Soulbound

2

Drake watched her scurry off, reminding him of a scared bunny. He had been at a charity event in his waking life, and ended up staying later than usual. He had been afraid he was going to miss her tonight, for the first time in as long as he could remember.

It started when he was a teenager. He had been in a terrible car accident and in a coma for 3 months. The coma was when he started dreaming about her. Small glimpses into her life, here and there. As time went on, he realized he could control the location of the dreams. Every night, he would think of a new interesting place to "take" her. But never once did she approach him, and it seemed any time he would try to get close to her, she would vanish.

Today was the first time he managed to even get close enough to talk to her. His dream girl. And tonight, he was finally able to confirm she was real. Her book, one he had read before, was mostly blank. He knew the trick about books in this dream place. It was the first concrete proof he had that she was real.

Everything around him faded to black, as the screeching of his alarm woke him up. He sat up, turning off the alarm on his phone. He pulled up his text messaging app, and texted his best friend Trent. Call me when you wake up.

Drake went into his spare room he had converted into a home gym. Today was a cardio day, so he pulled up a hard running route on his machine and queued up his cardio day music mix. He lost himself in running, as he thought about his next steps in how to find her.

In what seemed like a few minutes, Drake's treadmill was slowing down, and entering the cool down phase. He was no closer to a solution. The machine finally came to a stop. He wiped his face and neck with a towel, then headed to his bathroom to take a much needed hot shower.

Drake was pulling a shirt on, when his phone finally rang.

"What's up man? Why the text?" Trent asked.

"She's real."

Trent was silent for a full five minutes. He didn't even need to ask who Drake was talking about . He knew it was the girl...well, woman now, that Drake had been dreaming of, since their accident.

Briefly, Trent's thoughts went to that terrible day. They were both 17 and on their way home from football practice. Daylight Savings time had just been adjusted, and practice was ending after dark. A drunk driver came out of no-where, hitting their car and fleeing the scene. Trent, as the driver, sustained the most damage. The car was struck on the driver's side, causing the door to crumple inward. When rescue services arrived, they needed the jaws of life to cut the door off. Trent lost his left leg from the knee down. The injury he sustained was a crush injury, and there was just no saving the limb.

Drake had smashed his head against the car window, and in the ricochet, caught the blast from one of the air bags. He was unconscious for a full 3 months, almost 4. When he woke up, that's when he started telling Trent about the girl.

Over the years, they always suspected that she was real. Nothing concrete could ever be proven. "What happened?" Trent asked.

"I was late because of the charity event. I thought I was going to miss her. In fact, I almost did. She was leaving the cafe I had already decided on. Her hand was on the door, and I yanked hard, opening the door. She stumbled and I took that opportunity to catch her and she dropped her book. She must have fallen asleep reading it." Drake answered.

"A book? How could a book tell you?" Trent asked.

"She was reading a Dresden Files book. One I've already read. But when I thumbed through her copy, it was a little over half way blank. That means she hasn't read the book yet. If this was all in my mind, her book would have been complete." Drake replied.

"Of course, your dream girl would have the exact same taste in literature as you. But this is great! She's real. That means you can find her." Trent said.

"Yeah. I spoke to her. I introduced myself. That seemed like a good first step."

"Did you get her name?" Trent asked.

Drake let out a sigh in frustration. "If I go by what she said, her name is Awkwardly Leaving."

"What?" Trent asked incredulously.

"Well, I sort of, may have accidentally let out a series spoiler about a seemingly unimportant character, that turns out to be very important, coming back...and how it gutted me."

"Oh My God! You cannot go giving out spoilers about Susan! What is wrong with you?!?! You have single handedly, probably, dropped all of Jim Buther's book sales because you cannot get over Susan!" Trent yelled at him. Trent was never a fan of the book series. He preferred the TV show that lasted for one season, and Susan wasn't really a character on the show. If Trent was being honest, he was more of a Wheel of Time guy.

"Yeah, she kind of read me the riot act for that. I laughed, because it was damned adorable, then introduced myself. She then told me she was "Awkwardly leaving" and dashed off like a little bunny." Drake said.

Trent burst out laughing. "And here I thought you had a way with the ladies!"

"Well, normally I do. But she's different!" Drake all but pouted.

"Maybe she has a crush on the great Drake McCafferty, and felt embarrassed. If I yelled at my crush I'd want the floor to immediately swallow me." Trent suggested.

"Yeah, but if she thinks it's all a dream, wouldn't she be bolder? Maybe try to act out her fantasies?" Drake asked.

"Dude. She sounds timid. Like really timid. As in, I think a mouse would be bolder than this girl. And as I said, you're the great Drake McCafferty. Maybe just being near you is her deepest, darkest fantasy." Trent supplied.

"No way!" Drake disagreed. But, perhaps Trent could be right.

"She sounds like an introvert to me. I'll bet there's a reason none of your P.I's turned up anything on her over the years." Trent suggested.

"It could be that. Or you know, it could be that I only have a physical description that could match about a billion women. Of average height - is between 5'5" and 5'8". Shoulder length brown hair, green eyes. I can say she's the most beautiful woman in the entire world, but beauty is subjective. It's been forever, and they've never found her." Frustration laced Drake's voice.

"You have those sketches you drew." Trent quietly reminded him.

"Then I must be a horrible artist, because they haven't found her yet." Drake tried to point out.

"Ah, but now you have made contact with her and can confirm that she is real. That means for tonight, you need to make a plan and talk to her again. Start small. If she's as timid as I think, then you can't go right to "who are you, where can I find you" type of talk. Try to woo and date her, in this dreamscape. Convince her you're really trying to look for her. Soak up everything she says, she may drop some kind of clue as to where she is." Trent reasoned.

"That's actually good advice." Drake said, surprised.

"I know. It's because I'm awesome." Trent oozed confidence.

Drake and Trent hashed out a plan. From location, to activities, to small talk - they discussed it all. After an hour, their plan was solidified. Trent had to go anyway - he had an appointment for a new prosthetic fitting. His old one was starting to rub funny.

Drake went about his day, excitement eating at him. He thought he might just go to bed early tonight.