8.
That photo he is now never without, the one he placed in his wallet, the photo he is caught in an embrace with Delia and where she is holding an odd-looking flower, Sam can't help but think that it can play a big part in bringing about some sort of recollection. Thoughts turn to the dream that feels so much more than a dream. If there are any forgotten memories to be remembered, then he will do all he can to unlock them. Just where the hell was that photo taken? And why can't he remember the moment it captures?
True love's tears are what it all comes down to but how is Samuel meant to know that especially when he feels as if he is part of a jigsaw puzzle that is missing a number of pieces? The Phantom Queen, the other worldly entity that unbeknown to Sam, plagues him is nowhere near done with Samuel. She has known him before and she will know him again. In time this Morrigan creature will reveal herself to him once again, as will her servant The Faerie Knight.
It's this Faerie Knight, the stranger, the man Samuel has come across on a number of occasions now, who was and is responsible for Samuel and Delia heading off to that other worldly place and it is this man who, not so directly, is responsible for Delia's return to that place, if that is where her disappearance has taken her. With there being a queen of sorts there might also be a connection to a king.
If a Faerie Knight serves a Phantom Queen, then there cannot be a connection made to a certain King Arthur, can there? This would be an interesting thought if it could be one that Samuel could freely have. Being so fuzzy on the particulars takes away the ability to put two and two together.
The Phantom Queen entity, however, is still in search of tears, tears of true love, for in her world tears of true love are powerful, so powerful that it could make her the most powerful entity in all her world. The power she wishes to attain could even give her unending power in this world, and such power in her grasp may not be good in any world ... still ... she is on the wrong side of an all-consuming nothing. Of course, not knowing any of this puts Samuel at a severe disadvantage.
Samuel knows nothing of any power that any entity may or may not want to acquire. All Sam wants is for Delia to return and for things to be what they once were. He is being used and he has no way of possibly knowing this. Sure, even his memory of what has already transpired is betraying him, being nothing more than a buried dream. He knows nothing of what awaits him. He knows nothing of what it is he is in for.
As with how some things have been coming to him, how some things hit him, things he can't quite place or understand, words now come and hit him, words he remembers being spoken to him. As if spoken within a dream, a memory of these words return. Just who is speaking these words to him is unclear and what the exact meaning of these words actually hold too is also unclear. If a place wants or needs his presence, perhaps it also needs him to go willingly.
'A yesterday may seem like it never was ... but trust me it actually was ... and it was all real. It was the daylight before night came ... now night has come, and it knocks at my door ... it blocks out all there is ... will you return and send it away? ... for you can do that you know ... you can with the aid of the one you are missing ... come find her ... her life is as much at risk as any other.'
Okay the first part of those words could refer to the memories Samuel is struggling to remember if there indeed are memories to be remembered at all. Is this referred night something which might refer to death, sure the word death is not directly used the words quite directly infer to Delia being at risk. She wouldn't intentionally leave Sam, would she? Well, she is not around right now, is she? In that there must be reason.
Where are these words from? And who spoke them? Another dream? Or forgotten memory?
So, Sam has now got way more questions than what he can handle. Onwards and upwards, time to get some answers. There is a moment he can't help but think of and that is the moment that he and Delia were first left alone in that night club eleven or so years ago. The song which had been playing at that exact moment was 'Break on Through' by The Doors. The Doors huh? How strangely relevant that is.
There is a door that leads to that other world, a door Sam has been through once before. He will be passing through said door once again but maybe not so much breaking on through for he has a key. He has three keys. One of the three keys that have come into his possession opens this door. If he is to ever see Delia again, either alive or dead, he must pass through that door. Do the tears of true love that The Phantom Queen so badly wants, belong to Samuel?
****
It's time to go find that door I had promised to stay away from. Thing is I am not clear on why exactly I promised to stay away from any such thing. It is all still such a blur. No matter though. I know where and what I am drawn to. Does it really matter if I am not sure as to the why's of it all? What matters is that I get to where I need to be.
With passing through that door though I will be returned to sleep, or more to the point returning to that awesome dream I can't quite remember. There is one problem with the whole idea of this, in order to dream I need to sleep. There is also a fear of finding sleep; sure, a recent sleep ever so briefly brought me face to face with my younger self.
Hopefully, when I find my dream, my all so perfect dream, it won't come with a crow or two, or any kind of blackbird. If I do find sleep, will I be able to wake from it?
