Running and Dreaming

As soon as Ash got inside her dorm room, she dropped her book bag on the floor, tossed off her overcoat, stepped out of her leather school shoes, and flopped face down on her bed. She didn't even bother to change out of her uniform.

Celia looked on from the doorway. She shrugged and quietly picked up her friend's discarded book bag, setting it on the floor beside Ash's study table. She balled up the crumpled coat and set it on top of Ash's book bag. Then, she put away both of their shoes, nudging aside Ash's strewn pair with her socked feet, and put her own book bag on her own study table, just beside Ash's.

Celia quietly changed into a pink velour Adidas Originals tracksuit and put on a pair of pure white Adidas trainers with gold accents. She knew that some of the students made fun of her for being noveau riche and ragged on her alleged lack of good taste, so she made it a point to double down on her flashy street-style aesthetic at school. She knew what she liked and her friends already liked her just the way she was: she had no intention of changing to impress strangers.

It didn't matter how rich the other families were, Celia wasn't intimidated by them. She understood that wealth and influence were deeply intertwined, but she held no admiration for people who were born into wealth and didn't have to work to keep it. She acknowledged wealth, but respected merit above all.

After she had dressed, she bent down closer to Ash who still had her face half-buried in the pillow.

"You'll hurt your back sleeping like that," she said softly to Ash. "Roll over like a good dog!" she joked.

Ash replied with a deep guttural growl that seemed to reverberate from deep in her throat. Her posture stayed exactly the same, defiant in its stiffness.

"Woah. That's new. I didn't know you could do that! Good girl!" Celia laughed, impressed with her friend's impression of a growling dog. Ash was really great at playing along with her gags, but Celia had never heard her make that sound before.

Celia swung a towel over her shoulder and headed to the door.

"I'll see you later, okay? Bye!" she said. And then she closed the door behind her and locked it.

****

Ash fell into a deep sleep. She dreamed that she was in the woods. The sun was beginning to set and the trees cast long shadows on the undergrowth. She put her nose in the air and sniffed. She could smell the scent of frost-covered leaves in the air, the dirt, and various other musky odors. One particular scent stood out to her and she followed her nose to where it led.

Perhaps she was crawling in the dream, because her view was quite close to the ground. But she didn't feel uncomfortable being on all fours, so she kept crawling forward. She was surprisingly nimble despite being on her hands and knees and she had no trouble moving through the woods. In fact, she felt lighter.

She crawled toward the source of the musky smell. The smell belonged to a young deer. Ash spotted it a few feet away and crouched behind a frost covered bush. The deer was foraging, chewing away at soft weeds. It nibbled away at a berry bush. Ash was very careful not to make a sound as she observed the deer.

Not finding any more berries on one side of the bush, the deer came around to the front, hoping to find more to eat. Ash watched as its rump came into her view, hind legs twitching as it pulled out more berries from the bottom of the bush. In her mind, she saw a vision of Hunter, tearing the tender meat from the chicken bone with his white teeth. She saw his blue eyes staring deep into hers. And then she saw his pink tongue lick his red sauce-stained lips from corner to corner.

Ash didn't even blink. She rose from behind the frost covered bush, and ran at the deer.

****

Celia walked back to the dorm building after an hour of running laps. She'd been gone from the dorm for a little more than a couple of hours, just killing time before dinner. Isabelle had jogged a couple of laps with her before leaving for her fencing class. They had agreed to meet for dinner at the cafeteria when Izzy was done.

The lights were off inside the room. Celia carefully took off her shoes, and set them on the floor, careful not to make any noise. The room was quiet.

[Ash is probably still asleep] Celia thought. She flipped the light switch on.

Ash's blanket hung halfway down her bed. One of her pillows was on the floor.

Celia peered into Ash's bunk.

[Huh?]

Ash wasn't there.