Wirt's Dream

What if this storm ends?

And I don't see you

As you are now

Ever again

Wirt was remembering. He always did this. He was remembering the Unknown, Beatrice, the Beast, the Woodsman- all his adventures with Greg in the Unknown.

But mostly, he was remembering Beatrice. In the Unknown, they had become great friends, Beatrice helping Wirt and Greg and them helping Beatrice. They had bid farewell after the last of their journeys, and Wirt and Greg had travelled back into the real world. Later, Wirt had learned that they'd been in purgatory- the slim world between life and death- after they'd plunged into a river on Halloween night.

In their Unknown adventures, Beatrice had been a bluebird.

The perfect halo

Of gold hair and lightning

Sets you off against

The planet's last dance

Recently, Wirt had been seeing Beatrice again- in his dreams. The first night, he'd been drinking at a party, previous. He didn't mean to start; he was sixteen, after all- he knew the risks of underage drinking. But there was such a yearning, a need to drown the pain. His stint with Sara didn't go so well; they were dating for eight months before Wirt found out that she'd been cheating on him with Jason Funderburker. The worst part, was that everyone knew about it.

So he drunk out the pain of living, and collapsed that night, only to be woken up by a pretty redhead in a blue dress.

"Wirt?" She had kneeled by his side and shaken him awake.

They had spent the rest of that encounter catching up on the past nine months Wirt had been away. Beatrice had been transformed back to human form- that was obvious. Wirt told her all about Sara, and Beatrice had comforted him, wrapping her arm around his shoulders and letting him cry, letting him get the last of the pain out.

When Wirt woke up in a hungover haze that next morning, he was sure that it was all a dream.

Just for a minute

The silver forked sky

Lit you up like a star

That I will follow

A month and two weeks had passed when Wirt saw her again, saw Beatrice again.

He'd yelled at his family during an intense argument, and had stormed up the stairs and into his bedroom. Looking back, Wirt thought that it was stupid- he shouldn't have yelled at his parents, he shouldn't have yelled at Greg. It was all over high school expectations, and band practice, and his poetry practice, but mostly over grades. Overkill was a reality.

This time in the Unknown, Beatrice and he bonded, gotten closer. The Unknown seemed like a reality between a reality, an escape from the real world that only seemed so vivid. They had hung out all night, admiring the stars over her family's property, and talked about life. Beatrice talked about looking after her younger siblings and looking up to her older ones, and Wirt talked about what his world was like- diners, the cinemas, high school- all of it. They had listened to each other carefully, fully invested in what they had to say. Wirt made a comment relating to looking after younger siblings, and gave her tips on how to handle the pressure. Beatrice had held his hand and stared straight at him while listening to Wirt's rendition of the entire plot of Back to the Future.

Now it's found us

Like I have found you

I don't want to run

Just overwhelm me

One October night, nearly a year after Wirt and Greg had descended into the Unknown, Wirt yelled at Greg.

It was about the Unknown.

Greg was so sure that what they experienced in that universe was real, all genuine, all authentic. Wirt completely disagreed, saying that it was merely nothing other than their imaginations in a life-or-death situation. After all, their initial entry into the Unknown had involved jumping a fence, rolling down a large hill, and plunging into an ice-cold river in the middle of autumn. Nothing was real about the Unknown.

"Are you saying that Beatrice was never real?"

Greg's comment made Wirt go silent. Because, that made him think. Was Beatrice real? Was she not? Wirt didn't know. He didn't really want to know. The Unknown and all of its contents were all too much of a paradise. He didn't want the Unknown to be real.

He fell asleep that night soundly, peacefully, then woke up on the edge of Beatrice's family property. He saw a dim light lit at an upstairs bedroom. Slowly, the light disappeared from Wirt's sight. Wirt sighed. Would Beatrice be there to greet him again?

The back door opened and a girl carrying a lantern appeared. The flame inside illuminated the girl's face, and Wirt smiled.

He walked over to Beatrice, in her classic Regency dress. She had set down her lantern on the back patio table, and had her arms open for a hug. And indeed, they hugged tight, each other craving each other's embrace.

Beatrice smiled as they let go of each other. "It's good to see you, Wirt-"

Wirt kissed her, interrupting her speech. He didn't mean to, it just happened. Yet, she kissed him back, and they soon became entwined like grape vines. Wirt's arms were wrapped around her body, and they were close, so close. Beatrice had never felt this way before; an electrifying sensation that she never wanted to stop.

When he woke up the next morning, Wirt was yet again faced with the question: was the Unknown real? Was it all a dream?

But, alas, he soon found a hickey on his neck.