Ashley's Choice: Chapter 1

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Hi, my name is Ashley.

I'm a fifteen year old, woe-is-me, foster child, living with my older sister, four other girls, and the most beautiful woman your mind could possibly perceive. I like hanging out with my bestest of best friends, Holly, the only person in school that doesn't look at me with pity, and acting in school plays, the only place I can really escape from myself.

If you haven't read about me in Min's story (that's the woman you can't believe could be so utterly perfect), then you don't know my backstory. About a year ago, I was approached by a boy. Not your normal, run of the mill teenage boy. This one has eyes that glittered like black diamonds, and his body moved with the grace of a thousand, million angels. Unfortunately for me -- and my puberty-induced hormones -- Phil was not really a boy either. He is an Essence. The Essence of Friendship, to be precise. Which is why I felt so safe and content when he came up beside me one afternoon as I walked home from school.

He said, "Greetings, Ashley." I mean, who says "Greetings" anymore? It's a little creepy, to tell you the truth. But when I turned, ready to use those self-defense moves that my sister insisted I learn, I felt no urge to beat the crap out of him. Instead, I smiled, happy as could be to have another friend.

Friend. (Insert a very, unladylike snort.)

If it weren't for Holly, I'd be alone. Even surrounded by the others at home, no one really understood me. I mean, how could they? I was fourteen. What did I know about so much in the world? About real love, hatred, anger, sympathy, empathy, and all that? I should have been self-centered, and only concerned about who was going to ask me to the Winter Formal. But that wasn't who I was. Who I am.

And I didn't understand all that, until Phil told me all about myself. You see, I am balanced. Sounds kinda weird, huh? What does 'balanced' mean, anyway? He explained it to me, and I knew exactly what he meant.

Balanced means that my soul has equal portions of every essence...every emotion, rather. And that is rare. So rare, in fact, that there are only a handful of humans born into every generation that can claim to be 'balanced.' I guess I should feel lucky to be included in that secret club, but I wasn't. I felt trapped.

Trapped, because the weight on human existence rested on my frail shoulders.

Let me back up. A long time ago, when humans were evolving and developing consciousnesses beyond the ability to survive as animals, souls were formed. Souls are really the one thing that makes us different from other animals. Not posable thumbs. And certainly not our intellect. Lots of animals are smarter than us. We just use our brains differently, all because of our consciousnesses.

The abridged version of Essences: they are the separate embodiments of each element of our souls. Phil is the Essence of Friendship. Min WAS the Essence of Need. And then I have met others: Love, Catalyst (she's a total B-och), Influence, Inspiration, and of course, Balance, to name only a few of the many, many out there.

Really, if you haven't read Min's story, The House of Bells, you should. It explains it in a whole lot more detail. Regardless, my story is pretty much the same as hers, but from my viewpoint.

You see, when Phil introduced himself to me last year, I unwittingly started down the road to becoming one of those Essences. The weird part is that humans don't usually become Essences. I say 'usually' because before me, there was one single case. Harlan. The current Essence of Balance, and the whole reason I'm in this mess.

More back story: After Min was banished from her title as Essence of Need, and became a human (forced, really), she met a man named Harlan. A cowboy, and quite handsome, if I must say so myself. Harlan was another one of those balanced souls. And when humanity's control on this earth begun to shift the true balance of the world (which would have decimated the entire species), the un-human Essences turned him. He became kinda like the leader, holding the world in check.

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