After placing a blanket over Rex, settling him for the night Nick went inside to start a fire to sooth his restless soul. He then picked up his guitar, resuming the self taught lessons from a few days ago. Open the pages of Silent Lucidity he read allowed the words while humming the tune in his mind “Hush now don’t you cry; Wipe away the teardrop from your eye. You’re lying safe in bed; it was all a bad dream spinning in your head. Your mind tricked you to feel the pain of someone close to you leaving the game of life.” He continued to read aloud as he peered through the window up at the grandfather constellation. “So here it is another chance, wide awake you face the day, your dream is over or has it just begun.” Nick could see the reflections from the fire glowing against the dark forest coming from Sarah’s cabin. “There’s a place I like to hide. A doorway that I run through in the night. Relax child you were there but only didn’t realize when you were scared. It’s a place where you will learn to face your fears, retrace the years and ride the whims of your mind. Commanding in another world. Suddenly you hear and see this magic new dimension. I will be watching over you, am going to help you see it through. I well protect you in the night, am smiling next to you, in silent lucidity. If you open up your mind for me, you won’t rely on open eye’s to see. The walls you built within come tumbling down and a new world will begin. Living twice at once you learn, you’re safe from pain in the dream domain, a soul set free to fly, around trip journey in your head. Master of illusion can you realize your dreams alive, you can be the guide but I will be watching over you. I’m going to help you see it through, well protect you in the night, I’m smiling next to you”.

Turning his gaze back towards the heavenly stars he asked but one thing “allow me to be your vessel here on earth” and in that instant both grandfather stars twinkled as though they signaled an approving nod.

Nick said good night to Sarah through the window in hopes she might hear his words and then retired to bed. When he awoke the next morning he stepped outside to greet the day but the day itself had other plans for him. He found himself faced with a missing horse and in its place a letter pinned to the porch. His heart sank as he looked down at Jessie and asked her why she had not alerted him knowing full well the answer to his own question. He removed the note and headed back inside to read it.

As he read her letter to him he hands began to shake with mixed emotions of disgust and rage. Sarah had suffered far worse than he had imagined, her demons ran as deep as his and tormented in the same way his did. She not unlike him had found away to place the demons in a drawer, a Pandora’s Box if you will that when opened consumed them with the same intensity as the day they were shelved. They each knew their perspective demons would forever haunt them, relentless in their pursuit to consume their very souls, but each had a defense, an iron shield masked in laughter. As the demons fought battle after battle we found ourselves fighting back becoming stronger, faster and wiser even to the point of becoming aware of our own little universe on different plains.

We have forsaken friendships of those who challenge our feelings, for they know not how deeply the wound has been forged, they know not how it continues to bleed like lava flowing from a dormant volcano, they know not the destructive forces we are capable of yet have managed to somehow within the chaos temper through creativity. One can only write about what one has felt.

At the bottom of the letter stood a solemn email address with the words “Thanks for the opportunity to share. If you think I am a completely cracked nut... I will understand, and probably agree with you... and if you choose to not write to me anymore, I will understand that as well, (although I hope you don't). If anything, writing this gave me an opportunity to completely express these things that haunt me and cause such a mistrust of men. For whatever reason, I felt like I should share this with you. Was I wrong?

With that Nick carefully folded the letter and placed it in his left pocket over his heart, looked skyward and announced to the heavens above “forgiveness is your job buddy not mine, but somehow you seemed to have snuck one past me, not sure why but I’m going to find out”, with that he tapped the letter in his pocket and opened his laptop to write.

Dear Sarah. We have only just begun to write this chapter in our lives………

The old style phone upon the wall rang with a shrill sound that startled him from his nap on the couch. Awaking in a cold sweat he stood and looked around him, puzzled and confused while phone rang out a second time he frantically searched his pocket for proof of her existence. The phone rang a third time and he reluctantly convinced himself to answer the call, abandoning hope of her presence.