บท 169: Bouncing Back

A tennis ball.

Bouncing.

Echoing. 

Thumping in the darkness, the quiet, the utter barrenness. It was a very lonely sound, it was the only sound. 

I'd catch it with one hand, and then I'd bounce it again… thumping it… echoing it. - rinse and repeat. Each time it landed back in my hand, my frustration grew tenfold. 

I wasn't supposed to be catching it.

"Do not be discouraged, Master." 

There was a rustling sound, the only thing occasional that would disrupt the monotonous silence, it was short, quick… ending with a slender drawing out another tennis ball from a paper bag.

Ash clutched it, and replicating my actions, threw it to the ground… but for her there no echoes, no thumps, no bounce. I saw it plummet downwards, but it never soared up, it never even hit the ground.

The tennis ball simply vanished.

Another rustle, another tennis ball in her hand. Smiling slightly, Ash raised it out to me. "Here… perhaps this one?"