Fading Away

Chapter Nine

This is the LAST CHAPTER before the really short epilogue. Much feelings, many muchness and whatnot. Read, comment, vote.

 Her mind is dark, and it scares me. What has she been through since I left years ago? What horrors did she faced that killed the light in her head?

All I know is that what I saw in Secrets' nightmare wasn't a dream. It was like prophecy. A wisp from the mind of Eternity, something he wasn't truly aware of because I hope he would've told me if he knew she was going to die at her own hand. If he can see how long things last he would've told me if she wasn't going to last as long as she should.

The dreams of the world are dark, and few of them can remember. When they awaken the shadows recede to the backs of their minds where they are not aware of them, but they're still there.

Dreams can't be killed, but secrets keep them from lasting an eternity... its not making sense anymore but I don't care.

I need to save her I need to save her I need to save her...

I find her house. It is night, but she is not asleep. I slip in through her open window and stop and stare.

She's grown so much. She's in her early teen years now. So young to have such dark thoughts... In her hand she holds a rope. One end is tied to a hook on the ceiling.

"No," I whisper.

She pauses but a moment, frowns slightly, then continues what she's doing. Tying a knot. Such a simple act with such profound meaning.

I speak in a whisper, in a feather-soft voice. "Pain can be buried deep like a secret or healed with hope and dreams. There are too many wonders in this world to forsake them for all of eternity."

"Who's there?" she asks angrily. "Who's there?"

"An old friend," I say a little louder.

She sets the rope down, and I relax a little. "Show yourself!" she snaps.

"I cannot unless you allow yourself to see."

She stops suddenly. "Wait. Your voice... why do I know your voice? Who are you?"

"You never knew my name," I say regretfully. "I am Dream. An old friend..."

And then she realizes. She gasps and looks right at me, and I know she is seeing me in a wispy form. We are not solid to people. That is the way of things. "It's you," she whispers. "You're... real? What are you?"

"That's not what matters," I say, shaking my head firmly. "Harper, why are you doing this?"

She gets the saddest look in her eyes. "Because dying would be better than living like I am now."

And so I sit on her bedside and she talks to me. She really talks to me for the first time, as a real being. She tells me about all the horrors she had been through, all the agony... all the nightmares that plagued her.

I know now that I came here, I was drawn here, to help her.

"Don't do it," I say softly. "You have no idea how much I've been through to get here and stop this."

She looks curious.

"I foresaw this in a dream," I say distantly. "In a fragment from the forgotten dreams of Eternity. I watched over you all those years ago, when you were a young child. You never knew I was real. And then you forgot... and I've seen so much..."

"Are you OK?" she asks, peering at me.

My eyes well up with tears. "No," I cry suddenly. "I don't know what I'm doing. I hate and I love and I can't feel the way I want to-"

"What if you were real?" she asks.

"I am real!" I shout.

She jumps in surprise. "I never said you weren't!"

"Yes, you did," I say angrily. My head is spinning.

"Why are you fading?" Harper asks in alarm, grabbing my arm. A second later I realize she stopped me from falling over.

"I've been fading for a long time," I murmur.

"You mean like dying!? You can't!" she gasps. "I feel like I've only just met you and I don't want to lose you. You were my first friend... Stop. I want you to stay."

I become whole to her, just like that. She sees my sad violet eyes, my long hair full of the stars. I sit before her and she sees me as I am. I am not a wisp of a being to her now. I am her friend and she is alive because I saved her.

Tears roll down my face. "I can't stay like this," I say, feeling exhausted from being seen. "The secrets have already torn me apart. Dreams and secrets don't mix well..."

"What is this you keep saying about dreams and secrets and things like that? You're not making sense..."

"I can't stay like this. Harper, I'm dying, and there's only one thing I can do to save myself."

"How are you dying? You still look so young... are you sick?" she asks, concerned and afraid.

"No. I've seen too much and its tearing my mind apart. I need to go, but you'll see me again sooner than you think."

"You're fading!" she cries suddenly.

I smile sadly and a single tear trickles down my face. "I've been fading away for a long time. Goodbye, Harper." Then I am gone. The world around me fades away and all is dark and quiet. The hallway in between dreams is empty. Suddenly a single door appears and I move towards the light.

I enter a dream of one of the people I love, and I say goodbye.