Chapter Three
Ashton opened his eyes and blinked. He closed his eyes again before slowly opening them. He glanced at the immaculate white walls and ceiling before the smell of the hospital disinfectant hit him.
Ashton felt weird. Everything looked different, he glanced at his hands and they were his, he touched his face and he was sure that was exactly how his face felt like but he didn't feel like himself.
He tried to seat up attracting the attention of his parents who were seated on the couch in the ward. Mrs Westlake rushed towards her son, her eyes expectant.
"Ashton, are you okay?" She asked and Ashton turned to her. This was definitely his mom. He nodded slowly at her before looking around again.
Mrs Westlake swallowed her saliva without saying anything. The head Doctor had explained to them, the full consequences of the surgery.
Ashton felt everything was different but it was the same. He definitely couldn't have incarnated into someone's body right?
Laila was a book fanatic, she read alot of books and she used to talk about these incarnation stuffs, someone entering another person's body when they died.
"Mom, do you have a mirror?" Ashton asked and Mrs Westlake blinked.
"A mirror?" She asked.
"Yes and make it snappy" Ashton replied.
Mrs Westlake nodded as she hurried out of the ward "I'll be back" she said.
Ashton ran his hands through his hair calmly. Something was different and he was sure of it.
"What's the problem Ashton?" Mr Westlake asked and Ashton sighed his eyes darting around.
"Everything feels different" Ashton replied honestly.
Mr Westlake shrugged as he looked around as well, "But nothing has changed" he said as Ashton turned to him. Mrs Westlake rushed inside the ward with one of the guards carrying a large mirror.
"Here's a mirror" She said as the guard placed the mirror in front of Ashton.
Ashton looked at himself in the mirror. It was his face and he definitely didn't incarnate into someone else's body.
Whatever was going on with him, Ashton didn't like it one bit. He waved his hand to the guard and the guard took the mirror away.
"Dad, can you get me discharged? I want to go home" Ashton said and Mr Westlake nodded before walking out.
Ashton stared into space while trying to think about what must have happened. He turned to see his mom still looking at him with watery eyes.
Ashton smiled a little as he stretched his hand to hold hers "Mom, I'm fine. I'm just a little restless" he said and his mom looked at him in surprise. Ashton blinked in surprise as well. He and his parents did get along well but they weren't close. He was the only child so they spoilt him without thinking. He wasn't the type to comfort people. He wanted to remove his hand from his mom's but he found out her hand was warm so he just held on.
Throughout the drive home, it felt like Ashton was just seeing New York City for the first time, yet he had seen it since he was born. Ashton ran his hands through his hair the one millionth time as the driver drove into the house. Ashton opened the door of the car and got down before turning to his parents.
"Go back to work, I'll be fine on my own" Ashton said before walking inside the house.
The maids scrammed upon seeing him and Ashton couldn't even the bothered by them. He walked into his room and looked around. He frowned as he looked around, disgusted by the messiness of the room. He eyed the room, angry. He hissed as he became to pick up the clothes on the floor. He packed them all on the bed and started sorting out the dirty ones from the clean ones.
After an hour, the room was squeaky clean. From the floor, to the bed, shelf and to the wardrobe. Ashton fell to the bed before he remembered that he never liked cleaning.
He was a natural rough person and would never clean up his room. It was the maids who cleaned up his room so what was with him that he got so disgusted by the dirty room and had to clean up the room himself?
Ashton peeled off his clothes and stepped into the bathroom. He stayed under the shower for about twenty minutes without moving. Something was wrong with him but he didn't know or have an idea about what it might be. He walked out of the bathroom and changed into shorts and a shirt before walking downstairs.
"I'm hungry" he said to a maid who scampered straight to the kitchen. Within minutes, different plates of food had been arranged in front of him. Ashton licked his spoon as he stared at the plates of food. He pointed to the tray of shrimps.
"From now on, don't give me shrimps, I want crabs instead" Ashton said as he started eating. The maid looked startled.
Since when did Ashton liked crabs?
"Won't you take it away?" Ashton snapped at the maid who carried the plate of shrimps and ran out of the dining hall. Soon a plate of crabs was placed in front of him. Ashton calmly started eating the crab in front of him. He was never a fan of sea food but at that moment, he just carved for sea food.
Ashton turned to the maid, blinking his eyes "Can I get another plate?" He asked and the maid froze.
"I can't?" He asked again snapping the maid out of her daze.
"Of course you can" she said as she hurried into the kitchen. She brought back two plates of crabs and Ashton collected them before walking upstairs to his room.
He sat down on the bed crossing his legs. Taking one crab and tearing it apart before eating the fleshy area. The phone on the table made a 'ding' sound and Ashton turned to the table and reached for his phone with his other hand.
Laila: Are you okay, Ash?
He stared at the message for a while before dropping his phone and continued eating the crabs. After eating, he walked into the bathroom and washed his hands. He then carried the plates back and gave them to the maid. Ashton walked back into his room and closed the door. He climbed into bed and pulled the covers to his neck. He took another glance at his room and pursed his lips.
Why did everything look so different?
His dad's earlier words came back to him. The more he looked, the more everything looked different and yet, nothing had changed. It was the way Ashton was feeling that scared him the most. Knowing that there was something wrong with him, he would have been scared and tried to ask for help but he was so calm as if there was nothing wrong with him. Ashton's phone vibrated again and he reached for it.
Laila: I heard you got discharged. Is everything fine? They wouldn't let us see you at the hospital.
Ashton dropped his phone after reading the message. He yawned as he turned on his bed. He wasn't sure of whatever had happened to him but he was sure of something.
He wasn't not even in the least fine.