Delicate Hearts

Five: A Nightmare Dressed Like A Daydream

The nightmare started in a pleasant way.
I was slowly creeping through an open park, on a blanket of fresh, vividly green grass. The sun was almost to start sinking, but cool, sweet wind wandered around. The garden was literally exquisite: it was really vast, with a block of stairs on one side leading to a porch of a white marble building, more like a small villa. Pure white columns (Greek/Roman style) were placed at random places in the garden, but at a long distance from one another. From the middle of the columns, emerged something small, like a place to set on a torch or any source of illumination. Around these columns, were circular areas of a variety of flowers and plants of different colours and scents, enclosed with sets of bricks made of rocks, all of bright colours.
At one point after a few inches from where I was standing, a pale, stone path broke through the rich greenness of the grass floor. The path went straight, and twisted around a column far away. I could hear water gushing as I concentrated more closely to it, apart from all the distractive chirping, rustling and nature noises. Cherry tress curled around light columns placed next to wooden benches littered on the grass floor. Most of these benches were close to or surrounding the stone path. My speed increased and I found myself walking through the stone path, the sounds getting louder and closer.

As I turned around the path, another miracle of beauty awaited me. The path reached to an end, but with a large, sophisticated fountain as a deadline. Huge, tall, evergreen trees created the background behind the fountain. The fountain itself was mighty and purely white, just like the columns. At its top, was a bronze stand, from which two two stone eyes of a statue were crying continuously (that was obviously the source of water of the fountain) and the 'tears' dropped into a huge bowl, through which the bronze stand was stuck into. Three more bowls, gradually increasing in size as you went to the bottom of the fountain, surrounded the stand. The water flowed from either sides: from around its circumference, and down along its diameter, where a whole was probably there. I couldn't yet figure out how it worked, but the designing of the fountain was pretty complicated. The bowls had lots of miniature statues stuck around its circle; as I took a look more closer, they were statues of couples, some where of a mother and her children, others a group of children...a part of mine hypothesized these were all things that showed love, factually in different forms. Surprising how I knew that.

I found myself going closer to the fountain. Without my will, i pressed on the bottom of the large, final bowl, where a tiny symbol: the letter 'Z' was craved. My name....starts with Z, i thought. As soon as I pressed that, to all of my surprise, the letter went down. The fountain shimmered, and I backed off. The fountain became only a flickering image, and it instead revealed a young lady. I flinched, both of surprise and horror, because of the teenaged girl features. Bright, long, amber hair was flowing down her shoulders. She had a very fair complexion, with light brown freckles filling the space beneath her eyes, and a natural pinkish blush. She had hazel eyes, ones like the fire burning from coal and wood, getting brighter and dimmer each moment. She was tall and slim, and looked like a normal teenager, almost 16...
She wore a white, sleeve full, flowing dress till her knees. She looked wild, unexplainable, mysterious, full of emotions and a million thoughts running through her head. She reminded me of the girl I see each time I looked at the mirror...she caused my surprise...she was the exact copy of me.

"Very well, here we meet. Young Zoe, the best inhabitant of my soul," she said, in such a powerful voice, full of mixed feelings and every single hair on my skin stood up. She smiled at me, as if she knows me long before (well she looks exactly like me, so...). I was full of exploding wonder, that I asked her, " Who are you? How do you know my name? And how is that supposed to be a dream so real?"
"Oh all questions to be answered soon or later, though am really tired of doing that for thousands of years. The matter now is, you must find your way through this world, guided by the love you give to people as lights. You shall then face your fate, reunite with me again, and return like each time. And, your memory would come at the right time, when you shall return. Your spoiled hero must then return you back."
"W-what are you saying? How could-" I started.
"My dear, you're made upon me. You are the guidance of me in this mortal world, full of hearts to be healed after being shattered, and to give parts of me to those worth. Your hero shall come into your life soon, and both help you return to gain full powers, and find you again. Do I have to repeat everything?" Zoe 2 asked.
" Uh-oh" I said dumbly.
She shook her head in despair, and murmured," I told the others this is really tiring...", "Anyways, I'll send my more powerful descendent to help you, but I warn you, choose wisely. In simple worlds, give love to who deserves it, because it's worth the pain."

Suddenly, she disappeared, and everything went dark. The columns started illuminating the park, fire lights appearing on the small stands on the columns. The lights flew to the grass, and lit up everything in dots. The columns, too, disappeared. I felt lost, and then I saw a shadow of a boy far away between the trees. "Go through life, a mighty change awaits you," she said, but I couldn't see her anywhere. Everything faded around me, and...

"ZOE! ZOE MARKZUBERG!! I SWEAR-"