𝒮𝓉𝒶𝓇 𝑅𝒾𝓋𝑒𝓇 [Ash]

Chapter One ✧ Breathe

I moved to the rhythm of the flame, little metal accessories shone and jingled as I bent from side to side. I take each stance as I circle the fire pit, a thick layer of ash at my bare feet. It's the only light source aside from the occasional lantern in a window. All they see is me, my swaying shadow cast across the mountainside. I wish I could see through the dark to their reactions, are they watching? I try not to think about it. I didn't come just to be seen, I came to dance.
The wind blows against me like a plume of smoke. I put my hands above my head and bow, diving beneath the light of the flame.
"Go to bed!" a stupid young voice calls from our tent.
"Shut up!"
I pick my face up from the ash and dust off my knees, "I'm not tired!"
My little brother groans and rolls over, curling into a ball and covering his head. "Oh come on I'm not making any noise!" I say in protest. "You're moving a lot, I can't settle down thinking you might kick ash into my face."
"Yeah? Maybe I will"
He ignored me. I approach him and ruffle his thick hair through the covers, "Cooomee onn Riioooonnn~" He whines and swats at me, the pest keeping him up. I sit down beside him and pull out a half eaten loaf of bread. I pick off bits, it's still fresh and sweet.
Rion peeks out from his bundle to glare at me, "Fix your sleep patterns."
"I like being up at night!" I say with a mouth full of sweet bread.
"You're shaking the whole tent."
I realize my feet have been moving this whole time, "Ah sorry!" He covers his head again. I leave to stretch out by the fire and finish off the rest of the bread. Before long Rion is snoring softly.
I mumble to myself, "Guess I should get water for the morning." I stand up and twist, cracking my spine, and touching my toes. I quietly get our jar and flask from the tent and head down the tunnel to the east of our little no-name village. We all get our water from the same place, a hot spring deep underground, slightly too hot to bathe in, just good enough to take back and use over the course of a couple days.
I felt the steam brush against my cheeks as I neared the end of the tunnel. It was a normal sight at first, damp rock deposits lining the walls, a mist floating over the surface, but when I bent down I stared at my reflection, my deep red curls cascading down, ending just before they grazed the water's surface. I pulled my hair back over my shoulders. My eyes seemed to have sunken deeper into my face since the last time I looked. Maybe he's right, maybe it would be better for me to sleep.
My focus shifted from my reflection to the water. There's something beneath the surface.
"Is that straw?"
I stuck my hands into the scalding water and pulled out handfuls of hay. Something felt wrong, no one's supposed to bring anything down here, but the more I dug the more straw I found. I started digging more frantically on my hands and knees. It smells more than it should. I was expecting any second to find a dead animal in the pile.
There's no flesh that I can find... but somehow this is worse, there's hair, yellowish hair, I keep digging and digging but I only find more tangled hay and blonde hair.
I'm covered. Suffocating in the stench of rot with wet hair tickling my skin, fists full. I regret digging in the first place, but I have to keep going. I'm holding my breath, eyes watering, I feel nauseous. What am I touching? Beneath all of this there has to be an answer.
It's hot but I feel cold, an uncomfortable inch running down my spine. I have to get out. I can't breathe and there's a stranger's rotten hair ringed around my neck.
I start to tear it away, breaking strands, trying to feel the burning of the water again, the freedom, gasping, choking for air.
As I tore away I saw what I guessed was the source, a body. A small girl floated on the surface of the water. I opened my mouth to yell for her, to see if she was even alive.
My heart nearly stopped as the ground above ruptured and a mass smothered her into the earth. I shielded my face as hot water splashed in all directions. I fell to the ground.
I forgot everything, the water, the hair. A massive luminous hunk of rock just pierced at least fifty meters of rock to give me a view of the stars. I should be dead.
I'm burning, and breathing like a flame.