The sun eased her awake with a bright ray stretching through the blinds and brushing her cheek with warmth. A dream, a thought she'd been in, stretched between uncontrolled reverie and inevitable awareness until it was a thin transparent string pulled taut. With each breath, the outside world filtered in. She inhaled and the sound of the analog clock sent a subtle vibration down the string. She exhaled sharply and water from a faucet in the next room dripped onto a metal utensil left in the sink and began to pluck at the fragile cord. She drew in a deep breath and the distant sound of traffic continued the tension on the string. A loud sigh escaped her own silence and her fingers constricted around the corners of her pillow as the voices of her neighbors downstairs played tug-o-war with the frayed thread.

She successfully resisted the attempts by hesitantly turning over and inching the blankets over her head. She let out a heavy breath once more and the noises that started to fill her senses retreated one-by-one until the dream shrank out of the grasp of reality and surrounded her once more.

She was happy here, truly happy. The tribulations of day were uninvited and the fears that stirred in the night were long forgotten. Here, she was on a high branch within a lone tree that stood in the middle of a tall-grass field. Mountains encompassed the field's boundaries miles out in the distance and the extreme dark of night transitioned smoothly across the sky into the warmth of sunrise-but nothing passed early sunrise existed here. The sound of crickets hummed above the quiet and fireflies sparked in the absence of light. It was her sanctuary, her utopia. This is where she'd go once she died and this is where her mind ached to take her as she strode through the day.

"Can I come up?" A voice asked out of sight. It held a sense of amusement and familiarity that sent a rush up her skin. She didn't bother to look. This wasn't her first time here. It wasn't her first time hearing the masculine voice of an old friend who in life was allowed to fade out. She'd looked to see his expression before, but no-one would be there and then he'd be gone until the next night. She, instead, kept her eyes closed and her head facing up towards the sky. A smirk spread over her lips. Even though she knew it was denial, it was a beautiful deceit.

"If I say no, will that stop you?" She feigned seriousness but allowed a hint of humor to cling to it.

"Maybe..."the tree moved ever so slightly off beat with the wind, "I'm not a complete monster."

"Oh yeah?" Eyes fought to stay closed and her smile only widened though not enough to bare teeth. The tree continued to move with the wind and have a underlying disturbance in its once fluid movement. "Make yourself comfortable on the ground." It was a challenge, one she knew he was underway of breaking as she spoke it.

"Hey." The voice was close, a few inches from her ear. It was a ploy to get her to open her eyes, one she'd fallen for many times by this point. But what she yearned for was passed the whisper and the playful defiance.

"This is not the ground." She chided.

"Yup." He couldn't deny the logic, but he wasn't sorry for not staying put. He leaned over her and his warm breath spilt over her lips causing the smirk to slightly part with anticipation. His lips hesitantly touched hers. It was soft and careful. He held it there, his mouth lightly on hers, while he decided whether or not to push it further.

He relinquished her lips and waited wide eyed for her to meet his gaze.

"You're so dead." She lazily threatened.

"You'll have to actually open your eyes to kill me," his hesitation lingered onto his voice, "Kate."

Upon hearing her name and wanting to comply, her mood changed from giddy and playful to a premature lament. "I," she almost broke into tears, "if I look...you'll be gone." It was true; whenever she opened her eyes he was nowhere to be found. No voice or warmth of touch left behind. Just a dull ache that branched out over time that would stretch and invade other parts of her memory.

She felt his lips brush her ear and he whispered, "What if it's my dream this time?" His tone fought to fend off a bittersweet note.

Tears collected in the corner of her closed eyes and meandered pathways passed her cheeks. "I can't," she choked, "you won't be there if I look."

"Listen," he grabbed her limp hand within his own and held it up, " you can feel me. You can hear me. I'm real. I'm here. I won't leave you. Not ever."

Her bottom lip began to tremble. She'd been to this part of the dream. She believed him. Believed in him, his intentions, his honesty...but she'd opened her eyes many times to find herself alone at this point, as well. "Please, just stay."

"I'm going to stay." He rested his chin on her shoulder and held her hand in his. "I'm really here." He kissed her forehead.

"I know you think that, but we've done this so many times. This same conversation. You've kissed me like this so many times..." She began to audibly sob.

"It's ok," he hushed, "you don't have to open them." He released her hand and climbed up on her branch and rested his back against the trunk. He pulled the obstinate Kate onto his lap. She stiffened, straining to keep her eyes closed. She'd never been here, in this moment. She'd never gotten so far as to let him pull her into him.

"I'm sorry." She whispered, tears still streaming.

"Why?" He hug her tightly and kept a constant pressure.

"Because I left."

"Technically, we never met, so you couldn't have left." He laughed though his voice had a weight to it now.

"I was just scared. I felt this..." the sobbing overrode her words and nothing sensible could come out .

"I love you, do you know that?"

"You're only saying it because I want you to. Because you're in my head. It's not real."

He released her and guided her chin with his hand. He kissed her lower lip and then her mouth. She could read what he was suggesting-that she'd part her mouth and allow the kiss to become deeper.

She turned her head away. "Are you really here?"

"I am." He laughed and nudged her cheek with his nose.

She opened her eyes, giving the tears free-range to spill out. He'd felt real. She could smell his breath and feel the heat radiate off of his skin. She turned to look behind her only to find the tree's trunk. She looked down below to see if he'd slinked off ... but there was no sign. "Everett!" She cried out and put her head in her hands.

She shot up from her bed with tears streaming down her face. It felt as though they'd been the same ones, for the same reason. She stared at the glow emanating from behind her blinds. The sun had won. She fell back down on her pillow and looked at the analog clock only two feet away. It was 5:57 AM, only three minutes before her alarm went off.

"Of course." It was defeat. She held her blanket to her chest and tried to grasp some part of the dream that was beyond simple description-feeling. His breath or skin or voice. Something. But nothing stayed.