Take A Step (unrestricted) (on hold)

Thirteen: (Part 2) YEY AT LAST!

Daniel

            I was worried about Sophie.

            Worried about what suddenly bothered her. We were in the car, and she fell asleep—I think it was from my rubbing against the back of her hand.

            I don’t know what it was, but it scared me a little because it was about me, and the look in her eyes told me it was really bad. Her eyes had the same look as the first time we met—when she was about to drown in the lake from loss of balance, and she saw me swimming toward her. She flailed her arms then, screaming for me not to come closer even when she was slowly sinking. I thought I would never see that look in her eyes again. But I saw it the second time I tried to kiss her, and I saw it again today. I wanted to promise myself not to see it after this Christmas. Ever.

            I was sleepy after all that happened at the mall and in the car today, and since Sophie was asleep in her room, I trudged to the guestroom, thinking of sleep as well. It was Christmas Eve tonight, and I wanted to be awake for it.

            --

            “Dan… Dan~~” I heard a melodic voice come from behind me; and I realized soft hands were covering my eyes. I felt the hairs on the back of my neck stand on end, but not of fear—just familiarity.

            I didn’t have to ask who it was; I knew that from the bottom of my heart. The memory of a certain tone clinked in my brain, and I suddenly felt myself smiling.

            The hands from my eyes were gone, and light burst through my sight. I was in a bright, bright meadow with wild flowers, the breeze catching glitter on their dancing petals. I watched them sway with every echo of my breathing, and the trees opened their arms for me. I looked around, and found a girl smiling erratically a few feet from where I stood, and my eyes lit up at the sight of her.

            “Jill,” I breathed in awe. And right after I blinked once, she was right infront of me, hands caressing my face.

            “Dan,” her voice. That voice. Her voice was still as gentle and tender as I remembered it, her smile as sweet, her eyes as dazzling, and her face—as lovely, as I knew it.

            I missed her, so much.

            I unconsciously pulled her closer to me and wrapped my arms around her. Her presence right here, right now, didn’t sink in yet and I felt as if we were both alive. She felt alive, actually. She was warm and soft and she ran her fingers through my hair as I just buried my face in the curve of her neck. She was wearing a yellow sundress, like she always did when she was still alive, and she smelled like baby powder, like she always had when she was still alive.

            When I pulled away to look at her again, she pinched my nose for a few seconds, like she always did when she was still alive.

            “You haven’t changed a bit,” she told me.

            “Are you for real?” I blurted. I don’t know. I just wanted to know. Because if she was just a figment of my imagination, I would rather wake up, please. Because I’m starting to feel the hollow space in my heart that still mourned for her uncalled-for passing.

            “Yes, I am. You’re too slow, Dan. I need to make you snap.” She flicked my earlobe when she said the word ‘snap’.