There was a long silence between them, and then the man said, calmly, “I can.” He took down his hood, revealing pale blonde hair.

Before she could utter a word, paralyzing pain came into her head, and she heard the evil voice of her heart again. He can’t. He’s lying.

The man and the girl both turned to look at the hole, seeing that a smoldering fire had started there in. The flames flickering out of it were ruby red, angry as they slowly grew, right along with the pain in her head that was becoming more intense.

The heart had been listening all along, slowly growing more and more defensive and venomous. It did not trust the man who had invaded its privacy. He was just like all the other men to it, except more dangerous and unknown.

The man cautiously made his way towards the heart, reaching his hand into the fire to pull the pieces out. He did not flinch as the fire attempted to consume his flesh. On the contrary, the flame sizzled out the second it touched him, leaving the heart defenseless.

“Trust me,” he said, as he pulled the heart out.

The heart did not give up that easily. It sent electricity up his arms, trying to stun him—but no matter how hard the heart tried to resist, the man only stared at it solemnly. It only made the heart more alarmed, as it realized there was no possible way for it to escape from him.

You’re evil, it hissed. Put me down, lest you be damned.

The man closed his eyes, ignoring its viperous words, and whispered, “Ego cordem sano…”

He gently let the heart fall out of his hands, but instead of plopping onto the ground, the severed halves rose up in the air, circling around in a white mist. The mist covered the pieces completely for a brief second, and then it and the heart disappeared entirely.

“Where did it go?” the girl asked, doubting him for a second.

He smiled at her, taking his hand and lightly placing it on her shoulder. With a gasp of awe, she realized all of the hurtfulness was gone. She felt light and free for the first time. Grinning from ear to ear, she closed her eyes and laughed, and went forward to thank him. As she opened her eyes, she stopped, struck by what she saw. He was gone.

As she looked around in confusion, a sharp pain rammed into her ears, making her head spin in circles…

--

Instinctively, the girl reached over and slammed down on the snooze button, slowly awaking from a restless slumber. Groggily, she hoisted herself up, looking around in confusion—she was no longer in the graveyard. Instead, she was lying on a bed in an apartment in her pajamas, underneath the covers. The sun was shining through the window to her left, as she stared at it in confusion.

She was back home again.

Was it all a dream? she thought, sitting up in her bed.

No, the small voice of her heart whispered joyfully, not all just a dream…

No, not at all, a masculine voice replied in agreement.

She smiled as she thought of what she had gone through. It had not been quite a dream, not quite an illusion. No, she thought, it had been real, and the evidence is in my heart and in the fact that… it is healed.