Dandelions brushed my hands as I waded through the fields. The tall, yellowed grass tickled my shins like sharp feathers pushing slight giggles out of me. I willed my feet to move faster, reaching for the greasy orange sun that was dipping from my sight.
Come back! I cried, willing my feet to move faster. The sun didn’t stop for me, even when I added ‘please?’ to my wish.
I looked straight ahead and gasped. A large mound of grassy dirt grew in front of me. Bright green ingrained with gold flashed against my eyes. The closer I ran to the hill, the more the sun sunk into the ground. The gold of the ground vanished.
No! I cried. I launched myself onto the mound, digging my fingers into the cold, brittle dirt. Grabbing onto grass and rocks and mud, I pulled myself up the hill. I could still make it. Please be there, please be there, please be there, I sang it like a prayer. I could see it! The top of the hill! I threw myself into the air, floating through the cold breeze of the night. My heart soared when I could see the light: a small golden sliver of the great yellow ball, descending into the earth.
I fell to my knees and my vision tunneled. The sound of my heart, my thoughts, and my mind turned to a distant roar, far from my soul.
Please don’t go to sleep yet. Please give me more time. I closed my eyes and prayed to God that someone would hear my pleas.
“Ana?”
My heart fluttered and my eyes shot open.
Nik stood below me, his dark hair tossed sideways in the wind while the light from the disappearing sun shone in his thin framed glasses. He climbed up the hill slowly, his eyes getting sadder and darker every time he looked at me. I felt like tearing my heart apart.
“Ana,” he said again and nothing else.
Tears burned in my eyes. He was going to see me fade. My whole body was shaking with tears. The sun was almost gone, the orange giving way to the blue that slid across the sky.
Nik I’m trying! Look, the Sun is still there! I can ask for more time! I can ask for another life! I cried. But the truth struck my heart, my hope crumbling to ashes. I was already a ghost. Asking for another life was impossible. I’ve already lived twice. What gave me the right to live a third life when everyone around me died after their first?
Nik shook his head sadly. “Asking isn’t the same as giving. We weren’t made to be immortal,” he said, voicing my thoughts.
Anger burst in my chest. If you don’t believe that I can get more time in this world, then why are you here? Leave before I fade, I said, looking away from him to hide my tears. My voice sounded like water, gliding through the air. Talking had turned into a luxury I couldn’t have anymore. I was fading.
“I’ve watched you leave once and I’m ready to do it again.”
Why? I asked, bewildered. Why would you want to see such a horrible thing?
“Because I realized that seeing my little sister again is a better feeling of happiness than the pain of watching you fade.”
I wanted to hug him and cry into his shirt but I couldn’t. The last few rays of sunshine were already burning through my skin. I didn’t have much time left.
I want to stay, I said, my words cracking like shattered glass. I don’t want death to take me away again.
“Ana, people are meant to live only once. It’s a luxury that you were given another chance, and you should be happy you got it.”
I couldn’t believe him even though deep down I knew he was right. I bit my lip and tightened my fists until I could feel the sensation of blood dripping out of the cuts made by my fingernails. The warm steady liquid seemed to traverse down my nails into the grass, the same way my tears dripped down my chin. What do you mean you’ll see me again? Nik I’m dying!
“I know. But don’t fight it, because one day, I’ll join you. We can run through flowery meadows and jump into rivers, and get lost in the woods that Nanna always told us to avoid. We’ll see the moonflower that mama always told us about in her stories.
I giggled. She said they were magic. She said they were dead souls trapped in a flower, sent to guide the living on an adventure.
Nik grinned. “That’s right. We’re going to find that moonflower, and we’re going to find that adventure. And on that adventure, we’re going to find the bunny family you always dreamed of being friends with, we’ll find the biggest tree in the world and climb it. We’ll do everything Ana, just like you wanted.”
Despite it all a smile broke to my face. But it was a sad smile. When? I whispered, my throat scratchy from talking.
Nik reached out and touched my palms, his hands sliding through them. I was fading. His smile faded, but his eyes glinted with hope. “When my time comes,” he paused. “Let go, Ana, let yourself be free to begin a new life. I’ll join you soon. No matter which life you start, I will find you again. All you have to do is wait.”
I smiled. The sun vanished. Goodbye, Nik. Her words dwindled in the wind.
The sun disappeared and Ana was gone.
Ana was gone.
Ana was gone.
Gone.
The wind whistled through the hilly area and the birds sang softly before going to bed. Dandelions danced peacefully in the wind before their seeds were gently lifted into the air, gliding slowly through the night sky. Stars popped up on the inky blackness, twinkling like glittering diamonds. The moon rose with the hooting of an owl, its plump gray surface shining on the dark world below.
The night was alive. Flowers that danced in the wind opened their petals up to the moon.
Nik walked down the brittle hill into a more lush area, where trees ran down the hill with him, clumping up at the bottom to form a small forest. Ivy climbed up the barks of the trees, their deep green leaves eating away at the rough, black wood. White gemstones speckled the creeping ivy, their petals reaching out for the howling moon. Nik stepped closer and a smile broke out on his face. The white gemstones were blooming moonflowers, their petals illuminating the dark. He reached his hand out, his fingers brushing against the soft petals sending rivulets of warmth down his spine.
They’re just as magical as you had hoped, Ana.
Nik glanced beyond the flower and was met with a large expanse of forest, the trees stretching out across the world. The sharp pines pierced the crisp air as birds sang amongst the branches. But the magical part was the tall, big tree that cracked through the forest and reached for the night sky, its branches spreading out, hiding the life underneath it like a large umbrella. The wind sliced through the branches, whistling a song of new beginnings.
Outside the forest a small white rabbit popped its head out from the hole in the ground. The rabbit bounced onto the grass, sniffing the air and wiggling his nose. He turned back to his hole and another rabbit jumped out. This rabbit was much bigger, but again, it bounced around and sniffed the air. Finally a third rabbit jumped out, and it was the smallest of the bunch. The rabbit leaped into the air and landed on the grass with a soft thump. It squeaked and continued to jump through the grass. Nik watched the little rabbits bounce around each other, their squeaks echoing into the night.
They were trying to tell him something.
His story wasn’t over yet. And neither was Ana’s.
Nik took a deep breath and stepped towards them, but not before looking at the sky and whispering, “They’re waiting for us.” He paused and continued, “Your chance to step and breathe on this world may be over, but your soul isn’t done living. You’ve been waiting your whole life to have this adventure. So, are you coming?”
The wind whisked his words away, taking them to the sky. A minute passed. A small moonflower snapped away from the creeper on the tree and rode the wind, flying into the unknown.