Fight and Fate

Laughter filled his ears. Warm light that was not a single specific color, yet had color nonetheless, surrounded him like a blanket on a cold winter day.
A figure of a girl was in front, just up ahead in this place of no where. Reaching out his hand, he could just almost touch her. The girl turned. Her face was unclear, like it was able to be seen, yet still unable to be named.
Her hair flowed around her, and a halo of light enveloped her.

She opened her mouth and began to say something-

BEEP BEEP BEEP

Groaning, he fuzzily pulled himself up and slammed his fist down onto the poor, unsuspecting alarm clock. Head still dizzy and eyesight blurry, he lazily stumbled out of bed and out of his bedroom door.

"Yo! Bro! Hurry up, or I'm leaving without you!" a deep voice called from downstairs.

Muttering in annoyance, the boy answered, "Coming man!"

Fumbling a bit, he managed to flick on the bathroom light switch, and turned on the sink.

Splashing some cold water onto his face, he shook himself dry, then began brushing his teeth. Staring into the mirror, now that his vision was clearing up, he began gazing into his eyes, remembering his strange dream.

"Wait up! Wait up!"

The girl laughed, and continued running into the distance. "Hurry up then, slow poke!"

Rinsing out his mouth, and heading back to his room, he mentally slapped himself into reality.

Changing into his usual school attire, he began walking downstairs, and clambered into his older brother's truck.

Wordlessly, the two siblings began heading to school.

The boy just stared out the window, reminiscing about the girl in his dream, barely acknowledging the familiar ache in his chest that had started settling in again.

-----

Sighing, she gazed out the fogged up, tinted window of the school bus as it jerked to another stop in front of some cold, stone apartment buildings. The icy plastic felt soothing against the side of her face as she leaned against it, like a final link between reality and the dreaming realm.

"I have to go now."  

"Do have to? Just stay a bit more?"

"I'm sorry. I'm really, really sorry."

As she turned, the girl saw the feeble silhouette of the boy in the horizon. She continued forward, the fading light guiding her footsteps away. 

"Hey!"

Snapping out of her fog of thoughts and emotions, the girl sat up and turned her head to nod a silent greeting at her friend now sitting next to her.

"Hey. What's new?"

As the friend began chattering away to reply, the girl just leaned back against the window, and drifted back into the world of her mind.

Goodbye.

Bye...

A familiar ache returned, and she jolted upright, shook her head, and stared at her phone. Her friend paused and gave her a sympathetic look. They stayed silent for the rest of the ride.
-----

It was now evening, with the sun saying its final farewells to the cities, and the stars racing to catch a glimpse of the famous sunlight before it vanished from their sights again.

A clock was ticking away hollowly as the boy sat at his desk, head propped up oh a fist and elbow as the boy drowsily blinked, sleep tugging at his consciousness.

He could just hear that voice calling out to him. Feel those unwanted salt water drops piling up behind his eyes.

I have to go now. I'm sorry.

Suddenly, a low buzz resonated through the wood, pouring ice water onto the boy's mind. Scrambling to find his phone under the mountain of papers and textbooks, he finally felt a bit of the vibrating metal and fished it out into the light.

There was a new text. One message. It was from a number that hadn't been used since before that day.....

Frowning slightly, the boy unlocked his phone to read the message.

There were only four words.

Hey. Keep in touch?
~

Smiling softly, the boy began to type in a reply.
The clock continued to tick away, but this time, with a smile in its voice.

-----

It was the same bus, in the same city, with the same girl. But this time, the last remnants of sunlight were the surrounding clouds.

The girl was still leaning against the window, with her friend dozing off beside her. A quiet chiming of her phone woke both of them up from their tired thoughts.

Sure. Saved in contacts. How's the far side of the state?

Grinning to herself, the girl locked her phone back up and closed her eyes, resting her head on the back of her seat.

Curious, her friend twisted to look straight at her and asked, "He replied? How does it feel?"

The girl just lazily opened one eye, and said, still grinning, "Good. It feels good."

-----