Extraordinary

Nora's POV:      What was he trying to say? His lips were moving so slowly while his whispers caressed my cheek. It felt like he was telling me a lullaby instead of singing it. How could he though? Every night? It took a while before I could make out his words. “ You remind me of someone I used to know. Someone I have so many fond memories of. I knew her when I was a child, that is, before she left. I want nothing more than for it to be true, for her to be you,” he said. Would tonight be the night I finally see his face or learn his name? It didn’t seem that way as I felt his hand glide across my shoulders, swooping my hair to the side. He kissed each shoulder tenderly, licking a heart shape and starting a fire in me. He ran his hands down to by bottom and massaged me into passivity. Despite this, he was still ever the gentleman. He didn’t push me further, only spoke of what he saw and that was me. He told me how tired I looked and how hard I must have been working lately. He asked questions about my life like a sponge trying to soak in as much as possible. After some time I tried to turn for even the slightest glimpse. I tried to see at least his silhouette but he simply kissed me on the cheek and disappeared.      You see, for the past 3 months, night after night, this man would appear to me in my dreams. With his unfamiliar voice and sentient touch. I'd grown used to his visits. As unusual as it seems I looked forward to his visits. They were my only escape from the judgement of the people who surrounded me. My family constantly tugged me this way and that, trying to make me into what they wanted me to be. Somehow, I had managed to get through each day and now with his visits I no longer felt like a puppet tied to someone’s strings. With him I could be myself. Somehow though, it felt all too real to be just a dream. I'd read novels based on supernatural beings or supernatural powers. Could humans have mates? Each time I had that thought I would laugh it off. Maybe subconsciously my mind would try to give me what I wanted most; purpose, sensuality and sexuality. An escape. Each night when he left I would wake up feeling refreshed. I would feel loved and desired. I would feel aroused. Back to sleep I went each night. I would drift off into the darkness unable to summon his presence back to me. Each night I would dread the next day fearing what would come next in this life of mine. Mystery Man’s POV:      I'd been following the creek to the back of our home every day for months with no one to play with. Sure, there were neighbors but they were far away and the house closest to us could never lure anyone in and keep them. People would come and go and it was rumored that the house was cursed. I was five. I needed someone to play with. The days of summer vacation were long; too long.      One day a new family moved in. I was happy watching them take their things inside. A mother, a father and a daughter, all with piercing sapphire eyes and thick auburn hair. The girl seemed a bit younger than me. Her face was littered with freckles. Ever so often I would catch her sticking her tongue out at me. I knew things would go well between us. Later that night my grandmother took me over to their house with a bottle of wine to welcome them to the neighborhood. It was great getting to see her up close. She was a ball of energy, grabbing me and pulling me all the way up to her room while my grandmother spoke with her parents. Her room was what I thought a girl’s room should look like. The walls were bare and many boxes were yet to be unpacked but I could see she had loads of teddy bears, dolls and colorful drawings she had done. Her bed was big and soft with cotton candy pink colored sheets. I didn’t get to stay long that night but we agreed to meet the next day to play. My grandmother said the girl’s name was Alayne and her parents were Mr. and Mrs. Hathaway. Her mother was a seamstress and her father a real estate agent. It seemed we weren’t meant to meet up and play because that night, while I slept, I felt like I was suffocating. I woke up to a room filled with thick, grey smoke and loud screams from outside. My new neighbor's house was completely engulfed in flames and my new friend sat at the roadside crying. They spent the night at our house after the fire was put out but left early next morning before I was awake.      Summer vacation ended and I hadn’t seen my friend again but as it turned out, when I moved back to my mother’s home in the city right next door to me was that same little girl with auburn hair. We became best friends. We would play every day at lunch, go home from school together on afternoons and play when we got home some more. Sometimes she’d miss school and when I saw her next she would have a bandage or bruise somewhere about her body. She would never say where it was from. Twilights on my mom's back porch were amazing. We'd sit and tell stories for hours. Things would remain the same for two years before they changed.      We were playing to the back of her home when we stumbled upon a tiny blue flower growing apart from the rest. We plucked it up hoping to get just the flower but to our dismay the whole plant came up and beneath it we saw a tiny, rotting, wooden box. We opened it together and found a small locket with a picture of a man and a woman hugging each other. She said it was mushy stuff and said we should throw it away but I decided to keep it. Still in our crouched position we heard her father shouting at her mother. He was telling her it was her fault he had lost his job. He said it was Alayne's fault all this bad luck was coming their way and he would kill her if he got to her first. Her mother rushed out of the house to get her and her father came out right behind her. He reeked of alcohol, the stench of which made my eyes water. Her mother ran into the house with her through the back door and her father made his way in through the front. I didn’t see Alayne at school the next day but I did see her father, tripping over himself hugging a bottle of whiskey. She missed school for a while until her family eventually moved out. I never got to see her again.     Years went by and I never made a friend quite like her. I longed for her more as I grew older. I hoped she was okay. I'd grown to start my own jewelry business and continued my grandmother's cologne business. As time passed my grandmother aged gracefully and I found myself spending more time with her. On the day she died I bent at her bedside to hug her. That locket I had found with Alayne slipped out of my shirt pocket and fell next to her. My grandmother reached out for it and cried when she opened it. She said it was a locket she had bought from a cart at a county fair years ago. She said the locket was meant to bridge the gap between lovers but before she could say more she passed away.      The night of my grandmothers passing I placed the locket beneath my pillow and prayed to meet my love. I didn’t want to be alone. Before my eyelids could meet I saw a beautiful face of a crying woman appear and when I reached out to wipe her tears it happened. For the first time, I had gotten sucked into her dreams and from there after every night I returned to her, having seen how sad and tired she was. She reminded me of Alayne and I wanted nothing more than for it to be her.