Chapter 5



Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
- Albert Einstein




The copper key rattled against Room 11's lock as Misty's hand shook, recalling her earlier conversation with Jahzara. Did she really know Ash? Was she just trying to syke her out? Jahzara had no time to explain as four men and two women cloaked in black with bits of turquoise barged in exclaiming, "Klarieojiha! Klarieojiha! Mashot ba luchtovft! Mashot ba luchovft! Enneojiiba!" …Or something like that, and then she disappeared along with them saying, "I'll explain later! Bye!"

Finally getting the key into it's rightful place, and turning the doorknob, she pushed the squeaky door open, feeling along the left side for a light switch. When there was none, she gave up and allowed the sun to drift into the room, glowing up the motel room in an instant. Feeling the fatigue of the long trip without sleep, she stumbled to the bed, throwing the door shut behind her and collapsed in exhaustion, savoring the soft feeling of the mattress and quickly falling asleep.



When she awoke, she found herself lying in a bed of black feathers, the air chilled, the frigid atmosphere enveloped around her and she felt around for a blanket. And then it hit her. Black feathers. They were all around her.

Her breath caught in her throat and she looked around the room, but it was useless, as there was no light.

Wait.

If there was no light, then how did she know that she was lying in black feathers? And why can she see her hand in front of her face? What…?

The darkness around her subsided as the light-bulb above the center of the small motel room slowly dimmed into life, but only enough to see the traces of anything in the room. A small feather drifted down from the light source.

"Ash?" She asked softly.

She felt a hand on her back and shrieked, trying to swat away the feeling and backing up on the mattress, soon finding herself backed into the yellow stained wall. "A-Ash?" She asked a little louder.

The light-bulb's dim illumination softly rose a tone in response, and with it, Misty felt a faint wave of warmth wash over her, quickly eliminating the coolness of the room and replacing it with a feeling of protection and love. It was a wonderful feeling, but enough to startle her altogether. And then once again the feeling embraced her, washing away the fear and replacing it with the fond tenderness that enfolded around her heart.

Suddenly, she felt a soft pressure around her waist, and then her chest, and then her back… and, like a dream, a body materialized beneath her chin. And last of all, she felt someone's cheek against her own. It was the Ash-apparition… hugging her.

Misty… slightly baffled, returned the hug.

Finding that her arms didn't go through him, she pulled him closer and felt the tears emerge as she began to cry onto his shoulder.

It was as real as it.. should be.

His gloved hand traveled up to her neck and back down where he patted her back and whispered, "Mist… Mist, I gotta tell you somethin'…" Hearing Ash call her by her nickname, only brought Misty into more tears as she held onto him for dear life, her body shaking with the sobs and gasps.

"Stop crying… ssshhhh… please? I really need to tell you this--"

She tried to slow down the constant pounding of her heart, but the memories of Ash's Death-Day flooded back to her and caused her eyes to flood once more- tears streaming down her face, causing her face to redden with sadness. She cried to her heart's content, holding the boy she had missed for so long, the dead boy, in her arms and not daring to let go. He sighed.

"Stop… Come on, Mist, you have to be strong now. We both do."

"I-I can't… I can't let you go, a-ag-again!" She sobbed, holding on tighter.

"Listen," He said quietly and slowly began to pry himself away from her, "Listen, Misty, you really need to hear this."

Sniffling, she looked up at his face cautiously. "What?" She asked weakly, her voice trembling.

He stared deeply into her ocean-blue eyes and cracked a hopeful, half-smile, but with a tired sigh, the smile faded.

"Mist… What are you doing here?" He asked.

She was confused by all thought. "What do you mean?"

"Why are you here?" He repeated.

"T-… To look for you." She said, almost whispering. "I don't understand…"

Ash nodded, "I want you to look for me. But I want you to look in the right place as well!"

"What do you mean? I thought you wanted me to go to Goldenrod!"

"Erm… No I don't.." He sweatdropped, but grinned nervously, "You must've misunderstood!"

"Ugh…" Misty groaned, feeling a headache gush into life. 'I should've figured Ash would have no sense of direction… Even in death!' "Okay, Ash…Why did the television come to life suddenly and mention the Goldenrod caves? To me, it sounded like your still-alive body was in the Goldenrod caves."

"Oh, that's right." His voice was a little higher than usual, "I didn't mean to catch the news on that precise moment."

"Ash…" She hugged her knees to her chest, separating herself from this apparition. "-you moron..."

He sighed and placed a hand on her knee, "I said you're looking in the wrong place, I didn't say that you weren't in the right place."

"Wh-at?" Misty asked in a wispy, exaggerated breath.

There was a crack of thunder outside her window and the wind rustled through the trees, causing a wide commotion in the leaves. Ash's smile weakened and he reluctantly looked over to the window. Tiny, incomprehensible whispers invaded her room from outside, riding along the soft breezes. Ash faced her, now frowning miserably, and slowly pulled her into another hug whispering, "I gotta go now." Misty wrapped herself tightly around him, feeling the salty tinge of pain beneath her eyes, and then the warm streams of depressed sadness roll down her cheeks.

"I miss you…" She whimpered.

"Yeah… Me too."

Suddenly, her arms dropped, and she realized that the body in her arms had faded into nothing. More tears soaked her cheeks, now dripping off her chin and some streamed down her neck. Her throat emitted the slightest of distressed growls and she grabbed the pillow and screamed into it, pouring out the emotion that surged from her shaky fingertips to her toes into the motionless, and now damp pillow.

"What do you want me to do?!" She cried out, her fingernails tearing into the pillowcase.

She angrily grabbed the lamp and threw it with all her strength, smashing it into the wall into hundreds of tiny ceramic pieces, then screamed into the pillow again until her sleepy strength gave out and she collapsed onto the cold, hard floor- the only thing that kept her face from breaking was the pillow that she used to cry helplessly into.

"Ash…"





Misty slowly opened her sore eyes, still red from crying, and realized that she had fallen asleep on the floor. She groaned, noticing that nothing had changed, even the black feathers had disappeared, as well as the broken lamp…
She sat up and looked around. Where is that lamp?
With some struggle, she wearily pulled herself up onto the bed and rested her throbbing head in the palm of her hands.

"Uuunnngh…" She groaned, "I should've gone to bed earlier…"

It was basically the crack of dawn and the first rays of today's sunshine leaked through the window, crawling across the floor into the bluish shadows. Misty breathed deeply and brushed away her bangs. 'I'll figure it out.' She thought confidently. 'I have to…'

The pale rays of sunshine quickly began to tint the room's temperature with its heat. Misty sighed and took in a deep breath of today's fresh air. The soft mist of morning sprinkled her forearms and nose giving her goose-bumps. The sun settled deep within the blue mist of the mountains, tall in the sky. It was really early… The roads were empty and everything seemed as if it all was drained of its usual liveliness.

Suddenly, a dark figure jumped from the hidden darkness from around the motel's corner and grabbed Misty's shoulders, spinning her around harshly. Misty gasped and squealed in horror at her attacker, and then realized who it was..

"Jahzara??"

"Misty! You've touched the barrier!"

"What… barrier? Jahzara, what are you talking about? And what are you wearing?"

Jahzara's eyes darkened a little and she frowned. She inhaled sharply, "It's about Ash."

At this, Misty immediately sunk in the pit of curiosity. "Really? What is it?"

"No," She scowled, "He's contacted you again, hasn't he?"

"Wha…?" Misty then remembered… oh… "Uh.. yeah I think, but it might have been a dre-"

"It wasn't!" Exclaimed the dark-haired girl in the black and turquoise cloak. She inhaled, breathing deeply, "This morning," She said seriously, "He came to me."

"He what? What are you talking about?"

"Listen." She said; it was obvious that she was deciding on how to put into words whatever she had been pondering on. "Okay, do you remember the time when we met and you asked what I was writing? I said that I was writing a spell for my friend, you remember?" Misty nodded, "Ash is that friend."

Misty gasped, "So you're that group that that news reporter was talking about! About disappearing in the woods and stuff! And the whole cave-!"

Jahzara clamped a hand over Misty's mouth, "No! But I know them… and… it's supposed to be sort of secret!" She looked around frantically, but, fortunately, no one was around to eavesdrop.

"So what do you mean he came to you?" Misty asked impatiently.

"…I'm… not sure if you're ready to… hear this…"

Misty growled in frustration, "I'll tell you when I'm not ready!"

"Okay, okay…" Jahzara gave in.





Misty sighed wearily. The dirty, old bus rattled and shook as it somehow managed to climb a steep dirt path through a poor excuse for a forest in its timely condition. A sudden jerk to the right caused her forehead to come into a rather painful collision with the filmy window. "OW!" She groaned. Then, she noticed that the bus had stopped. Again.

A passenger climbed onto the bus with a little difficulty, struggling to heave himself up the rather large steps and squeeze through the rather narrow isle. Spotting the empty seat near Misty, he sat down next to her and sighed, rubbing the raindrops out of his dark brown hair. "Hello." He greeted.

Misty smiled faintly. "Hi." And turned her attention back to the crumby window.

"Hey, how are you." He said cheerfully.

"Fine." She muttered.

"I'm Clay." He politely extended a hand, in which Misty reluctantly looked away from the uninteresting window and politely gripped.

"Misty."

She tried her best to smile, but the fact that the rain made her thoughts uneasy and that her dead friend kept contacting her to this day, it was kind of hard to do so. Clay saw her uneasy smile and his expression softened, "What's wrong?"

Misty looked up to this 'Clay' stranger and her smile disappeared. She blinked and glanced away. "Nothing."

He frowned as he turned his attention away. "Have you ever had déjà vu, Misty?"

"Déjà vu? Sure, I guess. Why?"

"I feel like I know you…" He chuckled, "Strange, huh?"

She stared intently at this person. Somewhat tall… dark brown hair… tan… looks about.. sixteen or so, but..

What if..

"Nope." She said, shaking her head, "I don't think I remember you."

"Maybe it's the hair… Y'know, I just dyed it a few days ago-"

Before he could finish his sentence, she gasped. Her eyes widened. His heart jumped as he thought that maybe she remembered him from something, but as he looked closely, he noticed that she… wasn't looking at him, but at the window a few feet behind him.

"It's a volcano!" She said, obviously in awe at this act of nature.

He turned to look out the window at the large mountain miles away, spewing truckloads of lava. "Wow.." He said, a little un-amused as he snapped out of the déjà vu.

There was a small rumble from above when the bus turned a corner around the mountainside and ended up traveling along a steep ledge.

"What was that?" Misty asked, turning her attention from the volcano.

As if in response, the rumbling grew louder, but faded. Clay glanced up to the roof of the bus and shrugged, "I dunno. Maybe it's the storm."

Suddenly, a huge clash brought everyone on the bus screaming. The bus jerked from one side to the other harshly. A huge boulder tumbled off of a cliff from above and smacked into the right side of the bus, spinning it so that it faced the edge of the road where it dropped off. A few shouts in another language and many screams and horrified shrieks were heard as the bus toppled over the edge, letting a small pool of lava take it's place.