Horizon Ashika

On a summer day Ashika tried her luck with the local lottery shop. “Another scratch off card for twenty thousand dollars, this time with a bonus island getaway win” she says while rolling her eyes as a stranger handed it to her. Instead of scratching it off immediately she decided to wait until she reached home. Ashika was never the type to do lottery. Instead she believed luck should take its natural course, like what happened that same day. As she scratched off the card revealing the winning number, her brows became stern. “My first time winning, must be fake?!” she said as she went to sleep. The following morning an unknown number had called her. “Hello we are aware that you have won, please email us” the caller said. Before Ashika could even speak the user had hung up. “Wait! How did they even knew I won, I never contacted them” she said worryingly. Immediately she pulled out her phone and emailed the lottery headquarters. Feeling nervous she decided to resume her daily schedule of watching comedy to ease her tension.

The next day her doorbell had rang. Ashika, wobbling half asleep towards the door had looked out the window. Her eyes widened at the sight of a luxury maroon limousine. She opened her window and asked who’s there. It was a petite, slender woman in a black leather suit at her front door claiming she’s here to reward her twenty thousand dollars and to take her to the getaway island. “Oh so this is actually real!” Ashika shockingly said. The woman only smiled and told her she won’t need to bring anything but herself. “Look I only emailed you guys to see if this was legit, not to actually go” Ashika explained. The woman’s warm smile had slightly turned crazed. “Our company heard you love pineapples, our secluded island is home to over one hundred species of pineapples” the woman said. Ashika paused for a moment in confusion. “Do you think I’m really going to go because you said that? Because I’m actually coming!” she said shamelessly. Ashika slammed the door opened, grabbed the money and ran in the car. The moment she sat down in the car everything went white.

Alone in a tropical jungle lied Ashika sleeping peacefully in a fetal position until a stick had poked her head. “What are you doing sleeping here?” an unknown voice had said. Startled by the sudden voice Ashika jumped up and scream which resulted in the stranger quickly covering her mouth. “Stay calm” the being said. Before her eyes lied a being that looked human but their eerie presence said otherwise. Tall with umber skin, eyes resembling a sandstone and indigo cotton hair with a warrior built. “Ashika, I knew you were coming and I won’t disturb your peace.” the being said while removing their hand away. Realizing that they had released her Ashika quickly got up and took a step back and quickly presented the money she had won. “You can have it! I know this is what you want, I just want to go home!” she exclaimed. The being began to laugh. “ Humans believe that money can solve all issues but I am sorry to say that money has no value here” the being said sternly. Ashika eyes had widened in disbelief, her only instinct was to run. While running, Ashika noticed different creatures and plants that she didn’t knew existed before. Purple birds with feathers that shone a metallic blue shimmer as they flew through the cracked sunlight beams of the dense jungle skies. Vibrant shades of greenery at the bottom of her feet while matte rainbows were prevalent on every tree bark. She knew she wasn’t on earth anymore.

After running until she couldn’t, Ashika had become hungry then smelled a familiar scent. “Is that a pineapple?” she huffed as she began walking towards the isolate plant. “No, I will not eat anything here, in fact you’re the reason I’m even here!” she shouted while pointing to the fruit. “This is the first time I’ve witnessed a fruit being shouted at” a familiar voice said. Ashika looked up and noticed it was the tall indigo haired being lying in the tree above her. The being jumped down as it knew Ashika was too tired to run away. “My name is Zone and you are still on Earth, only in a different dimension, this island is an experiment and I suggest you follow me or you will become the next lab rat” the being said while extending their hand to her. She tilted her head at Zone in confusion. “Why should I trust you?” she asked. “ I don’t think you trust yourself” Zone said while directing her to the pond besides them. “Tell me what you see when you look at your image” they said calmingly. Walking over to the pond Ashika knelt down and examined her reflection. She smiled for the first time since being away from home and said “I see a beautiful cinnamon girl with hair as fluffy as a pom-pom and eyes as bright as the sun”. Zone gave her a perplexed look. “Sorry that is how my mother always described me” she said embarrassingly while holding her head down. Zone knelt next to her staring into their reflection. “I am not bothered by your description but have you ever seen yourself within?” Zone said while stirring the water clockwise. Ashika’s reflection disappeared as she looked in disgust. “Are you saying that I am nothing inside?” she said angrily. Zone laughed and said “Your perspective is your perception”. Ashika glared at Zone and splashed the water resulting in her reflection glowing like the sun. She began to inch closer to her image admiring it. “Sometimes things are not what they seem at first, you have to trust yourself and you will be what you want to be” Zone said. Suddenly a loud shriek startled Ashika. Luckily Zone had caught her from falling into the pond. “We have to get out of here, the rejects come out when the sun goes down” Zone said while examining their surroundings. “Rejects?” she asked. “I’ll explain later but you have to trust me” Zone said. Ashika agreed and together they vanished into a portal.

Ashika held onto Zone’s back while they soared cross the tree trunks. Seeing the jungle through a birds eye view left her speechless. “I feel like I’m the ruler of this land” she screamed in excitement. Zone had realized something wasn’t right and had decided to take a break on one of the highest branches on the island. “Why did you stop?”Ashika asked. Zone stayed quiet for a second and stared at the jungle floor. “Look down and you will see” they said. Ashika gasped at the sight of what looked to be hundreds of obvious half human half animal beings glaring at them. “Are they going to capture us?” she asked in a frightening tone. As soon as she had asked that, some of the creatures began to move forward. “Ashika the only way they will leave us alone is if you tell them to” Zone said. “How can I-no you’re right” she said as she stood firmly. “It’s time to stop being afraid of the unknown” she thought to herself. She extended her right arm, hovering it in circular motion towards every beings direction. The sunset began to stop and a strong gust of wind blew the trees apart exposing the beings to the sunlight causing them to flee. Ashika looked at her hand as if it was a foreign object. “Ashika you trusted yourself and look what became of it” Zone said while smiling. “Zone, why are you hiding on the other side” she said exhaustingly. As her eyes began to close she noticed a blurred image of animal walking towards her.

The next day Ashika found herself in a bamboo shack with the sun beaming on her face. The smell of fermented fruit began to seep throughout the shack. As soon as Ashika stood up to find the source of the smell she tripped over herself or so it seemed. “Where did this come from?” she asked as she picked up a small black notebook. Suddenly she heard footsteps coming towards the door. There wasn’t enough time for her to get up. The door had swung open and it was Zone. There was a long silence between the two until the being noticed what she was holding. “It is time” Zone said in a serious tone. “What?” said Ashika. “You are holding the ticket to escape this island” they said while grinning. As soon as Ashika heard that she began to frantically flip through the book only to find blank pages. “There are no maps or anything in here to tell me how to get off of this island” she said disappointedly. “I’ll tell you what’s really happening on this island” Zone said. Together they sat down and Zone explained how they too were once human who had also won a trip to the island only to be deceived and experimented on. Zone revealed that they were fused with a Korat and that the only way to escape the island was to be chosen by a small black book. “Only a human can unlock the book” Zone said. Ashika slumped in a corner while squeezing the book. “It’s no use, its blank inside” she sobbed. Zone sat next to her and smiled. “Ashika remember what happened at the pond and last night?” they asked. Suddenly Ashika’s eye lit up, she sat in the sunlight and remained calm.

With blank pages before her eyes, Ashika had begun to read the blank pages of the small black book. “Beginnings always start off blank, confusion as to where or when to start, but once we move through life it gets filled with experiences and memories but most importantly it’s filled with what you were destined to be and it is to be authentically free.” Ashika said as a bright light disrupted her reading while shining throughout the entire room. The bright light had finally subsided and Ashika found herself lying in her bedroom. She jumped up and screamed for joy. “It really worked! I got us to returned Zone!” she said excitedly. Suddenly she realized that she was alone. “Zone? Where are you? Ashika asked while searching her home. She went back into her room to find the black book on her bed. This time it had words in it. “From the beginning to the end I knew you would find yourself again” she read.