Chapter Text
The room felt cold despite the seemingly warm atmosphere as Ashlyn’s parents entered the kitchen to cut the cake. Something wasn’t right, and it was chilling Aiden to the bone.
Meanwhile, Logan and Taylor were asking Ashlyn questions lowly, each answer more worrying than the last. What time should they go to the abandoned warehouse? What do you mean why would we go there? Other you is waiting in the phantom dimension. What do you mean what phantom dimension!?
“I mean, what do you mean phantom dimension!” Ash said again, brows furrowed as if it were obvious. “Is this some sort of prank, did you guys start a D&D campaign without me or something?”
Tyler put his head in his hands as he sighed audibly, running his hands through his hair as Taylor pat him on the back, just as stressed.
“So you don’t remember anything about the abandoned warehouse, nothing?” Tyler asked, worry in his frustrated eyes.
“How many times do I have to tell you guys–”
“Oh, abandoned warehouse?” Ashlyn’s father, Mike said as he and Emma came up behind them, a tray of plates of cake in tow. “You know, you were born in one,” he chuckled, setting a plate down in front of her.
“Don’t get me started, Mike,” Emma said, shaking her head. “That place was a nightmare.”
How so? Ben signed, inquiring them to go on. Did you see something?
“Uh, yeah, it was pretty strange,” Mike said, taking a moment to translate in his head as he remembered that night. The cries of a newborn Ashlyn ringing in their ears, the presence of something looming behind him; dangerous. “Just some shadows,” he finished, touching the faded scar on his cheek.
“Why was I never told that I was born in some creepy warehouse?” Ashlyn said, taking a bite of her coffee cake. “Like seriously, I could be haunted for all I know.”
“We never told you?” Emma said, looking genuinely surprised before turning an accusatory face to her husband. “Mike!”
“What? What did I do?”
They’re bickering (not truly, they were smiling.) didn’t last long before Logan blurted, “A gate!”
Everyone turned their heads, and Logan shrunk beneath their gaze. “Sorry… I was just thinking about… a game.” He fixed his glasses nervously, smiling apologetically.
Tyler narrowed his eyes as he met Logan’s. The boy knew him too well to brush off a random outburst like that. Logan knew that look, knew all too-well that Tyler had this way of seeing right through him, but he insisted with a shake of his head, noticing how everyone else besides Ashlyn and her parent’s were still glancing at him. Later, he thought, before mouthing it to them.
Still skeptical, everyone tuned back into Ashlyn’s parent’s and their story about the abandoned warehouse, drinking in the information they were trying to will out of them.
Unfortunately, it came to an end without much else to go off of, her parent’s changed the topic back to the days activities the gang had planned before Ashlyn went with her parents to their yearly airsoft tournament an hour away.
Ashlyn looked at them expectantly, a gleam of hidden interest and innocent excitement only her friends could spot.
And guiltily, it was almost enough to make him forget about their real issue when she turned that look his way. It was like his body lost all feeling with just that look, and at the same time, he felt overstimulated– a feeling he craved. Its very own rush of adrenaline.
Aiden wasn’t sure if he’d said this before, but he would say it now, and again, and again.
He wasn’t dumb. Dumbly reckless, sure, but not dumb enough not to know why he felt this way. He’d never experienced it before, of course, but he heard enough about it from social media and its strangely entertaining K-dramas.
Love was its own rush of adrenaline, and Aiden was drunk on it. Drunk on the feeling, drunk on the ratched beating oh his heart, and drunk on the girl that was the alcoholic bottle.
“My idea first!” Aiden grinned. “Let’s play…” He got down on his knees and off the couch, pulling the gameboard he’d brought from home out from under the coffee table. “Monopoly!”
Everyone groaned.
“No, no way!” Tyler immediately vetoed.
Yeah, Ben signed. You always cheat in that game.
“Hey, I do not!”
“Aiden, I literally caught you stealing money from the bank poorly several times,” Logan deadpanned.
“Oi, four-eyes–”
“I gave him that nickname, get your own!” Tyler interjected, scowling next to a giggling Taylor, her head resting on Ashlyn’s shoulder.
“Course you did, you’re not very original. Like what the hell is Carrot-Top? Ashlyn doesn’t even like carrots!”
“Oh, you–”
They played Monopoly.
…
Spoiler alert: Aiden cheated, and Logan won.
—
“A gate?” Taylor blinked, quirking a brow as they walked around the neighborhood. They’d left Ashlyn’s a few minutes ago, the girl and her parents off to go airsofting, her parent’s promising they could all go together during the winter.
“Yeah, a gate.” Logan said, arms crossed. “It’s been a theory of mine since Savannah, I just never really had any solid enough evidence to prove it. But this can’t just be another coincidence.”
“So, you think there’s gates like the one in Savannah that lead to the phantom world?” Aiden asked, his chin resting on Ben’s shoulder. His cousin huffed, his arms wrapped around Aiden’s thighs to keep him from falling off his back. “And you think that one of the gates is that warehouse that Ashlyn was born in.”
“It would explain why the other Ashlyn has a connection to the place,” Logan started.
“And why she’s seemingly been there since she was born!” Taylor said, ruffling Logan’s hair. “You’re a genius, Loges!”
“But that still doesn’t explain why Ashlyn lost her memories and switched with little angrier Ash,” Tyler muttered. “Seriously, our girl never catches a break.”
A car drove past, the smell of smoke and weed filling their senses simutaneously as Taylor coughed, fanning the air. The day was beginning get hotter, the June air murky with smog from the summertime rain.
“Well, I also thought about that. I think that maybe a part of Ashlyn has always been in the phantom world since birth,” Logan continued, rolling his eyes as Ben pinched Aidens leg when he almost made them trip trying to get closer to Logan. “I think that when Ashlyn was born, that gate must’ve been open. For how long, I don’t know. But it must’ve dragged part of her in before closing, maybe when it hit midnight?”
Ashlyn’s parents weren’t able to give them much more than what they were told before, but they did mention how late it was. Just barely a couple minutes before midnight, seeing as they arrived at the hospital around 12:15.
“That explains why she has that freaky control over some of the phantoms,” Aiden piped in, messaging where Ben pinched him with a pout. “Like some shadow queen,” He whispered in awe.
Ben blinked at him, quirking a brow as if to say, really? Shadow queen?
As they rounded the block and Aiden fished the house keys out of Ben’s pocket, they sighed in relief as the sticky summer heat was blown away by the cool AC.
Tyler and Ben immediately went for the kitchen, rummaging for the popsicles in the freezer. Everyone else flopped onto one of the couches, and in Aiden’s case, the floor.
The lights were still off, the daylight pouring through the window lit the living room calmingly. It was a much needed change from the humid heat outdoors.
“I miss winter,” Aiden groaned, star-fish across the carpet.
Taylor joined in, dramatically putting her arm across her head like a damsel. “Me too, I’m not made for this heat. I miss my sweaters!”
“Isn’t it pretty hot in the mechanics room?” Logan asked, smiling at their dramatics.
“Yeah, but I’m too busy working to notice it! That doesn’t count.”
Logan grinned, rolling his eyes again as the couch dipped beneath him, Tyler and Ben on either side of him.
“Well, anyway,” Logan said, taking off his glasses. Ben instinctively took them and set them down carefully on the coffee table. “Back to what I was saying, I don’t know how long the gate is open for. We just know for sure that the gate is open today, for all we know it could close when midnight hits.”
Taylor’s face shifted, now grim. With her, the reality of the situation hit the gang, just how real and just how easily they could lose Ashlyn.
They were silent for a moment, unsure of what to say, what to do. Aiden, for all his chatter, was just as quiet, if not more so then the rest. He sat alone on the couch across from the others, looking down at his hands. The hands that so easily could intertwine with Ashlyn’s if he so wanted. The hands that could no longer do that, so long as she was split this way.
The girl in the phantom dimension was all alone again, and would stay alone until they could figure this thing out. What was she doing now, he wondered?
Aiden slowly got up from the couch before sitting down cross-legged next to Taylor. “We can’t just leave them like this, I mean, little Ash hasn’t seen a normal, blue sky in years. If at all!”
We’re not going to leave her like this, Aiden, Ben signed. We just need a plan.
“If she was dragged in on her birthday…” Taylor said, sitting up shoulder-to-shoulder with the blond.
“...Then why not just drag her ass back out?” Tyler finished, taking a bite of his popsicle. (Diabolical, right? Who does that?)
I don’t think that’s how it works, Ben squinted.
“Actually, it might,” Logan cut in. “If we just took Ashlyn back to the same place she was split, and if the other Ashlyn was there at the same time…”
“Then they could reconnect, right?” Aiden grinned. “Hug it out and we can have our Ashlyn back!”
“There’s no guarantee they’d just fuse together and be normal again,” Tyler said, side-eyeing a thoughtful Logan. “Am I right?”
“Well,” Logan bit his lip before reaching over to take Tyler’s popsicle from him. The darker boy let him with a huff and Logan took a bite (Really? What’s wrong with these people!).
“There’s a chance it wouldn’t work. But there’s a bigger chance it might. If “phantom” Ash collides with “human” Ash then she should have her memories back, they’re simply blocked from phantom Ashlyn’s mind because of the split. But human Ash would more than likely have all those memories and more from phantom Ashlyn, all those years alone before turning into a phantom herself.
“We just have to hope against hope that Ashlyn’s human side is enough to dominate over her phantom, since that’s essentially what our other Ashlyn is. If not…”
“Hold on a sec,” Aiden paused, furrowing his brows and coming to Logan’s conclusion. “If her human side is enough to get her back, we’re all good. If it’s not… can Ashlyn– will she– “ Aiden took a shaky breath as Taylor nudged his knee with her own, silent support. He licked his lips, dry and chapped. “She’d turn into a phantom, wouldn’t she?”
Logan gave Tyler back what was left of his popsicle, looking Aiden headstrong in the eyes as he clenched his jaw. “Yeah,” He croaked. “And we’d lose her. For good.”
Before the silence could stretch for too long, Tyler huffed, standing up as he finished off his cherry popsicle. (a cruel man, truly. Everyone knows orange is the best.)
“But that’s not going to happen, idiots,” Tyler walked over to Aiden, crouching down and flicking him upside the head with a glare. Aiden
yelped.
“We’re gonna get our other idiot back, and we’re gonna do it right, Logan.” Tyler turned to Logan, arms crossed against his “evil twin” shirt. “We just have to get Ash to that warehouse before midnight?” Logan nodded, smiling at his friends way of cheering their group up. “Perfect. Then let’s do it, stop moping around.”
“Ty,” Taylor smiled fondly, “You’re such a softie.”
“The half-wits right. This is our only chance, so let’s get Ash to that creepy-totally-haunted-warehouse!” Aiden stood up, bumping Tyler’s shoulder with his own.
“Yeah!” Taylor jumped up, pumped and ready to go. “Let’s go, let’s go!”
“We can take my parent’s spare car! Ben just got his permit, so we shouldn’t crash, but if we do, can we get matching casts–”
“ – I am not getting a matching cast with you, moron–”
CLAP.
Everyone startled, heads whipping to the couch where Ben and Logan sat, staring at them. Ben with a deadpan expression, his hands still stuck together in a clapping motion as he motioned his head toward the boy next to him.
“You guys, I’m glad we’re all excited to get Ash back…” Logan chuckled. “But…”
Ashlyn is airsofting with her parent’s, she won’t be back till later tonight, Ben signed, crossing his arms as he leaned back. We won’t be able to go anywhere to save Ash if we have no Ash.
Aiden and Taylor pouted, looking suddenly interested in the carpet pattern as Tyler looked the other way, embarrassed.
“We should wait till tonight anyway. It’s too hot to go there and wait hours until midnight.” Logan reasoned, reaching over Ben to grab his glasses from the coffee table, putting them back on. “And Ashlyn isn’t going to just head out with us to the abandoned warehouse where she was born, we need to figure out a way to convince her in the first place.”
“Oh,” Aiden said, grinning. “I can do that. You guys just focus on a way to sneak out and Ben will come get you. Ben, come to Ashlyn’s house last after you gather everyone up, she’ll come with us.”
“You’re probably the least probable person to be able to convince Ashlyn-I-don’t-want-to-go-anywhere-after-ten-Banner,” Tyler smirked. “Taylor or I should do it.”
“Trust me, I can do it!” Aiden squawked, ducking as Tyler attempted to flick his forehead again. “I know Ash better than any of you, no offense.”
That’s cause you’re a creepy stalker who wouldn’t leave her alone, Ben cocked his head. Tyler cackled.
“Okay, fine, whatever,” Aiden huffed. “Just let me do this. I promise I can.”
Something in the air shifted, and maybe it was just the fact that Aiden just admitted to being a creepy stalker and that was really funny. But for all his jokes, he looked serious, determined. Ashlyn would be coming with them tonight, and they were going to get her back.
“Alright,” Taylor said, smiling as she punched his shoulder. “We believe you. Go get our girl.”
—
Ashlyn’s mind has been… foggy, lately to say the least. She feels dizzy, tired, and quiet. The world around her is so, so, quiet. It was strange, and Ashlyn didn’t know why. Didn’t know why the steady silence was so disconcerting, and why it disturbed her so much. All she knew was that something wasn’t right.
And her friends weren’t helping. They acted strange during their games, like they were just getting used to her again. Again? But they’d always known her, more than she knew herself sometimes.
And she certainly didn’t know herself right now.
Something was off. Something wasn’t right. Something was missing.
But nothing was lost, so why did she feel… not right. Like an anomaly in her own body and mind. What was going on?
And why the hell was Aiden Clark outside her window an hour from midnight?
“Jesus,” She groaned as she hauled herself off her bed, her body sore from the blooming bruises their airsofting escapade left her. Her hair was still damp from her shower an hour ago, no longer taught with tangles, dirt, and leaves.
Opening the window, the humid air clung to her skin almost immediately and she wanted to slam it back closed. “Aiden, why are you at my window like some DIY Flynn Rider this late?”
“Yowch,” Aiden chuckled as he stepped inside, fanning his shirt out from the heat. “Are you calling me handsome?”
Ashlyn stared.
“Tough crowd.”
“Aiden.”
“Alright, alright, fine! Me and the gang wanna go check out that old warehouse you were born in. Fun, right? Let’s go!”
Aiden went to grab her hand, and Ashlyn furrowed her brows as he hesitated and dropped his hand back to his side, standing there awkwardly. She’s never seen him this way, it was startling. Ashlyn almost moved to grab his hand herself, but thought better of it.
The room was dark, nothing on except for her lamp beside her bed. It gave Aiden this unfair lighting that made him seem so soft in the moment, and gave way to just how worried he looked. “Uh,” Aiden said, blinking in hidden shock at his actions. He looked sad, and even more stressed than he was before. “Ash–”
“No way I’m going with you guys to that warehouse, I’m exhausted enough as it is after airsofting. I’m all dizzy and my brain feels weird,” Ashlyn interrupted, still disgruntled by his mood as she ranted, messaging her temples. “Why do you guys wanna go there anyway?”
“We just thought it would be cool, you know? To end your birthday off?” Aiden said, talking fast but low as to not make her headache(?) worse. “We don’t even have to do much, we’ll just chill out together until midnight!”
“Aiden, slow down.”
“Then we can come right back, Ben’s driving by the way, since he got his permit and everything. Is it illegal for him to be driving this many people? Yeah, but where’s the fun in following the law anyway?”
“Aiden, stop.”
“But anyway, please come with me– us. Come with us. You can sleep on the way there if you want–”
Ashlyn winced at his rising volume, afraid that her parents would wake up any second if he didn’t shut his trap. Grabbing him by his arms, she shook him. “Aiden!”
His mouth clicked shut as he looked up from the ground, his eyes wide in surprise.
“Yeah?”
“What is going on? You’ve been weird all day, and not just you, everyone has. Why do you want me to go to that warehouse so badly?”
Aiden gulped as his eyes traveled from her arms to the hands gripping his forearms. He opened his mouth before shutting it again and looking back up at her through his lashes. Like he was afraid she’d let go if he looked her directly in the eyes.
“Ash,” He croaked, almost whined. “You won’t believe me if I tell you. But we’ll fix everything. I just need you to come with me. Please.”
Aiden’s skin was warm under her own, a stark contrast to her forever pale, freezing touch. Everything in his eyes and his body and his rapid heartbeat was like a chorus, begging for her to trust me, trust me, trust me.
And what right did she have to say no?
“Okay,” She said. “I’ll go.”
A smile broke across Aiden’s face, genuine and warm, relieved. And as those three simple words tumbled out of her mouth, like his willed them out of her, that fog cleared up just the slightest bit. Like a window, shut tight that managed to creak open just enough to let in a slither of moonlight into a dark room.
All Ashlyn had to do was grasp the handles and tug. Rip the window open until she was basked in something she didn’t know she’d missed.
“Alright. Okay. Yeah,” Aiden brought his arms up, his hands willingly tugging her own off of him. The warmth was lose, but only for a second as his hands slid across her arms and into hers. The touch was soft and gentle, loud and booming, like fire and ice. A promise. Something her heart remembered. Something her mind wanted more of.
“Yeah,” She echoed, trying and failing to stamp down the warmth blossoming across her body.
“Yeah,” He breathed.
Suddenly, his phone buzzed harshly in his pocket, startling them both as they separated.
It was Tyler. Or as the contact read, ‘half-wit’.
“Oh,” He said, waving his phone at her as he smiled nervously. “I think they’re outside.”
—
The car was quiet.
Everyone was on edge, the atmosphere buzzing with nervous energy as the engine hummed around them. Ben and Tyler were in the front seats, Taylor and Logan in the middle, and of course, Aiden and Ashlyn in the very back. Big car, right? God, absent parent’s came with its perks when they were rich.
Taylor was trying to lighten the mood, playing Chappel Roan over the speaker while she and Logan talked about their science project. Tyler was giving Ben directions from Google Maps, and lastly, Ashlyn was nearly asleep on Aiden’s shoulder.
And god, did Aiden want to squeal like a little girl.
“Hey, how much longer, half-wit?” Aiden asked once he got over Ashlyn leaning into his side, her weight heavy and familiar.
“Uh, five… four…”
“You just had to make it sound like we’re about to explode once you hit zero, huh?” Logan sighed, righting himself from where he was leaned over his phone with Taylor.
“Two… one…” Tyler finished with a shit eating grin, looking over his seat at Logan.
Ben pulled into the gravely drive way, the car bumping up and down on the uneven pavement. Parking with a shaky breath, grateful for the drive to be over, (give the guy a break) he motioned for everyone to climb out.
The echoes of unbuckling seat belts was enough for Ashlyn to come out of her haze and lift herself off of Aiden. His side quickly became cold without her body against his.
“Hey, Ashey,” Aiden teased quietly as she groaned. “We’re here.”
When she looked up at him, Aiden startled, his smile dropping just as quickly as it’d formed. Her gaze was no longer a fiery green, but dull. Like the color was drained or clouded over.
She didn’t answer as she climbed over him and out of the car.
Aiden sat there for a moment, bewildered as he released a breath he hadn’t known he’d been holding.
“Come on, idiot, let’s go!” Tyler called from outside the car as everyone began walking toward the run down building.
Aiden gulped, his heart pounding against its cage as he wiped his (sweaty… why were they sweaty?) palms against his shorts. Adrenaline was coursing through his veins, but for once, he wished it would just stop. Go away.
“Aiden?” Taylor called next, stopping to wait as everyone else entered the warehouse. “You okay in there?”
Aiden blinked, unclenching his jaw and taking a desperate gulp of air.
He climbed out of the car, slamming the door shut.
“Yeah,” He grinned, bumping Taylor on the shoulder. “Let’s get this over with.”
The house was as dusty as it was in the phantom dimension. Rust and the smell of dead carcusses filling their senses as they walked around. The night was dark, giving way to shadows scurrying around in the forest outside before following them in here.
Ben turned on his phone flashlight.
“I don’t remember it smelling this bad,” Taylor said with a grimace, her voice pitched as she plugged her nose.
“You think there’s a coyote in here or something?” Aiden asked, looking around excitedly.
Tyler turned to Ashlyn beside him, expecting to find Aiden right next to her per usual so he could berate him. Except, he wasn’t there. Tyler clipped his mouth shut with a frown and turned around, surprised to find him on the complete opposite side of the group. Strange.
“Don’t joke about that, moron,” Tyler huffed as they trudged on. “Where are we even heading anyway? We’re just walking around like we did last night.”
“Ashlyn, do you recogonize anything about this place?” Logan asked, peering past Ben and to the red-headed girl. “Anything familiar?”
Everyone turned to look at Ashlyn, Ben’s light illuminating her face. Everyone took a noticeable step back besides Aiden when they saw her eyes. She didn’t turn to face them, instead looking straight ahead. But they could see the gray of her eyes, the fog dismissing her color.
“What the hell?” Tyler whispered.
Taylor grabbed onto Tyler’s arm harshly, face contorted in fear. “What happened? What happened to her! Are we too late?”
“No,” Logan said gently, eyes never leaving Ashlyn’s as he put a hand on Taylor’s shoulder, pulling his phone out. “We still have fourty five minutes until midnight.”
Ben waved a hand in front of her face worriedly as he turned to Aiden, an old habit of his. As if Aiden would have the answers he was looking for. Ben furrowed his brows when he realized Aiden wasn’t shocked, he just looked… frustrated. Determined?
“The gate closes at midnight, right?” Aiden asked Logan, his voice low. “Ashlyn doesn’t have her memories, and this is our only chance. The closer it gets to midnight, the more… wrong she becomes.
“When I went to her house earlier, before you guys picked us up. She mentioned being dizzy, like she couldn’t think straight,” Aiden confessed, picking at his already torn cuticles. “I thought she might be getting sick, or she was tired from airsoft. But…”
His eyes traced over Ashlyn as she stayed still, lost somewhere they couldn’t see. His gaze hardened in the dark as he turned to Logan. “How much longer?”
“About half an hour,” He responded.
“And then what? Will the gate just fix her?” Tyler asked, glancing from Logan to Ashlyn to Logan.
“Hopefully.”
“Will she stay all… weird like this? If it doesn’t work?” Taylor questioned, stressing at her sleeves still stained with oil from the mechanic shop.
“I don’t know…”
As everyone chattered about in the gloomy building, their voices echoing as they hit the metal walls, Ashlyn began to walk.
Ben was the only one to notice, quiet as he stressed silently over the girl. He yelped silently as he followed after her, looking back at the group as they continued to worry. He stopped at the door of the hall (more like a hole in the wall, there was no door) and knocked loudly on the metal, grabbing their attention. (Blinding them with his phone light also helped. Just a little.)
Tyler cursed and everyone else cringed but Aiden, he simply stared right into the light unblinkingly, how was he related to this guy?
“What, Ben?” Taylor asked, covering her eyes.
Ben pointed to where Ashlyn had been standing a moment prior, then down the hallway, and began walking.
“Shit– Ash!” Aiden righted himself, following after Ben at a jog with everyone else close behind him.
Looking room into abandoned, muddy, filthy room, they found her in one they recognized.
The trap door.
The couch was pushed to the side, just barely enough to let the door open. How she was able to do it without help this time? They decided to stay curious.
They all walked down, Aiden jumping and hitting the ground with a thud. “Ash?” He swivled his head around the dark room, blind without Ben’s phone. “Ashlyn!” He stumbled around as everyone else herded down the ladder.
He tripped.
“Crap–”
He landed face first into a cushion it felt like, his knees stung from hitting the ground harshly as he clambered up onto the couch. Like if he didn’t, some gnarly rotting hand would grab him from the shadows.
Finally, Ben came down, lighting the room up.
At first, Aiden still could not see Ash. Until he realized where everyone was looking, and his eyes traveled down to meet a sleeping Ashlyn curled into a ball, just inches away from him.
“Oh, she’s sleeping.” Aiden blinked, scooting closer to her until he could feel her warmth.
“How did she know this place was down here?” Tyler crossed his arms, leaning against the ladder.
“Is she remembering things?” Taylor turned to Logan. “Is this place helping her after all?”
“It could be triggering some memories, but even so, the only one that should have known about this place was Ashlyn in the phantom dimension,” Logan walked toward Ash, crouching in front of her face, feeling her forehead. “I think you’re right. Being here might be helping her.”
Ben sighed in relief, walking and plopping down beside Logan on the ground.
The twins quickly followed suit, Tyler wedging himself in the small space Ashlyn left on the other side of the couch. No one but the people in the room would be able to tell, but Tyler was just as worried as the rest of them. Even if he was better at hiding it than his friends.
Taylor sat on the other side of Logan before lying down and using his lap as a pillow.
After a minute of getting comfortable, Ashlyn’s head was on Tyler’s lap while he gently mussed with her hair, her feet just barely on Aiden as he untied and retied her boot laces. Taylor, Logan, and Ben were all cuddled up below them, Logan’s head resting against Ben’s shoulder with his hand on Tay’s arm.
It was silent for a few minutes before Taylor’s voice broke the silence of the room. “We’re going to get her back, right?” Her voice was soft, breaking at the end of her sentence.
The room was still, Ben’s flashlight revealing dust particles floating around in the air like snow. Despite the rough state of the room, it was comfortable, together like this.
“We’ll get her back, Tay,” Aiden responded before Tyler could open his mouth. “It’s Ashlyn we’re talking about. She’s gonna give whatever’s doing this to her.”
“She’ll find her way back to us, don’t worry,” Logan chimed in quietly, his eyes prickling with warm tears as he wiped Taylor’s.
Ashlyn wasn’t asleep throughout all of this. She could hear them perfectly fine, but she felt nothing. Couldn’t respond, couldn’t open her eyes. She was so, so tired.
They lay together for the next twenty minutes, and that’s all it took before they fell asleep.
—
Ashlyn felt it, then. A tug.
The window was opening, the moonlight bleeding red through the window pane.
She was here.
Go, her heart whispered.
No, her mind countered. Stay. You don’t need her. Stay.
Her head was loud, her mind clambering for some semblance of what to do and who to listen to.
Ashlyn’s heart is what got her into this mess, the reason why she’s all wrong. So all over the place.
Her mind was loud, but dammit, her heart was louder.
—
Ashlyn was gone.
“Where the heck does this girl keep disappearing off too!” Tyler let out a frustrated breath. “Is it so hard for her to stay in place?”
They were looking all over the place, going in and out of rusty room after moldy room. Up and down stairs, calling her name. They were frantic, they didn’t have time for this, what if she was in danger? What if they went to the phantom dimension and she was all alone with no one– wait.
“Logan!” Aiden grabbed his shoulders as he jumped down the last set of stairs. “Logan, how much time do we have left?”
They’d almost forgot.
How long were they asleep?
Logan shakily took out his phone from his pockets, breathing heavily from all their running. The light turned on, a sheen of sweat gleaming on their foreheads as Aiden grit his teeth at the time.
12:01 am.
“Aiden!” Logan called.
Crap, crap, crap.
No wonder they couldn’t find her.
There wasn’t a her to find.
They were too late.
Late for what? Wasn’t this their plan all along, to wait and hope against hope Ashlyn magically turned back to normal? Stupid.
Aiden tore through the house, broken windows flashing in his peripheral as he ran toward the entrance. Deep blue sky and stars winking at him as he heaved– wait. Blue?
Aiden burst through the door, his chest heaving and sore as it tried to force air through his lungs. Despite the warm, summer night, he felt cold, like his insides were freezing.
Though, none of it mattered when he saw her.
“Ash–” Aiden choked, coughing as he took a step forward. His throat ached. “Ashlyn?”
Ashlyn stood on the path, still and rigid as she looked out into the forest. She didn’t move an inch when her name was called, not when the rest of their friends burst through the building, not when Tyler cursed when he tripped over one of the rotting boards on the ground.
“Shit, why the fuck is it so dark? I can’t see a thing!”
“Ashlyn,” Aiden called again, taking another step toward her.
Tyler was right, it was too dark for midnight. Too dark for the phantom dimension. But he kept his eyes trained on Ashlyn as they attempted to adjust to the darkness. He had to get closer, to see her, to see she was alright–
“Wait,” Logan said as Ben grabbed Aiden’s shoulder, stopping him from getting any closer. “Look.”
Everyone watched as something moved in the distance, the bushes rustling as a sudden wind picked up. Leaves danced and skitted across the dirt as the world waited in bated silence, eerie and unnatural. It was as if the forest itself sensed there was a predator around.
“What is that?” Taylor whispered after a moment. “Is it a phantom?”
“I don’t think so,” Logan squinted, fixing his glasses. “Look at the sky, it isn’t red.” Everyone but Aiden looked up, his eyes still fixated on Ashlyn, his legs itching to move.
“It’s… black,” Taylor mumbled.
What? Aiden thought. It was blue just a minute ago, there was no way. Aiden tore his eyes away from Ashlyn’s form and looked up. Taylor was right. The sky wasn’t red, nor was it blue. It was an inky black befitting of any phantom, not a single dot of white in sight. It was like they were trapped in a pitch dark box.
“What’s going on?” Tyler muttered. “Are we in the phantom dimension? This can’t be our world.”
“It’s neither,” Logan supplied. “I think we’re in some in between world.”
“How?” Aiden looked back to Ashlyn, and then to Logan. “Is it because of the gate?”
“Partially, but it’s not an accident,” He said, wrapping his arms around himself as the wind grew stronger. “We were brought here on purpose.”
“By who? ”
Taylor’s question was answered when the bushes moved, too harshly to be a product of the wind. A red, glowing light emerged, like the creature was willing itself to be seen.
A phantom. Larger, and taller than any they’d ever encountered. Its skin was uneven and patchy, torn and ragged like it’d come from war. Its claws were stained, eyes milky white and smile stretching all across its face. And it was moving toward Ashlyn.
“It’s coming closer,” Tyler said. “It’s going to Ashlyn.”
“Fuck,” Aiden cursed. “We have to go– Ben! Start the car, I’ll get Ash–”
“No!” Logan said, holding him back with Ben. “We have to stay or we won’t get Ash back!”
“Fuck that!” Aiden growled, struggling against them. “It’s gonna kill her!”
“Aiden, look!” Taylor joined in. “It’s not gonna hurt her, just stop!”
“What do you mean its not going to hurt her? Look at it!” Aiden glared at the phantom dragging itself to Ashlyn, who has yet to move.
Except it wasn’t so big now, it looked smaller. Was he imagining things?
He wasn’t. As it took a step closer, it shrunk. Its claws becoming more dull, its skin smoother, more pale.
When it finally stopped, just a few feet from Ashlyn, it was smaller than her. White eyes looked up at her, silent as it reached a dull claw to her face.
Everyone was slack when it happened, no longer paying Aiden any more mind. He took his chance, yanking himself away as he sprinted to his best friend.
“Aiden!”
He stopped next to Ashlyn, grabbing the clawed hand just as it grazed her face. The phantom startled, taking a step back. It hit Aiden like whiplash, how human it was acting. What was going on…
“Aiden?” A familiar voice whispered in his ear. He whipped his head away from the phantom, meeting Ashlyn’s bright green eyes as they stayed trained on the phantom before them. Her pupils were small, her breathing quickly becoming erratic. She slammed her palms to her ears.
“Ash?”
“What the hell is that thing?”
Not a second later, everyone else was behind her.
“Ash!”
“Are you okay?”
“Do you remember everything?”
“Are you hurt?”
Questions and worrying touches were exchanged, but Ashlyn’s eyes never once left the monster. “Do you guys not see it?” She whispered. “Hear it?’
Phantom noises.
Aiden looked back to the phantom. Except it wasn’t a phantom at all.
It was Ashlyn.
Her hair was short, scar after scar interrupting her consetallion of freckles as they littered her body. Her eyes were wide and wild as she looked Aiden in the eyes, faint recognition gleaming in the sea of green.
They seemed to say, It’s you. The boy without a name.
Aiden’s harsh grip on the girls wrist slackened, answering with his eyes. I promise, I’ll tell you. I’ll tell you my name, but you already know it.
“It’s her,” Taylor said gently, like she was talking to a small dog, eyes wide. “Do you remember us?”
The girl nodded, and their Ashlyn flinched.
“Hey, Ash, it’s okay,” Aiden said, grabbing her hand with his free one. “She’s gonna help you.”
“She?” Ashlyn said incredulously. “ Who. Is she ?”
“You, carrot-top,” Tyler said from her shoulder. “She is you. ”
“Nice riddle, half-wit.”
“Shut up.”
“Ash,” Logan said. “You don’t remember a lot of things, something happened when you ran off in the phantom dimension. But she’s gonna help us bring you back.”
“What are you talking about!”
Smaller Ashlyn took another step back, looking down. She was so proud and wild when they first met her, and so quickly, she looked like what she really was. A little girl. Scared and alone.
But she didn’t have to be anymore.
“Ashlyn,” Aiden turned to her, letting go of the girls wrist, bringing Ashlyn’s hands to his cheek. His eyes bore into hers, calm meeting wild. Both on opposite sides, ironically, it was usually switched. “You need to trust us. Remember? You said you trusted me.”
“Yeah, to sacrifice my sleep and go to some abandoned astronomy warehouse. Not to meet the devil!”
Aiden heard a shift behind him.
“Ashlyn Banner, listen to me. She is not some monster or devil, so don’t call her that. I won’t let you, because whether you believe it or not right now, she is a part of you.
“I don’t know if this was something that happened at birth or out in the forest when you ran away, but she’s been alone for years with actual monsters like what you’re seeing right now. She’s lived under a red sky in a dirty basement for as long as she can remember.”
Ashlyn and the others shifted around behind her, shocked and slightly uncomfortable with this serious turn he was taking. But it didn’t matter now, because Ashlyn was listening. And something in him told him that he had to keep going, because dammit…
“She hasn’t ever seen the sun before, can you believe that!” Aiden laughed humorlessly. “God, she doesn’t even remember her parents. You’re parents.”
Ashlyn clenched her jaw, her lips wobbling.
Aiden Clark was making Ashlyn Banner cry.
And he could not be happier.
He turned away from her and back to the little girl who’d somehow gotten smaller when he wasn’t looking. He had to crane his neck down to see her.
“And you didn’t deserve any of it,” Aiden whispered, bringing his hands to accompany her cheek now instead of his. Her hands were so small, and God, Aiden wanted to cry. “But you don’t have to be alone anymore.”
Little Ashlyn’s eyes began to water as she listened to him, never once making a noise as she hiccuped and sobbed, her nose running.
“You aren’t alone anymore.” Aiden’s eyes softened even further as he felt his own eyes begin to water. “So, hey, little girl,” he wiped her tears, laughing wetly when it did nothing to help. “My name is Aiden, what’s your name?”
Aiden.
It was like she was permanently on mute, even as she sobbed and cried and screamed, nothing but the ruffling of her clothes came from her. Aiden’s warm hands offered her a small comfort as she went to answer his question.
She couldn’t speak. She couldn’t make them hear her. There was only one person that could. And that was Her.
She turned her teary eyes to the bigger version of her, the one who’d called her a monster. A devil.
Her eyes were no longer filled with horror, instead, it was like looking into a mirror.
She was crying, just as roughly and harshly as she was.
Her friends were all behind her, crying as they all in some way, had a hand, arm, or leg touching her. Comforting, soft, touches, and she knew they felt just as warm as Aiden’s.
And she wanted it. God, she wanted it.
And for once, she could have it and not be afraid of it leaving.
“Ashlyn,” She whispered to the only person that could hear her. “My name is Ashlyn.” The other girl cried out when she heard her, bringing her hands to her mouth.
“And I really, really,” her voice broke. “Want to go home.”
She broke away from Aiden’s hold reluctantly, and crashed into Ashlyn. Crashed into herself.
They both fell down, sobbing into each other. Two halves of a whole, cradling each other. It took their cries and Taylor falling down right with them, hugging them both close for everyone else to join in.
It was as if as soon as Ashlyn accepted that little monster that wasn’t really a monster at all, just a child, someone who she didn’t know was locked away and out of her reach, a wall was broken. They could all hear little Ashlyn now as the promise of going home reached her, touched her heart and held her close.
They stayed there, together.
The dark night no longer very frightening in their small bubble of love and warmth. Not even the several eyes gleaming at them from the darkness of the woods scared them now. Hours went by, Ashlyn and Ash asleep in their huddle of friends as they watched over them.
Logan occasionally let them know how many hours they had left, finally, finally, saying they had one. Just one more hour and they could bring Ashlyn home.
Bring Ashlyn home to the blue sky waiting to kiss her forehead, parent’s ready to hug her, and friends that would always be there.
Of course, it wouldn’t be anything new to her. But they were complete again, and Aiden had a feeling Ashlyn would be staring at things she’d taken advantage of her whole life with a whole other kind of wonder.
Cause she was going to carry this little girl around with her in her heart, a fragment lost now had a home again.
And she would remember.
And she would experience a world she always knew.