Silver Lies Within the Hell We Created

"Hey hey hey!!!" 

In front of Ash sat an energetic girl, her vibrant crimson hair cascading down to her sides, brushing against her shoulders as she perched on the edge of Ashley's bed. A worn bandage was wrapped around her right arm. As she swayed back and forth, her eyes, a mesmerizing shade of crimson, widened with excitement, fixed intently on Ash.

Ash was speechless by the girl before him. Her adorable appearance, rosy cheeks, and sparkling eyes were like a burst of color in his monochrome world. His heart pounded within his chest in sync with the girl's movements, as if she were a metronome aiding a drummer. A feeling of shame stirred within him as he tried to refuse his love at first sight. But as her eyes stared at him with increasing intensity, those feelings faded. He embraced it as if-

"Do you believe in fate?" Startled by her sudden question, Ash's eyes widened. The girl leaned forward on top of Ash, ignoring a stranger's personal space. She swayed her hips in a way that reminded Ash of a dog wagging its tail in pure bliss.

His chest tightens, this unfamiliar feeling racking his mind. He tried to toss away his feelings and spoke in a cool, collected voice as if he were completely normal. "If fate existed, then that would imply that my parents died for the sake of something greater." To fight against his unknown feelings, he stabbed his own heart with the bitter memories of the past. The girl's hips lowered, and she backed off of him. Her cheerful expression faded into a neutral one. "If it existed, then that means my sis is suffering for a reason beyond her control. So no, I do not and will not believe in fate."

The girl then frowned as she stood up from the bed, creating a distance between her and Ash. She seemed about the same height as him and Ashley and had a tinner shape. She wore an old pair of clothing that Ashley had laid out for her before she left that morning, as her last pair was torn. Her silky hair flowed down towards her bottom. She twisted a stray lock of hair as a soft sigh escaped her lips.

"I certainly was not expecting an answer opposite to what you were thinking." She muttered faintly before looking at Ash. Her eyes lost their excitement and were filled with a dull, bored look. "How unromantic of you. You'll never find someone with that vapid mindset. You just gotta pretend to entertain someone's questions sometimes."

"And why would I want to pretend?" Ash stood up and stretched. His bone creaked as he had a satisfied expression on his face. Her face jolted towards the door, her ears twitching like a rabbit's, and a look of intense curiosity crossed her face.

Before he could question the sudden movement, a large crash echoed throughout the small house. "I'm back!!!!!" Ashley shouted as she ran up to Ash and kicked him in the back. Ash groaned in pain as he tried to get up.

His eyes drifted towards the heavy-looking sack on her back. "How on earth can you move like that while carrying that thing?"

"Hehe." Ashley bore an enormous smile on her face, a kind of smile that Ash had not seen in a while.

"Don't 'hehe' me!"

Ashley, her face beaming with contentment, ambled towards their makeshift kitchen. The clatter of pots and pans already announced the start of a delicious breakfast. As she worked, Ash felt a slight tug on the back of his sleeve. The crimson-haired girl looked at him with a lonely expression as her thin legs trembled a little.

"What's the matter?" Ash looked at her with a brotherly look. He wanted to ask if she needed to use the bathroom, but he did not want to assume wrong. The girl's eyes widened in surprise before her expression shifted to annoyance. The girl's hand shot out, her fist connecting with his side in a swift motion. "What was that for!?" The girl looked away with a cute pout as Ash immediately reacted. Ash rubbed the spot she had punched. A lingering pain pulsed through the area. Despite her delicate appearance, her hidden strength took him by surprise.

The nameless girl then looked at Ash pridefully as her soft lips opened. "Thank you." The sudden thanks confused Ash, as he did not remember saying anything that prompted thanks in return.

Still rubbing the area, Ash looked at her. "What's your name?"

"A name?" The girl placed her finger on her lips and pondered.

Thinking that she might have lost her memories or something, Ash looked at her carefully. Her crimson hair, pale skin, and rosy cheeks set his heart fluttering. A sweet scent of cherries filled his nose as a soft wind blew from the cracks of the walls behind the girl. In the event that she says she does not have a name, Ash would name her that.

"Cherry," the girl said earnestly as her eyes stared into his. A warm feeling filled his body as she grabbed his arm and pressed up against his body. "My name is Cherry."

Ashley panned her head towards the two with an uneasy expression. Ash felt her gaze and tried to turn back, but Cherry's attempt at drawing his attention was stronger.

"Cherry? I think it's a cute name." Ash said as he tried to gently pry the girl off him. His youthful heart could not handle the amount of expression she was showing him. Her face grew slightly red as she wrapped her arms around him.

"Cute, huh?" Ashley spoke from the kitchen. "I get where you're coming from, but it's really surprising that someone who isn't from here has had to endure this lackluster tradition of being named after trees and their fruits."

The town of Aldor, founded centuries ago, had a unique tradition of naming its residents after various trees, a tribute to the ancient, towering tree that stood at the heart of the town. While its history is lost to the ages, the townsfolk share stories of the ancient tree, said to have witnessed the world before the first humans appeared.

Cherry jumped off of Ash and sat down on his bed. She swayed back and forth peacefully as her cheeks were still red. Something about her actions and expression nibbled at Ashley's mind, but she did not want to ruin the atmosphere. If Ash was happy, then that's all she could wish for. Ashley let out an envious sigh and continued cooking. Once she was finished, they had a lively meal, with Cherry flirting with Ash the entire time. When everything was cleaned up, Ashley felt the house in a rush, claiming that she had things to do. Ash said nothing, but he knew why she was so quick to leave.

As Ashley shut the door, his thoughts drifted back to his conversation with Cypress the night before. With a killer so close to the town, he could not help but worry. She might be much stronger than him in terms of strength, but she's naïve. She is too trusting of those around her.

"Something on your mind?" A voice pulled Ash out of his thoughts. He turned back and saw Cherry standing behind him with her hands behind her back. She walked slowly around him, her hair swaying with each step. "She's a lot stronger than she looks, huh? But you think there's something out there that might get the best of her?" She spoke in a calm tone that allowed Ash to relax. A sense of trust filled his heart. "While I don't know what's bothering her, I know that something larger is bothering you. I hear to listen, as thanks for looking after me." Ash felt his heart being strung along with each word that left her mouth. It felt unnatural, as if his mind was acting on autopilot. But, simultaneously, he allowed her cute voice and figure to reel him in.

"How did you figure that out?"

"It's not rocket science. Unlike your sister, you wear your emotions on your sleeve. So I was able to determine that something big was eating away at your mind." She jabbed her finger at Ash's forehead. "Now tell me what's going on. Bottling up those feelings will only dirty the soul." Her expression shifted briefly, as if she said something weird before putting on a charming smile.

"I found a body in the forest yesterday." Cherry's expression dimmed as he spoke. She stepped back, her fingers absentmindedly twirling a strand of hair. "Within the forest just outside of the town, I was returning home from hunting when I found a scary-looking man who seemed to be from the City of Pandora. He had dug up a mound of dirt that hid the remains of a body that was torn to shreds."

There was a slight pause as he recalled the unpleasant memories of the corpse. A scene played out vividly in his mind. The sight of the poor man's lifeless body contorted and twisted in a grotesque manner. The phantom smell of that day churned his stomach, making him feel a wave of nausea.

What bothered him the most was the haunting image of his parents' lifeless forms etched in his memory as a result of what he saw. He could almost hear the silence that enveloped the gruesome scene, broken only by the rustling of leaves in the wind and his sister's muffled cries from beneath a fallen tree covered in thick moss. His father's corpse was bound to a tree, and his body was filled with lacerations from head to toe. His mother's fate was equally horrifying, her beheaded and stripped body bare before his father's lifeless gaze.

Since that fateful day, the mere mention of the incident forced Cypress to change the subject immediately, as if he knew something. Ashley avoided the topic with a pained look of regret, as if she carried the burden of blame.

"Do you know who the man was and what he did?" Cherry's voice broke from his sorrowful thoughts. Her voice lost its calmness, and a slight fear overtook it.

To Ash, he felt relief that his telling of a strange murder happening just outside of town sparked some kind of emotion that was not immediately downplayed. He told her everything he saw yesterday, including the man placing a lit cigarette on the corpse. As he retold the tale, he noticed something strange that he had not thought of before. The man was talking out loud, but not to himself. It was as if he knew someone was watching him. His words were carefully curated, allowing Ash to gain a basic understanding of what was happening.

"I'd say he might have been the killer himself," Cherry spoke up, once again stopping Ash's mind from drifting off. Her voice trembled a bit. Her words were the opposite of those that Cypress had told him the night before. "Tsk." Cherry's tone then changed as she looked at Ash's eyes. A serious glint shined off her pupils as if she were trying to look at something. She then closed her eyes and spoke. "What I mean is that it's odd that someone would have been able to find a random body just by digging for it. It's as if he knew where that man was buried." Once those words left her lips, a sudden dread filled her face as she stepped back.

Ash looked at her with a confused look. Just like last night, he never once said it was a man who was buried. Seeing her expression hit him with a wave of regret, as he never wanted to burden anyone else with the fear of knowing an unknown killer was on the loose. Her words gave him the courage to speak of it, but now he regretted doing that.

"Hey, are you ok?" He asked as he absentmindedly approached her.

"Y-yeah, just don't look at me right now." She quickly turned around. "Dumbass…" she said with a faint mutter as she clenched her fists.

"You sure?"

The girl then turned back around with a forced smile that could rival his sister's. "Yeah, I thought of something horrible from what happened yesterday. I think it was about the man you found yesterday." Her eyes darted around the room as her trembling lips moved. "He might have been—no, he was definitely the one who attacked me yesterday." She rubbed the bandage on her arm. "He was the one who attacked me. I guess by a stroke of luck, something took him out after I escaped."

A sense of doubt was growing in the back of Ash's mind. The words that he wanted to say never left his lips as Cherry looked at him with a terrified expression that forced his body to move on its own. He gently wrapped his arms around her as the seeds of doubt faded from his mind. He wondered why he was embarrassing her, but he could not stop. Her soft, warm body and gentle heartbeats invited him to stay. Cherry did not flinch at the sudden action or stop him; it was as if this action were something she was expecting.