It took the force of Margaret's slap on his back to take him out of his stupor.

“So you are alive,” she said. “For a minute, I thought you turned to stone.”

“What happened?” Johan asked as his eyes dart his surroundings, “Where is she?” Everything around him remained unchanged. The swan's absence being the only exception. He looked up at the sky and shielded his eyes. “Wasn't the sun above my head a few moments ago?” he commented as he noticed the sun had shifted further toward the west.

“I just caught you hanging out by the pond,” Margaret said, “so I just had to come by and say hello. Are you being forced to study on the weekend too? My dad can be such a pain in the rear, expecting me to study during my free time. I should be hanging out with my friends on the beach. I'm taking tomorrow off. Bad enough he took away my Saturday but if he expects me to just study all weekend, I'm going to demand extra on allowance day.”

Margaret waited for a reply but none would come as Johan preoccupied himself with his worries, pacing to survey the area. She approached him and placed her hand on his shoulder. “But enough about me, what are you doing here anyway?”

“Where is that girl? Where is that beautiful girl?”

“Why, she's right here, silly,” Margaret laughed.

Johan turned around with a look of expectation. “Where?”

Her smile disappeared in an instant as she placed her hands on her hips, “Really?” Not another word from Johan as he was now searching for the nonexistent person Margaret had suggested.

She approached him once again and held him with both her hands. “Looking for someone particular?“ It was no use. Even in this constrained state, his head continued to pivot in all directions. Taking her right hand, she slapped Johan's cheek. The painful sting returned his bearings, but not enough to remove the confused look on his face.

“Margaret?”

“Welcome back to earth, Johan.”

“I'm confused.”

“I bet you are.”

Johan gasped. “Her. Oh gosh, her.”

“The beautiful girl.”

“Beautiful? Did I...”

“You said earlier there was a beautiful girl. She must be quite a looker that even the very prudish Johan could not help but notice.” With a smile on her face, she tilted her head slightly. “After all the time us girls on campus tried to get your attention, someone beat us to the-”

Without warning, Johan grabbed Margaret by the shoulders, causing her to freeze as his hand held her tightly. “Margaret, I didn't say anything, did I? Did I say anything else? What did I say?”

“Johan...” she said with a tense and frightened tone. It resonated with him enough to break the spell that tormented him and released his grip. “Oh my gosh, I'm so sorry. I apologize for the way I've been acting.”

Still cautious, Margaret responded, “I've never seen you like this before.”

Johan scratched the back of his neck with his trembling hand. “I'm sorry Margaret but I must go home now. I'll speak with you later.” He turned around and started to climb the hill with Margaret not too far behind. Catching up and getting in front of him, “Wait, Johan. I don't know what's going on with you but perhaps you'd like to talk about it. Maybe tonight after studying? I have no plans later on. Maybe we can do something to get your mind off whatever.”

“No. I don't feel so well. I better go home.”

He stepped to the side and continued walking but Margaret intercepted him.

“You're probably stressed from too much studying. Come on, Johan. Let's have some fun tonight. You're always so uptight. Let loose every once in a while.”

“Margaret, I'm not... I'm not in the mood for anything. Now, please...”

“Then at least tell me what's going on with you right now. You know, let's just sit and chat. It's a beautiful day and nobody's here. Let's sit by the pond, just the two of us.”

Margaret's words had a calming effect on Johan as he started to relax. He took a deep breath and after exhaling, “Margaret, I don't want to be rude but, please understand that at this point, I'm not interested in being in a relationship. I commend you for being persistent, but it's not going to happen. I know that you like me but I don't want to be forced into anything right now. I don't mean to say this out of malice because the feelings you are going through, I understand them well, and...” After a brief pause, he grabbed both her hands and clasped them with his, “I'm sorry Margaret, but you are a beautiful youthful woman. Any man will be lucky to be with you. Don't settle for me as the world is your oyster, and you're the pearl.” He released her hands but not before he gave them a kiss.

Margaret's face began to turn red and he gave her a wink before taking his leave. She was in so much awe that all she could do was watch him run towards the buildings.

“Johan, you idiot,” she spoke as he started running. “Your words say one thing but I can tell what your heart really desires.”

 

 

 

 

 

After a tiring afternoon of errands, all Wendy wanted to do was relax. They placed the shopping bags on the table and headed toward the kitchen. Boiling some water from the kettle, they take out a box of chamomile tea. The kettle whistled, hot water poured onto a cup with a teabag, and two ice cubes dropped into the steaming fragrant sauna in her hand.

With a cup full of tea and their tablet, Wendy sat on the couch ready for some unwinding.

The violent shaking of the doorknob jolted Wendy with fright, barely perceptible to grab the cup to keep it from spilling.

Bursting through the door, Johan immediately heads toward the living room. “I can't make sense of this," he utters. "There has to be some logical explanation.”

“Johan?” Wendy says as they watch from the couch, “What's going on? I thought you were a burglar for a minute there.”

“What is real?” he continued as he paced back and forth. “I don't know what's real anymore!”

Wendy got up from the couch and placed their hand on his shoulder, “Why don't you sit down on the couch while I get you some tea? You look so frazzled.”

Obeying the instructions, he took his seat on the couch. He held his head with his hands while resting his elbows on his knees. A fresh cup of tea was soon presented to him. and without hesitating, he snatched the cup to down the entire content in a single gulp. An exasperated sigh bellows from his mouth as he tosses the cup on the coffee table and laid on the couch.

“Wasn't that boiling hot?” Wendy asked. “Oh, wait, the ice cubes.” Sitting on the chair on the right side of the couch, they continue, “Have you calmed down now?”

“No. I have not.”

“Well, give it time. Just relax.”

“That tea is not going to work. I feel like the world around me doesn't make sense anymore.”

“You said something to that effect. You want to explain a bit further?” Johan continued to breathe heavily, rubbing his distressed face. “Johan, get a hold of yourself. You're actually starting to scare me.” As he stared at the ceiling, his thoughts continuing to run amok, his scrunched-up face was back to its neutral state.

Whether the tea finally kicked in, Wendy's words getting through to him, or he willed himself to calm himself down, Johan closed his eyes, exhaled quietly, and calmly began. “I don't think I ever told you about my dreams.”

“No, not that I can recall.”

“I've been having some strange dreams for years and recently they have been more... noticeable, to put it in simple terms. It's like I'm living inside these dreams. As if I take the role of the person I'm dreaming of.”

“That doesn't sound so weird. That sounds normal to me. I sometimes dream of being someone else. Well, considering who I am, that's a given.”

“It's not that simple of an answer. These dreams are reoccurring. No matter what the dream, there's always this man and girl who are in love. However, something happens in the dream that separates them. They struggle to be together and try to overcome any obstacle that comes their way, but it always ends with something terrible happening. Before they meet their end, they make a promise to each other. They swear that in the afterlife, they will finally be together at last. And that's me, saying those words.”

Wendy's clapping snapped Johan out of his temporary trance. “Amazing! Is that the plot of your new novel?”

“Wendy, please.”

“Oh, I'm sorry. I meant 'novella'. Still don't know what that means by the way.”

“I'm being serious,” he said as he raised himself to sit. ”These dreams have been with me for years and I didn't mind them. Now they're starting to haunt me. I mean, I've always thought everyone had this kind of reoccurring dream, but it's only now I realize that is not the case. I've been having these dreams for so long yet I have no idea what I should do about this.”

“So you've been having these dreams ever since we started being friends? Like, since 9th grade?”

“And before that besides. Ever since I was little, even back then when the dreams were just strange and didn't make sense, I could always count on one person always being there.”

“The girl?”

“I've seen that girl so many times that she's permanently burned into my mind. I can even see her when I simply close my...” He covered his mouth, “Oh my gosh!“ and got up to his feet.

He covered his face as he could not face Wendy. The veins on both his forehead and hand protruding under his skin did not escape them, however.

Getting off the chair and following him to the kitchen, Wendy asked, “You really are shaken up, aren't you? But I'm still confused as to why. Did something happen today?”

He made himself another cup of tea from the now mildly hot kettle and gulped it down as before. After he exhaled, looking at the empty cup, “Today as I was walking near the pond, I saw a girl about to slip and fall. I was just in time to grab her arm. I wasn't thinking at the moment and pulled her with so much force that she had to hold on to me to keep from falling. This gave me a good look at her face.” He took his gaze and directed it toward the living room windows. “Her beautiful face.”

“Beautiful?“ Wendy said with a smile. “I've never heard you call a girl beautiful before.”

“That's because... that girl... looked just like the girl in my dream.“