~Tired Hearts~

						Ch.1
	“Where am I?” Ash looked up at the blood red sky that was being
taken over by black clouds.
	“What’s happening?” Ash asked himself aloud.
	He was now staring down a long and narrow road that seemed to go on
forever. He got a chill down his back as he noticed thousands of dead trees
lining the edge of the road leaving no space between them.
	Ash gathered all what courage he had and took only one step down the
eery path when an image of a person appeared before him.
	“M-Misty...” Ash breathed.
	Misty stood only a few feet in front of him. Her hair was let down and
she was wearing a white kimono with a light pink bow around her waste.
Her arms were slightly extended out as if she were going to give Ash
something. In between her hands floated a small red orb that pulsed with
every breath she took.
	Ash looked at Misty and then back at the orb. He reached out to touch
it and Misty simply smiled. As he reached for it, his own orb formed in his
hand and pulsed as if it were alive.
	Suddenly, it began to rain and Ash’s orb began to fade.
	“Misty, what’s going on?” Ash asked, his voice barely audible over the
loud pounding of the rain.
	Ash heard Misty gasp and he quickly looked up to see what was
wrong. Lightning flashed and Ash’s orb totally disappeared. When he
looked at Misty he noticed her smile was gone and her clothes had changed.
She now wore a tight black dress that draped past her feet.
	Ash took a step forward trying to reach Misty, but as soon as he
advanced, Misty’s eyes began to glow blue.
	“Misty, what’s happening to you?” Ash shouted in confusion.
	As soon as he spoke, sharp metallic spikes sprouted from the ground
encircling Misty. Ash jumped back at this trying to avoid being hit by one of
them.
	Misty’s orb floated above her and began to pulse frantically. When it
began to die down it’s dark red coloring started changing to a cloudy blue
and seemed to be freezing over.
	Ash winced as a sharp pain stabbed it’s way through his body. He
didn’t understand what was going on. He tried getting closer to Misty, but
once again, to no avail. Lightning struck again and Ash was flung to the
ground.
	He heard Misty scream and he jumped up quickly to try and save her,
but he could only helplessly watch as black strips of shadows wove
themselves around her.
	The shadows began to wrap around Misty’s body and squeeze her as
hard as possible.
	“Ash...!” Misty called to him. Then after a moment Ash heard her call
to him again, but this time as a whisper.
	“Why...?” was all she had a chance to say before the shadows wrapped
around her head.
	Ash couldn’t take this anymore. The pain was unbearable and the
confusion swelled in his head.
	“Misty!” Ash shouted as loud as he could over the pouring rain.
	He stumbled backward do to the pain and as he did, Misty’s mutated
orb burst out into flames, but only for a moment. When the flames dispersed,
all that was left was a blackened ball that had no life left in it. Cracks started
forming on it, and before Ash knew it, it shattered. Misty was gone.
	Ash dropped to his knees. He buried his face into his hands and began
to cry, alone on the quiet dead road.
	“What just happened? I-I don’t even know where I am...” Ash said to
himself in between sobs.
	He felt so confused and alone. He just wanted someone to be here with
him.
	“Misty...”
	Ash began to notice that his surroundings were changing again, but he
didn’t care.
	The long road lined with the dead trees seemed to vanish. The loud
rain abruptly stopped and Ash was surrounded by a haunting silence.
	He felt light headed and laid down. He watched as the sky and
everything around him disappeared and turned into blackness. Ash hoped
that he would disappear as well. It seemed his only means of escaping this
wretched world.
	He laid there waiting, but the darkness never came to claim him. Ash
angrily wiped away the tears that were still rolling down his cheeks. It
appeared as though he would be trapped here forever.
	Just then he heard a feminine voice shouting his name.
	“Ash! Com on! Ash...!”
	“Could that be Misty?” Ash asked himself. He tried to yell her name,
but he made no noise. How is this possible?!
	Ash tightly shut his eyes, angry at himself. When his eyes closed his
consciousness got lost in his many thoughts. He drifted through the so-called
“reality” he was is. He was only half aware of what was taking place outside
his closed eyes.

To be continued...