She was led into a spacious hotel room laden with rose petals from the front door to the king bed and into the luxury bathroom that had a fresh bath hot and ready for the couple. Asha turned to him to ask how he made all of this happen while they were at the prom, but was hushed by the deep kiss he laid on her.“I always knew you were the one I wanted to have this moment with and I’m so glad I never gave it to anyone else.” Young had told her when he pulled away to watch Asha search out more kisses with her eyes closed. It had become a favorite pastime of his, drawing her into the weightless pleasure their kisses always created and pulling away to watch her swim in it a little longer than he did. The face she made as she searched out his lips again was priceless, no other girl had ever brought such contentment before Asha and Young had a feeling that would remain long after she left him.She knew he wasn’t buttering her up because that nervous stutter he had whenever he had to talk ou
Asha didn’t see or hear from Young for an entire week after that and while she was worrying, blowing up his phone, and stalking his apartment, she increasingly went from distressed to infuriated. Never had he ever behaved this way and after he rushed the end of their fairytale weekend to run after his brother, she was left to panic about what it meant. What could’ve possibly happened that Young would go to his brother for help?When Young did finally grace the halls of their high school again, he avoided her best he could the whole day, but Asha cornered him before he could get in his car and escape back to whatever hole he crawled out of.“Where the hell have you been?” Asha screamed at Young as she punched his arm repeatedly. She stopped when he turned to her with this haunted gaunt look in his eyes.Asha’s voice got quiet as she palmed his face and took a good look at him, “Baby? What happened?”Young damn near collapsed into her arms, wrapping his entire body around her and tuckin
Despite her best efforts, by the time graduation rolled around, Asha had reserved herself to the fact that she was fighting a losing battle. Though Young had seemingly accepted her words that day, he did not accept her attempts at helping him out of his self imposed hole after that. He tried and mostly succeeded at keeping things relatively the same at first, especially when they were at school, giving her and everyone around them the allusion that nothing had changed. They attended all the end of year events, graduation barbecues, and house parties, and he even maintained their weekly date night. Graduation day was the last day he allowed himself to fully enjoy the normalcy he’d found in the life he had with Asha and his friends that weren’t just his comrades for the benefits of being seen with the star football captain that everyone expected to go pro. By the time the summer rolled around however, it became obvious that he had no intention of letting her stick things out with him o
And find him she did.Posted up at their old spot, the local diner, Young’s heart nearly stopped when Asha walked through the door and flipped a switch in him he hadn’t realized needed to be thrown. She looked good, the years had been kind and it was a bullet to his soul to have a glimpse at how she’d gracefully age over the rest of her years. It brought a deep sorrow to be reminded that he would not have the chance to grow old with her, but it wasn’t something he could afford to dwell on too often or too long when he did.It didn’t take anything but a look for them to collide back into each other. Unfortunately for Asha, she wasn’t made aware of just the type of man he’d turned into. He was desperate for her love and care, so he selfishly omitted the truth of who he was to ensure their time together. Not only was he officially and firmly established within the gang, but he was also a father now to several children by several women. He’d searched for ways to forget what he gave up an
Not only was Young aware of the stress and harm Rell was bringing to Asha and her life but what her job contributed as well. Figuring the worst of them needed the most work, he started with her ex, haunting the evil man. Young found that he loved the gradually worsening attacks that instilled a creeping panic and fear in Rell. The easiest way in was with dreams, choosing to threaten the bastard on a skyscraper roof, dropping him off the edge to wake in the real world petrified with that fear of falling to his death. When he was feeling especially sadistic he would do the appear and disappear trick he’d seen in one too many movies. Sometimes he’d do it when Rell first woke up, standing in the corner with blood red eyes on display and disappearing in a literal blink of an eye. He especially did it whenever Rell got the idea to visit Asha’s job again, his sudden now you see me now you don’t routine always deterred the audacious man away from bothering the woman.Back in Asha’s world, she
Again Young started in dreams, on a night most special to them, the first day he had met her, he appeared to Asha in hers. The theme had changed though, instead of immense pain, he had come to bring great pleasure. Asha would only be treated with the utmost softness unless he was beating up that pussy and he would get her there eventually.It had been easy to reach her because it was a dream she’d frequented often. A secret wish she’d never told to a soul, but now the main character had access to. Whenever she was yearning for real release and safety she always dreamt of him, of all the times he’d been her safe place, even if just for an evening. And now he knew just how important he had been to her life and what consequences his humanely cowardice had brought her.Much like many of their midnight rendezvous’, Young catered to her mind, body, and spirit in the dream. Instead of one of their rooms, they were in a private villa on the beach, laden with roses, just off the oceanfront, a l
After a few successful evenings with Asha to balance out all the retribution he was doling out psychologically he got back to the work that was left. A few moons before Halloween he got to the good part, pushing the entirety of everyone to the very edge, the tip of the iceberg before it split open and revealed its true nature.Rell had been his priority from jump but he finally managed to bring his plan to fruition. For the stalker and bane of Asha’s existence for the time that they were together, gifting his love a mountain load of trauma and grief to work through in their separation. Rell became increasingly aware in each dream just how much Young had seen and heard. Since he had access to memories of both the times when Rell was mistreating her in person and the times when he was speaking ill on his princess’ name, his anger towards the man was ten thousand fold and he was determined to unleash ten thousand demons worth of pent up rage to let it loose upon the man. But he had to mo
It was no bother though, Blood had been taught how to deal with the likes of their kind. Though they were showing a strong front, he knew just how close to the edge they really were from experience. That hopeless feeling usually brought out the weakness or a last desperate show of strength in that person. He knew they were only mere moments away so he did the one thing that had ultimately got him to break in the trials of his tribulation.He made them do to themselves what they were doing to others and they got to hear everyone’s screams at once.It was not a pleasant experience and if they had any shame or guilt left to be played on then it would also feel like being forced to survive a tornado of emotion and make it out in tact. The pressure it applied to the psyche would irreversibly shatter most minds but for the kind of men that had to first survive those atrocities they inflicted, it made them both atone for their sins and get permission to commit them freely.At least, that’s h
Young was grateful that the restaurant was a good trek away from where they started as it gave them plenty of time to enjoy this experience and each other. He had this feeling in the pit of his stomach that just wouldn’t abate since they got to the bookstore and now that they were getting ready to close out the day, it made him more anxious. It was like all the work he’d done to make Asha more comfortable with his new title and create some sort of normalcy was getting ready to be washed away. It made the hairs on the back of his neck stand up and his balls itch. Neither was a good sign, but he was determined to ignore it so that he could give Asha the best day possible. She deserved to be pampered after all the shit the people around her had put her through, him included.Asha had wanted to pout about not being able to experience what it was like to first set off on a voyage via carriage, but she kept her brattyness in check. As Young pulled her into his side as close as po
Little did they know, both Asha and Young had the same thoughts on their mind as the older couple. Though they were playing out the day as if they could easily pick up from where they left off, as if there had been any normal part of their relationship in Young’s life or afterlife, they knew otherwise. It seemed they were constantly on a rollercoaster, going from ride to ride as the struggles and challenges got more and more advanced so did the frightening twists, turns, and plunges of their rollercoaster. But they both knew that this was yet another pivotal moment in the history of their relationship. Despite all they’d survived both together and separately to be able to get to this moment of forced normalcy, it was fragile. The question running through their minds was the same, ‘Could and would they last long enough to grow old and grey together?’Asha’s mind kept cycling between that question and ‘what if Young never grew old despite a successful release from his demonic sentence’
The older couple had continued to watch them from their little alcove connecting the back room with the rest of the store. Both happily joined Asha and Young, giggling like teenagers at the obvious care they both shared. To them it was comical to be able to see themselves in the young couple. Siphoning some of the frivolous fun being young and in love naturally procured. They had always been able to maintain the innocence of their bond, but it was couples like Asha and Young that added a little kindling and a lot of reminders as to why those moments were so important.As Young stacked the mountain of books on the counter, the older woman rang them up while the man gently bagged them in their custom tote bags. Young was surprised to find that the actual name of the shop was ‘Book Haven.’ It came extremely close to Asha’s description of ‘book nook.’ “Find everything alright?” she asked.Young paused his unloading to watch Asha’s face light up like the sky on 4th of July.“Yes! It was s
Coming back into his body from the minefield that had become his mind to witness Asha finally taking a seat in the nook she’d filled with books eased his spirit for the time being. He watched as she looked for whichever book that she just had to start reading right now before starting the harrowing task of sorting the rest to make space for her to get comfortable. Young joined her in the love seat, simultaneously placing her in his lap and putting the book she set aside in her hands to read. She gave him a look and thought better than to speak whatever had popped into her head as he started sorting her books out on the table and window sill.By the time he had finished his task of sorting the books so that it’d be easier to pick them up, she’d settled into him and was a few chapters in. Young sat back and eased into the feeling of having her in his arms, her head resting against his shoulder. The turning of the pages created a peaceful lull that Young hadn’t experienced in
As Young stood at the counter, caught up in watching Asha operate in her world from the outskirts of it, he wondered. Many things flit through his mind, memories, questions, random thoughts. The main thing he wondered though was ‘what if the spirit of the universe is really the spirit of her heart laid out in a trillion pages?’ Despite being shown her more negative lives, Young didn’t trust that the council had been telling him the whole truth. Watching Asha in her natural habitat, searching for her heart in the pages of those who left pieces of their souls to be examined, he wondered. He wondered how could someone with a spirit that shone of the brilliant balance she’d lived in every life could be so important to the parts that were so unbalanced. ‘How could someone that took in the broken boy and who searched for the shattered man belong to the evils of the world?’ She had every opportunity to give into her rage, despair, and vengeance with him in life and death, but her
Keeping with the theme of the day, ‘Asha’s complete and utter joy,’ Young happily drove them from the mall and to her favorite kind of store. He found a locally owned bookstore that gratefully had a lounge area for her to kick her feet up for a few hours and indulge in the pages of one of the books that would inevitably capture her full attention. As he talked with the owners of the book nook as Asha called it, divulging as much of their story as he could without disturbing their human psyche, he kept a watchful eye on his angel. She took her time going over each shelf with the same leisurely excitement he’d seen her do to at least a thousand different shelves since they were kids. Every now and then when he blinked, he saw every version of her he’d known in this life and a few times, visions of who she’d been in past lives, doing the same thing. “You must really love that woman young man,” the older man had said.Young turned his head to him and asked, “what makes you say that?”You
As they walked from the nail salon back to the car hand in hand, Young took note of the people around them, watching them watch Asha and him. Young looked at Asha and couldn’t help but see her and them both through the eyes of all these strangers. She did indeed look like the hot ass angel she was with the outfit he chose, one he’d seen her in plenty of times when allowed visitation. During his process of melding with Blood, the council would occasionally allow him moments to peek in on Asha as motivation to complete the mission they had for him. He’d always loved her lounging days when he was alive so that was the visual he always chose when he could. It was the only time she allowed herself to wear what she wanted rather than what she deemed appropriate to be seen in. Now she and this city was getting to experience her wearing what she wanted without a care of opinions.Alone Asha walked around with this aura that was just undeniable, but now with Young by her side and Bl
Asha was already warm and gooey with all of her old feelings being stirred up and mixing with the new ones Young was evoking. If she could describe herself right now she’d be a chocolate cookie fresh out the oven, with someone trying to eat it before it had a chance to cool down. And Young was definitely trying to eat her alive inside and out. As soon as she had went to reach to take the plate to the sink, there he was grabbing it out of her hands. It was like his sixth sense for when she was about to overwork herself with busywork had become heightened. Never had he snatched something from her before she could get to it, always immediately after. Then, he picked out an outfit that she loved wearing in the house but hated to expose herself in public in. Asha had no problem styling herself in extravagant and sometimes dramatic outfits just for herself. She would lay up in the house doing all types of self care things that would end with a romantic lunch
He had the immense pleasure of being able to watch her pretty pout of ecstasy turn into an even cuter one of frustration. No doubt the realization that she wasn’t going to get her next nut how and when she wanted a cold bucket to her psyche. She hadn’t changed one bit and that made his discovery even more rewarding. This he could work with, this he could mold to his advantage. They still had the core of who they were and thus the core of who they were as a pair and how they operated because of it. Not many souls had the privilege of claiming such a thing and yet they continued to for many millennia lost to the sands of time.With his observation, Young decided that today at least they were going to have a ‘normal’ day. Something akin to what they had at the pinnacle of their relationship would give him the motivation and inspiration to figure out what was next. He had to be smart about this or everything was going to come crashing down and quickly.After plating he