Ashlyn and Trent

<h1>Can divine intelligence coexist with cosmic wonder?</h1> <p1>Dear Mother, I am so glad you are getting the help that you need. I’m sorry that they won’t let you bake in the ward but, at least you still get to wear your oven mitts whenever you like. Is there an art class at the ward? Mother, if you need one of the nurses to pick up a sheet of paper for you, just ask. Don’t be too shy. Just say “Excuse me.” Just like you taught me mother, ladies always say excuse me. I have some exciting news, mother. I met somebody. His name is Trent and he is just the sweetest man. He has a beard and a ponytail. I know that you say men ought not to have ponytails, but his is just a short one. He met me when I was in a very fragile place and just made me feel so wonderful about myself. Why, I just don’t think I really knew who I was until I met Trent. He has a fancy job working for this website all about reviewing the best bars and restaurants in the state. That’s how we met. It was like he just knew everything that made me not feel good about myself and just made it all disappear. He was kind enough to let me stay in his nice apartment. I get to stay there and clean and watch talk shows and make a late dinner for the two of us. It reminds me of when it was just you and me cleaning the house all day. I’m also spending some of my time working on a very special present for you. It’s a quilt. I know how much you always loved fabrics and how you always sort of wanted to be a seamstress but couldn’t with your disorder. I hope you like the press-on nails I sent. I know how coral is your favorite. Mother, I want to let you know that I forgive you for everything that you have done to me. You were very strict with me growing up. I really wish I could have gotten to go to school like and play outside and have friends like a normal girl. I know now that you were just doing your best to provide for me and protect me. Love, Ashlyn <h1>They met a bar and took a cab back to Trent’s place. Halfway there, she leaped [[out into the rain.]] She wanted desperately to be alone and didn't think she was good enough to keep anyone's company. He went after her and convinced her she was worth something.</h1>

<h1>They fell in love?</h1> <iframe width="784" height="431" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DeSzKu1DiWQ"> </iframe> <h1>But it wasn’t the end. She went home with him but, [[part of her still eluded him.]] Part of her knew that she was too special to be around other people. Part of her knew that she was destined for greatness.</h1>

<p1>Dear diary, "Because no matter where you run, you just end up running into yourself." I singed my fingernails. Three days ago I was using the stove and noticed some soot on them. I think my fingernails are hypersensitive to fire. Why on earth could that be? Trent told me I'm crazy; that I just want to be a special girl with special problems. But my fingernails love me more than he does and they know things that I don't. I'm just stuck in this apartment all day waiting, not always for him to come home from work, but just... anything. Perhaps I didn't singe them and they're just trying to trick me. When I was a little girl, my little white cat named Millie used to roll around in the woods and then I'd scratch her belly anyway. The black mud used to get stuck under my fingernails and mother hated it. "Little girls ought to be CLEAN." she'd say. "Little girls this. Little girls that. Little girls this. Little girls that." I'd whine. Well I'm no little girl anymore. Sometimes my fingernails send their thoughts to me. I know that they don't care about being dirty, because of their warm and sweet nature, their energy. "All good girls go to heaven." Dirty fingernails are the sign of one with clean secrets. Mother never had her own fingernails. She's just jealous. As I stare at my black fingernails, I am alone in the apartment and they scream of her envy. I don't think they'll go back to normal, so I'd better just paint over them. Love, Ashlyn</p1> <h1>As hard as he tried he could not get Ashlyn to doubt her powers. She knew her nails had [[a role to play.]]</h1>

<p1>Dear Diary, Poor Trent is having a hard time at work. I apologized to him the other night and told him that I had gotten carried away. I told him that I had started visiting one of the neighbors on another floor. She holds a sewing club that meets once a week. I’ve made some good friends there and they seem to really like me. All lies, of course. My sweet fingernails always know just what to say. Ever since that night in the mud, when they showed me everything that I am, everything I’ll ever be, my confidence has skyrocketed. Trent notices. He likes it. We’re starting to have a little more fun together late at night if you know what I mean. He told me that I sound different. I think he’s right. I like to think I sound more like my mother, speaking breathy and from my diaphragm, like a proper lady. He even trusted me enough to tell me what happened at work. It was a total fiasco, my poor baby. You see, there’s this family that used to own a restaurant upstate. Well, somebody from the website Trent works for wrote a review just slamming them. Word got around and their business ended up shutting down a few years ago. Turns out the opened up a new place that started drawing in big crowds. They heard that the website was sending another critic, my sweetheart. Well these people are real savvy you know and they tracked down who the website was sending and what he looks like. Get this. They put arsenic in his pesto chicken. Arsenic! Anyways he went to the hospital and by the time I found out, they had already let him leave. Trent told me that the doctors seemed pretty impressed and a bit astounded that he had made it. They said he was very lucky that he got to the hospital so quickly. I am just so happy that he trusts that I’m stable enough to open up to and I have my babies to thank. But then they spoke to me. My babies. They said that it wasn’t luck that he survived. Whatever could they mean? Love, Ashlyn</p1> <h1>They told her [[how he did it.]]</h1>

<p1><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Poo5xhAWdJs&t=1220s" target="_blank">Skip to 15:00. Watch to 20:00.</a></p1> [[Intelligence]]

<h1>What should be done about her babies? Part of her knew that she was crazy, and he knew it. Part of her thought that maybe she should be taken to the doctor. <iframe width="784" height="431" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/LtI0uG6tjew"> </iframe> <h1>Her babies didn't have to explain to her what he is. She figured it out herself. He's [[Trent the immortal.]]</h1>

<p1>"Ashlyn, baby, what are you doing? No. How did your nails get so pointy? What did you do to them? NO! STAY BACK!"</p1> <h1>Her babies didn't have to tell her. She knew there was only one way to prove what she and him are. She knew exactly what she had to do in order for both of them to reach the full potential of their powers.</h1> <p1>NO! ASHLYN! AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!"</p1> [[FIN]]

<h1>Credits</h1> <p1>EverythingAudrey.com. "Breakfast at Tiffany's - BEST ENDING SCENE EVER (22) - Kissing in the Rain." YouTube. Youtube, 2 March 2016. Flashback FM. "Bruce misses Catwoman | Batman Returns." Youtube. Youtube, 3 January 2017. msyPARIAH. "CATWOMAN." Youtube. Youtube, 25 August 2011. VH1. "Sean Young meets with Dr. Drew." vh1. VH1, 7 October 2011. Movieclips. "Batman Returns (1992) - What Did Curiosity Do to the Cat? Scene (1/10) | Movieclips." Youtube. Youtube, 22 December 2014. Inside Edition. "'The Shining' Star Shelley Duvall: Robin Williams Is Alive and a Shapeshifter." Youtube. Youtube, 17 November 2016. Rust Cohle. "The Shining - Bat Scene (1080 HD)." Youtube. Youtube, 11 September 2012. Billy Reno. "The Shining Ending HD." Youtube. Youtube, 15 September 2016. James Maye. "Paranormal State S01E17 Mothman." Youtube. Youtube, 1 March 2017.