The Sound of Silence

Asheila had grown comfortable to Bowen's presence inside their room and it was really helping her just to realize that she wasn't alone and that her sister was there. Before Bowen came back she had a number of nights that she would wake up not thinking she was in the castle and that seemed to be the hardest transition for her since she was back home. Bowen was fixing that with little or all effort.

She was pressed barely against her sister back to back, just enough to know she was there and she was sleeping soundly through the night. She hadn't had any issues since her and Bowen were sharing the room together. But tonight would prove to be different. She was after all not taking the steps she desperately wanted to be better, to leave the castle, to move on with her life beside her siblings who all seemed to have their place here in The Hallows. She didn't feel the same. As much as they were understanding and letting her take all the time she needed and helping her, she did feel like a burden. Maybe it was just reminiscent of what she had gone through. She was degraded and belittled, and that seemed to move in with her here as much as what she felt wasn't true.

In a split second she was awake, this feeling like there was a million noises around her snapped into a reality of near silence when she woke taking a quick breath out of her. She wasn't panicked, or shaking or anything but it was a drastic physical change from when she was sleeping to now. She had laid there for a moment, finally looking back over her shoulder at Bowen who may or may not have sensed that change in her in her. It took her another moment after staring at the wall and bringing back the more natural sounds of the nightly insects and distant ocean into her mind. And then she finally rolled as carefully as she could to  stand and make her way quietly towards the balcony. She wasn't sure if she would go back to sleep or not, but she didn't want to make too much of a ruckus to wake up her sister.

"Ashelia Carpathius"