No Place Like Rome

Prolouge

I’m in a meadow. It is truly magical. A place this beautiful cannot exist. Every leaf on every tree is vibrant green and the water in the river is a beautiful cobalt blue. There was little bird chirping their joyful melody. I can see a deer in the distance, grazing the grass peacefully. Everything was so calm. Everything about this meadow was bursting with life. I turn around and I can see him. Every time, I expect him not to be there but he never disappoints.

I look at him and smile. I start to make my way towards him and he does the same. We are in perfect sync. It’s like he knows where I am going to step and what I’m going to do at each moment. He mimics my movements perfectly.

We reach each other exactly at the middle.

We continue to look at each other for a while until he breaks the silence.

“How are you?” he asks me with a smile.

“I’m good, how are you?” I reply.

“I’m good” he replies. We make out way to a tree near the river and sit down under it. We don’t say anything. I stare into his green eyes and listen to the beautiful song of the birds. It was perfect. I could stay here forever just staring at him without say a word.

We just sit there for a long time until I subconsciously break the silence.

“What’s your name?” I ask him. “I need to know your name. We have known each other for what? Three months now but I still don’t know your name.” He chuckles and looks down.

“I don’t know you name either” he says in reply.

“I know but don’t you think we should tell each other our names at least?” I ask him. “We should have told each other when we met. Isn’t that the first thing you do when you meet someone?”

“True” he says. He thinks about it for a moment. “Okay. My name is Connor. Connor James. What’s yours?”

“My name is Ashley Taylor”

“That’s a beautiful name” he says. He leans in towards me. We are but half an inch apart. But everything disappears.

The river was gone. The trees were gone. The birds were gone. But most importantly… he was gone.

My eyes open abruptly and I find myself on a plane. The plane that I had boarded with my friend, Rose, not 7 hours ago. I take out the picture I drew of the boy whose name I know now is Connor. I stare at his picture while holding my necklace with my engagement ring on it.

Immediately, I felt guilty.

“Did you dream about him again” Rose says suddenly, making me jump. I turn to look at her.

“Yeah” I reply. “I feel so guilty thinking about him after what happened. But, I feel as if I have known him forever. I feel as if I know everything about him but in reality, I know nothing.”