What the Heart Knows by Shyla Colt Page B

stage.”
    “Wow.”
    Her words were hushed as she turned to look at him.
    “Yeah, it took me by surprise as well.”
    “You know I’m always behind you , Oli . I’d love to meet her, whenever you’re ready . ”
    “I was hoping you’d say that,” he said.  “I was thinking maybe we could meet up for lunch one day next week?”
    “Just tell me when and where.” 
    Oliver nodded as his heart lightened. Once he’d made the decision to leave the past behind him, things had become easier in some ways and harder in others.  It was almost like the universe aspired to torture him just a while longer.
    “Thanks , T . I’ll let you know soon. For now, can we keep things between the two of us?”
    “Of course.”  She paused. “I’m happy for you . I t ’ s past time you got back to the business of living.”
    Oliver wanted to believe things would happen easily for him from now on. So why did this feel like the calm before the storm ? When things seemed too good to be true, they usually were. Don’t be so pessimistic. He gave himself a mental shake and offered up a smile for his sister.
    “I know. I guess we all grieve at our own pace though.”
    “Hannah would be happy to see you moving on.”
    Maybe the real one, but the twisted version I see in my dream has made her feelings quite clear. His happiness waned as a vision of Hannah from his dreams surfaced. 
    Her once golden skin was pale.  The lustrous, thick, light brown hair he loved to run his fingers through now hung limp and greasy around her gaunt face.
      “Hannah?” he asked. He could barley recognize the woman he once knew. Her athlet ic frame had withered down to a skeletal one . The bones protruded at angles so awkward he winced.
    “How quickly you forget , Oliver.”
    “I haven’t forgotten you , Hannah … you don’t look like yourself.”
    “Yeah, death will do that to you.”
    “I don’t understand.” He’d dreamt of Hannah before, but she’d never looked or acted like this.
    “It takes a lot of effort to look pretty for you when I visit, and after the way you’ve chosen to ignore me lately I figured it wasn’t worth the expense of energy.”   He felt the bottom drop out of his stomach as she moved toward him. The black maxi-dress she wore dragged along the ground and belled out behind her like a trail of ink y darkness?  His teeth chattered as the temperature plunged and a cloud of white appeared in front of him. “After everything I’ve done to stay with you, all it took was one flash of big brown eyes and I was a thing of the past.”
    “It’s not —”
    “We both know it’s your fault I’m here , Oliver, and for that reason, I refuse to give you up so easily.” A wicked smile lined her lips and his entire body tensed as she leaned forward to place her face inches from his own.
    “Maybe you need a reminder of what it was like down there.”
    The setting changed and he found himself surrounded by water. Panic paralyzed him as he struggled to release the seatbelt that bound him prisoner to the car about to become his watery grave. He turned his head to the right and screamed as he took in the bloated corpse trapped in the passenger seat beside him. He screamed, chocking on the water he ingested.
    “Oliver.”
    The sound of his sister’s voice brought him back into the present.
    “What?”
            “You still with me?”
    “Yeah, sorry, I drifted off there for a second.”
    The last thing he planned on doing was telling her about his dreams. She thought he was moving on and getting better . H e refused to ruin that.
    “If this girl has you this distracted I can’t wait to see the two of you together in person.”
    He gave what he hoped was a believable chuckle and shrugged as he feigned nonchalance.
    “I have to keep an air of mystery about me in person, so don’t give away all my secrets. “
    “I wouldn’t dream of it,” she said.  Oliver rolled his eyes. The wicked gleam in her eyes