They were some distance away when Julia saw them walking toward her. She knew it was Barbie...she'd know him anywhere...he was hers.
Who was that walking beside him...a woman...a woman who touched his arm and looked up into his face. A woman he smiled down on.
No...no...it's not possible...he was hers and she was his. The belonged to each other...not to anyone else.
Unable to move she watched them. They were closer now but did not look at her or acknowledge her presence in any way.
Disbelief turned to anger as she reached out to grab his arm, to pull him away from that woman. Anger was replaced by shock as her hand passed right through him.
They couldn't see her because she was dead...!
Falling to her knees, her scream was filled with despair, his name consuming her being but no one heard her cry.
"Barbieeeee!"
She was sobbing, his name on her lips now a mere whisper. There were arms holding her close, a familiar voice murmuring against her ear. "Shh, it's okay. I'm here Julia – you're having a nightmare."
She dared to open her eyes, her fingers trailing along the side of his face. Her hands moved to the back of his head, grabbing fistfuls of hair, nails digging into his skin as if to prove to herself that he was really here. She pressed against him breathing him in, her words expressing both relief and fact. "You're mine...you're mine."
Barbie silenced her with his lips, his hands gentle against her back, a tender reassurance to her fierce demands. Demands he understood because he was faced with the same despair for the time they could not find each other. He covered her face with soft kisses, ending next to her ear, his words a mere breath that soothed her. "I'm yours."