Through The Ascension Room***Book One COMPLETE***

CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE ~PART FOUR~

I quickly catch up to the three of them and pull them off of the track they were on, the one I had run yesterday after narrowly dodging Hilt. I take a sharp left turn towards the direction of the ocean. We continue our run until the sounds of the ocean waves crashing against the shore pierce through the tree line and mix into a crescendo of sound with the swaying of the trees and the periodic chirps and hoots of nearby birds.

"What just happened back there? Alex, what—," Cynthia pauses as she gulps down a large breath seemingly choking her for a moment. "What the heck?"

"Dude yeah, seriously, where the hell did you come from?" Tristis lifts his bent body off of his slightly knees and cranks his face as he attempts to fill his lungs with fresh air.

"Yeah you were just inside of the bathroom, an...and then you were rushing towards us from the opposite direction," Aubri adds; similarly striking an out of breath pose.

I almost forget that I was in that moment for the second time around and this time I was in a totally different place. As this realization hits me I feel disoriented. As if out of place somehow. My spot in the universe almost, shifted from beneath my feet. The me that stands here and now doesn't belong, well, in the here and now. Though the people that stand before me now are the same as before I feel displaced from them, and it takes me a second to recollect myself and shake the offbeat feeling filling my gut and spilling out everywhere.

"Yeah," Cynthia adds signaling she's not done grilling me for answers, "and I could almost swear I heard you still in the bathroom through the window."

"Long story short," I pause for effect, and also to catch my breath a little more before striking a superhero pose. "I'm from the future."

My sad attempt at a joke seems to have done its trick. Granulated laughter trickles out of their oxygen starved lungs. I join in, and it feels good to laugh. I couldn't quite tell, but if almost seemed as if the laughter helped me catch my breath.

"So what—where did you come from then?" Aubri asks.

"Yester—," I'm still getting use to referencing my position in space and time correctly. "I lost you guys leaving the hotel back there and spent the night out in the woods. I returned to the hotel, tomorrow and came back to now to regroup with you guys. I couldn't find you all after we escaped the hotel; now I know why."

"Wow so you really are from the future then, technically," Aubri face shines with intrigue, almost excitement. She's still getting use to the time traveling and gravity bending thing.

I slant my face at her and give her a playfully crooked grin.

"Is someone starting to get excited?" I ask; probably sounding a little more flirtation than I originally meant to.

She smiles a sideways smirk. "This doesn't count you know."

"As what?" I ask biting her hook.

"As a real date," her eyes rise to meet mine; they cling to mine and I find it near impossible to look away, let alone even think of looking away.

"Oh yeah, I know. Doesn't count," I say scrunching my face, shaking it side to side; I wave my hands back and forth for added emphasis.

"Ok love birds. Can we please figure out what we are going to do next? Or are you guys gonna find a nice perch to snuggle up on and make googly eyes at each—," Cynthia's elbow to the gut cuts his joking short.

I look back at Aubri to see that she's blushing a bit. Seeing her blush immediately heats up my cheeks. She slips her finger over her ear tucking a locket of hazelnut hair snugly behind it. My heart melts in that moment. There's just something about her. I can't put my finger on it. Something that make me drawn to her. Like some outside force is literally, physically pulling me towards her. Tugging at my chest. Beckoning me to get closer and closer till we are occupying the same space. I can't explain it, and the more I try to reason it out in my head, the less it even makes sense to me.