The Heart's Twilight

I remember the day that he left. He had just gone without warning, right in the middle of the school day. I remember being extremely confused when he arrived in the middle of my class period to hug me and say goodbye. He came right over to me and stooped down to hug me and whisper in my ear, “I love you very much, Cecil. I’ll miss you.” And then he left. Just like that. I didn’t even have the time to process anything before he swept quickly out of the classroom, and was gone forever. It crazed me. Unbelievable.

About 3 minutes after he had come into my class to say goodbye, it finally registered in my brain that he meant that he was going and not coming back. I broke down immediately after this gloomy realization. The teacher sent me out of the classroom, and the moment I was out of the door, I dashed to the front of the school, where kids were dropped off and picked up. I just got out of the door in time to see his father’s truck speed out of the parking lot. I ran after the truck, screaming for him to come back, to not leave, but it was no use. I tripped over my own foot and fell hard on the pavement, scratching up my hands and knees, and made no attempt to pick myself back up off of the concrete. I curled up there on the ground, and didn’t even move when the sky started to rain.

The only time that I moved was when the school’s officer came out to the parking lot and tried to persuade me to get up. Upon refusal from yours truly, he picked me up in his arms and carried me to a cot in the nurse’s office. I didn’t move. Did not speak. Only stared into space and pondered softly who would be hurt if I just left. The office had called my parents upon seeing me run out of the front doors of the school; they knew something was wrong. They saw it in my face. In my eyes. The fear, probably, is what they saw. The desperation for Ty not to leave me.

My parents came about a half hour after they put me in the nurse’s office. I refused to move from the cot, ignoring all words that were spoken to me by either of my parents, or even the nurse. So in the end, my father hoisted me up into his arms and carried me out to our silver minivan, buckled me into the back, and carried me to my room when we got to our house. I refused to eat anything, even when my mother offered me my most favorite food in the world - chicken dumpling soup. So they left me to my own devices in my room. It’s not like I was gonna do anything. I had refused to move on my own for the past two hours. I wasn’t motivated enough to sit down at my desk and doodle like usual, or to do homework, or eat, or go to the bathroom…

I stared. Basically that’s all I was inclined to do over the next few hours, and when staring exhausted me I went to sleep.

* * *

In my dream, I was standing in the middle of a forest clearing. Green light filtered through the canopy of the trees, making everything glow wonderfully. This was a normal looking scene… until it wasn’t. I noticed a sleek, marvelous, comfortable looking couch on the other side of the clearing. And once I noticed that, I started to notice other items of furniture, out of place by being in the forest. A loveseat, a desk and desk chair, a coffee table, an entertainment center. It looked like a living room in the middle of the forest. I went and sat down on the couch. It was indeed very comfortable. I marveled at the lovely feel of the fabric. A fabric I don’t think I’ve ever felt before. I didn’t even know what to compare it to.

Looking up, I saw someone standing in the middle of the clearing, where I had stood at first. His back was to me, but I thought I knew exactly who it was. “Tylen?” I asked, sitting up straight as a board. He whipped around and looked at me. “Cecil?” he asked. “Yeah. It’s me!” I exclaimed, running to him and  jumping into his arms. He laughed at my enthusiasm. “You left! Why did you leave? Where did you go?” I asked. I asked one question after another, not waiting to let him answer the first one. “I left because I moved, and I went - well, I’m on my way still, but - we’re going to Tennessee. We’re moving there, I mean. We’re not coming back.” I took in this information. “You’re… moving?” I sounded sad and broken. I’m sure I looked the part too. “Yes.”

I digested this information. “Why?” I asked him, moving so that he would put me down. “I’m not sure. I didn’t even know we were moving until this morning, and I hadn’t had a chance to tell you today,” he answered me, letting me out of his arms.  “Oh,” I said, looking down at the ground. Ty lifted my face under my chin to get me to look at him. “But we have this,” he said. “What? We have what?” I asked, unsure what he was talking about. “We have this place. This forest. I think I’ve figured out how to link our dreams when we sleep, so that whenever we fall asleep, we come to this place. And I’ve worked out that this is a fairly interesting environment. When we want something, it appears. And I’ve also figured out that if you eat something here, in this dream space, you won’t be hungry when you wake up.

I was incredulous. How did he know all of this? “My mom helped me learn all of this. I don’t really know how to describe my mom other than psychic, or possibly even magical. But she helped with this space. I started making this dream space before I knew that I was moving, but now I’m glad I made it work. 

* * *

Every night since then, I have met Tylen in my dreams. Every night, and every time I took a nap. Of course, he wasn’t always there. Sometimes, we weren’t sleeping at the same time, but most of the time we were. We usually made it work. In the end, I didn’t lose my best friend as I thought that I had. He made it work for us, and eventually, we even progressed into a romantic relationship. I was just grateful that I didn’t have to live without him. That would have been painful.