Not Real. Not Imaginary.

PART FIVE: NINA. [Souvenir]

“Now, you hear my advice, and then we go…” She looked around one more time, and then her eyes focused on the place of her death. “You need to know you’re never alone, that it’s okay to feel lonely sometimes; it is normal. But there is always someone by your side, someone you can trust will always be there and have your side.”

“Greer…”

I couldn’t really think of anyone else that would fit that description. Even though Terry was always there when I needed her, and always took care of me, Geer was the one that I thought about in that moment.

“No... I mean…yes. But I wasn’t talking about Greer, I was talking about you. You are the most valuable friend you will ever have; you need to treat yourself a little better, and to value yourself a little more, because, at the end of the day…you will always have to live with yourself.”

I was a little confused, and at the same time…her words made so much sense to me. I just nodded, feeling like I was a little girl, that had just been explained why she shouldn’t do something that could harm her.

“Okay…I guess I can try that.” I replied, and she nodded at my answer.

“Second…it is okay to rely on people sometimes. You don’t have to solve everything on your own. I never trusted anyone with my problems, and I believe that is part of the reason why things turned out that way. If they had realized I had problems just like them…maybe they would have seen that I was just another human, and not some…deity to be worshipped. And then maybe…just maybe…things wouldn’t have ended like they did.” She nestled the little girl against her body as she began to become restless. “It’s okay.” I heard her whisper.

“Well…I guess you’re right and everything you’ve told me really puts things into perspective…but why are YOU one of the pieces? Who are you?”

I understood everything she had told me, but I had never seen her, nor did she seem familiar to me…so I wasn’t sure, why would SHE be one of the pieces….

“Oh…right. Let’s just say…I’m someone from your past? From a long, long time ago.”

I squinted my eyes, but nodded.

“Okay, well. How do we get out of here?” I got up ready to leave. I was tired of that little adventure and just wanted to go back to Greer, and to the ‘normal’ world.

“Well…through the door, silly.” She got up and opened the door. I followed her as she walked outside, and as I blinked, the town disappeared. Now I was back at the original forest…in front of the cottage.

Leaning against one of the walls of the tiny building, a worried looking Greer waited for us, and as soon as he noticed I was back, he smiled and hurried towards me. He took me in his arms and squeezed me against his frame, then, he froze for a moment when he noticed I wasn’t alone.

“Oh...yeah, we brought someone with us.” I smiled and gently pulled away, moving towards our new friend. “This is…uhm…I…don’t know your…name...” I looked at her with an embarrassed expression, and she just smiled at me.

“Nina…that is…” Greer began to say, but he was interrupted by the young woman….

“My name is Alia.” She hurried forward and offered her hand for a shake, with some difficulty since she was still carrying the little girl.

Greer gave her a confused look, but he grabbed her hand anyways and shook it. She smiled brightly and looked at me.

“Well, now that that’s settled, I guess we should go in and get the sleepy head somewhere comfortable.”

I walked towards Alia to take the little me from her, and she carefully passed her to me. I held her as carefully and lovingly as I was able to, and walked into the cottage, after Greer opened the door. I gently laid the girl down on the bed, and covered her; then, I hummed a short lullaby to make sure she would keep sleeping.

I just watched her sleeping face for a moment…I was very grateful with her, and I was very sorry that such a little girl had so much responsibilities because of me. I was now understanding that I always had put too much weight on my own shoulders…even being so young; and maybe all of that wasn’t necessary.

Alia was waiting for me outside. I asked Greer to take care of little Nina for a moment while I went to Alia.

I was planning on inviting her in, but she talked first:

“I have something for you…”

She stretched her arm in front of her, her hand was closed in a fist, like she was holding something inside it. I placed my hands forward and cupped them under hers, and then she opened her hand, letting something fall in mine…it was the black stone…

I looked at it and couldn’t help but to laugh loudly. That little stone had really made me have a very interesting experience that time. The time I found the little girl was very creepy, but that last time, fear had almost overtaken, and it turned out to be a very pleasant experience.

I looked up at her and smiled:

“Well, I finally got it…” I held it in my hand…really held it. I felt it’s smoothness like I hadn’t before, and the warmth it emanated after being into Alia’s hand all the time. I felt its weight…it was heavy for its small size.

“I’m sorry again.” Her apology felt a little unnecessary.

I understood the reason behind it, and I was certain that every part of the experience was necessary, it helped me a lot. Thanks to that I realized being alone wasn’t really scary at all, and I also realized…I couldn’t just face what was to come on my own, at least, it would be better if I shared the weight with someone else.

My gaze turned to the cottage, where Greer was…I knew he would always be on board for anything. So, it was about time I went and talk to him about what I had been keeping in silence these past few weeks, it was time for me to speak about my fears.

Alia walked into the small building, and after she did, Greer came out. He seemed a little troubled, but as soon as his eyes fell upon me, his face changed, and he smiled.

“If you keep bringing people in, we might find ourselves with a problem…there’s only one bed and there’s not a lot of seats either...”

I practically threw myself towards him; I wrapped my arms around him and closed my eyes. I could feel his body tensing for a moment, he really wasn’t expecting me to act like that, and I wasn’t either for the matter…. He relaxed and I felt his arms wrapping around me…so gently…. I held onto him a little tighter and he chuckled softly.

“If you keep squeezing… it might be a little hard to breathe, for me…” He gently combed my hair with his fingers and then, I felt him leaning down to place a tiny kiss on the top of my head.

“I just want to stay like this for a little while longer…” I unconsciously nuzzled into his chest and sighed softly.

“We can stay like this as long as you want to…” He kept stroking my hair and gently kissing my head.

I felt like a child in his arms sometimes; that time, it was different. I still felt secure, and protected, but I also felt…loved.

~~~~~

I was awake, conscious, but I really didn’t want to open my eyes. I could feel her slender arms around me, the warmth from her body so close to me…I didn’t want to move. I didn’t want to be anywhere else right then. I knew she was awake too, and I just didn’t want to disturb our moment of peace…yet.

“Nina…wake up...” She whispered softly. I groaned in protest because I really didn’t want to move. “It’s getting late and you haven’t had breakfast…you shouldn’t have an empty stomach for such a long time…you know it might not be so good for you...You might get a stomachache later…”

In that exact moment my stomach decided to agree with her and it growled loudly. I opened my eyes feeling my cheeks blush. Greer only giggled softly and gave me a soft squeeze.

“Fine, you win. Let’s go...” I held her hand and lazily slid out of bed.

As I got out of bed, I noticed my free hand was tightly clutching something. I opened it. My fingers were a little sore from staying in the same position for such a long time. It felt like I had been like that all night.

In my palm, there was a shiny black stone. I tilted my head confused and then looked at Greer. She just stared at me like she was waiting for me to do something, or say something…or remember something. And that, I did: I remembered.. I had dreamt of a stone exactly like that one....

And then, her face flashed into my mind…and then...small fragments of unknown memories flashed one after another.

“I…remember…”