What Love is

Chapter 11

A few weeks later, the school year was drawing to a close. It was the final year of High school for Maria and Leon.
The morning was warm and a soft wind blew through the now lush green trees that surrounded the school.
Leon sat in the hallway with Maria cuddled next to him. Her head was on his shoulder and she seemed to be asleep.

In her dream, Maria laid in a field that she'd never been in our seen before. A thick mist surrounded her.
She stood up and walked forward not knowing where she was going. She just kept walking and walking.
It seemed like she'd go on forever until she saw an orange light. She ran towards it as fast as she could run.
There stood a man and behind him was a great fire that seemed to burn like the sun. The flames danced and twirled around the man.
His face was hidden in dark shadows but he extended a hand to Maria.
Maria hesitated but eventually decided to grab the hand back.
Their fingers intertwined and the fire engulfed them both. It hurt for a moment and had burned all of their clothes off. They pressed against each other and embraced.

But dark figure reached into the fire and pulled Maria out.
He snuffed the flame and with it the man.
The fire turned into a large pillar of smoke and ash that climbed high into the sky. Embers and ash fell like rain as Maria was dragged away by the dark figure. She began to cry out in fear but tried crawl away. She couldn't see this figures face either but he seemed to be looking at her.

Just then Maria woke up gasping for air.
"Woah are you alright ? What's wrong ?" Said Leon.
Maria stood up and looked at Leon panting.

"Did you have a nightmare ?" Asked Leon.
Maria gulped her throat was dry and her heart was still racing.

Leon give her his bottle of water. She drank the whole thing quickly and her breath slowed down.
"What time is it ?" Maria asked.

"Almost time for the next period... What happened are you okay..."

Maria fixed her hair and adjusted her glasses.

"I'll tell you later...lets get to class." Said Maria.

They both started to head down the hall towards their classes. Leon tried to hold Maria's hand but she pulled it away.
Leon felt defeated, like he wasn't as close to Maria as he thought.

Maybe somethings wrong.

Leon thought.

Whatever it was Leon wanted to know. He loved Maria and wanted her to be happy but perhaps Leon was too invested into the relationship. Things were moving fast. Maybe he was the problem.

He didn't realize this yet. His mind was set on taking care of his love.