Thorn

• D a i s y•

"The more I feel imperfect, the more I feel alive"
-Jhumpa Lahiri
***

A chuckle escapes your lips as Aisling looks into your eyes. They were still crouched down in front of you, your legs crossed on the green plush couch and your fingers nervously tinkering with themselves. "I'm sorry Aisling, did you say soulmates? As in fated souls? Soul flames? Kindred spirits?" You still snickered as they rolled their eyes and lowered them-self to the ground below them, hugging their knees to their chest.

"Well yeah, they're all technically the same thing just different versions. It's hard to explain but you can't say you don't feel this," they gesture between the two of you. You glance around the room again, taking a pause then back down to her. The setting sun filled the room up with a warm glow before its final decent behind the trees. Aisling was smiling at you, noticing how your green eyes were flecked with grey and yellow hues while your eyes explored your surroundings. "I know it's a lot to take in, it's weird not knowing someone, but also feeling a connection to them."

"You're damn right this is weird! You've been invading my thoughts for weeks! Whispers in my hair, causing me to lose myself in these daydreams and now this" you motion around the room, your hands waving wildly, "I'm trying to sleep and I'm brought into this hyper realistic dream with you, god I must be lonely to have dreamt this whole thing up" you rub your hands over your face and hide in the sleeves of your sweater, overwhelmed by the weight of the entire idea of this being real.

Aisling stood up in a singular fluid motion and moved to the door, pulling it open and then looking back towards you. "Come with me," they motion for you to follow them, and without a single thought otherwise, you found yourself standing and scurrying behind them. They watched you intently as you joined them at the doorway, their hand firm on the doorknob. Opening the door, you both entered the dark hallway, walking down towards the room you had previously appeared in. Instead of opening the door to that room Aisling turned to the door across from it and looked down at you.

"Close your eyes and envision a room. Any room" They spoke and smiled down to you, with a puzzled look on your face you shrugged and closed your eyes, picturing your bedroom from home vaguely. "Now grab the door handle. Really picture the room, the floors, walls everything." They spoke again, their voice a wisp in the air around you.

You felt the handle to the room, slightly warm to the touch as you envisioned your bedroom from home. The small window with your bed pressed against the wall beneath it. The boxes cluttering the floor, clothes strung around the room haphazardly from your many times changing and throwing clothes around. When you felt you had a successful image in your mind, you turned the doorknob and pushed the door open.

Before you was your bedroom. In the exact same way you had left it. The window still cracked open slightly, your bed unmade, as if you were still nuzzled beneath the mountain of blankets. Yesterday's outfit thrown half in the laundry bin between your bed and the closet. You sucked in a breath and stepped inside, turning around and looking back at Aisling. 'How is this possible?"

A crooked smile formed on their lips, you noticed they seemed to smile quite a lot at you. "As I was saying, we're in a folded dimension. Whatever we envision can be housed in these rooms. This place was made for certain individuals who are tied to one another. A place for us to go, retreat when we need to, and find each other." Aisling walked into your bedroom and ran their hands over a soft sweater thrown on your corner chair. The soft canary yellow fabric ran between her fingers as they looked down at the chair. "I've only met a few others in this place. A few couples using it as their escape from their daily lives."

"There are others?" You sat down on your copied bed and pressed your back against the wall, looking at them.

"Yeah, you didn't think you were the only one with anamchara did you?" They slowly sat down in the small corner chair, still softly touching the sweater. You shook your head and played with your fingers again. A nervous habit you had done since childhood. You couldn't seem to wrap your mind around everything. Why would you be here, with this person, albeit a person who resembled the embodiment of a damn Greek Goddess, but why you? You closed your eyes squeezing them tightly until you could see faint stars. The last thing you could hear was a whisper in your ear, causing the hair on the back of your neck to stand up, the words thick like honey.

"You'll come back, Mo Ghrá"

***

You could feel your heart pounding in your chest as you burst up out of bed, your hands wildly flying around you. It took you a few minutes to collect your surroundings before you realized where you were. Pushed up against your headboard you found yourself back in your room, in a semblance of where you would have fallen asleep the previous night. Slowly recollecting your thoughts, you jumped out of bed, scrambling to remove the blankets that seemed to be holding you down into your bed. Throwing open your bedroom door you felt your stomach knot as you looked into the hallway of your apartment. You weren't sure if it was disappointment or relief you were feeling as your feet touched the cold hardwood floor making your way to your small kitchen.