Looking out into the darkness, there was more than the small emptiness of nothing that lied on the other side. It was a small light that began no where and ended just the same. Shielding out into the sky it was almost never ending. It shined through the stars as they twinkled breathlessly. Their light was so absolute, yet slightly faded, like something was missing. And all I remembered seeing before drifting into dreams was that brilliant light that could be seen through the darkness and pain of the sky.

I awoke in a place that seemed like nowhere. My body shook with cold and my heart stopped with one pound that made my entire body ache. This was only a dream of course, but I had always felt like there was something about dreams that always meant something more. I sat in darkness for what seemed like forever until I felt myself falling. I fell through what felt like nothing and landed in a place that felt so familiar. The landing was soft, like I had never landed at all, and so I began to walk through the strange place that I had been brought to.

My steps were silenced as I walked through what appeared to be an Elementary school. Peering through a window as I walked past, one girl in the classroom stuck out to me the most. As I looked closer I saw a girl with short brown hair and the deepest brown eyes I had ever seen. She held a crayon in her hand and sat happily drawing a picture. Looking to the front of the classroom I saw a date that hit me harder than anything. November 23, 1999. That was the day my mom died. Looking back to the little girl, I now knew who she was and I knew where this dream would take me next.

I began to fall again as I was lead to a different place. I found myself in front of a familiar old home in a familiar yard. I walked on the sidewalk up to the house and creaked the door slightly open. I came inside to see the same little girl sitting at a table doing what was probably her homework. She kept glancing up at a clock that hung to the right of the room. She continued glancing up nervously as if someone had not showed up on time. Finally the front door opened and a person I guessed had to be her father walked through into the room where the girl and I stood. He could not see me, but he could see the girl running to him happily. How could he ever tell her the bad news?

But he did, and I fell again before I could hear everything that happened. But I didn’t want to know, I just wanted out. I landed in darkness again to see an open door in the opposite direction from where I was standing. Slowly it began to close and quickly I began to run. I sprinted down, hoping so much that I would make it in time to the other side. The door was almost closed now, but I was almost there. I had three more seconds as I dove through and slid through the door until it shut.

CRASH!

I landed hardly on my bed. I sat up quickly, running to my parents room. I sprinted down the hall way and practically slammed my entire body into their bedroom door. Catching my breath, I looked to the bed to see both parents fast asleep, and both there. I breathed out in relief, and headed back to my room. As I sat in bed I took one last look up at the lonely sky. Who had that girl been who I thought I had known so well? For my entire dream, I thought she had been me. But that was impossible; my mom had never died November 23rd. What did this mean?

It meant more then I could ever understand. Realizing this I drifted asleep again, staring out into the sky.