Blind Faith (Book 1)

Chapter 1

Ash

Ash stared out of the large windows, overlooking a small soulless rock garden, which opened out onto a pebble beach and suddenly dropped away in the distance. He couldn't see a single plant or shrub alive; all were brown and shrivelled excuses of vegetation.

The ocean view of the Sussex coast was a blur of grey and greens as the rain battered the glass and obscured everything into a watery haze of bovine sadness, mirroring Ash's current mood.

He sunk low in the soft floral armchair and pulled the hood of his jacket down over his tear-smeared face, the old musty smell of the chair, beginning to make him nauseous. He was glad for the jacket, as the room was ice cold. He lifted his legs and slipped his frozen hands under for warmth.

Mother Luisa, sitting silent, a little to his right, just stared at him, her small dark eyes boring into his skull. She always managed to make him cry, and it pissed him off.

She needed only to give him a look these days and he would break down into a soppy mess and tell her everything, every secret, every thought, leaving nothing but an empty husk. Wasn't she meant to help him with his dreams and his nightmares? Why did his Dad insist he has these bloody chats?

"This is upsetting for you," she said, breaking the silence, her face a blank canvas.

"Really? You don't say," Ash replied gnashing his teeth, instantly regretting his bitter tone.

Mother Luisa blinked, silence was her reply.

"Sorry Mother," he said staring at his hands. "It's these damn dreams, I want to forget them, but all you want me to do is talk about them."

"Have you been sleeping properly? When did you last have a full night's sleep?" she asked, her voice remaining passive.

"Huh? I don't know...maybe never." He leant forwards, resting his elbows on his knees and sighed, trying to release the soul-wrenching despair crawling within him.

He peered at Mother Luisa from within the shadow of his hood and noticed a nervous twitch under her left eye. She stared at him with a glazed and distant expression.

He sat up straight and shifted his body to gaze around the room. Her little one-bedroom bungalow was quaint, with duck egg colour walls and dark grey carpets all through the house. Even the kitchen was grey, with slate tiles. Maybe the tone reminded her of a Nunnery Cell and somehow comforted her. To Ash, her home was cold, dull and void of any character, a bit like its owner, he guessed, watching her out of the corner of his eye.

How could his Dad be friends with a Nun?

Ash tapped the arm of his chair, and grinned, the only real colour in the entire house was the red sofa chair he sat in – her reading chair, which normally sat next to the fireplace directly behind him. Ash always moved it over to the French doors, to enable him to gaze out onto the beach. He needed to face outwards, not inwards, to help free his mind from the claustrophobic little room and the emotional memories Mother Luisa sucked out of him. Sometimes she gave him permission to open the doors and let the fresh sea breeze rejuvenate his mind. Today the weather prevented this one little pleasure.

Ash stared through the misty haze his tears left, trying to forget the first part of last night's dream, though Mother Luisa demanded intimate details – she always did.

"So, please continue Ashley...this woman...was she young or old? You said that you couldn't see her face?" she asked, in her low flat monotone voice. Her Italian accent slipped out and revealed itself more today as if she was on edge or nervous.

Ash paused before answering and studied her as she sat elegantly on her ebony-stained chair, back straight, legs crossed and not a glimpse of skin exposed, except her round pale face. She studied him back with curious dark eyes. She wasn't writing notes down today; her pad remained untouched on her desk. This wasn't the only oddity he had noted from today's session. She seemed distracted, more concerned about the faded cream retro telephone, sitting on her desk to her right, than what he had to say. Well, until he mentioned the girl in his dream.