After a while, they landed on the beach. The sun was already gone, replaced by the twinkling of the stars and the dim glow of the moon.
It was cold and Alyssa shivered, leaning into Luke. He gave her a little kiss on the neck and wrapped his arms around her. He felt her hair caressing his neck.
Neither one talked. The only sound was the gentle sloshing of the waves.
Alyssa broke the silence. “When dawn comes, I’ll have to leave. I can’t come back to see you anymore.”
There was a pause.
“What do we do?” Luke finally asked.
There was another pause. Then, Alyssa looked at him with conviction.
“We continue to love each other.”
He began to tremble, shaking violently as he held onto his woman.
“What’s wrong?” Alyssa asked, trailing her fingers along his cheek.
“You know what’s wrong. I’m not going to see you anymore when I wake up.”
“Let’s not worry about that,” she said, her gentle voice his only solace. “Here we are together.” She pointed to the beach and all around them. “Let’s just be together. Let’s just relax here and enjoy the sound of the waves together.”
Luke said nothing, and just continued to hold onto her. He listened to the sound of the waves as it rolled in, then out. He closed his eyes, and enjoyed the feel of her skin against his, and smelled her familiar vanilla peach fragrance.
Alyssa stirred and lifted her head. “Will you promise me something?”
Luke nodded.
“Would you take care of that little boy, Drew? The one that lost both his parents in a car accident?”
The little boy sounded vaguely familiar to Luke.
“I will,” he said.
She held him closer. “I got you a little present. I was going to give it to you for your birthday, before our falling out. Look in the drawer of your desk.”
Luke nodded, and murmured something incomprehensible.
All too soon, he felt light on his closed eyelids. He opened his eyes and saw the sun peeking out from behind the clouds.
Alyssa looked up. Luke could see fear in her eyes.
“Goodbye, my love,” Alyssa murmured, her voice barely audible to Luke.
She was starting to fade away, dissolving all around him.
Luke grabbed onto Alyssa.
“No!” he yelled. “No!” He tightened his grip on her, but he knew he could not hold onto something that had no substance.
Her body became transparent, and then it started to disappear in little sparkles, melting directly into him. As her spirit entered him, he felt neither fear nor pain, but just plain serenity.
Within seconds, he was left hugging the air.
Luke looked around frantically, but she was gone.
As the finality of her departure sank in, he looked out at the water. The moon was shimmering in it. He then turned his attention to the waves, and listened to its hypnotic lullaby.
* * * * *
The next morning, he felt something on his face. For a moment, he was worried that the blotches were back. He reached out one hand, and plucked the object off. He opened his eyes and saw that he was holding a white cherry blossom. It was fully solid again. And it looked rejuvenated. He sniffed it. It smelled fresh.
Although he remembered everything about his last dream of Alyssa, he decided he would not cry again. He remembered the feel of her soft body, her hair, and her fragrance. And he remembered something she had said about a gift, a gift in the drawer.
He walked over to his desk and opened the first drawer. In it was a package wrapped in blue wrapping paper. And on the package was a card.
Gently, Luke plucked off the card and opened it.
Happy 27th, it read. No more cherry blossoms. This painting is one of us. Hope you like it. Love, A.
Luke put down the card and opened the package. It was a painting done entirely in water color. It showed Luke and Alyssa on the beach, their arms around each other, the wind in their hairs. They were smiling as the moon shone down on them. It looked like the picture of them that Luke had on his nightstand, but something was different. Luke looked carefully at it, trying to pinpoint what exactly. Then, he saw. Alyssa’s stomach was bigger than normal. It did not make her look fat, but pregnant.
Luke stroked her stomach in the painting, smiling.
She wanted us to try again, he thought. A baby.
At the thought of babies, he was reminded was something.
If anything happens to me, I want you to make sure that little boy Drew is OK, She had said.
He remembered the promise that he had made to her.
Luke got up and got dressed. He had work to do.
* * * * *
In the evening, Luke arrived at Taylor Park with Drew, the little boy Alyssa was worried about. He had lost both parents and in a car accident and only just awoken from his coma.
Typical Alyssa, he thought with a smile. Always caring for little kids.
He had gone to the orphanage in Vancouver earlier that day. He had not adopted the boy officially, but it was not far away.
He took the boy by the hand and walked up the hill.
The boy was tiny for a six year old. He had strawberry blond hair and big blue eyes. “Where are we going?” Drew asked.
“I’m taking you to a very special place,” he replied. The September breeze was a little chilly, so he zipped up Drew’s jacket. Then, he looked at the boy, wondering how he must be feeling. The little boy had lost both his parents in a car accident, but he looked fine. He must have been hiding it well. Luke knew how that felt.
They arrived on the hill and sat down on the bench. Luke looked out at the tri-cities in the distance, lit by their own lights.
Drew turned around and ran his little fingers along the carvings in the bench. “What’s this?” Drew asked.
Luke turned around and inspected the carvings. Alongside the JWC + JWB carving, he saw his and Alyssa’s little declaration.
LJ + AH = Love Forever.
He had nearly forgotten about it.
“It’s a reminder that two people love each other very much,” Luke answered.
The wind started to blow, and Luke felt something drop to his head. He reached up and picked it off. He saw it was a white cherry blossom that had dropped from the cherry blossom tree above them.
“What’s that?” Drew asked, pointing to the flower.
Luke examined the white cherry blossom. It matched the one that Alyssa had given him.
“It’s the most beautiful flower in the world,” he replied. Luke then cradled it in his hands. In its soft petals of the flower, he could almost feel Alyssa’s presence.
“Why?” the little boy asked.
Luke did not answer, but stared off into the beautiful view, he thought about where his life was now heading. He had no career, but he would find a career later.
No, he thought, pushing the thought right out of his mind. Right now, I have to be in the moment. Alyssa would have wanted that.
He turned to his son, and smiled. “Because love makes it beautiful.”
The little boy nodded. Luke was sure he was too young to understand.
Luke looked at the kid, and was briefly reminded of the twins that he and Alyssa were going to have.
“I know you must miss your mommy and daddy a lot,” he said.
Drew looked at Luke, but showed no expression.
Luke cleared his throat. “I don’t want to replace them, but I could care take of you.”
The little boy stared blankly at him for a while, then smiled.
Luke smiled back, and then stared off into the glittering blackness.
If he listened hard enough, he could almost hear the trickling of the little stream below.
It sounded like the soothing sound of the waves on the beach.
* * * * *
Epilogue
A few weeks later…
Alyssa saw Luke asleep on the bed. She frow
ned when she noticed that his blanket covered only half his body. She floated over silently, and grabbed the blanket, pulling it up to his neck. She smoothed out the blanket, tucking the edges behind his shoulders, making sure it covered him snugly.
Then, she paused, and took a closer look at her husband. Drops of sweat assaulted his forehead. His chest heaved up then down. His hands lay limply by his side. Alyssa ran her fingers through his hair, once, twice.
She smiled. This is the man I married, she thought.
She trailed her fingers slowly along the side of his cheek, moving as though she were carefully panning for gold, afraid to miss a single golden speck.
He stirred, but did not open his eyes.
He then uttered a single word, “Alyssa.”
She examined him. He didn’t seem to be awake. Was he dreaming of her again?
Ignoring him, she bent down and kissed him once on the lips, lingering there for just a second.
After double-checking that his blanket still covered him completely, she floated out the door, and closed it gently behind her.
* * * * *
Appendix
The following is another poem found among Luke’s possessions.
Almost
By: Luke
For Alyssa
I had a dream last night
And you were there.
I almost smelled the peach of your hair,
I almost caressed your tear-stained face,
I almost gave you my embrace,
But you backed away before I could.
I have a dream tonight
And you are there.
I almost whisper “Forgive me” in your ears
I almost wrap my arms around your waist
I almost give you my embrace,
But you back away before I can.
I’ll have a last dream tomorrow night
And yes, you’ll be there.
I’ll almost brush your lips with mine,
I’ll almost stare into your distressed eyes,
I’ll almost give you my embrace.
But this time,
You won’t back away before I can.
Hiding In His Dreams Page 17