Before Dark

Reaching Out

Kyouhei's POV

"Oh my, a visitor, how did you...get here?"

I stood there, mesmerized at the astonishing beauty that appeared before me.

Incredibly long gray hair hang on both sides of her shoulders, she wore a white silk kimono decorated with red flowers prints and a red obigime wrapped around her waist, her porcelain skin sparkled, her eyes were a shade of black darker than the shadows and her lips were red like blood.

She sat on an old looking swing covered in dried up vines gently swaying it back and forth.

I answered her question.

"That is what i would like to know myself. Where am i? What is this place?"

"This, is the garden of dreams." 

"How...how did i get here?"

"I don't know. Perhaps...it was misfortune that brought you here."

She got off the swing, slowly walking towards me with her bare foot, each of her footsteps made a crackling sound due to the dried leaves covering the ground.

"What's your name?"

She tilted her head a little to the left and said. "My name? I don't have one. What about you? Do you have a name?"

"Yes i do, it's Kyouhei. Kyouhei Fujinomiya."

"How wonderful. I think...i used to have a name before, but since there is no one here to call me by my name, i've forgotten what it was."

"Are you alone too?"

She made a soft 'hmm' sound and nodded her head.

"How come you don't have a name?"

"What would be the use of it? There's no one here to call me by name."

She turned away.

"But if i were here...then there would be someone to call out to you. Let me give you a name."

"No one lasts in this world but me."

She made her way back to the swing and sat on it once more.

"Kyouhei, right now you are only dreaming...and dreams don't last forever once you wake up they'll fade away and in time they are forgotten."

Is this a dream? If it is, it feels so real.

"Is that why you call this place the garden of dreams?"

"That's right. There are many like you who have lost their way or met misfortune before and end up here in my sanctuary."

"Where are they now?"

"Their time here has ran out, they awoken and left."

"And they never came back?"

"Many have lend out a hand for me to hold, hoping that if i take it i might be able to go with them or perhaps they might be able to stay here, but i can never reach, much less, touch someone's hand, i can never leave this place either...and...once you leave this place you can never come back. I can never keep anything here, much like these plants, i can never keep them alive."

I looked around and noticed that everything seemed to be burned up, the leaves of the trees have fallen off, the bushes were no different, flowers and vines were all dead, there was fountain but it was dried up.

"Here, even though the sky is gray and cloudy the rain never falls down, even though the wind is cold the storm never comes...it's always an endless year of drought."

"Do you...want to see the rain then?"

"Yes, I'd like to see the rain someday and feel it's cold drops on my skin."

I came in closer and held out my hand.

"Do you trust me?"

"Excuse me?"

"I said, do you trust me?"

"That's an awfully odd question, i don't know how to answer that."

"Your wish is to see and feel the rain, right?"

"Yes."

"Then take my hand, let's experience the rain together."

"I can never reach, much less, touch someone's hand."

"But you'll never know if you don't try, please..."

"If i fail to reach you, you'll wake up and abandon me like the rest of them."

"But what if i'm not like them? What if i told you i won't abandon you?"

"Such convincing words, yet so utterly impossible."

"I won't let you down i swear it on my life, i will make your wish come true, so please... let's experience the rain... together."

"If that is what your heart desires, are you prepared to face what lies ahead?"

"I am, so please...come closer, let me reach you."

She extended out her hand reaching for mine, she was so close yet she felt so far, it was like reaching out into the dark it almost felt like we were two worlds apart.

***