I Found You Amidst the Trees
1
'It's happening again. My lungs are burning and my legs feel weak but I can't stop running; I can't stop the thundering of my own heartbeat in my ears as I sprint through the trees, grazing my hands and whipping my own face with the branches I try and push out of the way. I know I should stop running, I should stop and at least try and get my bearings and then I might stand some kind of a chance in this hell, but I can't stop even though my brain is screaming at me, demanding respite.
The forest is getting darker, it's coming now I can feel it and the trees are getting closer together. Suddenly it doesn't matter that I can't breathe because there's no air anyway. The trees are crowing in tighter and tighter and I'm clawing my way through the foliage, desperate, I'm so close to the other side, I can feel the breeze at my fingertips but it's all futile. And then I wake up.
I know, the whole "it was all a dream" trope is so over-used but it's the truth. I've had this same fucking dream for almost a year, every single night and every single night I wake up at the exact same time from it. I even downloaded one of those apps on my phone which records you when you're sleeping so I can tell when the dream starts and when it ends.'
'What did you hear when you played it back?' Maggie asked, scribbling away on her clipboard, peering over the rim of her glasses which made her look ten years older. Sophie fished her phone out of her pocket and opened the app, it was ready and waiting because she'd listened back to it so many times.
'Here.' Sophie clicked on the play button and held her breath as she waited to see Maggie's reaction. Through the speaker of her phone the two women could hear Sophie mumbling incoherently and then suddenly a silence before she began to speak more clearly.
'The time is coming, the forest is dense, find Robert.' her voice said clearly before devolving back into mumbles and which grew more and more agitated before her voice became clear again.
'Find Robert.' she repeated, 'Find him!' and then the unmistakable sounds of her waking up. She clicked her phone off again and watched Maggie with a strange sense of triumph, the therapist looked confused and concerned.
'Do you know anyone called Robert?' she asked and Sophie shook her head.
'Nobody, at least nobody of significance in my life, no one who springs to mind.' she admitted and Maggie sighed, thinking for a moment.
'Okay, so you've had this dream for nearly a year but you're only just coming to me to talk about it now?' Maggie asked and Sophie nodded. 'Why now?'
'I don't know...' Sophie lied but Maggie was too experienced to be fooled. She gave Sophie a look which connoted that she didn't believe her.
'Sophie, you haven't been to see me in two years and now you come back with this dream, do you think it might be related to what happened? That you have resurfacing emotions or feelings towards what happened three years ago?' she asked and Sophie shook her head.
'No, I've made my peace with that, trust me. This feels different.' she said emphatically, leaning forward in her chair, begging to be believed.
'Alright,' Maggie said slowly and thought for a second. 'This dream is always the same and you've had it for a year, why are you opening up about it now?' she asked and Sophie let a small smile play on her lips.
'Because last night something changed. Last night I found Robert.' she told her and Maggie raised an eyebrow, her interest piqued.
'You found Robert in your dream?' she asked and Sophie nodded again.
'He was on the other side of the trees when they started to close in. I only caught a glimpse of him through the gaps in the trees and I tried to fight to get through to him, he could see me too and it was like he was trying to get through from the other side but he couldn't get through either. He was calling my name, he knew who I was too. Listen, I know this sounds absolutely insane but I think this is more than a dream, I think that this Robert guy is real and somehow we're having the same dream.' Maggie paused for a moment and looked at Sophie with a worried look.
'Do you really believe that, Sophie?' she asked and Sophie sighed and shook her head.
'No, I just want some kind of an answer to this. I don't know it feels weird, like there's a familiarity there and when I wake up there's something missing. Like I can't find him.' she explained and Maggie noted something down again.
'I see,' she said slowly and Sophie grimaced at the therapy talk. 'I have to ask, how is your relationship going?' she asked and Sophie smiled properly for the first time.
'It's great, Toby and I actually got engaged last week, I would show you the ring but it's being re-sized, my fingers are too small.' she said and Maggie grinned in response.
'That's great, I'm really glad you're moving forward so well. Have you two moved in together yet?' she asked and Sophie shook her head.
'No, we've talked about it but we're both so busy we've never gotten around to finding a place.' she said and Maggie had her therapist look on again.
'Well maybe it would be good to consider it a little more seriously. Perhaps the dreams extend from a fear of being alone and just knowing that there's someone with you through the night might help you to shake off the dream, maybe Toby is really Robert.' Maggie suggested and Sophie paused for thought. She hadn't really considered that Toby and Robert could be related, the Robert in her dream had been so vivid, so unlike anyone she had ever known. Before she could reply a small timer dinged from the desk and Maggie looked to it with a sad smile.
'I'm afraid that's our time for today but please consider what I've said regarding Toby; we'll book another session for next week and see how things are going then.' she said as she stood and Sophie took her cue to leave.
As she stepped out into the chilled New York air she wrapped her coat tightly around herself. She didn't think she had ever been in a real forest her entire life, all she knew was this concrete jungle she had grown up and spent her life in. From her therapy session she had a packed day, the rest of the morning with her mother, the afternoon with her father and the evening with her fiancé. It felt strange to be referring to him as her fiancé but she supposed she needed to start thinking like that now. Her life was catching up with her faster than she could comprehend.
Her thoughts filled her mind and her foot moved automatically, dodging through the bustling people commuting to work and the tourists rushing to get nowhere, her mother lived in a fancy apartment in a nice part of the city and she had a way to travel to get there. The trains were crowded and smelled funny but she had a knack for blocking them out and focusing on her thoughts, on replaying the dream through her mind and picturing the fragments of Robert she remembered - the golden hair, the bright eyes, he almost seemed to glow.
Her mother was a nice enough woman but didn't quite understand things sometimes. She didn't get that Sophie was distracted, she didn't pick up on the hints. She congratulated her on the engagement and insisted on opening a bottle of wine despite the fact that it wasn't even midday yet, if there was one thing Sophie's mother was good at it was opening bottles of wine and consuming them. Once upon a time Sophie's mother had been a doctor, a very good one, she had made a lot of money for herself and it had all gone to her head a little when she divorced Sophie's father. Dr Benson was a woman who was good at hiding her own emotions and ignoring others'. Sophie loved her, but she often longed to be anywhere other than with her, their relationship was fractured and would never heal but they ignored the chasm and shared the wine.
By the time she was heading back out into the cold air, Sophie was a little buzzed from the wine and it clouded her memories of Robert as she took the train back downtown towards the cafe where she was meeting her father. Mr Granier had insisted his daughter take her mother's name after the divorce to give her more social standing even though she took after him more than she ever would her mother. He was a writer, just like Sophie, but he was also a scientist and a brilliant one at that. He wrote a book when Sophie was eight years old about the existence of aliens and it disgraced their family so much that two years later Sophie's mother left him, unable to deal with the shame of being associated with a scientist who was so interested in alien life; but that had all happened fifteen years ago and things were much simpler now. In truth, Sophie adored him, she didn't believe in anything he did but she loved his passion and enthusiasm for his work. She failed to identify it as a dangerous obsession.
Usually spending time with her father brought Sophie back down to Earth, usually it helped her to anchor herself back in a reality she found it too easy to wander from. Today was an exception as her mind continued to wander and she wondered if she should share her experiences with her father, whether he would understand or whether he would condemn her as mad too. Helena Benson and Michael Granier were not people Sophie felt she could talk to anymore, not after what had happened three years ago.
Toby Smith was someone else entirely, Sophie had been unsure if she would ever be able to trust someone that deeply again but when she met Toby everything changed. They clicked together so well she felt like she was strapped in and secure, she felt safe. Toby was the rock she clung onto and she knew that she would never give him up for the world.
Toby and Sophie met at their favourite bench in Central Park before heading back to Sophie's apartment for dinner, they picked up Chinese food on the way home. She lived nearby and they often spent time at her place rather than his. As they walked through the dusk the air got colder still and the lights of the traffic began to be their illuminators.
'How was your session with Maggie today?' Toby asked as they walked through the front door, she removed her coat whilst he collected plates from the kitchen.
'It was alright.' Sophie shouted in response, hanging up her coat and collapsing onto the couch, placing the bag of food in front of her on the coffee table.
'Good alright or terrible alright?' he asked, re-emerging from the kitchen and placing the plates down before shrugging off his own coat.
'Just alright I guess.' Sophie said quietly, focusing instead on dividing the food between the two plates.
'Did you tell her about the dream?' he asked and she sighed, stopping what she was doing and putting her head in her hands.
'She thinks I'm crazy, I know she does.' she muttered and Toby put an arm around her waist.
'Come on, no she doesn't. You're not crazy there's just something going on, you'll get to the bottom of it. Maybe you don't eat enough?' he suggested, taking over her job of dividing up the food.
'Oh!' he exclaimed suddenly as she looked up again and he stopped with the food, moving to dig inside his pocket. He pulled out a small box and turned to her, snapping open the lid of the box with a grin, inside was a thin, silver band with a small diamond set in the middle. 'I picked this up today, so I guess it makes it official now?' he said and Sophie couldn't help but return his smile as she held out her hand for him to place the ring on her finger.
'No, you gotta ask me again.' she said, snatching her hand away suddenly before he could complete the action.
'But you already said yes?' he asked and she shrugged, the thought of Robert suddenly flashed into her mind.
'Maybe I changed my mind.' she conjectured and he smiled, thinking she was joking which was only half true.
'Alright, Sophie Benson, my one and only one true love; the light of my life and the sun in my sky, the diamond of my day and the meaning of my life...' he expostulated and Sophie giggled. 'Will you marry me?' he asked and Sophie shrugged.
'I suppose I could do that.' she replied and allowed him to place the ring on her finger before leaning over and kissing him gently. When she broke away they stayed close for a moment and Sophie was reminded of Maggie's words. 'Will you stay with me tonight?' she asked quietly and he knew she was frightened of the dream.
'Of course.' he replied gently, stroking her hair back from her face and kissing her forehead. The evening passed quietly, they ate and watched a re-run of their favourite television show, Toby fell asleep on the couch and Sophie had to prod him awake before they got ready for bed and the night stole them away. As she fell asleep Sophie almost forgot about the dream, she focused on the sound of Toby's gentle snores and drifted off into a deep sleep of her own.
And it happened again. Almost immediately her lungs were clenched tight but this time she was able to focus on the fact that this was just a dream, she had an element of control. She had to find Robert, that was her main objective, if she found him she could find some answers.
She began to claw her way through the undergrowth, tearing at branches and leaves before her time ran out, she had to keep going no matter what. She tried to forget her breathing, remembering it was just a dream and that in reality she was probably breathing just fine albeit mumbling strange words under her breath. She closed her eyes and kept going, letting her feet guide her completely as she tried to ignore the pain in her body, the pain she knew wasn't real. When she opened her eyes she knew she had made the right choice; up ahead was a clearing and whilst the wind whipped the trees around her in the forest the clearing looked calm, like an oasis in a desert. She rushed towards it and as she broke through the tree-line everything stopped.
The pain in her body immediately vanished and she knew she had made it through the barrier before it was too late. Her eyes searched the still meadow for Robert, he had to be here, he just had to be; but the meadow was larger than she'd originally thought and despite the fact that she had broken through she knew her time was limited before she was dragged back to the land of being awake. Suddenly, her eyes found the figure emerging from the other side of the clearing, the man with golden hair who shone slightly in the dark forest, Robert.
'Hey!' she yelled across the clearing and her voice seemed to give the wind the ability to break through the barrier. It whipped her hair about her like an ensuing storm, a storm she knew she was in the eye of but it wouldn't last forever. Robert heard her and caught sight of her quickly, he began to run towards her and she didn't know what compelled her, but she ran towards him too.
'Sophie!' he yelled and the wind grew louder.
'Robert!' she shouted back, tears streaming down her face as the eye of the storm grew smaller and smaller, chasing them as they hurtled towards the centre of the meadow and towards one another. She could see him clearly now and he could see her, there was no barrier between them this time they were finally meeting. She reached out and he reached out towards her in turn, their hands met and Sophie was wrenched upright in her bed.
She was breathing heavily and Toby was rubbing her back systematically and brushing tears from her face.
'Sophie, are you okay?' he asked and she took deep breaths as she noted that she was in her bedroom, in her bed, the time was 12:15, the same as usual.
'What happened?' she asked breathlessly as she caught sight of the look of alarm on Toby's face.
'You were shouting something in your sleep, something about it being too late for something, that the storm was coming?' he was confused and she sniffed back her tears.
She didn't say anything, she didn't even know how to begin responding, all she could feel was her heart beating wildly in her chest as she struggled to maintain her breathing.
'Sophie, please, talk to me.' Toby begged but Sophie couldn't open up to him, not then. As he reached out to touch her she jumped up from the bed and began to pull on her discarded jeans from earlier that day over her night-clothes.
'Where are you going?' Toby asked in a quiet voice as she pulled on more clothes and a jacket as well as socks and shoes.
'I just... need to take a walk.' she told him and he made to get out of bed.
'Let me come with you.' he requested but she put a hand out to stop him.
'No, I'm sorry Toby, I need to just be alone for a little while. Just go back to sleep, I'm fine, I promise.' she said in earnest and managed to keep her breathing and heartbeat under control as she smiled down at him. He looked a little more reassured but was still unsure, she didn't give him a chance to argue but leaned down to kiss his cheek quickly before hurrying from the apartment, pulling her coat around her tightly against the November air.
She didn't pay attention to where she was going, she walked for blocks and blocks, turning when she felt like turning and darting across roads amidst the slightly more sparse traffic than during the day. Her thoughts were filled with the memory of Robert's hand reaching out for hers and how she'd been cut off from him just as she'd finally found him. She wished she understood the meaning behind this dream, what it all signified, if it signified anything at all. She just wished she had some answers.
She turned a corner and collided with someone immediately, she stumbled back, muttering apologies and intending to go on her way but a hand on her arm stopped her.
'Hey Sophie.' a cool voice said and she looked up into the face of the man she had walked into.
'Holy shit.'
The forest is getting darker, it's coming now I can feel it and the trees are getting closer together. Suddenly it doesn't matter that I can't breathe because there's no air anyway. The trees are crowing in tighter and tighter and I'm clawing my way through the foliage, desperate, I'm so close to the other side, I can feel the breeze at my fingertips but it's all futile. And then I wake up.
I know, the whole "it was all a dream" trope is so over-used but it's the truth. I've had this same fucking dream for almost a year, every single night and every single night I wake up at the exact same time from it. I even downloaded one of those apps on my phone which records you when you're sleeping so I can tell when the dream starts and when it ends.'
'What did you hear when you played it back?' Maggie asked, scribbling away on her clipboard, peering over the rim of her glasses which made her look ten years older. Sophie fished her phone out of her pocket and opened the app, it was ready and waiting because she'd listened back to it so many times.
'Here.' Sophie clicked on the play button and held her breath as she waited to see Maggie's reaction. Through the speaker of her phone the two women could hear Sophie mumbling incoherently and then suddenly a silence before she began to speak more clearly.
'The time is coming, the forest is dense, find Robert.' her voice said clearly before devolving back into mumbles and which grew more and more agitated before her voice became clear again.
'Find Robert.' she repeated, 'Find him!' and then the unmistakable sounds of her waking up. She clicked her phone off again and watched Maggie with a strange sense of triumph, the therapist looked confused and concerned.
'Do you know anyone called Robert?' she asked and Sophie shook her head.
'Nobody, at least nobody of significance in my life, no one who springs to mind.' she admitted and Maggie sighed, thinking for a moment.
'Okay, so you've had this dream for nearly a year but you're only just coming to me to talk about it now?' Maggie asked and Sophie nodded. 'Why now?'
'I don't know...' Sophie lied but Maggie was too experienced to be fooled. She gave Sophie a look which connoted that she didn't believe her.
'Sophie, you haven't been to see me in two years and now you come back with this dream, do you think it might be related to what happened? That you have resurfacing emotions or feelings towards what happened three years ago?' she asked and Sophie shook her head.
'No, I've made my peace with that, trust me. This feels different.' she said emphatically, leaning forward in her chair, begging to be believed.
'Alright,' Maggie said slowly and thought for a second. 'This dream is always the same and you've had it for a year, why are you opening up about it now?' she asked and Sophie let a small smile play on her lips.
'Because last night something changed. Last night I found Robert.' she told her and Maggie raised an eyebrow, her interest piqued.
'You found Robert in your dream?' she asked and Sophie nodded again.
'He was on the other side of the trees when they started to close in. I only caught a glimpse of him through the gaps in the trees and I tried to fight to get through to him, he could see me too and it was like he was trying to get through from the other side but he couldn't get through either. He was calling my name, he knew who I was too. Listen, I know this sounds absolutely insane but I think this is more than a dream, I think that this Robert guy is real and somehow we're having the same dream.' Maggie paused for a moment and looked at Sophie with a worried look.
'Do you really believe that, Sophie?' she asked and Sophie sighed and shook her head.
'No, I just want some kind of an answer to this. I don't know it feels weird, like there's a familiarity there and when I wake up there's something missing. Like I can't find him.' she explained and Maggie noted something down again.
'I see,' she said slowly and Sophie grimaced at the therapy talk. 'I have to ask, how is your relationship going?' she asked and Sophie smiled properly for the first time.
'It's great, Toby and I actually got engaged last week, I would show you the ring but it's being re-sized, my fingers are too small.' she said and Maggie grinned in response.
'That's great, I'm really glad you're moving forward so well. Have you two moved in together yet?' she asked and Sophie shook her head.
'No, we've talked about it but we're both so busy we've never gotten around to finding a place.' she said and Maggie had her therapist look on again.
'Well maybe it would be good to consider it a little more seriously. Perhaps the dreams extend from a fear of being alone and just knowing that there's someone with you through the night might help you to shake off the dream, maybe Toby is really Robert.' Maggie suggested and Sophie paused for thought. She hadn't really considered that Toby and Robert could be related, the Robert in her dream had been so vivid, so unlike anyone she had ever known. Before she could reply a small timer dinged from the desk and Maggie looked to it with a sad smile.
'I'm afraid that's our time for today but please consider what I've said regarding Toby; we'll book another session for next week and see how things are going then.' she said as she stood and Sophie took her cue to leave.
As she stepped out into the chilled New York air she wrapped her coat tightly around herself. She didn't think she had ever been in a real forest her entire life, all she knew was this concrete jungle she had grown up and spent her life in. From her therapy session she had a packed day, the rest of the morning with her mother, the afternoon with her father and the evening with her fiancé. It felt strange to be referring to him as her fiancé but she supposed she needed to start thinking like that now. Her life was catching up with her faster than she could comprehend.
Her thoughts filled her mind and her foot moved automatically, dodging through the bustling people commuting to work and the tourists rushing to get nowhere, her mother lived in a fancy apartment in a nice part of the city and she had a way to travel to get there. The trains were crowded and smelled funny but she had a knack for blocking them out and focusing on her thoughts, on replaying the dream through her mind and picturing the fragments of Robert she remembered - the golden hair, the bright eyes, he almost seemed to glow.
Her mother was a nice enough woman but didn't quite understand things sometimes. She didn't get that Sophie was distracted, she didn't pick up on the hints. She congratulated her on the engagement and insisted on opening a bottle of wine despite the fact that it wasn't even midday yet, if there was one thing Sophie's mother was good at it was opening bottles of wine and consuming them. Once upon a time Sophie's mother had been a doctor, a very good one, she had made a lot of money for herself and it had all gone to her head a little when she divorced Sophie's father. Dr Benson was a woman who was good at hiding her own emotions and ignoring others'. Sophie loved her, but she often longed to be anywhere other than with her, their relationship was fractured and would never heal but they ignored the chasm and shared the wine.
By the time she was heading back out into the cold air, Sophie was a little buzzed from the wine and it clouded her memories of Robert as she took the train back downtown towards the cafe where she was meeting her father. Mr Granier had insisted his daughter take her mother's name after the divorce to give her more social standing even though she took after him more than she ever would her mother. He was a writer, just like Sophie, but he was also a scientist and a brilliant one at that. He wrote a book when Sophie was eight years old about the existence of aliens and it disgraced their family so much that two years later Sophie's mother left him, unable to deal with the shame of being associated with a scientist who was so interested in alien life; but that had all happened fifteen years ago and things were much simpler now. In truth, Sophie adored him, she didn't believe in anything he did but she loved his passion and enthusiasm for his work. She failed to identify it as a dangerous obsession.
Usually spending time with her father brought Sophie back down to Earth, usually it helped her to anchor herself back in a reality she found it too easy to wander from. Today was an exception as her mind continued to wander and she wondered if she should share her experiences with her father, whether he would understand or whether he would condemn her as mad too. Helena Benson and Michael Granier were not people Sophie felt she could talk to anymore, not after what had happened three years ago.
Toby Smith was someone else entirely, Sophie had been unsure if she would ever be able to trust someone that deeply again but when she met Toby everything changed. They clicked together so well she felt like she was strapped in and secure, she felt safe. Toby was the rock she clung onto and she knew that she would never give him up for the world.
Toby and Sophie met at their favourite bench in Central Park before heading back to Sophie's apartment for dinner, they picked up Chinese food on the way home. She lived nearby and they often spent time at her place rather than his. As they walked through the dusk the air got colder still and the lights of the traffic began to be their illuminators.
'How was your session with Maggie today?' Toby asked as they walked through the front door, she removed her coat whilst he collected plates from the kitchen.
'It was alright.' Sophie shouted in response, hanging up her coat and collapsing onto the couch, placing the bag of food in front of her on the coffee table.
'Good alright or terrible alright?' he asked, re-emerging from the kitchen and placing the plates down before shrugging off his own coat.
'Just alright I guess.' Sophie said quietly, focusing instead on dividing the food between the two plates.
'Did you tell her about the dream?' he asked and she sighed, stopping what she was doing and putting her head in her hands.
'She thinks I'm crazy, I know she does.' she muttered and Toby put an arm around her waist.
'Come on, no she doesn't. You're not crazy there's just something going on, you'll get to the bottom of it. Maybe you don't eat enough?' he suggested, taking over her job of dividing up the food.
'Oh!' he exclaimed suddenly as she looked up again and he stopped with the food, moving to dig inside his pocket. He pulled out a small box and turned to her, snapping open the lid of the box with a grin, inside was a thin, silver band with a small diamond set in the middle. 'I picked this up today, so I guess it makes it official now?' he said and Sophie couldn't help but return his smile as she held out her hand for him to place the ring on her finger.
'No, you gotta ask me again.' she said, snatching her hand away suddenly before he could complete the action.
'But you already said yes?' he asked and she shrugged, the thought of Robert suddenly flashed into her mind.
'Maybe I changed my mind.' she conjectured and he smiled, thinking she was joking which was only half true.
'Alright, Sophie Benson, my one and only one true love; the light of my life and the sun in my sky, the diamond of my day and the meaning of my life...' he expostulated and Sophie giggled. 'Will you marry me?' he asked and Sophie shrugged.
'I suppose I could do that.' she replied and allowed him to place the ring on her finger before leaning over and kissing him gently. When she broke away they stayed close for a moment and Sophie was reminded of Maggie's words. 'Will you stay with me tonight?' she asked quietly and he knew she was frightened of the dream.
'Of course.' he replied gently, stroking her hair back from her face and kissing her forehead. The evening passed quietly, they ate and watched a re-run of their favourite television show, Toby fell asleep on the couch and Sophie had to prod him awake before they got ready for bed and the night stole them away. As she fell asleep Sophie almost forgot about the dream, she focused on the sound of Toby's gentle snores and drifted off into a deep sleep of her own.
And it happened again. Almost immediately her lungs were clenched tight but this time she was able to focus on the fact that this was just a dream, she had an element of control. She had to find Robert, that was her main objective, if she found him she could find some answers.
She began to claw her way through the undergrowth, tearing at branches and leaves before her time ran out, she had to keep going no matter what. She tried to forget her breathing, remembering it was just a dream and that in reality she was probably breathing just fine albeit mumbling strange words under her breath. She closed her eyes and kept going, letting her feet guide her completely as she tried to ignore the pain in her body, the pain she knew wasn't real. When she opened her eyes she knew she had made the right choice; up ahead was a clearing and whilst the wind whipped the trees around her in the forest the clearing looked calm, like an oasis in a desert. She rushed towards it and as she broke through the tree-line everything stopped.
The pain in her body immediately vanished and she knew she had made it through the barrier before it was too late. Her eyes searched the still meadow for Robert, he had to be here, he just had to be; but the meadow was larger than she'd originally thought and despite the fact that she had broken through she knew her time was limited before she was dragged back to the land of being awake. Suddenly, her eyes found the figure emerging from the other side of the clearing, the man with golden hair who shone slightly in the dark forest, Robert.
'Hey!' she yelled across the clearing and her voice seemed to give the wind the ability to break through the barrier. It whipped her hair about her like an ensuing storm, a storm she knew she was in the eye of but it wouldn't last forever. Robert heard her and caught sight of her quickly, he began to run towards her and she didn't know what compelled her, but she ran towards him too.
'Sophie!' he yelled and the wind grew louder.
'Robert!' she shouted back, tears streaming down her face as the eye of the storm grew smaller and smaller, chasing them as they hurtled towards the centre of the meadow and towards one another. She could see him clearly now and he could see her, there was no barrier between them this time they were finally meeting. She reached out and he reached out towards her in turn, their hands met and Sophie was wrenched upright in her bed.
She was breathing heavily and Toby was rubbing her back systematically and brushing tears from her face.
'Sophie, are you okay?' he asked and she took deep breaths as she noted that she was in her bedroom, in her bed, the time was 12:15, the same as usual.
'What happened?' she asked breathlessly as she caught sight of the look of alarm on Toby's face.
'You were shouting something in your sleep, something about it being too late for something, that the storm was coming?' he was confused and she sniffed back her tears.
She didn't say anything, she didn't even know how to begin responding, all she could feel was her heart beating wildly in her chest as she struggled to maintain her breathing.
'Sophie, please, talk to me.' Toby begged but Sophie couldn't open up to him, not then. As he reached out to touch her she jumped up from the bed and began to pull on her discarded jeans from earlier that day over her night-clothes.
'Where are you going?' Toby asked in a quiet voice as she pulled on more clothes and a jacket as well as socks and shoes.
'I just... need to take a walk.' she told him and he made to get out of bed.
'Let me come with you.' he requested but she put a hand out to stop him.
'No, I'm sorry Toby, I need to just be alone for a little while. Just go back to sleep, I'm fine, I promise.' she said in earnest and managed to keep her breathing and heartbeat under control as she smiled down at him. He looked a little more reassured but was still unsure, she didn't give him a chance to argue but leaned down to kiss his cheek quickly before hurrying from the apartment, pulling her coat around her tightly against the November air.
She didn't pay attention to where she was going, she walked for blocks and blocks, turning when she felt like turning and darting across roads amidst the slightly more sparse traffic than during the day. Her thoughts were filled with the memory of Robert's hand reaching out for hers and how she'd been cut off from him just as she'd finally found him. She wished she understood the meaning behind this dream, what it all signified, if it signified anything at all. She just wished she had some answers.
She turned a corner and collided with someone immediately, she stumbled back, muttering apologies and intending to go on her way but a hand on her arm stopped her.
'Hey Sophie.' a cool voice said and she looked up into the face of the man she had walked into.
'Holy shit.'