Moonlight upon the Sea - Chapter Eight

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Chapter Eight

November 2018

“I’ll drive you to school.”

Tayshia stopped at the front door, one hand on the doorknob and the other wrapped around the strap of her messenger bag. She turned, her pleated miniskirt flaring out around her as she did. Her eyes were alight from beneath her curls.

“Really? I hate the shuttle bus.”

Ash nodded, in the process of rolling a joint at the coffee table. He wore his typical skinny jeans and a hoodie, the sleeves pushed up as he leaned over with his elbows on his thighs. “We should talk about—”

“The fact that the legend of Crystal Springs Cavern is in some way real because I can enter your dreams and you can enter mine?”

“Yeah. That.”

“I agree. We should discuss it and figure out what we’re gonna do. I mean, we can’t...uh, we can’t...”

His eyes met hers as he licked the paper to seal the joint. Her words faltered for some reason unknown to him and she remained silent as he put the joint in his mouth and lit it. He watched her as he inhaled, letting the smoke fill his lungs before he released it in a hazy cloud around his face.

Tayshia cleared her throat before continuing.

"We can’t just let it go without figuring out why it’s happening. It’s unreal, really, but it’s happening. There’s answers somewhere.”

“Mm,” he said, his voice humming in his chest as he studied her and smoked.

Ash wondered how she could wear a skirt and a crop top at the start of November like that without a coat. Outside, he could hear the rain pattering against the roof of the apartment building, like the footsteps of little elves running back and forth. She was going to freeze or get soaked. Maybe both.

A flush to her cheeks, Tayshia walked over to the couch, plopping down to sit on one of the cushions. Ash saw that not only did she have a pair of high-heeled combat boots on, but she was also wearing her crystal. The jewel stood out against the backdrop of her black top. She pursed her lips, a judgmental expression on her face.

“You can’t go to school without getting high first?” she asked.

“No,” he said in a monotone, exhaling a cloud of smoke. “I can’t go to school without getting completely fucking blazed.”

“And there’s a difference?”

“Yeah.” He shot a casual glance in her direction. “You wanna come over here and try it?”

“No,” she said, her words whipping quick and snappish from her throat. “I’m cool with most things, but I have no intentions of ever trying weed.”

“Not very Christian of you to try most things, is it?”

“Boy, shut up,” she said, tsking. “Just hurry up.”

She sat there in silence, her gaze tracking the movements of his hand as he periodically brought the joint to his lips to take a drag. Since she was watching, he decided to show off a bit, blowing smoke rings and doing interesting things with the clouds using his fingers. She seemed fascinated by it all.

Sufficiently high, Ash went to his room to grab his backpack, wallet, keys, and his black windbreaker. In the living room, he held the jacket out to her.

“What’s this for?” she asked, staring at it as though it offended her.

“If you’re not wearing a coat for the sake of fashion, then at least take my jacket. You won’t have to sacrifice your style.”

“Is that a joke?” she asked with an incredulous expression.

“It’s like sixty degrees outside today,” he said. “So, no.”

She stared at him.

“We have literally hooked up three times now,” he said. “You can wear my damn jacket.”

Slowly, she reached out and took it from him. Setting her bag on the floor for a moment, she slipped it on. It was huge, the sleeves drowning her hands and the hem of the jacket nearly covering her skirt.

“It’s too big,” she said, pouting.

Ash said nothing, reaching forward with one hand to pull the hood on. He patted the top of her head, his hand lingering, curving around the top of her skull. She stared up at him, her eyes studying the planes of his face as though she were trying to decipher a hidden message. He gazed down at her, unable to see anything other than her lips. They’d gotten swollen when he kissed them last night.

They always did.

But he felt selfish for it, knowing what had happened to her. Everything was in a different perspective now. The hook up would have been normal if she were just a girl he met at a party, but she wasn’t. She was a girl who had a connection to him that somehow enabled him to enter her dreams. And when he did, it brought him to a nightmare. A nightmare that had forced him to experience the most traumatic, painful night of her life. A night that no one deserved to experience.

“Let’s go,” Tayshia said as she ducked out from underneath his arm and went around him. She yanked the front door open, letting in the cool air and the scent of the rainfall. “I don’t wanna be late for breakfast. I’m hungry.”

Weird.

Her dirty breakfast dishes were in the sink.

---

“So, what do you think?”

Ash watched the scenery going by outside his windshield as they hurtled down the road that led up the mountain. Outside of Tayshia’s window, the forest stretched down the side of the mountain and out for miles into the distance. There were more hills and rocky areas, but the mountain they were currently driving up was definitely the king of them all. Everything was green, lush and dark as the rain poured down around them. The sound of the water on the road as it splashed against the car’s wheels could probably be heard if his music weren’t so loud.

“Ash.”

He said nothing, focused on the road.

“Ash!” Tayshia, whose elbow was on the windowsill and knees were pulled to her chest with her feet in the seat, glared over at him. “Turn the music down and maybe you can hear me!”

“No.” He yawned, relaxing back in the seat with one hand on the wheel and his other hand in his lap. The raucous screaming, heavy electric guitars, and thrashing drums soothed him. “I heard you.”

“Then why aren’t you answering me?”

“Because I’m fucking high,” he drawled, rolling his head to look at her from beneath his hood. “And what do you want me to say? I don’t have any idea what’s going on.”

“Well, you have to have some thoughts about it. You’re the one who was in my dreams for months. Don’t you think it’s weird that I wasn’t in yours until now?”

Ash shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe it has something to do with the way we feel. Like, if we like or hate each other. Maybe you deciding you didn’t hate me anymore made it so you could get in, or whatever.”

“I—” She cut herself off, her brow furrowing. “Actually, that’s a good theory. Maybe letting your guard down is part of it, and if we both have our guards down, it’s like a...like a pathway between our minds.”

“Do you still hate me?”

“Undetermined.”

“I’ll take the dreams as proof then,” he said, smirking in her direction without taking his eyes off of the road and the other cars.

The music played uncontested for a solid thirty seconds before Tayshia spoke again.

“You don’t hate me, do you?”

“Nah. Never did.”

“Oh. Okay.”

Ash glanced at her. “That bother you?”

“No,” she said, her tone a bit wistful as she stared out the windshield. “It’s just confusing.”

“Which part?”

She was quiet for a long time, seeming to choose her words as carefully as though she were picking berries in an orchard.

“I don’t understand how you could not hate me, but still have been content to stand there and watch my dad die. I know you went to jail and that you’re..different now, but it still makes me wonder how you could be okay with it, even back then. And it makes me nervous.”

His heart wrenched in his chest, causing his hand to tighten on the lower curve of the wheel. He gritted his teeth against his guilt, averting his gaze to his window as though it could offer him reprieve from the tension.

“You don’t have to be nervous around me,” he said, turning his head to look down at her. “I would never hurt you.”

“I don’t know.”

That hurt.

“So, what do you want to do?” he asked. “About the caverns.”

“Oh, I don’t know...” Tayshia sighed. “Maybe we could talk to Miss Iqbal about it? I mean, if anyone’s going to know something about the caverns, it’s gonna be her, right?”

Ash nodded. That was true. Miss Iqbal was the teacher of the Myths & Legends class, so it stood to reason that she would be the person to go to regarding the caverns. They couldn’t tell her specifically what was going on, but they could glean something from her through asking the right questions.

When they got to the school, they parked close to the staircase that led up to the entrance doors. As they headed up the steps behind the crowd of students who were coming from the parking lot—the ones who didn’t live in the dorms—Tayshia stumbled.

Ash wasn’t sure how it happened. He only saw her go pitching forward. Thinking quick on his feet, he turned and swung his arm around. She slammed into it with an oof, her hands clutching his forearm as he pulled her upright. Several other students sent them wary looks, but Ash ignored them.

Something was wrong.

“You’re the epitome of a fanfiction protagonist at this point.”

“Huh?” Tayshia closed her eyes, shaking her head. When she opened them, they seemed a bit unfocused. “I’m okay. I’m fine. Just got dizzy all-of-a-sudden.”

“Shit. Do you need to go to the nurse?”

“No,” she said, immediately forcing herself to stand up straight. “I’m okay. Let’s just get to Miss Iqbal’s classroom. I’m really hungry.”

Ash pulled a perplexed face and followed her up the staircase. He kept his hand on her lower back just in case she got dizzy again. He didn’t need her face-planting it on the concrete, or swaying backward and going tumbling down.

In Miss Iqbal’s room, they were fortunate. She’d been about to leave to go to grab breakfast in the teacher’s lounge. They were able to catch her right as she was locking the classroom door behind her. She took them into the room so they could talk, perching on the edge of her desk while Tayshia and Ash leaned against a table.

“We’re just wondering if you know anything about the legend of the hot springs inside Crystal Springs Caverns,” Tayshia said. “It’s for the final project this term—the one you said we had to do research for.”

“Ah, believe it or not, but I haven’t had a student choose the caverns the entire time I’ve been teaching,” Miss Iqbal said, grinning. “I love that you’re taking an interest in the things we have at home. Have either of you been there?”

“Yeah, we went there,” Ash said, exchanging glances with Tayshia. “What do you know about it?”

“Well, I don’t know as much as I probably should, to be honest,” Miss Iqbal said, crossing her arms over her chest and shrugging her shoulders. “What I do know is that the legend’s been around for as long as I’ve lived here, and I’ve been here since I was born. It’s something well-known by older members of the community. As to the origins, I’m unsure. It could very well be something made up, or it could be something that has nothing to do with the area.”

“Nothing to do with the area?” Tayshia asked, sounding curious.

“It could have nothing to do with the springs or the caverns themselves—it could just be word-of-mouth. Which, you remember we talked about when we were discussing ancient lore earlier this term. It’s a good example.”

“Do you know if anyone has ever mentioned experiencing any strange dreams after going into the hot springs?”

Miss Iqbal’s brow furrowed. “I’m not sure what you mean, Tayshia. The hot springs have been off limits to civilians for a long time now. I think since I was little."

“Oh...well,” said Tayshia. Ash could see her trying not to look at him. “It’s just a rumor we heard, that if you go into the hot springs, you’ll have weird dreams. We just wanna explore every lead. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that the caverns are full of amethysts...?”

“I do know that crystals can encourage those sorts of things,” Miss Iqbal said. “Especially amethysts. You could try going to Moonbeams & Things in town and check out their book section?”

Ash had never heard of it, but Tayshia seemed to have. She nodded with enthusiasm, looking up at Ash.

“Tayshia, you okay, honey?” Miss Iqbal peered at her. “You look a little ashen.”

Ash’s head whipped to the right, down to look at Tayshia with concern. Her facial expression appeared surprised, but somewhere dancing in the meadows of her eyes, he saw faeries of fear.

“I’m fine,” she said, and her smile was tight. “I just felt a bit dizzy today. I, uh—fell on the stairs. It was a whole fiasco.”

“Hm. Well, make sure you go to Nurse Pritchard’s if you’re feeling under the weather.”

“Okay, we will!” Tayshia grabbed Ash’s hand and dragged him out to the hall. “See you later today, Miss Iqbal!”

Ash allowed himself to be pulled down and around the corner. The moment they were out of sight, regardless of the fact that he saw some of the high school students at their lockers, he yanked on her to whip her around to face him. She cried out and flew forward, her palms braced against his chest. The momentum caused the hood of his jacket to fall off of her head as she craned her neck.

He glared down at her.

“What’s going on?”

“What?” She started to pull back, but Ash was too strong. “Nothing! Nothing!”

“If it’s nothing, then why do you look so terrified?”

“Because you won’t let go of me, headass,” she snapped. She shoved him backward so suddenly that he nearly tripped, almost careening into a locker. “Don’t trap me in the hallway and then ask me why I look scared!”

She...she pushed me.

Ash saw crimson, like a flare going off in his mind.

He slammed her up against the nearest locker, one hand pinning her left shoulder while the other pointed an angry finger in her face.

“Stop fucking hitting me.”

“Then stop manhandling me,” she shot back.

A group of pre-req students traipsed by, talking about their breakfasts, and they slowed their pace. An assortment of boys and girls that they’d gone to school with for years, they seemed shocked as they caught sight of the compromising position. The rumors were already brewing in their eyes.

Ash and Tayshia were playing with fire.

“You can keep walking,” Ash said to the students, his tone threatening. He felt Tayshia struggling against his hold, but he ignored it. “Now.”

The students lingered, appearing uncomfortable. One of them—a raven-haired girl name Nicole—frowned, clutching her College Geography textbook tighter to her chest. She took a step closer.

“Are you guys friends?” she said, and she sounded revolted.

That pissed Ash off. Tayshia was the one who completely flipped her lid and shoved him.

But no. Just like at Keely’s party, he was the felon.

“Just go, Nicole!” Tayshia said, sagging against the lockers beneath Ash’s grip. “It’s not your business.”

Nicole’s facial expression contorted into one of indignance. She scowled and spat out, “You’re such a whore, Tayshia. No wonder Kieran left you. The last thing you are is a Godly woman.”

Okay, that pissed Ash off, too.

Remembering the things Kieran had said to Tayshia in her memory, coupled with the hypocrisy of him cheating on her, and now finding out he was telling the Christian students that Tayshia was a whore? He was about to start seeing red again. Tayshia was absolutely having a tantrum moment right now, but she wasn’t his whore. A woman didn’t have to be Godly to have worth, either.

Tayshia had value purely because she existed.

The students stormed off after Nicole, disappearing down the hall. At the lockers, the younger students were sharing whispers as the rumors already began to trickle outward. As soon as everyone was gone, Ash turned his attention on Tayshia again. She looked like she was hovering between rage and devastation.

“Look at me,” he said, using his knuckle to force her chin upward.

She did, but she was pouting.

“You don’t,” Ash whispered, his gaze flickering back and forth between her eyes, “push me. Do you understand me?”

“Then stop grabbing me all the time,” she hissed. “I’m not yours to trap or grab or hold.”

As she started to walk past him, he glared up at the ceiling and pushed her back by the shoulder again. The lockers rattled.

“Hey,” he said gently. “Wait a sec.”

“What? What do you want?” She looked annoyed. Exasperated. Done. “What, Ash?”

“You’re not a whore. Don’t listen to them. Anything that Kieran says is bullshit, and we both know it. He’s trash.”

She glared off to the right.

When a tear escaped the confines of her lower lashes, he felt his chest spasming. Concern flooded through his earlier anger. He was quick to wipe it away, fingers brushing across her cheek.

“Knock it off,” he said, lowering his voice. “Don’t let those people get to you. You’re stronger than that.”

“Why should I have to be?” she snapped, sniffling. “Why do I have to be strong all the time?”

“You don’t,” he said. “I’ve seen you at the bottom, and you were still strong as fuck. But you don’t have to be that strong person around me.”

She froze, staring up at him in horror. Before he could fully grasp the consequences of what he’d just said, she wrenched herself away from him. Realizing, he opened his mouth to apologize, running a hand through his hair.

Tayshia’s hand went up, fingers splayed and palm vertical.

“Don’t talk to me,” she said, voice flat. “Back up and go to class.”

“Wait, all right? I’m—”

“I don’t wanna hear it,” she said, eyes blazing. “Just go to class and I’ll see you later. After school, I’ll meet you in the parking lot and we’ll go to that shop. Okay?”

“Yeah. I’ll meet you by the steps.”

“Good.”

With one last glare, she spun and stomped off. The click-clack of her heels against the floor echoed behind her, ringing in the emptiness of Ash’s heart. All he could think about was Paris.

He pushed it all to the back of his mind, where those fearful faeries danced.