Ash

Day 3

Ash awoke to his head being ripped apart, like cheap fabric that someone tore down the middle. Seconds ago, he was alone in the dark, surrounded by faceless laughter and jeers. Their punishments hurt so much; his hands hurt so much.

What happened?

He rubbed his sweaty temples to push the nightmare back into the depths of his mind, where they couldn’t reach him.

After the lines on his forehead faded, he slowly opened his eyes to a faint smell of aged wood and stale smoke.

Where am I?

This was not in his apartment.  

He kicked off the red blanket and glanced around the shelf-lined room. Ash saw a familiar coffee table with an ashtray on top. The ashtray was empty this time. His favorite and second-favorite coats were hung on a chair next to the table. 

After blinking to dry his eyes a few times, he raised his right hand to the fluorescent ceiling lights. The gauze was white again, and it was neatly tied, just like the first night.

How AJ found him, he wasn’t exactly sure. Ash slowly stood up and looked around the storage room. He dipped his head when he realized that AJ wasn’t there with him. 

“Haha…what was I expecting?” Ash mumbled to himself as he descended the stairs. Just in case, he checked the dining area and kitchen, but AJ was nowhere. He noticed a few bins of dirty dishes left on the counter by the dish pit and rolled up his imaginary sleeves. 

The kitchen was cleaner than the one at Saffron’s, but it was also noticeably smaller. 

An empty kitchen was home to him, no matter the size.

_

He left for his apartment after he cleaned all of the dishes. After sanitizing them, he wasn’t sure where anything went, so he left everything in a tray. He hoped that AJ didn’t mind this.

He felt his jacket to make sure that it was still there, and it was. 

Except that it was in the right pocket; being right-handed, he always tucked it away into the left inside pocket.

I’m just overthinking. 

Ash hung up his spare jacket, kicked off his shoes, and held his coat out in front of him. When mirrored, the left pocket was easily accessible with—his right hand. 

AJ poured the alcohol with—was it his right hand? It was definitely his right hand. Ash wouldn’t remember wrongly. He wished that he could remember who caught him last night, but the ripping pain was back, and he headed for the medicine cabinet in his bathroom.

His body stiffened at the reflection in the mirror. He touched his face and blinked a few times at the foreign sight. 

Two black eyes blinked back at him.

A sudden rush of memories flowed through his mind, and Ash stitched together the events from last night. 

It was AJ. They caught him hiding, and he head-butted AJ by accident. 

A concussion. Was AJ injured? Was that why he wasn’t at the bar? Was he in the hospital? Ash was the one who hit him, not the other way around, so AJ probably had it a lot worse. 

Frantically, he shoved his feet into his shoes, tripping on his loose shoelaces on his way out of the apartment. He ran until he couldn’t run anymore. Out of breath, he held onto the lamp post outside the Tipping Point to keep from falling. He pulled back his hand from the hot metal. The nights around here were cold, but the days were so, so hot.

It wouldn’t be open for another hour. Should he wait outside? He definitely would not stay in the back after what happened last night. He looked around the building and streets but nowhere seemed to be the perfect spot.

He settled with camping on the sidewalk and leaned against the brick building next to the front door. Why was he so dumb? He knew that the place didn’t have lunch hours. He closed his eyes for just a moment—

“Hey, there’s no loitering.” A blonde man glared at him with jangling keys in hand. He wore a white dress shirt, black vest, and slacks, just like AJ did.

“Do you work here? Where is AJ? Is he ok?” Ash blurted out, unable to keep his thoughts to himself. His concerns for AJ far outweighed his fear of strangers today.

“Duh, I work here. AJ isn’t working today. Go away unless you’re coming in for a drink,” the man paused and narrowed his eyes at Ash, “are you even old enough to drink? Do your parents know that you’re here?”

Ash sprung up, but his knees gave out, and he grabbed onto the wall for stability. “What-what do you mean he’s not working today? Is he alright? Is he at the hospital?!” 

Like AJ did whenever he was annoyed at Ash, the man clicked his tongue. “Tch. Why do you want to know?” responded the man with the eyes of a fox.

The two black eyes did not help his first impression. “I-I…never mind. I’ll come back another time, haha.” Ash closed his eyes and smiled weakly. He walked away, slightly weaving as if he was dodging other pedestrians on the empty sidewalk. 

“Another stalker. AJ really needs to stop flirting with everyone and everything,” the young man grumbled under his breath as he unlocked the door.

~

This is a picture I drew of Ash & AJ for the Tapas's March artboard. The theme was Tapas's 10th year anniversary so I dressed them up in black and yellow.

Riez always draws Ash better in every picture that they're together and I complained that AJ looked like a potato next to Ash. So now AJ's name between us is potato.