An Interesting Love

The Rose

Word count: 3,600

The floor is creaking. I'm walking down that long hallway to the library, and then I'm in the water. It's only up to my ankles but I can feel the force of the tide. I shout Henry's name and hear nothing in return. This is where we appeared when I teleported us back to the park entrance. This was the park entrance. I take a step to my right and fall into a deep hole. I can breathe underwater. I know where to go. I swim down, further and further, and toward a light. Out of nothing but particles of water, before me, appears a rose. It's tinted dark blue like the water around us. I reach out for it. A thorn penetrates my skin and drops of blood turn into a large flow out into the surrounding environment. The water is turning purple and I'm losing sight of the rose. I reach out frantically and my hand finally reaches the flower. I grasp onto it and begin swimming upward. It takes forever, but finally, I reach the surface.

I wake up unable to move. I panic and reach to my side— Henry's not there. I manage to sit up quickly and turn my head to each side. He's nowhere in sight. I shout his name and hear nothing in return. I had a very bad nightmare and I'm in that half-asleep state where I can't tell what's real and what's not. The stars are out and Blübe is straight overhead, big and bright. I see everything around me but I'm still scared that something is out there, watching me. I shout for Henry again and hear rustling among the trees. I shout for him again, getting very frightened, and stand up out of bed. The rustling gets louder and I move behind the bed.

"Charlotte?!" I hear Henry yell.

"Henry!"

I run toward the rustling and see Henry run out from the distant darkness. He gets closer and I see that he's soaking wet. There's blood dripping from his hand. He's holding something very familiar: the rose. I've woken up totally by now but I feel like I'm slipping back into sleep. This can't be real— Henry is holding the rose from my dream and looks like he's just taken the dive I dreamt of. He's bleeding from the same area where the rose poked me.

"Henry?"

"Yeah, Charlotte are you okay? I think I was sleepwalking, I don't know why I was over there."

"Why are you all wet? Why are you bleeding?"

"What?" Henry looks down at himself and seems to come fully into consciousness. Was he really sleepwalking? He sure is acting like it. "I don't know," he says, freaked out.

"Okay, come sit down now," I tell him. He follows my demand and sits on the bed next to me.

"Now heal this wound, it's bleeding a lot, and dry yourself off."

Henry is shaken and seems very out of it. I think that he thinks he's dreaming. I look into his mind and hear him asking himself whether this is real or if it's a dream. I hold him close and tell him that this is real and that it seems like we both just woke up. I ask him again to heal himself and dry off and he does so after I move a few inches away from him. He's all better now. I check on his mind again and it seems a lot more clear— he knows this is real now.

"I thought I was dreaming, this is so weird," he says.

"What did you dream? Or what did you think you dreamt?" I ask.

"Um, I dreamt that I was on that street again, where we went after leaving Spain. There was water everywhere but it was shallow, but then I fell into deeper water. Then I started swimming down deeper, I don't know why but I felt something. Like something was telling me to go further. I kept swimming, and then I saw this," he says, holding up the rose, "and I grabbed on to it. Then I started bleeding and there was blood everywhere, but I still grabbed the rose and started swimming up. Then, I don't know what happened but I was here."