Tribulation. [O]

The worst thing about Ash’s nightmares was how real they seemed until she awoke. She could still hear the screams of men, women, and children alike vividly as her eyes sprang open and she jolted upright in her bed. Her dreams, no, her nightmares always resulted in a rude awakening, the thirteen-year-old being ejected from the world of blissful dreams and terrifying nightmare into the uncomfortable warmth of reality. With a hand on her chest, she forced her breathing to slow from its frantic pace to something resembling normal. Her fear receded when she realized that what had occurred was not reality and that she was safe in the house she dwelled in with her parents - Eyoto and Kaya. Sometimes the very thought of her parent’s warm embrace was enough to dispel her nightmares and send her right back to sleep; other times she couldn’t help but feel a sense of hopelessness and that brought her to tear. Unfortunately for Ash, this was not one of those days that she could drift back into the realm of dreams. With her nightmares becoming my frequent, it was getting harder and harder for her to maintain her composure.

She hugged her knees close to her chest as she hid her face behind her knees. Ash allowed for her tears to fall and she would allow herself to cry until her eyes hurt, sniffling and hiccuping between shaky gulps of air that wasn’t calming at all. She felt like she was suffocating and she knew she needed to calm down before she ended up hyperventilating, but it wasn’t easy not with the screams still ringing in her ears. Her mother, Kaya, had assured her that the events that occurred in her nightmares hadn’t happened and that they wouldn’t come to pass. She believed the woman, she had no reason not to, but sometimes she thought her mother was hiding something from her. She got the impression from the sad look that always crossed her father’s face whenever she suffered a particularly horrific nightmare though it could simply be him worrying about her mental health. She was their only child, or so she had been told. Ash couldn’t remember if she had any siblings even if she wanted to with her amnesia and all.

It felt weird not being able to recall anything that had happened after the accident and she only got generic responses from her parents whenever she asked. They refused to elaborate on this accident that had robbed her of her memories and she had stopped asking after a while. It was obvious that no amount of begging would get her parents to spill the beans rather this was for her sake or theirs, she couldn’t say.

Ash stretched, the muscles in her back protesting after being hunched over for so long. Her breathing had even out and she had calmed down enough to crawl out of her bed, but she still felt like crap. Standing in the light of the moon that penetrated through her window. There she would stand for a moment, magenta eyes focused on the moon and for that moment the reason for her rude awakening had been forgotten. Yet, it would all come flooding back to her soon and she would hurry from her room and into the hallway. She sought for the warmth of her parents and so she crept down the hallway. Their door was closed and her hand hovered above the handle. Yet, she did not attempt to open the door.

Instead, she made her way to the living room, feeling a little childish for wanting to crawl into her parents bed unannounced even though she knew they didn’t mind. No, she would rid her mind off the thoughts that plagued her without the help of her parents. She was thirteen, she needed to learn how to deal with this. She spared the old grandfather clock a glance before she slipped out of the house and into the night. She took a deep breath of the damp air before she began her walk down the street. It was two hours before sun rise, more than enough time for her to clear her head and be back home before her parents got up.