| |
SURPRISINGLY, THE FEELING is mutual. Chris will miss working with me, and I'll miss working with him as well. I never thought I would feel that way the first time I saw him, but he's a decent kid. It'll be hard to say goodbye.
After our mission, I go to Rain and convince him to let me see Anna again. I don't know if it will be the last time I see her, but it should be. It would be better for both of us if I ended this before either of us got too attached.
Seeing her face makes me realize I'm already attached. I want her to be mine, and I want to be hers. If I really wanted to, I could warp through time and find out how her story ends, but I don't want to. I want to stay with her here. Now. If I visited her ten years later and saw a husband at her side, I would only devastate myself.
When I enter her dream, we're sitting across from each other in a rowboat, drifting along still waters. Wisps of white cloud fill a brilliant blue sky. The idyllic scene is disrupted only by a mob of flies, occasionally buzzing around us. Even in dreams, pests are inescapable.
Anna looks more beautiful than ever. Her golden red hair is tucked into a bonnet, and she's wearing a simple pink dress. She cocks her head when she sees me, and her question stops my breath. “Who are you?”
She doesn't know me. She's forgotten everything we've done together. Cold dread crawls through my body as the realization punches a hole in my heart. “You... don't remember me?”
Anna's straight face is altered by a smirk, and her reply is riddled with giggles. “Yes, of course I remember you! Oh my, you looked so horrified! It made me feel terrible.”
My arms fold over my chest. I probably look like a pouty child, but she really upset me! “You look so sweet, Anna. Looking at your face, I never would have imagined you were capable of such cruelty.”
“Are you mad?” she asks.
Adorable as she is, I don't think I could ever be angry with her. “No. I'm not mad, but... you almost had me in a panic.”
“Even if I forgot you, that's okay,” Anna says. “You could've just made me fall for you all over again.”
“Does that mean you've fallen for me?” I ask, but Anna doesn't answer. “You have fallen for me, haven't you?”
Still, she doesn't confirm or deny it. Instead, she flashes a coquettish simper that could test any man's restraint. How have I not covered her in kisses already?
I manifest a massive bouquet of flowers and present it with a grin. “For you, my lady.”
“If you're giving me flowers, you must not be too angry.” Anna accepts and sniffs my gift. “I... think these flowers are broken. They don't really smell like anything.”
“Well, it's a dream. If you wanted to, you could make them smell like raw sewage.”
Anna whacks my knee with her bouquet and asks, “Why would I want to do that?”
“It was just an example.” It was also a bad and entirely unromantic example. I'm not going to woo her by talking about sewage, am I? “So, Anna... tell me something I don't know. Answer a random question. Who is your favorite person in the world?”
“You.”
Her answer, charming as it may be, is impossible to believe. “That's not true.”
“It is!” Anna insists. “Who else would it be?”
“Your parents, perhaps. Or your two friends, the chatty one and the handsy one.” Alas, I've now forgotten their names. It's a shame, because I remembered them the other day.
“Sarah and Cathy?”
“Yes! Absolutely! Sarah and Cathy!” I exclaim. “Surely you like one of those ladies more than you like me?”
Anna shakes her head so fast, her bonnet falls off. As she readjusts it, she says, “Not really. I like them well enough... and I like my parents, of course... but I don't like them like I like you. When I'm with you, I feel happiness that I've never felt before.”
Her answer is gut-wrenching, because our relationship is doomed. I can't keep meeting her in dreams for the rest of her life, can I?
Anna asks, “Who is your favorite person?”
“You, of course.”
“Nuh uh!” Anna shakes her flowers at me. “Now that I don't believe!”
“Why not?”
“Because you know a lot more people than me, I'm sure!” Anna says. “There is no way I could be your favorite person!”
“Right now, you're the only person I care to know,” I tell her. “If the rest of the world disappeared before my eyes, as long as you were sitting across from me, I would still be the happiest man in the world.”
Anna's nose wrinkles as she waves away the mass of flies that continue to burden us. Somehow, even a sneer looks impossibly cute on her.
“So... you're an angel, right?”
“I am.”
“What's it like to be an angel? Is it a lot different?”
“Very different,” I reply. “But then again, it's also similar in some ways. I still have the same emotions that you do.”
“So... you could fall in love with me?”
“I could.” I almost say I have, but I'm afraid it would be too soon. I don't want to frighten her.
“If we didn't see each other again, you could get sad?”
“I would be sad.” I like my answer better that time.
“Do you think we could fly again? I'd really love to fly.”
Her question makes me smile, naive and adorable as it is. “Anna... we're in a dream, you know. If you wanted to, you could fly. No wings necessary.” I can sense her hesitation, so I hop up to show her. The rowboat sways when I stand, and it takes me a moment to steady myself.
“I don't know. What if I... can't?”
“I'll be right beside you!” I seize her hand and lift her to her feet. “Come on. It'll be fun!”
My wings lose a few feathers as I expand them, and when I wrap Anna in my arms, she looks no less worried.
“This was your idea,” I remind her. “You wanted to fly.”
“I know. But it's so unfamiliar to me. I don't know if I can—”
I spiral into the sky like a rocket, tightening my arms around Anna as I fly. I take us straight into the clouds, puncturing nebulas that disperse like puffs of smoke as we pass through them. The clouds seem a bit different in her dream, and there are bright blue butterflies flying higher than normal butterflies would ever dare to drift. I'm not complaining, though. Butterflies flitting around us could only enhance the romantic scene.
“Your wings are so... white,” Anna says. “I don't think I've seen anything as white as they are.”
“Are you ready to fly?” I ask.
“Isn't that what we're doing?”
“No. I mean fly on your own, without me to hold you aloft.”
“I don't know if that's a good idea.”
I know she's reluctant, but I release her anyway. I keep her hand in mine in case she happens to fall.
As I suspect, she doesn't. Anna is suspended in midair, no less adept at flight than I am. She's soaring above clouds with no help from me. When she's had a few seconds to relax, I let go of her hand.
“I'm... floating,” she whispers. “On my own.”
When I smile at her, I suspect it's the biggest smile my lips have ever worn. “So you are.”
Anna flies forward, testing her new ability. I keep an eye on her, but after a minute or two, it becomes clear that she no longer needs me. She whizzes ahead, laughing as she leaves the butterflies—and me—behind. I try to catch up to her, but Anna is an exceptional flier. She's making an eons-old Archangel look slow.
“Come back to me!” I hold out my arms and beg, “Anna... come back!”
When she turns, her bonnet flies from her head again. I have no idea how she hadn't lost it already.
Anna flies back to me, crashing into my arms in midair.
“I like flying! Do you think this is something I could do in my dreams again?” she asks.
“I don't see why not.”
“Will you be in my dreams again?”
I don't know the answer to that, but I don't want to ruin the moment, so I whisper, “Of course.”
“Do you think... you would ever want to kiss me?”
“Anna, I've been around along time, but I truly believe that has to be the most ridiculous question I've ever heard.” My thumb traces her cheekbone, then her lips. They're as soft as I imagined them to be, and I want them more than I've ever wanted anything. “Of course I want to kiss you.”
Softly, she tells me, “You're the man of my dreams, Joe. I wish you could be my dream come true.”
If all we have is this moment, I refuse to waste it. My hand disappears in her hair—her glorious hair that puts all other colors to shame. She's gone silent now, but her eyes are begging me to kiss her. I've seen this yearning in the eyes of other women, but this is the first time I've felt it myself. I need her. I need to kiss her. The temptation is too much to bear.
Anna's mouth parts slightly as I lean in to sample her lips. She wraps her arms around me, holding me close as she deepens the kiss. Butterflies swoop around us, and one even lands in her hair. It's the perfect setting for a young lady's first kiss, if I do say so myself.
The kiss ends, but my lips stay close to hers, close enough to feel the heat of her breath.
“Never leave me,” she begs. “Please. Even if all we have is a dream, I don't care. I don't.”
I adore this girl, and I'm certain she feels the same way about me. Hers is the last heart I would ever want to break.
But I will—eventually.
For now, I cradle her in my arms and let her believe this can last forever.