24. Maya
twenty-four
Maya
I open my eyes slightly to find the apartment dark, with only a few candles lit and illuminating the small space. I sit up and look around to see Asher standing in the small kitchen over a boiling kettle of water. He seems lost in thought as he stares at the hissing pot, not even noticing that I am awake.
I slide my legs over the edge of the bed before slowly tiptoeing over to him. I come up behind him and wrap my arms around his waist, and his body tenses a bit. Asher immediately reaches around and pulls me in front of him and into a hug.
"Hello, princess. How are you feeling?" His voice is smooth and gentle as it flows over my body.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you." I say into his chest. He rubs his hand softly over the back of my hair and shakes his head.
"No, baby, you're okay. I have a lot on my mind at the moment." His comment catches me off guard a bit.
"What's going on?" I asked. I looked up at him, and his forehead was creased right between his eyebrows, proving his words true. I reached up and gently rubbed the small space with the tip of my fingers, and he visibly relaxed.
"That man we saw last night. Do you know him from anywhere?" His question confuses me of its suddenness, but I begin to probe my memory.
"No. He looks familiar, but I can't remember him from anywhere specifically."
Asher suddenly crouches down in front of me.
"What about the man from your dream, Maya?" He looks at me gently, worries hidden in his voice.
I look at him for a moment as the dream comes flooding back to me, and my heart begins to race.
"That man had long hair and a mask on. I didn't see his face." I grip Asher's shirt tightly around myself for comfort as anxiety begins to build in my chest.
"What about his eyes?" Asher looks at me with more worry on his face.
I recall the man's eyes in my dream. Then, the man that we saw at the festival and suddenly another sharp pain flashed through my head, and I lost my balance. Asher catches me before I fall and immediately pulls me close to him.
"They're the same man," I whisper, clutching my head tightly.
"I know, baby," Asher says. He holds me tightly to him, and his breathing is calm but unstable.
"That's not possible, that was a dream." The pain begins to subside in my head, and I look up to Asher, who has pain in his eyes.
"Maya, I don't know why he's here or showing himself to you, but you cannot trust that man. Do you understand me?"
"I understand," I say. I cough, and a dull headache forms again in my head. Asher places his hand on my forehead before clicking his tongue in frustration.
"You still have a fever, baby girl. Let's get you back in bed." Asher picks me up and carries me back to bed, but I don't fight. My body feels weak, and an ache runs through my bones every time I move.
"I don't want to go back to bed, Asher. I want to get up. I've been asleep all day." I try to sound tough and unfazed by the sickness, but I know I look anything of the sort.
"You need to get some rest. You're sick, my dear."
"I would rather be awake. I haven't seen you all day." Sadness begins to build in my voice, and I can't hide it, and Asher looks at me for a moment. He sets me down on the bed with my feet hanging over the edge and crouches down in front of me. He holds my legs with his hands and rubs circles into my thighs.
"Fine, but if you stay up, you're drinking tea and taking a bath."
I smile at him gently before nodding my head.
"Deal," I say to him.
Asher stands up and returns to the kitchen. He pours the boiling water into a small cup before dropping a tea bag and honey into it. His shoulders look tense, and all I can do is stare at him as he makes the cup of tea, lost in thought.
"Asher, what's wrong?" I ask him. I cough again and compose myself, and he turns around to look at me worried.
"I don't know what's going on in this town." He walks over and hands me the cup of tea before crouching back down in front of me. "But I do know that you're involved for some reason. And I think that your grandmother has something to do with it."
His words catch me off guard, and I feel cold all over again.
"Asher, my grandmother's been dead for over a decade. That's impossible," I looked down into the cup and watched as the tea bags swirled gently alongside the ribbons of honey.
Asher suddenly reaches into his pocket and pulls out a photograph of my grandmother, smiling like she always did when she was alive. My hands tremble as I reach for the photograph, and I turn it over and see her familiar handwriting. Tears begin dripping down my face, and Asher reaches up immediately, wiping them away.
"I'm so sorry, baby. I didn't know how else to bring this up to you." His expression is pained, and his hands tremble almost unnoticeably as he wipes my tears.
"Where did you find this?" I asked him, not looking up from the photo. I rubbed my finger over it to remove the dust.
"It was in one of the shops that were broken into." He admits. "I found it the morning of the festival."
"And you're just now telling me this?" I couldn't hide the anger in my voice.
"I'm sorry, but I'm telling you now because you deserve to know." He looks down at my legs. "I didn't lie when I said that I didn't find anything useful at the moment."
A slight ringing begins in my ears as I zone out, staring at the photograph.
"What else are you hiding?" I ask quietly. I could see him wince at my words, but I didn't know how else to ask him at that moment. I needed to know. It wasn't fair that he possibly knew more about my grandmother than I did. Or about what was happening in this town.
Asher pulls out another photograph, setting it on top of the one of my grandmother, and my mouth falls open in shock. It is a photograph of me as a child.
"Maya, what do you remember about your parents?" Asher asked me. I looked at him, and an overwhelming feeling of anger reached me, but as I tried to recall memories of my parents, I realized that there were none.
"I don't have any," I answered quietly. The realization suddenly hits me.
"What are their names?" Asher asks. He raises his hand to comfort me, grabbing my arms in a protective manner.
"I don't know," another tear slips down my cheek as I become more and more frustrated that I can't recall anything about my parents.
Suddenly, Nicholas walks up, meowing loudly.
"I'm sorry, Nicholas," I say, wiping my face. "I forgot to feed you, and it's already past bedtime."
Asher's blood seems to freeze, and he looks at me, completely shocked.
"What did you just say?"
"Nicholas?" I look at him, confused at his sudden shift in attitude.
"Did you name him that?" Asher's voice is cold, and he doesn't let go of me.
"Yes, it just seemed fitting since it was close to Christmas." I tilt my head.
"Maya, the man in your dream and the man that we saw. His name is Nicholas." Asher's words seem to hang in the air, and I look at the cat. Nicholas looks at me, confused, before cleaning himself and meowing again only moments later.
"Asher, something's not right," I say suddenly. "Why can't I remember my parents?"
Asher stands and pulls me into him into a hug.
"I don't know, baby girl."
"My grandmother always told me stories about them, but why can't I remember any of the stories myself?" I begin to tremble slightly as theories begin to crash through my head like an out-of-control wave.
Asher pulls me in closer.
"I don't know. I wish I knew, but I don't."