November 2023

You were real

As I slowly opened my eyes, the first thing I noticed was her shiny white long hair, scattered on the pillow next to me. Then my eyes landed on her sleeping face, the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. She had a spotless white skin covered in a thin layer of glitter.

Her long and delicate lashes slowly moved upward as her eyes opened, revealing a pair of blue iris, a blue ocean in which one could have drowned. Her pink heart-shaped lips slightly parted and stretched into a shiny smile, making my heart flutter.

"Morning, Noah!" She greeted me with a sweet voice. "Did you sleep well?"

"Morning, Amarië!" I replied with a smile. "I had a sweet dream, thanks to you."

We kept chatting a little, but she suddenly became serious. She didn't have to tell me, I knew it was time for her to go. Today was their last chance to defeat the lord of shadow, and she was leading the fairies troops.

"Be careful!" I told her, gently caressing her cheek.

"I will. And if we succeed, I will come to you, I promise."

"Then I'll be waiting!"

"Who are you talking to?" A heavy voice asked.

I closed my eyes for a few seconds, and when I opened them again, Amarië was gone, and Louis, my roommate, was standing in front of my bed with a suspicious look towards me.

"Talking to myself." I replied while standing up. I grabbed my toilet bag and walked toward the bathroom.

"You sure you're fine?" Louis asked, holding me by the wrist. "You've been talking to yourself pretty often lately"

"Yeah, I'm fine. Don't worry." I quickly said, freeing myself from his grip. I locked myself in the bathroom and glared at my reflection in the mirror. A heavy sight escaped my mouth.

I knew Louis was just worried. And he somehow was right. I sometimes thought something was wrong with me. I mean... Who the hell would be considered fine if they were in a love relationship with a fairy, the main character of a fantasy book?

I found the book by chance, forgotten by God knows who in the cafeteria. I took it, planning to bring it to the lost objects office, but I got curious, so I opened and started reading it. It was titled Chasing Shadow, and it was about an imaginary world ruled by an evil spirit called the lord of shadows, and Amarië was the queen of fairies, the most powerful beings in that world and the only one capable of leading them towards victory against the evil.

I got so carried away in the story that I spent a month's worth allowance to buy the six remaining volumes. I was captivated by Amarië. She was neither the heartless hero type, nor the ignorant type who had to learn everything. Despite all the burden she had to carry on her tiny shoulders, she was the lightest person. At that time, I was depressed, stuck between little jobs to pay off my parents debts and my courses, but nothing seemed to go my way. I was thinking about leaving school to reduce expenses and get more time to work.

She first appeared to me while I was packing my stuff in my dorm, because I had decided to leave. She made me change my mind. And since then, she kept appearing to me from time to time. At first I thought it was all in my head. But I slowly started believing she was real.

She told me things even before I got to read them in the books. I knew some details of her life that were not mentioned in the book. I kissed her, and I swear it was real. I could touch her, feel her warmth, taste the smoothness of her skin... So how could all that be in my head ?

Later that day, when I came back from work, I quickly finished the book. As expected, fairies overcame the lord of shadows under the lead of Amarië. I was happy, and excited to see her again. Now that the war was finished, she would have more time to spend with me. I thought.

But she didn't come that night. She didn't come of the week. And the month passed. Then a whole year. She never came back. I ended up accepting that everything was all in my head. She was not real, the book was probably what nourished my imagination, and since I finished it, there was no more room for imagination.

I was coming out of my dorm room, holding a pile of books among which the first Chasing Shadow. I had decided to bring it to the lost objects desk. In the hurry I didn't notice the person coming in the hallway. None of us could avoid the collision, and all the books I held fell on the ground.

I let off a groan as I bent to pick them up. A beautiful hand appeared and grabbed Chasing Shadow. I raised my head to see who it was, and fell on my butt. Long white blond hair, milky spotless skin, pink heart-shaped mouth and ocean blue eyes. She looked different. Her skin was not shiny, her hair were not as white as before, and she didn't have the glowing aura that wrapped her. But I was certain it was Her.

"Nice book!" She said as I stood back up. "So you like fantasy."

"Amarië?" I asked right away.

"Nice try, but no!" She replied with a laugh. She held out a hand to me with long, slender fingers and a naturally elegant manicure. "My name is Amara. Nice to meet you!"

"You take strawberries only in smoothies shape, your favourite flower is white orchid and you always wake up at exactly five, right?"

"How did you know?" She asked with a surprised look. I started laughing like a mad man. How was that possible?