If I Woke Up Next To You

In the black mist, I heard a lot of noises, like angry snarls far off in the distance, or a howl into the silence. It was all very eerie but the boy walked just as steady and fast never minding the strange thigs going on in the black mist.

Finally, after a long while of walking through it, there was a break in the mist and we stepped through. At last I could see where we were going, it was all but a lightless forest with the path very convuluted, always turning and once or twice we were stopped at a dea end and he had to glance around and try to find it again but never for long, it seemed as if he knew we would make it anyways.

I pressed my head close to his ear so only he would hear me.

"Are we almost there?" I breathed as silently as possible,

"yes." he said lowly.

I felt something grab my ankle, "Ah." I yelped startled forgetting the quietness I had to keep.

The boy pulled me closer and it sounded as if he growled.

I didn't see what it was though.

He held me now close to his chest underneath his left arm forcing me to be smashed against him.

"Close your eyes." He said in a lighter tone of voice than he had been speaking with.
I obeyed. He pulled me from being cemented to his side and led me a while before he whispered, "Now!"

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I. Could. Not. Breathe.
It was the most beautiful place besides the meadow we had met at.
There were a couple of willow trees, a large stream that had a bridge, and a beautiful sparkling lake.
There were about a million beautiful stars out and the sky was bright sapphire thanks the huge full moon. There were flowers EVERYWHERE. I mean lily’s, lilacs, roses, daffodils, pansies, daisies, so many. and there was a broken fence securing the clearing in the woods that was the opening to it all. I stood there frozen and broke out in Goosebumps.
The boy laughed. "I thought you would like it." he smiled as he said it.
I walked a few feet forward and spun around. The boy exhaled loudly and suddenly there was a mighty wind blowing my hair every which way, I started spinning again. He ran up to me and grabbed my hands, we were dancing around- well more like just skipping about really. I collapsed laughing into the tall grass, he came down also. “Wow this place is…is…magical.” I whispered as I lied down, “Yes, it’s even better with you in it though.” he smiled then got up, “Catch me.” he smiled again and like a breath he was gone, I could make out a translucent form scattering this way and that. I had trouble keeping up, “Wait….” I couldn’t fathom his name, “whoever you are, wait a minute!!”
He stopped a foot away from me, “Oh I’m sorry, I’m Ardon.” then he sat in front of me. That name…so…different, very unusual and uncommon name. Just the sound of it was magnificent. “Ardon.” I whispered to my self. He looked up, “Yes.” he smiled softly as if he were responding to a question I had asked. “I have one question…well two actually…” I proceeded as I twirled a blade of grass in my hands, “Ah…and they would be?” he smiled as I blushed, “Well first of all and most of all, why am I having these dreams?” he looked astonished, “Well you see they are only dreams if you convince yourself they are but they are just as much reality as anything else.” he said quietly, “Come with me.” he added taking my hand. We walked down to the lake, he perched himself on a large marbleized rock and gazed out over the crystal water. I leaned against a willow tree that’s braches weren’t as long and veiling as the others. He began by clearing his throat, “At tear from a man that feels nothing, you will not believe exists, until he cries.” he swallowed then began again, “Water is not solid until it turns to ice, day is not through until dark, and love is lost until found, so as to sanity, dreams are just reality in it’s exposed, unalloyed form. Believe they are real and they are. Just like that!” he snapped his fingers, which I have to admit caught me off guard, I was so into his explanation that I hadn’t realized he was now beside me. “And if I believe, that you, a mere mortal, were not different I just may fall in love with you. That is not a thought, but a promise, if I were speaking rationally of course. Then again unconditionally of course.” I looked at him with a puzzled expression, but oddly enough it made sense. “What would your second question be?”
“You are real.” I breathed. “That was not a question, Lauren.” he stated sounding irritated. “No, but I want to know your story, who are you?” he shrugged, “I’m Ardon.” I frowned, I was still against the tree and he was beginning to irritate me with his arrogance, “I meant like, you.” he smiled and sat down where he was, I did the same, “It’s a long story.” he mumbled, “I have time.” I said then relaxed against the gaping roots of the willow.

“My name is Ardon Carter. I’m the first-born of two. I have no life.” he looked at me, “end of story.” I snorted rolling my eyes, “I think that there is more.” he thought, “You are right.” Then he sighed, defeated, “I am Ardon Carter, I am sixteen. For sixteen years I was my own man, my mother worked two jobs- a waitress and a librarian, and my father was a lawyer in the city of our little home town. Then my mother and father were silently screaming at each other in the hall about a matter of which I didn’t understand until I noticed a belly on my mother within the next few months. School was horrible, I was failing I had no money to get a tutor and no one cared to take the time to speak to me in class or anywhere else for that matter.” he paused, “Well things happened and I was dealt a sister to raise as my parents worked and ran their busy lives without taking notice in their own son’s deteriorating. I had, just as I said, no life. I had no friends, no play time. I quit school to take care of Megan full time, feeding her, watching her grow.” I stopped him, “So you lied. You‘re twenty-five?” he looked at me puzzled, no I’m sixteen.” I was confused. “Let me finish.” I nodded. “Megan grew, I did not. She turned seven, I was still sixteen. She turned nine, I was still sixteen. In the same class, same school, same uneventful life. Almost as if life paused so I could take care of her then go back to where I left off. And that’s exactly what I did. I went back to where I was before. I wasn’t learning anything though I got straight A’s, I was unsocial, and considered an outcast. No one spoke to me, I returned the favor. I graduated two years later. Still sixteen. Girls came and went, none looking at me, not once, I was overjoyed. All I cared about was Megan. So well, she’s ten now. And, well,” he pointed to himself, “still sixteen.” he said sarcastically. “Wow.” I breathed, so why are you here? Like, in my dreams?” I asked him, trying not to be blinded by his eyes. He smiled and shook his head. “When I found out you were planning to kill yourself, I thought ‘No, not her.’ so I stopped you and well…yeah.” it was as if he was trying to cover the pain in his voice as he said that. I shook my head and was quickly bored with the subject. “I don’t get it…all of it…how are you still sixteen, and if you are shouldn’t you be home and not in my dreams, and why did you stop me from killing myself. Oh God…I’m confused.” my head was hurting. “I will tell you later on.” he sighed
“So, why did you want to kill yourself, Lauren?” he asked once again changing the subject, covering the pain in his voice, “I wasn’t happy. I was just like you, well, at least the ‘anti social without a friend and no one likes me and I can’t find a reason to live because my parents are never there and my grandmother is so critical’ deal.” I said looking at my manicure casually. He looked at me like I had shot his dog.
Before I knew it he had swept me up in a hug. He rested his head into my neck,
His hair smelt of warm chestnut, cotton, and vanilla. His skin was so soft. Suddenly, though, his cold hands turned hot and sweaty, and he was gasping like he was being drowned. He shoved me away and slid down by the roots a good foot away from me. “What? What?” I yelped, scared silly by both gestures, the hug and whatever fit he just threw. “Nothing, I’m sorry.” he said frantically, and put his head in his hands with his elbows propped up on his knees. His long beautiful hair was falling like a caramel curtain around his face. “What happened?” I asked crawling over to him, “He shook his head. Suddenly, Light broke through the woods, Ardon looked up with a horrified look on his face and bolted, “See you tomorrow night.” he said from somewhere in the woods. And I woke up.

“Oh my goodness, I’m freaking insane.”

After saying that over and over again to myself, I got up out of bed to get ready for church.

“Our father who art in heaven, I’ve lost my mind.” I prayed, “I don’t know why, but I think I’ve been sent a ghost, please give me help….” Just then a breeze blew through the church doors and I smelt a sweet scent of forest. Pine and chestnut…and…oh no…