Open Your Heart

by Aspen Winters

  The name fit her well, she loved to daydream, and she often got in trouble from her teachers for staring into space instead of paying attention to the class lessons like she was supposed to be doing. If she remembered correctly, till this day her math teacher still didn't like her.

  Dreaming was the one thing she liked doing, it got her out of the life she felt like she was suffocating in. Ashlyn liked the fairy tales she read in books, her favorite was The Little Mermaid.

  She liked the independent young woman fighting for her love. The mermaid who wanted to be human to be with the one she loved. Ashlyn knew that The Little Mermaid didn't end up with the man she loved, but she gave up so much for the prince. The Little Mermaid was selfless when coming to the man she loved and Ashlyn hoped she could be like that when she found the right person to give her heart to.

  Though she didn't know how long that would be. Dating wasn't something she had much luck in. It could be she had such high standards because of all the books she read.

  Was it really too much to ask to want to find Mr. Right, and not Mr. Right Now? Then again most of the guys she had ended up on a date with seemed more interested in getting in her pants than actually having a nice conversation.

  Taking a deep breath, Ashlyn slowly shook her head, her ebony hair brushing against her arms as she did so. She needed to get the thoughts out of her head before she went downstairs. She was supposed to be relaxing, not thinking of these things.

  Sophie liked to tease her that she never would get a love life if she kept dreaming about it. Ashlyn knew she was right...but she needed to have a good first date before having a 'love life'.

  "Looks like today is going to be one of those days," Ashlyn muttered to herself as she looked out the window of her summer room.

  They were at the summer beach house. It was something Ashlyn enjoyed for multiple reasons. First reason, she loved the ocean, and the second reason, she was away from the busy city life. Don't get her wrong, she loved living in L.A, but she just got tired of everything constantly moving, not taking time to just breathe once in a while.

  I wonder where Raine and Sophia are, she thought, as she heard nothing in the house, not even a TV, or the sound of talking, which when it came to Sophie...she was always talking.

  The three of them had come to the summer home to relax since they had just graduated and would be heading off to different colleges when the summer was over. Ashlyn's parents were nice enough to let them be here on their own...which she was grateful for.

  Moving out of the room, Ashlyn slowly walked down the hall passing her parent's empty room, then continued down the stairs silently as she made her way into the kitchen. As she suspected there was a note on the table.

  Picking the paper up, she quickly read it.

  We went out to purchase some food for the house, didn't want to wake you from your beauty sleep. Be back in a couple hours.

  Raine and Sophia

  Ashlyn sighed, she didn't think she had slept that long. Looking at the clock she saw it was around seven p.m., so she had only slept an hour or two...tops.

  Frowning, she looked out the window as she set the note back on the table. The sun was still out so she had enough time to go sit on the dock and watch the ocean for a while. It shouldn't be getting dark for another hour at most if she guessed right.

  Ashlyn didn't even bother to put on shoes as she made her way out of the beach house and down the small path that took her to the dock off the side of the main beach.

  No one really came to this dock because it was hidden, she liked that fact. It gave her more privacy, that and she didn't have to worry about anyone coming to disturb her with their loud yelling and laughing, which one could always find on the main part of the beach.

  Walking onto the wooden dock, she made her way to the front and smiled softly as she bent down and let the cool water touch the tips of her fingers.

  Hearing a splash, Ashlyn whipped her head to the side to see a flash of green then nothing but calm blue water. As she drew her fingers back from the water, the tips of her fingers skimmed the surface before she brought her wet fingers back to her knees and looked at the water curiously.

  Ashlyn could have sworn she saw something move in the water. Frowning she glanced down at the still water, but shrugged it off as she sat on the edge of the dock and let her bare feet graze against the still surface of the ocean.

  Sitting out there always calmed her down. She had done it since she was little and it became a ritual every summer when they came to the beach house. Though this year was a little different since she was here with friends and not family.

  "This place always feels like home," Ashlyn whispered looking out at the ocean a small smile on her lips as she propped her elbows on her legs, putting her chin in her hands. She closed her eyes she could hear the sounds all around her. The ocean sounds were always different, it was soothing nonetheless.

  She stayed in that position for a while just listening to the sounds around her, the crashing of the water against the rocks, the birds, and just nature itself, all the while the damp, warm breeze brush against her skin.

  Blue eyes snapped open when she felt something cold on her ankle then a scream escaped Ashlyn's lips as she felt a pain go through her whole body. She quickly pulled her feet up onto the dock and backed away from the edge, eyes wide with fright.

  Her blue eyes were wide, as she slowly moved to see the damage to her leg. There on her ankle where four puncture marks. They were red and one could tell they were fresh, as some blood was running out of the puncture wounds.

  Ashlyn looked at the still waters, eyes narrowed as she stood up, her body shaking a bit as she tried to find what could have done this to her... She didn't see anything.

  The only question now was, What the hell bit me?

  Ashlyn glanced at the water one last time before turning around and quickly making her way into the house and up the stairs until she was in her bathroom. She tried to ignore the pain in her leg as she put some pressure on it from standing. Sighing, she turned the water on, flicking her fingers under the faucet quickly to feel the temperature before opening the doors under the sink and grabbing a wash cloth and a packaged bar of soap.

  She wet the cloth her fingers going over the ruff cotton as she got it soaked with hot water, she let it soak as she opened the soap and put it between the sides of the folded washcloth lathering it on the material.

  Sighing again, she brought her leg up and sat it on the sink counter and put most of her weight on the leg on the surface. Bring the soapy and soaking wet washcloth to the wounds Ashlyn scrubbed hard. She did not want to take a chance on what bit her. The wounds were about half an inch big and reminded her of what snake bites looked like. The wounds were starting to blacken, that was what worried her.

  The pain had lessened, and she felt fine, so she didn't think whatever bit her was poisonous...which was good. But the marks didn't look like they would go away for a while.

  Ashlyn took the soapy washcloth and put it in the sink, and grabbed a towel to dry it off.

  “We're back!”

  The sound of one of her best friend’s voices brought her out of her musing.

  “And we brought dinner!”

  “I'll be down in a moment!” she yelled as she quickly finished drying the bite-marks and put some ointment on it and slowly made her way down to the kitchen. Her two friends must be in a bad mood if they had bought fast food. Raine had a dislike of buying unhealthy food, she only ever got fast food when something or someone ticked her off...and if she had to guess it was the boyfriend.

  “Welcome back...and what ticked you off this time, Raine?” Ashlyn greeted the two, as she walked into the dining room. The food was already set out on plates and Sophie was setting drinks down for them all.

  Raine gave a small snort. “What do you think? ...Jason is an asshole.”

  That was a recurring remark. Jason was her boyfriend of two years, and he really was an asshole. He did what
he wanted no matter how it made other people feel, especially Raine. She deserved better than him.

  A lot better than him.

  “He is just being a jerk, per usual.” Sophia put in as she opened her water and took a sip, “He wants to know everything Raine is doing...to make sure she isn't having too much fun without him.”

  Ashlyn rolled her eyes at this, he really was an asshole. “Why haven't you dumped him again...” She knew the answer, but she couldn't help but want the two to break up.

  Raine gave her friends a small smile. “I know what you two think, but I am trying to make it work. He has changed a lot since we first started dating...but...” she trailed off, she loved him and wanted the relationship to work. No matter how much of an ass he was to her...or anyone else for that matter.

  "Alright, alright. We’ll drop it," Sophia told the frowning girl. "We just want you to be happy."

  Raine smiled. "I am happy. If it gets to the point when I am not happy I will tell you and you can be the first one to boot him to the curb...literally."

  Ashlyn laughed at this, she knew that Sophie would do that for Raine if the time came. Sophia would happily kick Jason's ass if she knew she could get away with it. Usually, Raine stopped any fights between the two.

  "So what do we have planned for tomorrow?" Raine asked, taking the food out and passing it to the right people. "And I ordered you your normal Chinese, Ash."

  "Thanks," Ashlyn told her friend taking the food and opening it, "I was hoping we could go surfing tomorrow...” She took the chopsticks and broke them down the middle before digging into her food. "I have missed it..."

  "I know what you mean.” Raine laughed as she started to eat her own food, "It has been years since I came to the ocean. It is going to be a fun summer."

  Sophia pouted as she took a bit of her Sesame chicken. "I don't know how to surf...one of you have to play teacher for me tomorrow."

  Ashlyn grinned. "Oh, I don't know. I think it would be fun to watch you try to wing it like you do everything else." She really would like that, it would be her entertainment for the day...or week!

  Sophia narrowed her eyes at Ashlyn as if knowing what she was thinking. "It wouldn't be funny to see me face plant into the ocean..."

  Raine was snickering now, as Ashlyn tried to keep an innocent look on her face, which didn't work as she burst out laughing when she was hit in the face with a fortune cooking.

  The night was filled with laughs and Ashlyn's mind didn't go back to the injury she had gotten that day...that was until the next morning.

  Chapter Two

  Ashlyn slowly opened her eyes, her vision blurry at first before starting to correct itself as she became more awake and aware of her surroundings. The first thing she noticed when she woke up was her body was throbbing, but the worst pain came from her ankle. She knew what it was from.

  The stupid bite.

  Muttering a low curse Ashlyn rolled from her normal sleeping position, which was her laying on her side, and onto her stomach, so she could bury her face in the pillow. She was awake now and had no thoughts of going back to bed. It didn’t mean she wanted to get out of bed though. Sliding her hands under the pillow she folded the sides around her head so she could block all noise from coming into her ears.

  Ashlyn could hear one of the other two up already, if she had to give a guess, it was probably Sophia. She was the early bird out of the three of them. Sophia probably was making everyone breakfast and would wake them up once she was done.

  Sighing, the girl took a deep breath as she breathed out harshly into her pillow. She really didn’t feel like getting up...maybe she could go back to sleep. With her luck though, she wouldn’t be able to, when she was up Ashlyn was up for the day. Ashlyn had guessed she just laid in bed for another half hour before she heard the footsteps coming up the stairs and a knock on her door.

  “Ashlyn! Breakfast is ready! Get up!”

  Yup, it was Sophie who was knocking on the door.

  "Do I have too?" Ashlyn yelled back as she glared at the door.

  "Yes! Come on! Once we eat, we can go surfing!"

  That got her up. Sighing, Ashlyn rolled out of her bed, hitting the floor with a loud thump. She could hear Sophie walking away, laughing. She probably heard her rolling out of bed. This was how she usually got herself out of bed, but more so this morning because her leg was killing her.

  She didn’t feel like moving it that much. Untangling herself from the blankets, she grabbed the nightstand and the edge of the bed so she could stand up.

  Her leg hurt like hell.

  “Maybe surfing isn't a good idea...” she muttered to herself. She was getting out of bed and she already wanted to climb right back in and not move. Ashlyn made her way slowly into the bathroom, she would get dressed and head down to breakfast. As she undressed something caught her eyes. She had just taken off her pajama pants and something black caught her eye.

  “This cannot be happening,” she muttered, not wanting to believe what she was seeing. Looking at her leg, Ashlyn’s blue eyes widened. There on her leg was something she wasn’t expecting. Where the bite from yesterday should be was gone, and in its place stood what looked like a tattoo.

  “What the fuck...!” Ashlyn whispered as she continued to look at her leg in horror. There was no way a bite mark could do that.

  No possible way!

  She had to be dreaming, that was it. She was in bed dreaming and when she woke up she could laugh at even thinking that a bite mark could leave a tattoo like mark. Ashlyn looked at her leg for a good five minutes, disbelief still clear on her face. This wasn’t something she had expected to wake up with. She was still trying to convince herself she wasn't dreaming.

  This was so not normal.

  The worse thing she thought the bite would look like was red, maybe swollen. Never did she think it would turn into a tattoo like mark. Blinking Ashlyn gently traced the black swirling marks. They reminded her a bit of tribal markings, but not as rough. If she wasn’t in such shock she might have liked the mark. That wasn’t the case as of right now, how was she going to explain this mark to her friends? It wasn't like she could have gotten a tattoo overnight!

  Telling them she got bit by something and that was how she got the mark wasn’t going to go over...even if it was the truth. The truth was a little unbelievable, even to her. If it didn’t happen to her and someone else told her that was what happened to them, she would say they were making up a story.

  Looking at the marking again Ashlyn muttered, “I have to be dreaming....” that would be a good explanation for what was going on. She was having one of her weird dreams. As Ashlyn looked at the marking, she pinched her leg, but instead of waking up like she wanted to, she let out a startled yelp.

  Ashlyn whimpered as she rubbed the now red mark on her leg as she muttered, “...sooo not dreaming.”

  “If today isn’t going to be a weird day...I don’t know what weird is...” Ashlyn sighed as she lightly ran the tips of her fingers over the markings again. She felt a jolt go through her when she did that and quickly snatched her hand away.

  "Ash! You coming down or what!"

  Ashlyn snorted when she could hear her friend from all the way upstairs. She sure did have a good set of lungs, damn.

  "I am just finishing getting dressed!" she yelled back. Ashlyn quickly got dressed in her two piece teal swimsuit, and a pair of shorts that was paired up with a green tank top over the swim wear. After getting dressed, she looked back down at her ankle and wrinkled her nose, it stood out a little too much. She also didn't have any makeup that would cover it up. Biting her lip, her head went thought what she could do, the only thing she had on hand was the first aid kit.

  Not having any other choice, she opened the cabinet and moved some of the towels over to grab the first aid kit and pulled it out. Opening the kit she rummaged through it till she found the white bandages.

  “This could work...” she muttered, sitting down on the bathtub and proppin
g her foot up so she could wrap the bandages around her ankle to hide all of the markings. Once she made sure the bandage was secured and wouldn't fall off when she walked, Ashlyn put the kit away, grabbed her clothes and made her way out of the bathroom. She put her clothes on the bed, and left the room, making her way into the kitchen.

  "Finally, I thought I would have to come drag you down!" Raine huffed, as she took a bite of her eggs, sending Ashlyn a teasing smile.

  "Yeah, Yeah. You know I am not a morning person." She waved her hand at the girl and sat down at the table. A plate of food was already waiting for her, a simple breakfast of eggs, toast, and bacon. "Thank you for making breakfast." Her eyes looked around the table, as she looked for Sophie. "Where is Sophie?"

  Raine rolled her eyes. "Her mom called and now she is stuck on the phone with her..." Raine paused, shaking her head, "...poor girl. She will be stuck on the phone forever..."

  Ashlyn took a bite of her own food and gave a nod of agreement. Sophia’s mother could talk forever, the three girls sometimes wondered if she had to breathe because of how much she talked.

  “Are we still going to go surfing today? Or did you guys change your minds?” Ashlyn took a bite of her toast, as she looked at her friend who raised an eyebrow at the question.

  “We are still going, even if that means I have to hang up on Sophia’s mom for her.”

  She would too, Ashlyn knew that Raine didn’t care what people thought, she had that type of personality.

  “Alright, just don’t get Sophie too wound up.” Those two could go round in circles arguing and sometimes I wondered if they were an older married couple with how much they could argue.

  "I'll try not to...no promises." Ashlyn snorted, and took a drink of orange juice, not saying anything to the normal response Raine gave. The two sat in silence for a few minutes eating before they both heard shuffling and Sophia coming into the kitchen.

  "Let's finish breakfast and then we can head out. I really need to relax," Sophia muttered as she came and sat down at the table, in front of her half-eaten food she had left to take the phone call from her mother.