First Encounter

Her hands shook as she held the small gift bag in her hand. She did not think it was possible to see him, touch him, and not have reality melt around her as it had before. She knew pinching herself would have no effect, she had been in long dreams before and dreams that felt real, but every time before the overwhelming sensation of seeing, and definitely feeling her love's touch on her skin shocked her right back to her lonely bed, with nothing remaining but a haunting melody. This time was different though, in fact the world had begun feeling even more real and more alive the moment they took the picture together, even the memory of the piano had begun fading, as if this reality was supplanting that one for supremacy in her experience. Hours had passed and that feeling had amplified to a giddy hum in her soul that she could no longer resist. She felt any more contact might wake her, but if it was to be, let it be here and now, as she remembered that irresistible draw he always brought, drowning out the knowledge that it always meant the end. At least she would wake up happy this time, a feeling she knew could last for a while after her eyes opened, especially if this time she had managed to slow down the process, as it seemed she had.

She opened the bag and saw the necklace. It was just like the other dreams, her opportunity to visit him directly. She had almost put it on when she noticed something else. Inside was a note, with his phone number, and inviting her to his blog. These were both constructs better formed here than elsewhere she had been, and she had never seen him use such mundane tools before to connect with her. Something within her had her reaching for her phone instead, it seemed enticing to hear his voice without changing her environment, a new experience at least, but she kept the necklace within arm's reach, for when the distance became too much. The phone rang once and then clicked audibly before pausing. A half second later a familiar piano melody began playing. It was her melody, the one she remembered playing herself to sleep with the night before. It brought her consciousness to a sharp awareness, right as he picked up. "Hey!" His greeting was met with only silence as she sat mouth agape, overwhelmed.

"I know this is going to sound strange, but I'm a time traveler. I forwarded 'my' calls today because we can't talk yet, but we really need to. This was the best I could come up with."

She had never heard him like this before. It was as if the dream were no longer under her exclusive control, but he had managed to steal some away. He knew it was a dream, but how could he if she had made him up? 

"I need you to step away from your bed."

Still in a daze, she stood from her bed and stepped to the other side of the room, looking back at it now, not sure what to expect. After countless experiences across as many fantastic realms, she could honestly say she never had one like this. The dream had taken on a life of its own, and more importantly, he seemed to have his own will independent of hers as well.

Without a sound he appeared a foot off her bed, and then *poofed* down into it, phone still to his ear. It was clearly an older version of him like he had said, she tried to explain it away on instinct, how could it actually be "time travel" if time itself had always been a fixed construct?  He continued into the phone, not breaking eye contact "Yes, it really is me. I know this seems strange, but I need you to think about what you were doing just before you got here." 

She started retracing her steps up to the door; she was supposed to be getting ready but that seemed unimportant now. Before that she had seen him for the first time in this place, just outside, and time stood still. He seemed blissfully unaware this time, which was unusual, like just the fool in love he had always claimed to be. It had seemed a ruse, but one she was always happy to be swept away with, but this time he didn't say it, he just was it.

"Please, tell me out loud what you remember."

"I remember each step that led me here from where we met just minutes ago. I remember the butterflies, the time dilation, the beat of your heart through your shirt, forgetting everything that had felt real prior to that."

"What can you remember before that though?" He continued talking through the phone, without moving a muscle.

"I remember getting ready, my mom said there were some people I needed to meet outside, and before that I was riding to this location, South Carolina."

She remembered every moment of that day, and could feel it in her mind, all just beneath the surface, she was scanning the memories like she did on any other day, the same as it had felt for years, which was so strange. Normally when he showed up the dream collapsed and memory of lesser events faded almost immediately until it was all gone, and it seemed like he knew that somehow.

She dropped the phone from her ear slowly, and asked him face to face this time "What is this place?"

He hung up the call "This is where I'm from. I call this 'reality,' well, sometimes I do. I was born here, grew up here, in this realm. Much like you I am a dreamer, sampling various realities before waking up. The difference is, I wake up here, or so it has been for many years now. This wasn't always the case though, for me it started actively happening right around today." He looked around her room to indicate he meant today by her standards. "But I remember the beach and the timeless realm we shared, years ago from now, and I have wanted nothing more since meeting you than to get back there, piecing the details of this puzzle together over time, eventually realizing you might have seen it from an entirely different angle." His face saddened. "Then finally seeing it from your point of view. I can't even imagine."

She was still in shock. She actually did pinch herself out of habit, it hurt a little, nothing changed. The love of her life, her true love in every reality she had ever dreamed up, was still sitting on her bed. While the experience was overwhelming the structure of the dream, which she was now suspecting might be different than what she first thought it to be, felt no less real than this morning when she ate her banana.

"I have seen my version of your lonely room as well, but I have never been one to play instruments. For me, I direct change with thought honed to action, disregarding the rules of the realm, eventually, wherever I go. I think I realized before coming into this world though that I needed to control that urge to do whatever I wanted to some degree, to delay that impulse for as long as possible, in order to allow you to blossom here. On the flipside of that coin, you need to realize how you can bend the rules without disbelieving and breaking the realm and waking back up. See, I rarely mind waking up, but it is because of what has been built all around me, but if I knew it was to a solitary realm, I imagine I'd be as cautious as you are. That being said, I don't think we're going to be waking up this time."

Her eyes widened, she knew that was both a wonderful and potentially terrifying proposition, but she remembered the song she played the night before carried an 'all or nothing' type ring to it. She did not consciously mind being separated from that place, but on some level it gripped her with fear.

"Don't worry, some arrangements have been made. Some tunnels have been built, you need to be able to create in solitude sometimes for this to all work out, but I will always be a thought away, and the door out will be unlocked. If we pull this off, our home will have more rooms than either of us can count, and we'll never want to leave. If eternity must be, let it be the two of us side by side, whatever the realm."

She could not resist, she found her hand impulsively reaching out toward his foot, to confirm he was not some phantom or illusion. Despite all the evidence in front of her, she had learned that touch was the only way to be sure. He didn't pull away, and looked more excited than nervous that she was approaching. Her hand grabbed his ankle solidly. It was as tangible as she imagined, he was real, things felt more real around her, she hoped it could be maintained forever like he was promising. He sat up in the bed. "It will not be easy to get me to this point. First off I will only touch you twice again before today, for me, so please make them count. Your touch will need to carry me for over a decade in your absence, as we both solidify and make permanent this realm. I will always hear your voice though, your words will help guide my path, and mine yours. We will largely conspire in secret, a whole world apart, but there will be nights where we conspire together just like this. Together we will make this tapestry and forge these halls to withstand any test, and other realms will sprout from this one with our combined efforts, just as this one has been sprouted for us to accomplish this task. When it is done we will both be able to slip through time and between realms as easily as we will run down hallways and sneak into bedrooms together, and it will be forever and ever."

He sits up on the bed and takes her hand off his ankle, clasping it in his own, looking her eye to eye from just a couple feet away now. "So, are you ready to forge some memories together?"

She nods excitedly, and climbs into the bed. Together they lay side by side, talking all night of what has been and will be to come.  She could feel the realm shift to that of a boat on a river, and realized she had drifted off, but could not bring herself to be concerned, wondering how long she had been asleep. She revisited his phone call, now seeing it through his eyes: his carefully memorized route to her bedside in the place she always returned to. She considered how that would be impossible if she were truly alone in that reality, either that or her dream had actually managed to come to life. After a long adventure her eyes opened and she was back in her bed.

She sighed, at least it was in what he called 'reality', and not in her own version. She could at least see her friends and family here, and continue to wonder if he was out there looking for her. Her hand mindlessly meandered to her bedpost, sliding along it tracing the cold smoothness of it as she usually did upon waking, but she felt something different this time. She sat straight up and saw next to her bed the gift bag still sitting on her nightstand. The necklace and note were still inside, but the phone number was crossed out and a new one written in its place, as well as a second website, with a date beside it. Her eyes moved to the bedpost and she saw carved into it his name, and the date 2/15/08.