Dream's Masquerade - A Detective Conan fanfiction

The first Dream - Illusion

It all started with a flicker, a slight shift in the corner of her eyes; something that could easily be mistaken as mere figments of her mind.

It was nothing more than a play of light.

Some sleep and she'd be fine, but as the days passed by, those figments grew more and more frequent. At first, only her surroundings seemed to be affected; buildings disappearing, random objects and plants appearing, later even whole areas being replaced with streets she didn't recognize. Now and then a shadow would linger around where no person could be found.

Was she losing her mind?

No, - she shook her head - it would be fine. It had to be her wild imagination playing tricks on her. After all, everything had always gone back to normal the moment she closed her eyes. There was nothing to worry about. Daydreams weren't new to her; her, a girl that preferred to keep her head in the clouds and live in her own little fabricated world. Yes, everything would be just fine... only that it wasn't.

Spending weeks seeing hallucinations had started to wear her down. The thin line between illusion and reality had been blurred. What once were mere shadows, ghosting across her vision, had turned into real people; walking, talking and interacting with each other. The flashes of a foreign city were now more than simple appearances; they had begun to merge with what she knew to be her hometown, not dissipating with a blink of the eye anymore. Everything was a mess and there was nothing she could do.

It was too late.

It was too late...

One by one her family and friends had begun to forget her, until no one could remember. It was as if she had never existed - had never meant to be a part of their life.

From a distance, she watched those, that she once called her most important people smile and laugh amongst themselves; happy and carefree, not missing a single thing.

It hurt, it hurt like a thousand daggers piercing through her heart, leaving it behind in shreds.

She was no one.

Not anymore; not with everyone leaving her behind. A life, erased, just like that, and nothing had changed. The only thing remaining, was her own memory, reminding her of what once was, but would never be again.

She could not return. Not to them. It wouldn't be the same. Years of memories... simply gone. No effort would be able to rebuilt what used to be there and she simply did not have the strength to try - Not that she would have had the chance to. They were gone, gone for good and she had let them go.

It all started with a flicker.

It ended with an illusion, the biggest of all.