A Flashback with Ash

Excerpt from the Cornerstone Text:

******************************************* Part 6 ********************************************************************

"Drake? What the hell happened to that kid?" she asked.

A sigh escaped me. "Ash, I'm not sure you really want to know. This is dangerous shit. Satanic shit." I waited for her to roll her eyes or mock me, but she stared deep into my eyes before asking again. "Drake? What's going on in this town?"

I took a pull from my whiskey glass, buying myself a moment to think. "Should I really tell her what I'm thinking? Either she'll call me crazy and throw me out, or she'll find herself for whatever reason invested in this, or worse, fascinated by it."

As if reading my mind, she slowly placed her hand on my arm. "Drake, I need to know. Whatever happened to that kid wasn't natural. All this the same night you happen into Daddy's tavern talking to me about Wendigos. I saw the way you went pale when you saw that bag. What do you know?" she said, no longer even trying to conceal her worry.

"Okay, Ash, but once I tell you these things, you'll never be able to see the world the same. Do you really want this?" I asked, hoping she'd say no. She looked me dead in the eyes and nodded.

Setting my glass down, I stood up and walked over to my coat, making sure to lower my head as I passed her light fixture. I reached into my coat pocket, and after feeling around for a moment, I pulled out the bag we had found. I walked

back to the couch and sat down while tossing the bag on the polished oak table.

She sat there, a confused expression on her face, staring at the navy cloth tied up with a coarse string. "I believe this is a 'hex bag,'" I spoke up. "They're almost exclusively used by witches. Most of them are harmless, used to ward

off negative energy and for protection. However, they can be used for great harm as well." I explained to a wide-eyed Ash, who was doing her best to understand what I was telling her. "It really comes down to what intentions the person

who built the hex bag had and what they placed inside of it."

I reached for the small switch-blade in my pocket and bent over the fine table, ready to dissect this witchcraft. I lightly cut the knot of the string and used my fingers to gently pry it open, before carefully pouring out its contents

onto the table.

Ash bent over next to me, her hand resting on my shoulder. I began examining its contents. "The skull of a crow. An old rusty nail. A small lock of red hair. A bit of dirt, which I'll assume is from a graveyard. Same graveyard they got

the nail from someone's coffin, and lastly, a large amount of salt mixed with charcoal."

"What does any of this mean?" asked Ash, blankly.

"It means that this kid's death was a murder. It means there's a coven here in town."

"So...witches are real?" she asked, her voice flat with disbelief.

"I find most things are," I responded, watching her closely to gauge her reaction.

"Tell me what you know about this kid. Jake, right?" I asked, trying to piece together the puzzle.

"Yeah, Jake... Jake O'Riley, I think," she said, her mind clearly racing.

We both emptied our glasses, and she reached for the bottle to refill them. Can't blame her. Her whole perspective on life had just been spun upside down and thrown down a flight of stairs. I just liked Tennessee whiskey.

I picked up the lock of red hair to examine it. "Holy shit... is that his hair? Jake's?" she asked, still trying to make sense of it all. It would be easier if she just let go of the things she thought she knew, but Ash is a stubborn

girl. A fighter. I needed to let her figure some of this out on her own.

So that is the first opening of “Part 6” in Drew’s book. (There are 11 parts)
I only changed one thing: the “Actual name of a town” to “in town”