I stare as she walks away, into the streets of the town. I don't know why she's risked the safety of her home to help me. It doesn't make any sense, but I'm not about to go around telling her that. She left her home, to help some random street con. There was another question I had, why did I trust her so much. Why was she was the first person I thought of when I knew I needed help? And Why was it so hard for me to see her walk away. I know the answer, but I had trained myself to have feelings only for my brother, it was the only way to keep us both alive. If I started helping and trusting a whole bunch of random people, how would we ever be safe? She is the first to be able to break the wall I set between people and my feelings. It is a weird feeling, to have someone break through the walls you put up against them, but it isn't an unwelcome one. On the contrary, it is a warm feeling. One of happiness and truth.

It's not like I've never dated someone. I kissed many girls while on the streets, but even the hug we shared felt more powerful than those. I sat up against the oak tree and closed my eyes. It would take her a while to get back, until then I could use a nap. To be honest, I haven't slept since they took my brother, I've been on the road, trying to find Fabia. The soft chirps of the song birds and the smell of trees lull me to sleep in seconds. I don't even notice the soft transition between consciousness and sleep. I don't even notice I am dreaming as it happens.

Screams filled my ears and I get up from the oak tree. I turn my head trying to find the person screaming. The scream is loud and it echoes off the trees and through the forest. Then I hear my name.

"Augustin!" the voice screams, filling my mind. I can't think of anything except the fear in the girl's voice. After hearing her say my name, I know the girl is Fabia.

The soft crunch of twigs and dried leaves confirms my movement, but all the trees look the same while I'm running. I feel as if I'm not moving any closer to Fabia, I feel as if while I'm moving forward she is being torn away from me. Her terror filled screams die down to almost nothing. I run faster, not looking where I am going, I have to be getting closer, the only way she could be moving faster than me is if she is in a car, and there isn't much room for a car if the tree trunks are grazing my shoulders as I pass between them. Suddenly a pain erupts in my foot and I fall. Pushing my hands out in front of me I break my fall, i must have tripped on a root. Trying to get my foot out I realize I have sprained my ankle. I twist around trying to get my foot out, but give up by the time the screams are lost in the wind. I lie with my face on the forest floor, watching the bugs crawl around between the leaves.

"I'm guessing none of you will get me out," I whisper to an ant that stopped in it's tracks to watch me. I shake my head, when did I start talking to bugs? I let out a sigh, I know there is nothing I can do now. With my sprained ankle stuck in the roots, I know I will probably die before I get out, if not of thirst than of boredom.

I hear a soft chuckle coming from behind a tree. I look up quickly hoping that it is Fabia, that somehow, she found a way to get back. Instead, a small, scrawny boy with messy dark brown hair, comes into view. "Didn't think you were one to give up that easily, brother." He says. A smile erupts on my face. He is safe. Then, memories move through my mind, my brother is being experimented on, there is no way he could be here, with me. "I got away from them! Can't you see? It is really me, and I'm here to stay." I shake my head, knowing now that I must be dreaming. "They took the girl, let me leave," he started.

"No," I said cutting him off. Wake up, wake up, wake up! I yelled at myself Putting my hands over my ear, blocking out my brother begging me to believe him. I start breathing heavily, then quickly change to short shallow breaths, I learned this is a good way to get out of a dream. But the hopeful words of my brother keep me hooked in to the dream. "I am asleep," I say to the world created by my thoughts. "Go away, leave me alone," I finish, willing the world to blur around me. My soft words discourage my brother from speaking, giving me time to get away. This is how I imagine Fabia runs through time, from place to place. A blurred world, then a newer, brighter one in it's place. Soon the world becomes a distant memory and I wake up suddenly. I close my eyes listening closely to the sounds of the forest, hoping Fabia is back, but no footsteps alert me towards her presence.

To distract myself from the thoughts of Fabia, I think about my dream. An elderly man on the streets told me that dreams were messages sent from above. I knew what he meant, every dream had a meaning. he told me this when I awoke from a horrible nightmare one night.

There was a fire, and what I loved most was inside. In the dream, I never knew what was so important, but as the flames engulfed my house, and the fire laughed at its destruction, my worry and anxiety grew stronger, leaving me feeling worthless. I woke up sweating, and crying. I was only ten or eleven at the time, I was alone on the streets, and had been away from home for only two weeks, so yes, I cried, sue me. I remember the man standing nearby.

"Nightmare?" he had asked. I nodded my head. "Each nightmare has a meaning, as do all dreams. Never forget the meaning." After that I explained what happened. The man told me I was going to lose something I cared about, the one thing I cared about more than anything else. I knew what I cared about most, my brother. Ad hadn't the man been right? Hadn't I lost him? Yet in this dream, I ignored the fact the one thing I cared about was in front of me, in the dream all I cared about was getting Fabia back. I had a feeling the outcome of this rescue mission would do just that, leave me helpless while she leaves me.