I am alone, yet not at all fearful. I keep walking. I turn a corner. All of the three-story buildings that line the roads around me are closed. The storefronts abandoned, though whether only for the night or forever is unclear. Their grayish brown exteriors make the light close in around me. It is getting dark.
I need to get moving. I have things to do.
I am aware that a woman has taken up steps behind me. She is not following me and I am not afraid of her. Without turning to look, I know who she is. She makes no noise as her movements mirror mine. Her hand is tightly closed on the bag she carries over her shoulder. I tilt my chin towards my left to glance back at her. I see her long dark hair. I know who she is.
I turn forward again and step down off the curb. The place that I am going is across the street. I move that direction and she follows me. I step up on the other side and move straight for the door to the shop in front of me. I pull it open and walk through. There is hardly a place to stand among the crowd inside. I find an open spot and stop, folding my hands in front of me.
A man to the side of me greets a server coming to him from the back of the store. She is carrying a tray and I turn to look. It is lined with overlapping, small, brown paper sacks, each painted with the same purple and pink character design. I am pleased at seeing them. I know mine will look equally as good.
"Thank you," he says as he accepts the tray.
As I shift forward again, I see the dark haired woman who was following me. She is seated on a couch next to where I am standing. She is looking at me. I hold her gaze, unmoving. The noise around us falls away until I hear nothing but her.
"This isn't what I wanted for you," I say.
I bring my right arm across my chest and place my hand over where my heart lies beneath. I pat it gently as I slowly shake my head. The corners of my mouth turn down and tears fill my eyes.
"This isn't what I wanted for you," I say again.
"I know," she says.
I drop my hand back down to my side. She looks around the room. She looks back at me.
"It's just so hard," she says.
I turn up the corner of my mouth and cock my chin a bit. I slowly shake my head again.
"This isn't going to make it easier," I say.
I don't feel like she hears me. I don't feel like she knows what I am trying to tell her. I know so much more than she does, yet I can't make her understand. She just keeps looking at me blankly. Her face betraying nothing.
"This isn't going to make it easier," I say again.
We stay connected through our eyes as the others in the store move around us. The silence of their presence wraps around my mind and I know there is nothing more I can do.
I wake up.
I wake up knowing exactly who I was talking to and exactly what we were talking about. It all makes perfect sense and for the first time in my life,
I wonder if someone else just had the same dream.
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