Tainted Blood by Martin Sharlow Page B

go because I love her. Doesn't she know that?
     
    “Heather, listen. Let's just go and get some coffee somewhere and just talk.”
     
    “Go away!” She shouted at him. “You're not even real! Just go away.” She suddenly started to sob.
     
    Brian stood there confused as he watched her cry. Her shoulder's shook as her dark hair flew about her thanks to the mystic wind of the gorge. What was he supposed to do? How was he to know that he shouldn't have let her go? If she didn't want to go, why did she leave?
     
    “Heather...listen. I only let you go because I thought you wanted to go. I didn't want you to leave.”
     
    She paused in her sobs as he talked. He hoped that he was getting through to her. Still, she didn't turn back to him. “Listen, I'm sorry. I don’t know what I was thinking when I let you go. I was stupid and insensitive. I want you back Heather.”
     
    “You know,” she began slowly. “I really have been trying to forget you. I've even managed to somehow find Chuck here.” She paused for a second. “But each time I think I'm starting to get closure, you show up and reopen the wounds. Brian I can't take this.”
     
    “Heather...I didn't know. I just...I'm sorry.”
     
    She laughed. “You're just a dream. Look at me talking to my dream Brian.” She looked over the precipice peering into the darkness. “I wonder what would happen.”
     
    “Heather, no!” Brian shouted at her. “No, this isn’t the way. I need you Heather. I didn't know how much I needed you until after I lost you.”
     
    Heather leaned back and looked up at his face. “Don't be silly, this is just a dream. Nothing bad’s going to happen.”
     
    “Then why do it?” he countered. Why risk something over nothing?”
     
    Her face softened as he said that, and he could see that her hair began to lighten. Even the color of her clothes began to lighten.
     
    “I don't know.”
     
    “Then come with me. Let me show you that I care, that I'm not just a dream Brian.” He took a step closer, reaching for her. Her eyes suddenly opened wider as she looked at him.
     
    “Brian?” She gasped as if she had seen him for the first time. A sense of relief began to fill him as the gaping wound in the earth began to close and Heathers appearance quickly changed back to her pink shirt and white slacks. “Brian, is it really you?”
     
    A hand made of pure shadow erupted from the almost closed wound in the ground. Its black fingers engulfed the small frame of Heather before Brian could answer her. He watched helplessly as she was jerked from him and down into the disappearing pit. Her scream of his name echoed in his ears as the ground closed around where she had disappeared.
     
    “Heather!” He screamed and jumped to the now solid spot of ground, digging furiously. “What the hell is this? I hate nightmares. Damn it, I hate nightmares. They never make any sense!” He shouted to himself. She had to be somewhere. He paused and ran dirt-caked hands over his sweaty face. “ Think, damn it. Alright. I need to calm myself. This is just a dream . She's here somewhere, and that was most likely the monster I need to beat to save her. I can't believe it chose that moment to interfere.”
     
    Brian backed up and began to survey his surroundings. “There has to be a clue to where I can find her.”
     
    The stripped trees sat silent as he spun around looking for any hint of what he needed to do next. Then the dream was gone. No blinking, no fading away. Just gone. He sat up in his bed, sweat covering his forehead; he could feel his heart pounding. “That wasn't right. It doesn't end like that normally.”
     
    He wasn't sure, but he began to wonder if something was really wrong. He needed to go back and see if he could find her. Not her dream self, but to actually find her . He avoided doing that since she left, as he felt that would be going too far, breaching her privacy. Going into her dreams was one thing. Spying on her real