Disclaimer: I don't own Narnia nor any of the characters and places associated with it.
Chapter 10: Alive
The stone hard ground meets my back as I let my final breath out, not being able to hold it in anymore. I hear Peter say the words 'I love you!' and then nothing. I know instantly that I'm dead; everything is pitch black, but at the same time it's not. It gets lighter and lighter before I open my eyes to a beautiful country. I feel lighter than a feather as I stand up gracefully and look around. Suddenly there's a great light before a huge lion stands in front of me.
"Aslan," I whisper. I'm suddenly very happy; I can't stop smiling. I run up to the Lion and tackle him to the ground in a bear hug. He laughs greatly and deeply; his entire body filling with the vibrations of it. I sit up quickly and bury my hand into his mane.
"Dear One, welcome to my country," he greets. I look around me at the beautiful, rolling hills and spot a sparkling, bright-blue sea on the far east side. The grass is the brightest green you can imagine; it's the same with all the colourful flowers and trees. Something about it all feels oddly familiar though.
"Aslan, why does this feel so much like Narnia again?" I ask in amazement. He smiles at me.
"Because it is Narnia," he answers proudly. I smile so brightly that if the smile would've been any wider my face would've started to hurt. "But this is my Narnia; my country. If you think of somewhere you want to be, you will be there instantly," he explains to me. "Nothing bad happens here. There is no sadness or hatred, nothing bad. Only good things are here." I nod my head. "So enjoy! This is where you're going to be for the rest of your life; for eternity," he tells me before he disappears. I try to remember all the important places in Narnia as I glance over to the Eastern Ocean. My eyes lock on a shining thing that is sitting on the edge of the cliff face. Cair Paravel! I beam brightly before my smile falters slightly; sudden sadness comes over me. Either though Aslan said that there are no bad things here, the aching hole in my chest is starting to twinge. I miss Peter. I instantly think back to our first date and the beautiful hill top. I look up from the ground and suddenly realise that I'm there. My shoulders slouch over in defeat when I discover that Peter isn't here to enjoy it with me.
"Ashley." I jump a little bit at my name being called, but spin around anyway, expecting to see Aslan. Who I see instead though makes my still smiling face light up even more.
"FATHER! MOTHER!" I exclaim, running straight into my parents' waiting arms. If I could cry in this country, I would be bawling my eyes out. As soon as I reach them, I'm in their tight embrace. My face is buried under my father's chin as my mother stands by my side, drawing reassuring patterns on my back. I feel my father kiss my head as I pull out of his embrace to hug my mother.
"Oh, Ashley! I love you," my mother says sweetly into my ear. I feel father join in on our hug.
"Honey, you mean we love her, right?" my father whispers into her ear making her giggle. I sigh happily at hearing my father's voice and move away from their hug. I look at my mother and father and instantly feel sad; not that my face shows any sign of my sadness, but inside I'm hurting. My mother and father look so happy together with their arms wrapped around each other and I feel extremely envious of their happy marriage. I want it so badly.
"Ashley." I turn around on my heels at the sound of Aslan calling me. "I'm giving you a choice, you can either stay here with your parents and I or you can go back to Bella and Peter." I suddenly feel very sad and, before I know it, tears are falling down my face. I can feel the emotion on this hill and I instantly know that it's so that I can assess my feelings. I turn around again and notice that my mother is bawling her eyes out. I feel my heart rip in two. My parents or my boyfriend and sister. I instantly know the answer to that. I turn back slowly to Aslan.
"Aslan, I want to go back. I can come back here again when I die, but I won't have another chance to see Peter and Bella again. I miss Peter so much. I need him; he's a necessity. And sweet, innocent, little Bella, well I couldn't leave her there to suffer all by herself," I explain through watery eyes. I see him nod.
"Very well, Ashley, say goodbye to your parents and then I'll send you back to Narnia," he tells me. I close my eyes and spin around again to face my parents. As soon as I open my eyes, I start to cry. I have lived three years without them so far and now I just get them back only to lose them again. I can't help myself; I run over to them and immediately start to hug them. They hug me back and, for the first time in ages, we're a family again. After what feels like hours, I reluctantly let them go. I give them both a kiss on the cheek and then twirl back to Aslan. "I'll see you soon, but not too soon," he promises. I smile and wave to my parents who are now standing beside him. They wave back and then it's black again. I vaguely hear the sound of people talking around me as my senses open up a bit. I feel a shaky hand on my forehead and instantly know who it is. I open my eyes slowly and hesitantly. As soon as they're fully open, I'm immediately hugged by Bella.
"Ashy, I was so scared. I thought you died and that I was never going to see you again," she cries. I hug her tightly to my chest and kiss the top of her head.
"Well I'm back." I feel tears roll down my face as my little sister weeps as quietly as she can. She moves off me after a while, her face red and wet with tears. Alright, Ashley, time to lighten the mood. "Bella, guess what? I saw mother and father!" I exclaim. She gasps; her crying stopping instantaneously.
"Really?" she asks excitedly. I nod in reply to her before she beams brightly at me. "What are they like?" she asks. I laugh at my determined little sister.
"I'll tell you later at home," I promise her. She smiles.
"But we are at home." I chuckle slightly. As soon as I opened my eyes I knew where I was; the wooden, barky ceilings are a very good indication.
"I mean tonight when you go to bed." She sighs, but smiles.
"Okay then; as long as I get to hear about them." She gets off of me before I'm eagerly pulled into someone else's arms. I know these arms immediately; it's hard not to recognise them.
"Hi, Peter." I feel my lips curve into a smile as he looks at me for the first time. His eyes are red and puffy and his face holds the biggest grin known to man.
"I can't believe you're really here. We all felt certain you wouldn't come back to us. In fact, if it wasn't for the fact that we could still feel your pulse every few minutes, you probably would've been buried sixty days ago," he tells me.
"Well let's all be thankful that that didn't happen then," I reply with a laugh. Mind you, it's a very scary thought knowing that I could've been buried and then brought back to life in a coffin. Thank you, Aslan, for not letting that happen to me!
"I think we're all thankful for that already. It's been a scary two months," he adds on with a slight grimace. I nod before picking up on his words. Sixty days? Two months?! I sit up extremely quickly, causing my head to spin around in circles. Ouch! Note to self, after lying down for a long time, don't get up too quickly. "It's alright, Ash, settle down. It's okay," Peter murmurs as he lays me back down gently.
"I've been dead for two months!" He nods as he pushes some loose strands of hair behind my ear. "It felt like only a few minutes to me. I guess there is no time in Aslan's country." He smiles at me.
"You're right; time probably doesn't exist in Aslan's country. It's alright though. Just relax; you need to rest." My stomach decides that it doesn't want to rest though, so it presently grumbles causing Bella and Peter to laugh. "Okay, food first, then you can rest. I should probably tell you before anything else though that you've officially been fired by Starstone. Oreius told me to tell you in case you woke up from your very long sleep of death," he adds on with a grimace.
"You didn't even try to back me up?" I ask him, sort of offended that he even allowed her to fire me in the first place. He sighs.
"Ashley, honestly, it's safer for you this way. I would've backed you up if Starstone still liked you, but, according to some witnesses, she was the last person seen with you which means that she did this to you. So for that reason, and that reason alone, I allowed it. Do you understand that I'm just trying to protect you? It's not important right now anyway; you need to get some rest. I know you're tired. Just relax. What would you like for dinner?" I gape openly at him. He expects me to forget about it? Thirteen years of working as a servant in the castle and he expects me to just throw it down the drain. Just because I've been technically dead for two months doesn't mean that it's not important to me. I narrow my eyes.
"That job was my life, Peter! What am I going to do now? I can't afford to keep this place and now Bella and I are going to starve on the streets." He rolls his eyes at me.
"You're being over dramatic and you're becoming stressed out. I need you to relax so that you can gain back your strength. Now, what would you like for dinner?" he asks me again as he strokes back my hair. I hum in approval before I sigh, giving up. Right now, I don't have the energy to fight with him. Oh right, the question.
"Hmm…food would be nice." He shakes his head at my bad joke before looking expectantly at me. No words need to be said, I know he expects me to answer him. "Alright, how about you cook us some venison and salad? I'm starving! Apparently being dead for two months really works up an appetite." He laughs loudly for what I'm sure is the first time in months.
"You have no idea. Just stay here, nourish yourself in the warmth of the fire, and relax. I need to talk to you about something after dinner. Dinner might take a little while to cook though, so if you'd like you may have a sleep." I instantly shake my head.
"I don't want to sleep. Sleep means darkness and nightmares." He furrows his eyebrows.
"Nightmares?"
"Yes, nightmares! Or one nightmare to be exact."
"Can you tell me what happens in it while I make us dinner?" I nod and watch as he stands and walks over to the kitchen. I can't see what he's doing, I can only hear the sound of plates cluttering and cutlery getting tossed around. I close my eyes for a second, trying to go deep into my subconscious so I can try and remember my nightmare. It comes to me after a second and I instantly open my eyes.
"Well it usually starts off in the forest. It's night time and there's a low mist that hovers over the ground. The trees are all smothered in darkness and there's usually a crisp wind blowing through the air. I'm usually running at top speed through the forest, jumping over dead tree logs and avoiding puddles. There's also usually a wolf like creature chasing me. It's usually got blood-stained fur and teeth and is snarling at me. From there on though, I've had a few different outcomes. Once I had my own armour and was able to defend myself. Another time I ended up tripping over and waking up just as the creature goes down to eat me. It terrifies me and I hate having to walk to the castle at five-thirty in the morning after I've had the nightmare," I say.
"Do you think it's a sort of vision or something?" I shrug.
"Possibly; I haven't really thought about it that way though." I hear him stop what he's doing before he sighs.
"Well let's hope it's not." Everything goes quiet after that. The smell of venison assaults my senses almost immediately as I feel myself starting to drowse off. A warm hand shakes me awake after a little while whilst a cold plate gets put on my legs. I groan and unwillingly wake up. "Dinner is served." I smile slightly at my boyfriend as I sit up slowly. I eat the venison and salad in silence as I watch curiously on as Peter interacts with Bella. From what I can see, he's very good with children. He looks as if he'll make a good father in the future. She's giggling and running around while he chases after her. She suddenly disappears under the table as their chasing game switches unexpectedly to hide and seek. I laugh at Peter's surprised expression as he looks around confused. "Um, Bella? Are we playing hide and seek now?" She giggles.
"Yes! Come and find me." He looks over to me with a smile before saying,
"I think we should finish up our games now. I need to talk to your sister." I can almost hear the pout in her voice as she whines.
"But I want to play." I roll me eyes and gesture for him to come over to me.
"She'll come out eventually. Now, what is it that you want to talk to me about?" He hesitates for a second before answering me.
"I know you're worried about money and where you're going to live now and how you're going to feed yourselves, so I was thinking…do you remember, before the whole incident with Starstone, how I said that you and Bella could move in with me if you got fired?" I nod.
"Yes."
"Well, I would really like it if you did; move into Cair Paravel that is." My eyes grow wide as I take a sharp breath in. He wants me to move into the castle with him? A slight smile starts to form on my face as it sinks in fully.
"Um…okay then. Bella and I will move into the castle with you," I reply, trying, but failing, to keep the excitement out of my voice.
"Great! I'll let the servants and guards know when I go home later so that they can start getting your rooms ready. I'll help you pack if you like since you won't need a lot of stuff. You'll get a brand new closet full of clothes and new furniture and new jewellery and pretty much everything that you need to survive. We'll wait a few days to ensure that you're back to your full self again and then I'll help you move in. Say Monday?" I nod excitedly.
"That sounds great, Peter. Thank you." He smirks at me.
"You're welcome."
"Are we really going to move into the castle, Ashley?" Bella asks me excitedly as she runs out from underneath the table and pounces onto my lap. Obviously, she heard our whole conversation. I nod.
"Yes, we are. So you need to learn to behave and listen." She frowns at me.
"I do listen and I'm always on my best behaviour," she whines quietly.
"You and I both know that that is not true." The beginning of a smile starts to form on her face as she giggles quietly.
"Most of the time it is." We all laugh at this before Peter glances up to the moon dial. He grimaces.
"I'm sorry, Ashley, but I really need to go now. I have a meeting with the court early tomorrow morning and I need a good night's sleep. I've been sleeping awfully for the past few months." I frown but nod.
"Okay. When will I see you next?" I ask him. He kneels down next to the couch and strokes some of the hair away from my face.
"I'll try and come by tomorrow. You need to promise me though that you'll rest. I won't let you move in with me until you've gained back all your strength and only rest will do that."
"Alright then."
"Would you like to move onto your bed?" I shake my head.
"No, I'm fine here thanks. The couch is pretty comfortable."
"Okay. I love you." I grin brightly at him.
"I love you too."
The next few days pass by extremely slowly. By Saturday I've gained most of my original strength back and am able to walk around freely without falling over. Peter also dropped by to check on me and regretfully told me that he has to pull out with helping me on Monday due to a scheduled school visit that has popped up at ten am. He did mention though that he might try to get here before his visit to take away some of the boxes for me to which I am thankful. By Sunday, I have all my bags packed and boxes ready to go, now all there is to do is wait. It's seven thirty and Bella and I have just finished eating dinner. She gives me a kiss goodnight before she waddles upstairs tiredly. I smile after her before washing up the dishes and starting the fire. The temperature at night has dropped significantly since my death so the main thing I do every night is start the fire. I grab a random book then before reading for a few hours. I find myself asleep pretty soon, dreaming about the day to come.
