After a tragic past, Claire Elric is left alone in this world to fight against her mind and screaming thoughts, especially after her best friend, Leo, decides not to remember her and start a new life in which she is just a girl who studies in the sa...
Everything around me felt more of concentrated colour, like as if someone had turned on a filter in my eyes.
"Are you alright?"
The voice, it snapped her out of her endless thoughts to stare into eyes which were the lightest shade of brown. The warm colour of his hair that curled around his forehead and ears were exactly like I had imagined.
Squirming to get rid of the duvet over me, I hastily made my way to the corner of the bed where Leo stood with worried expressions. Pushing myself up on my knees as the bed dipped with my weight so that I could be inches apart from him.
"Do you really remember everything?"
He stuttered at the closeness, probably feeling uncomfortable since it was all new to him as he took a step back. "I-I guess so..."
I slumped down, not letting my eyes off the boy that stood in front of me, as if he was just a fragment of my imagination and would be gone if I looked away. I couldn't even understand why there was a lump forming in my throat, bringing steamy tears into my eyes.
"What are the things that you remember, Leo?"
"I don't know, I guess, it's all hazy and playing like a broken record in my mind actually," he replied, rubbing his hand on the back of his neck. "I remember many things like my parents and their awfully large family. I remember the kid that used to bully me in kindergarten. I even remember the time when someone flung a pie at my face."
To that, he tittered, lost in his own memory of thoughts until his eyes met mine. "And I also remember why there's a big green paint stain on my garage floor that I never let dad remove. I remember climbing up through that window to meet you and sometimes even getting hurt because of the thorn bushes that your mom had planted. But mostly... I remember being your best friend. I remember calling you Éclair's and loving to spend time with you and . . . I remember how hurt you looked when we'd cross each other's paths, not knowing why you were like this, only to realize now that I was the cause of it, that I was the reason you'd cry. And I'm sorry. I just...didn't remember how special you were to me back then."
The welled tears in my eyes had made a path down my face, dripping from my chin to my hands that were intertwined together on my lap.
"I missed you, Leo. I missed you every day and every night. I missed you till—"
Before I could finish the sentence, a sudden wave of emotions hit me. Were they mine or someone else's, that was hard to tell but they were there, and I could feel them.
"What is this?"
"Come here, Claire. This is what I'm working on, this is what I've been working on for ages. All my theories and facts will be put in place after so much hard work. Finally, it can become true and you're going to help me with it, aren't you?"
Before my subconscious could reply, he started either way. "It will finally be real. People will finally have control of their—"
"Eclair? Are you alright?"
I didn't know how to explain what had happened. It felt like a memory but without any sight, just the sound of the man who spoke to me is tone more hysteric than confident.
"I-I'm fine. I just... felt weird."
"Are you sure? Let me go and get you something. What do you want, water, juice?"
I shook my head vigorously. "No, no. I'm fine."
But I knew I wasn't. I knew it when I heard that familiar manly voice, knew it when I woke up. I knew I wasn't fine, especially when black dots started to appear in my vision, leaving my mind heavy and my body light.
"Conrad?" my voice asked as it echoed around me.
Being so preoccupied with Leo and my own selfish thoughts, I had forgotten all about the person who had spent weeks with me, only to leave me when I finally felt free and happy. It felt like all the progress I had made had been crushed altogether by the feeling of betrayal that had taken over me.
"Conrad!?" she screamed louder, her eyes not showing her anything but the heavy blankets of darkness that surrounded her.
I felt my hand being enveloped in another warmer one.
"I can't see anything," I murmured.
"Shit, why!?"
I felt my hand being released as a door closing could be heard and I was alone to fall again.
"You don't need your sight," an eerie voice whispered, making me gasp as I felt something slither around my back, tightening itself around my chest till it ached. "For all you need is to feel."
"All you need Is to let your dreams be free For they are now your Reality."
I knew the voice. Had heard it somewhere. I knew who it belonged to, but . . . every time I tried to piece the face together, it was all smudged, like someone placed him behind a mirror that had condensed water droplets forming on it. As if there was a force stopping me from reaching this person—whoever it was.
I felt like a helpless child again, wanting to curl up and just forget everything. I wanted all of this to stop.
I wanted Conrad. I needed him to hold me and make me feel safe again.
I sobbed in this dream, the eternal darkness not ready to drift away as I rasped out four words that I wanted to ask every person that ever entered my life, "Why did you leave?"
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
