What Lies Beyond

Chapter 4

I awoke with a start. My head throbbed. What the hell happened? I looked around at my all too familiar bedroom at the orphanage. I was one of the only teens at the orphanage to get my own room. But despite it being all my own unshared space it was still fairly small. Only able to fit a twin sized bed pressed up against one wall, a dresser for my clothes and other belongings pressed up against the opposite wall, plus some extra room to move around in.

And then it came back to me. The creature, the male, the woods, the fight. Was any of that real? Or just another dream? My head hurt too much for me to focus on that thought. Instead I just shook my head and headed downstairs. As I passed through the kitchen I ran into the house mistress who was peeling and washing potatoes for dinner.

"Ashlyn" she said surprised. "You're finally awake!"

"Uhh yeah... anyways do you have anything for a headache?" I replied.

"Sleep all day and awake with a headache." She sighed. "Yes I have something for a headache. Just wait here a minute." She turned on her heel and walked over to a cabinet on the opposite side of the kitchen.

"I've been sleeping all day?" I said. "Yes, my dear, all day." She said as she rifled through the cabinet.

"Did I fall asleep after breakfast?" I asked. "Yes, my dear – ah, here it is!" She said as she walked back over to where I stood by the sink and handed me two oval-shaped pills with a glass of water. "Thanks," I murmured as I swallowed the pills along with the water and walked out the side door, out of the kitchen.

I was sitting in my spot against the base of a big oak tree. This had been my spot ever since I was a little girl. It sat at the edge of a field and looked out into the forest. I don't know why I liked this spot so much, maybe because no one came here and it was mostly isolated. Despite the meds my head still pounded, though it had partly subsided. What on earth had happened earlier? I was so lost in my thoughts that I didn't notice the person sneaking up on me until I was toppling sideways. I landed on my side with an Ooph.

"Ha! I got you" Said a familiar, female, voice. I was sprawled on the grass and she was on top of me.

"Well good afternoon to you too Kylie" I said as I let out a quick laugh.

"It's unlike you to let me win so easily" Kylie said and cocked her head to the side. "Off day?"

Ignoring her question, I replied. "Damn girl, you knocked me on my ass".

"What are best friends for?"

I sighed "Get of me" Kylie laughed as she rolled off of me and sat beside me on the grass.

I pushed myself up onto my elbows and looked toward where Kylie was sitting.

"Oh my goodness!" Kylie exclaimed. "You will never guess what Michael did earlier!"

Oh no, I thought. Not this again. Michael had been Kylie's biggest crush for years. It was actually hilarious to watch her gush over him day and night. So, yeah, this should be interesting.

I sighed. "What did he do?"

"Ok, ok, ok" She said gesturing for me to wait a second, her chin length blonde hair sweeping in front of her eye. She hastily brushed it to the side. "So, I was in town, running some errands, and some random bugger bumped into me, causing me drop some of my things. Michael just happened to be walking by at the moment. He saw everything and helped me pick everything back up!"

"And even better! Our hands touched!" She squealed and fell back onto the grass.

I was inwardly face-palming. He was probably just trying to be nice. But I would never tell Kylie that. Especially when it was so much fun to watch her gush over a boy.

"Come on" I said, standing. Offering her a hand up. "Let's go do something fun" I said with a wink. Her dull blue eyes gleamed as she took my hand and we headed toward town.