Asher Chase

Crumpled leaves swirled in the crisp morning air as Asher Chase hurried to his car from the house. His roommate Nile had spilt coffee all over his already wrinkled uniform, making him even more late from having to run to the dry cleaners to pick up a clean outfit. He had already accepted the inevitable reprimands from his work’s manager for his unprofessionality; despite the wrinkle-free monkey suit he actually looked damn good in. Everyday he was either yelled at for being late or unkempt or too tired looking.
“Ash! Your top buttons are unbuttoned!” screeched Lanie, his boss.  He continued to carelessly meander across the spotless kitchen floor before stopping in front of the shiny metal door. ‘The janitorial crew must polish for hours to get such a gleam,’ Asher thought as he paused a moment to stare into his slightly skewed reflection.
His tousled hair and tired eyes, along with those top three undone buttons that revealed a taste of the tan skin on his chest, was a sight to see. That's how he preferred to wear such a uniform. Then, as only seconds had passed, he continued his way and walked past his boss with his buttons still artfully undone. He snatched up his order flip book from his surprisingly spotless locker, where it lay on top his neatly folded culinary apparel.
Pushing past the shining kitchen door, he was met with the roar of hungry dinner guests and started to make his rounds. Once past those kitchen doors, Ash’s eyes widened and began to glow with the sheer excitement of this restuarants atmosphere. He had the certain gleam that when paired with a crooked smile, the female customers of whom he took their orders would urge their husbands to leave a more generous tip.
The evenly spaced glass tables were surrounded by men in expensive suits across from women in extravagant gowns and promiscuous dresses of the times highest fashion. Asher had witnessed and taken part in countless wedding proposals each week, as it wasn't uncommon for him to have to skillfully hide multiple diamond covered rings in the decadent desserts of the buyer's choice. Anyone who caught a glance of the young man secretly wished for him to take their order, for in comparison to any other waiter or waitress, he was extraordinary. He had the kind of face that belonged in the kitchen or in magazines and cooking shows instead of just the waiting staff.
Despite his looks, Asher wasn't vain in the way he acknowledged his features. He loved what he did now, with his $20 per hour plus impressive tips, even if it was considered a meager profession; if one can even consider waiting tables of profession.
Bright teeth shown, flashing at the customers from a pair of soft lips forming a certain sideways smile unique to him. He approached a table of two women with that smile etched across his face. The one ladies bright eyes met his blue ones until she dropped her head hiding a shy smile. Across the table, perched on the edge of the elegant chair sat another girl about the same age. Her long blonde hair of messy waves fell behind her backless dress. Its wildness and long length stood out in the regal atmosphere, which flew untamed when she tossed it to the side without glancing up from the menu.
“Hello girls. What can I start you to out with tonight?”  That was not how he was taught to address customers, as he had neglected the ‘good evening’ or to call the girls ‘ladies’. Anything besides that was considered ‘street talk’ to Lanie, whose family owned half of the damn restaurants in the city. It was easy for anyone to realize she was raised for being the boss. As of now she was just the manager at the young age of 17, next year she’d be 18 and moved up in the restaurant the kitchen coordinator (the owner).
The shy one ordered a salad. The blond, a quinoa dish. The blonde raised her head and looked directly into his eyes as she handed him the menu.
‘Thank you.” She smiled politely before turning back to her friend.
By the time the last table emptied, the stars shone brilliantly against the dark clear sky. The city buzzed with the nightlife, an orchestration of laughter, the buzz of neon lights and the hum of car engines. From the city streets, the Space Needle shone the brightest, visible from all points of the gracefully chaotic landscape. High in the sky scrapers, windows randomly scattered added to the light of the night. Ash pushed through the back door, his wallet bulging in his pants pocket with an abundance of fresh tips and a large Friday night paycheck.
A quick glance at his sleek phone screen told him it was 10 after midnight.
Finally in his black Toyota FJ Cruiser, he had a moment to relax. Asher tossed his apron in the back amongst the jumble of granola bars, sleeping bags, tents, and uncountable number of wrinkled clothes of all sorts.
Tomorrow he could escape, maybe even let Nile come with him. It was the time of year worth sharing; the cliffs and mountains in the forest had the brilliant shades of amber and red, creating the fire; the breathtaking view he longed for. Excitement at the very thought of being able to visit his spot shook him to his core. Of course, if Nile came along, he couldn't. It was his spot and his alone. His true home. Asher didn't keep this bit of paradise a secret out of selfishness, it was his where he wanted to exist. The only spot he wanted to exist. The very place where everything made sense. With that, Asher decided to leave extra early that morning.
            That morning, his boots were tied tight over his favorite socks. A Moosejaw long sleeve under a polar sweatshirts and heavy jacket kept him warm along with his tousled blonde hair matted under the colorful pom pom hat pulled down far over his ears. The ‘poler’ pack (in khaki) stuffed to the brim with everything he might possibly need slung over his shoulders and he started on his way.
           From the clearing where he parked his car, Ash knew the trail by heart. His body, willed by the crisp fall air, moved soundlessly alongside the trees. The wind, although muted by the cover of huge trees, bit at his nose and any other tan skin left exposed on Ash's unshaven face. He had left at 5 a.m. as he figured he would just take a quick nap once suspended in his eno hammock out in the woods. This was to make up for the mere 3 hours of sleep he’d received last night.
Asher treasured this time between him and Oregon, for in less than 48 hours his phone would buzz with the remainder of his upcoming work shift. The restaurant was right in the middle of Seattle right on the corner of a strip containing a lot of expensive clothing stores. It was a 45 minute drive from the apartment he shared with Nile.
                  The city was crazy. Riddled with restless anxiety, movement and action. Here the woods were calm. A place for relaxation, exploration, and a break from the cities so called ‘reality’. Here, the woods offered a place far from generous-tipping and noisy customers. Customers blinded by the sheer size of their bank accounts, unable to see how far they really were from the perfection they seeked. The mountains offered a break from Lanie and a break from Nile, who both truly meant well despite the stress they added to the back of Ash’s mind.
           The dark cover of night still blanketed the leaf-covered path he followed up into the hills. The blackness of it would have made it difficult for any other explorer to find their way, as the towering trees and rolling landscape looked so dangerously similar in any direction one looked.
             Here he was free from the cities bright life. Time to be in tune with himself and the earth. To calm down, to place each step with care and confidence one step after another. The trail Ash had followed countless times, he knew the route by heart despite it being off far off the beaten path.  
            Lost in memory he recounted that sunset on the day where he had first discovered Oregon's bit of paradise out of surprise. He had been lost, wandering aimlessly, hoping to stumble across the familiar place in the thick forest with no luck.  That sun though. That sun was what he had seen through the clearing of trees, a rescue from the seemingly endless shadow cast from the heavy canopy of leaves that hid the sky. Every ray of light was forced to fight for the chance to meet the earth's crawling green floor. It had only been a slight whisper leaking down from between a gap in the thick leaves. A ray of deep orange light that led him forward to the rocky ledge overlooking the river; a beautiful expanse of crystal clear water that cut through the middle of mountainous forest. The source of the light had just been barely visible from behind the highest mountain on the horizon.
             He had felt the greatest relief on those rocks, staring out at the disappearing sun. The rocky ledge was at least a 50 square feet ending at a jagged peak with a steep drop where behind a protective wall of forest offered a peaceful aura of safety.
        There he had set up camp till the next morning when he headed straight back until he found the road that led him to where he was today.
         Asher stepped through the wall of  bushes that hid the ledge from the rest of the forest and inhaled deeply, allowing his lungs to fill with the clean, pure air; it was like a drug. An addiction which benefited only the junkie. With each exhale, negativity, stress, hurt, anxiety, sorrow, betrayal, anger, and loss, all released into the mountains to be replaced with an inhale of peace. With joy, happiness, and relief. With reassurance, freedom, hope... whatever the soul needed.
          There, with an extraordinary sense of deja vu, Asher set up his tent, lit a small fire a few feet from the steep drop and enjoyed the warmth that seeped through his thick sweater and watching the flames lick the sky. His eyes following the burning ashes as they tried to find their place amongst the star scattered sky.
* * *
          When the morning light illuminated the mountainside and his tent began to glow a warm amber, it was time to break away from such a place. Packing his bags and the drive home was a blur as Ash distanced himself from the woods on the drive back to so called reality. luckily the traffic was decent so when he pulled into The Mug, his favorite breakfast stop which had been a tradition of his ever since he was little, it was only 7:30 a.m: plenty of time to head back to his apartment and clean up before his shift.
             He entered The Mug and got his usual order of pancakes with real maple syrup, a comfort food that with every bite, happiness flooded through him and the memory of his father was with him. When he was little his father would take him up into the mountains where they would spend the weekend exploring. Watching the birds sing to the sky and watch the leaves fall in the autumn breeze. His father would then take him to The Mug and order him pancakes. Ever since the accident, Ash could never shake the feeling his dad had never really left him. It seemed like whenever he was at The Mug, his dad was still always sitting right across the booth, watching him scarf down those hot fluffy pancakes with a huge grin on his face. The site of his child enjoying life the way it should be enjoyed meant he had accomplished the goal of a every parent. He missed his dad.
Back at home Nile greeted him with the smell of toasting Pop Tarts and a slap on the back.
“Nile, why don't you have any pants on? Buddy, we've gone over this.”
“Gotta let it all hang loose, you gotta learn too let loose. Poptart?” asked Nile as he tossed an empty box Asher's way with a smirk.
“You're too funny. What did you end up doing while I was away?”
“Oh nothing really. I had Rebecca over for a little bit.” he added casually.
“Oh yeah, how is Rebecca? I haven't seen her around in a while. How come you only have her over when I'm not here?”
A sheepish grin crossed Niles face as he continued to stay tuned in to the Netflix menu projected onto the wall.
“Ohhh, nevermind.” Asher muttered under his breath and Nile went back munching on his poptart, pretending to be thoroughly engrossed in the choosing of whatever reality TV show would soon be playing on their awesome ‘TV’. The both of them had agreed, before they moved out there, that they would pitch in the money to buy a projector for the wall in the place they would live in.
          The projector was awesome. Casting a 20 by 20 image of any video game or show made for a good night (or day). Asher jumped in the shower and relaxed as the hot water ran down his back and through his hair, cleansing away the sweat and dirt from his adventure the previous day. Now it was really just a memory and he the eagerness to make a new one already had taken root. ‘Maybe next time I'll let Nile come with me, I could use the company.’ The water pounded on his back like a heavy, scorching rainfall as he started planning his next trip. ‘As long as he doesn't bring Rebecca, or, if he does, they need to bring their own tent’.
           Asher hadn't had a girlfriend since his and Nile had moved out west. He had broken up with who he thought had been the love of his life only a week before the three day drive, after realized she had just been a person to pass the time, and for this he felt truly awful. She didn't understand why he wanted to move thousands of miles away from his family and his home. He wasn't abandoning them, he needed a fresh start and after what had happened. She had been a gorgeous girl and they had made an outstanding couple yet she hadn’t been able to understand.
          After some particularly hard days at the restaurant and after so many shallow women had tried to catch his eye, he missed Kendra's company. Even though he didn't miss their relationship, the move out here had lost him a friend.
           Nile on the other hand had met Rebecca the first day they had settled into their apartment, for she was the one in the small breakfast Bakery they had stopped in who told them about the apartment they were staying at now. They hit it off right away, but then again, Nile always had a girlfriend.