And away we go!
Prologue
She hadn’t dreamt in months. But when she went to bed that night, something was different. The air in the room felt different - it felt stifled, stale. She expected to be up all night again, tossing and turning, even though it had been through one of the many exhausting days of her now deranged life. But surprisingly, she fell to sleep almost immediately, the ominous blackness quickly taking form all around.
Soon the blackness wavered, and a faint light began to glow in front of her. It got brighter, and soon she could make out the scenes of a vintage black and white film. It was the same movie they had seen together on their first date.
The room in which she stood now lay in shambles, broken into a thousand indistinguishable pieces. Broken - like her heart.
The same stale air wafted through, and suddenly the room shook - subtly at first; then violently. Along with the waves of the quake, the remains of the room trembled, throwing a hundred years of dust and dirt into the air. As she coughed, trying to find an escape, the pieces and shambles began to move and recollect. A bright theatre had taken form as people had walked in and had taken their seats. She felt a sudden warmth in her heart as she walked down what was now an aisle - something drew her further and further down - until she reached a certain row of seats that were peculiarly familiar. She sat in the third chair from the wall - the seat that she had always chosen.
She turned to the right. He stared back and smiled. She had loved his smile more than anything in the world, particularly because she - or anyone else for that matter - rarely saw it. She seemed to be one of the few people who was able to induce it.
The theatre was bustling with life now; the movie mysteriously halfway through. She remembered the scene that was playing out on the screen. She looked back at him, as did he. The smile had grown wider; her heart seemed to be glowing right out of her chest, but she didn’t take her eyes off his. He came closer; her heart glowed brighter. He was closer by the second, until his lips met hers. It was like fireworks going off in her chest, her first real kiss, the first time that she had ever felt really loved.
The ceiling began to crumble; the room began to shake again. She didn’t let go; she’d promised that she never would. But the shaking only got worse, and the warmth that had glowed in her chest was now being severed from her soul. As the beautiful dream crumbled, she whispered the words that she wished she had said before he died a two months after that fateful night.
“I love you…”
