affects she got when in contact with Nate. He was intoxicating and it scared her but she couldn't help it. Ashlyn knew that she was more amazed then scared anyways, however her survival instincts kicked at her subconscious.


"Good night Nathan. Tomorrow will be a better day, I promise."


Her voice came off as just barely a whisper, she feared that he might not have heard her, but part of her said that he wanted to be left alone. Letting her finger tips absorb the body heat that leaked from his body filled her with a sense of relief. Maybe he wasn't happy but he was alive and that's all she could really ask for at this point. Stepping up on to the first step she let her finger tips spread out and let her small hand fall flat against his back. He was warm but the muscles in his back were tense with some emotion, she couldn't tell what it was, and didn't bother to ask. Nate wasn't the type to openly admit his problems and she would respect that, though part of her did wish she knew what went on inside of his head sometimes.


Not knowing what else to say she let her voice carry out in front of her in the form of a song. One she had used to love and play multiple times. Letting Nate's back become her piano she moved her fingers in cadence with the song. A smile split her mouth and she dropped her hand. Letting herself walk up the stairs she continued to sing and hopped up the next few, allowing herself to pass Nate. Letting her torso lean across the rail that protected her from the ground she let the song carry itself out in to the hollow of her house.


Though it was dark her eyes had adjusted for the most part and though she couldn't see Nate's face she could see his posture. It hadn't changed noticeably but she hoped that she could ease whatever pain he felt. Perhaps he really was just tired but not trying to help would lead him to think she didn't care? Or worse, she was ignorant. Holding her head high she continued on to sing the last verse, her voice becoming just a bit louder, and let a smile rest comfortably on her lips.
 
All he wanted was to crash onto the soft sheets he was promised, not only to escape the impeding exhaustion, but to escape his present thoughts. At this point both were equally binding him to a personality even he himself couldn't understand all the way. It all made his body seem sluggish and stiffened to the point where he removed a hand from his pocket to grasp the railing for support. It was then that he felt Ashlyn's fingers brush the middle of his back. Such an innocent gesture, just a slight touch made him shut his eyes and exhale inwardly.


Crap, she knows something isn't right.


Despite the powerful urge to keep moving up the stairs as if he never felt her touch, he halted himself. Hearing her with a voice carried in the means of a soft, tender whisper didn't seem to help things out this time, or was it that he didn't will it to? Nate's grip on the railing tightened and he eyed the top of the landing to give himself something to look at. Suddenly the trip upstairs seemed like miles away, and that time he did sigh.


Feeling the familiar warm hand against his back pulled him out of the trance and made him realize that he bit the inner part of his lip so hard it began bleeding. Unable to stand the quiet between the two of them, Nate turned his body slightly and looked over his shoulder at Ashlyn. His mouth was open and sound came out of it, but by the time he was ready to speak she began to sing and tap at his back with her fingers. It wasn't senseless tapping however, but similar to how she would press the keys on her piano, with varied pressure on each press.


Such a sensation sent a strong tingle up his back and before he knew it she passed him up on the staircase. It didn't matter to him too much where he stood anymore, hell, he forgot where he stood. The sound of her voice carrying a tune with such grace mesmerized him more than anything else that he'd heard recently. Granted, she didn't have the vocal cords of an opera singer or anything remotely like that, and she certainly wasn't mind-bendingly good, but she had a sweet and everlasting sound that managed to split himself apart from his emotions.


Releasing the railing, he moved over to the wall on the other side and leaned against, stepping up one stair as he did so. He stared up at Ashlyn, or what he could make out of her being how dark it was. As she went on with the song Nate noticed the smile played out on her lips, and a subtle version of the expression on her face appeared on his for only a moment.


The things she did to him were things he still couldn't understand. Feelings of amazement and relief were always conjured up so easily inside of him by this girl, and in some ways he felt jealous too. In the midst of all the hell and chaos, at the end of the day she had a home to return to. A shelter that was familiar to her. But even with all of this around them, her past probably bothered her as much as his own was. The floor he stood on was all she had of her old life, so there would be no telling how she would react when it came high time to leave.


When she finished her song, Nate felt his emotions slowly reconnect with himself and the agitation was visible on his face. Stepping away from the wall he made his way up the stairs without support and stopped at the top step. Resting his back against the wall, he looked down at Ashlyn. His expression was somewhat mellow, but it didn't resemble anything positive.


"I'm sorry. I know you hate it. I hate it too." He averted his eyes for a second, knowing that if she truly got what was going on with him, she'd understand what he meant. "Just don't take it the wrong way, okay?"


Taking a step onto the second floor, he let his arm slide against the wall as he did so. His eyes meeting hers in the darkness again, a warmth spread to them that wasn't there before. Even though his uncanny ability to shut people out frustrated him, knowing that she'd always be there to lean on relieved Nate in many ways. And since she let so much of her own life out into the open, she had more than the utmost right to know more about him. He just needed more time to get comfortable.


"But you're right." Despite the blended mixture of feelings inside he managed a smile, "Tomorrow will be a better day."


With that said, Nate bowed his head slightly and began retreating for his designated bedroom.
 
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