“Hey! Are you ok? Where are you? Please say something!” – I’ve kept shouting while approaching the creepy place where her voice came from

It took only a couple of seconds after I finished my sentence, and the worst case scenario occurred. As I remembered what the girl on the park said, I could feel something like a chill running down my spine and a crawling feeling of fright inside my stomach. My brain was telling me to run like I never ran before, but my whole body was paralyzed and glued to the ground. It was as the air itself grew heavy and it was pressing on my body from all directions, as I could feel another person’s presence closing in on me, just like you would in a night terror. I was so scared that I could not even blink.

“Fucking way to go heavens! No fucking good deed left unpunished! Motherfucker!!!”

Then, my train of thoughts was stopped as the shadows of night revealed the silhouette of a person walking towards me. I cannot express in words how huge was my fear in that moment, or my pupils for that matter, but when the cloud that was conveniently covering the moon was blown away by a cold gust of wind, the rays of moonlight revealed the body of a human walking calmly towards me. Once I calming down a bit and started to prepare logically, by concentrating only on my sight, I realized that the forming shadows belonged to a girl. Sandals with high heels, blue jeans and the more that person came closer to me, I saw a t-shirt with a message saying ‘For my lover’ and a black hoody. From her body forms, I indeed could tell that she was a girl but I couldn't see her face because of the hoody...

“Why I’m I having this problem with girls recently?” – I complained unhappily in my mind

She somehow passed by me, managing to escape my sight and a wave of cold air chained my body, to the point where I could barely resist falling to the ground as my knees felt weaker than ever. She got behind me, and her arms slowly touched my back, my neck, the shoulders, the chest, until they united in a tight embrace.

[I finally found you!]

It was the same voice that I heard screaming before, only that this time, instead of the obvious fear in it, it rather inspired dread, making my soul tremble. I felt as if I was hearing a church's bell ringing slowly, but loud enough to wake me up from my slumber, a strange feeling altogether. In the seconds that she kept her arms united, embracing me, I somewhat got used to her presence and the fear was dissipating. I looked down at her hands, as I couldn't move my body yet.

Her fragile looking hands resting above my own, the feeling of her lips kissing my neck making my body and brain shut down and the feeling of her tears trickled on my skin, I was reminded all of those things I used to dream about every time I would fall asleep.

“I’m still asleep?” – I wondered

[Look! The hourglass is almost empty...you nearly got away this time to! You know how hard it is for me to track you every time you have been reborn, just to find out that you have died again? Really now! What is with you and the death while young? You have to talk with Luci about this; there is something really wrong with you!]

"What is she talking about? Something wrong with me? Lady, I’m not the one talking about being reborn, died again and this Luci? Anyway, if this is the same dream, then…the hourglass! If I remember, now are about ...ten grains remaining and she holds it in her left hand, while in her right..."

At that point, I looked scared and rattled at her right hand only to find it empty. The feeling of relief that I felt, it was indescribable, but soon, her voice that sounded as soft as a summer breeze, somewhat clumsy and embarrassed as if she had forgot something, punched me back to reality like a tsunami smashing against the shore. Any trace of peace or comfort disappeared when she completed her phrase.

[Oh! I almost forget about this...] – and she pulled out a dagger from her belt

[Do you know how hard was to find this damned knife? It took me over two hundred years just to find out about it and another fifteen hundred to actually find it... Was there a reason to be so secretive about it!? Nobody in our group knew where it was and you were the only one still left in the nether from the four of you! I didn’t expect you out of all of us to be this silly…]

There it was. The instrument of my demise was right in front of me.

However, after calming down the beating heart in my chest that seemed to leap out of my throat, I noticed that it was slightly different from the one in my dreams, since this one had black hilt and white blade, being the exact opposite of the other one. Of course, that didn't mean that I was off the hook, after all, this one had a blade also. Somehow, everything was different from all the things that happened in my previous dreams, because this time I wasn't THAT scared...I mean, sure! I was paralyzed with fear, but I wasn't scared of her-her. More than that, I actually found her comfortable, if I can use that about a person. I had a weird feeling about how, sleeping next to someone recently changed my mind… But I don’t do sleepovers either… Maybe this whole thing is because right now, I still think about it as being a dream that I was having while I was sleeping on a bench in the park and/or because of what Vic told me this morning about ‘enjoying a girl’s presence’. Either way, this didn’t feel like a dream, neither was the case to enjoy anything. This one meant business! Serious business!

The sound of the sands flowing reached my ear and with it, the scenario of my dream being followed to the letter right after she kissed my neck again passing over the depressing emotions and a bone chilling feeling of loneliness and incertitude...

[Do you mind?] – she asked while pointing at my shirt with the dagger and smiling [We should do this more often, by the way!]

She then undid my entire shirt's buttons with a gentle touch, only to finish after putting the hourglass in my left hand and the dagger in my right.

[Be careful with those two please! Despite the huge price I paid for them, they are really easy to break. By the way, next time we go out, you are the one paying!]

Those words made me so happy! Not the ‘go out, part, obviously! The ‘easily breakable’ one. If I could just move my hand a bit, I could drop them and call it quits with this stupid dream where I end up dead! However, before I could do anything, the sound of the sand falling shocked my body so hard that, if she had not caught me, I would have smashed into the ground myself.

[Easy now! Sorry! I forgot about that...Ahem! ‘If the person who's time is represented by the hourglass and the object itself come in contact, not only the time will go off faster, but the person will also experience a lot of physical and psychological pain…’ See? It's written here right under instructions. But then again, that serves you right for leaving me alone and making me search for you for over a half of a millennium! Anyway, don't worry, this time I’ll be staying with you 'till it ends. And maybe even after! If you'll apologize properly, of course...]

If that’s the case, wouldn’t you first, I don’t know, take the damned thing out of my hands!? And what’s with the splitting headache again?

[Well...anyway! Look, it's starting!] – she said, making me look at the dagger

[I think you're paralyzed from being in my presence, so I’ll help you see!]

Then I realized that I was already resting in her lap and tried to sneak a peek at her face, however her hands quickly made me face towards the dagger in my right hand. The colors from the dagger were changing places, the white going up in the hilt and the black going down in the blade. That scared me shitless, seeing something impossible like that happening in front of my very eyes. Yet again, there was nothing normal about this girl, or the scenario that I was experiencing. But, I wasn’t as surprised as I expected? Did I see something similar or worse than this recently? Strange…

[Scared much?] – she asked teasingly

[Ohh....I see! You don't remember anything do you? Well, in that case let me tell you at least about the dagger, since I’ve already explained the hourglass. You see, this dagger is like the one you used in order to leave your body from back then. You used it like a vessel for your soul to inhabit. Of course, you can think about it like a syringe if you want to make it plain and not as interesting. After all, that is what it does and that is what you did. The dagger if, you remember a while ago, it was black hilt and white blade when I put it in your hand, and when you first used, a very long time ago, it was completely white. After you took out your soul, the blade became black for storing it and after a short while, it was passed into the hilt. Now, if i hold it, the colors will remain the same and the soul will be kept in check. However, once you touched it, it moved at the point of the blade trough this two red lines getting ready for the transfer in your body. Also the hilt is removable. Simple right? After all I am a good teacher...oh, and the symbol here, the bird with black wings, it's your soul's symbol. That is all that is to it!]

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense.. Like hell it does!!! What are you going on about? Is this girl or something? What soul? What serine? What hilt? Have you completely lost it?"

That's what I thought, but it was all there. My dream had been upgraded to a deluxe version, where everything comes with a manual full of instructions and the confirmation that I truly have a black soul and a dark heart. I mean, all the conversations from my dream, the objects, this ritual, all is being explained and completed right now. And even more than that, as she explained everything to me, I could finally see her face properly.

I saw again her cherry-red lips moving while she explained everything to me, her flaming red hair falling on my face that felt so soft, her small beautiful nose, her pale skin and her beautiful eyes, bluer and deeper than any ocean or sky I’ve ever seen in my whole life. Her portrait was now complete and after 18 years of waiting, I can surely say that was worth it. She was by far, the most beautiful girl I’ve encountered on this life and I lucky enough to use her lap as pillow. But… why did this feel so familiar? Why does she feel so familiar? That red hair of hers and the eyes that had the power to see into your very soul… Did I see them before in a different dream?

The midnight didn’t give way to answers and with the warmth of her body, her hands touching my face while explaining everything with a cheerful smile... I guess I had worse birthday parties than this.

[Saw something you like, hotstuff?] – she asked me while smiling

"Sorry, didn't mean to stare! I found it hard... to… look…”

And the words got stuck in my throat. I answered without thinking and what surprised me even more was the fact that I could, indeed, speak. Doesn't this change the whole setting of the dream?