The darkness was slowly filling in her eyes. She felt like at some moment she was going to float off the bed she was laying in. viola was too tired and she needed a rest. With her arms lazily draped at her sides and her legs sprawled out across the bed, she started drifting off to sleep and her mind went blank for a second. All of a sudden she felt like her lungs were in flames. Pain started to shoot through every part of her body, like a disease spreading on her. She had difficulty breathing and all she could see was a vast of nothingness. Oblivion. She was slamming her fist against her chest, hoping that somehow it would help get some life out of her because it was as if she was being sucked at a vortex of death, of nothingness. Where am i? where the hell am i? she thought to herself. This couldn't be real, but it feels like it. She was struggling. Someone help me! And then light rays started to shoot across her, above her, everywhere light started to somehow seep out from nowhere. It was too bright that it was almost blinding. It felt like she was pushed by an extremely strong force that she was shoved down on the sand, her elbows taking in the force of the push. Wait, sand? Yes, sand. Miles and miles of sand spread out underneath her. What the- how did I get here?! To her left is the most beautiful sea she had ever seen, the bluest a sea's color could ever get, the waves lapped peacefully upon the sand, every inch of it springing out life. The sky was black, but millions of stars are scattered on it, like a beautiful black canvas with white glittering paint splattered everywhere, even beyond the eye could see. Where am I, where am i. she kept thinking. She laid her palms on a fraction of the sand, and it turned bright green. Woah, what? She got up on her toes, still baffled by the way, and with each step she took, the color of the sand that she was stepping on would change, each a different color, some she had never seen before. "Help! Is somebody out there?" she shouted, a tone of desperation on her voice. She was amazed, yes. But she was haunted by everything that surrounded her. The breeze licking the back of her neck and legs, forming goose bumps. The stars seem to be falling, but stops just above her head, she feels no impact. It was almost peaceful. Huge coconut trees seem to be growing in a straight line ending only God knows where, but at the end of the line, a figure was forming. No, wait—it wasn't forming. It was already there. It seemed to be staring at her. The figure started to draw close to her. Her heart started beating so fast that it was starting to freak her out. As the figure got closer and closer she recognized the figure is that of a man's. Her heart stopped palpitating. "Who are you?" she asked, her tone surprisingly calm. "I'm your wish." the figure said, while taking Viola's hand and wrapping it around his. He slid his other hand on her waist, and Viola instinctively placed her free hand on the figure's shoulder. She was surprised that she didn't protest at all. The figure made her calm. It made her feel like she was at the safest place she could be right now, in a stranger's arms. They started swaying, but there was no music, only the beating of their hearts. The sky was shimmering with stars, its light reflecting on the sea but she still couldn't see the face of the figure. "What's your name?" Viola asked. "I have none." the figure answered, each syllable escaping from his lips sounded like music to viola. Both of them kept moving and swaying. Viola felt like her heart was beating faster and slower at the same time. She couldn't see him, but she knew the figure was smiling. She laid her head on his chest and felt his every heartbeat. "Whoever you are, please stay." Viola said, almost pleading. There was no response, but the beating of the figure's heart was enough for her. She lifted her head to look at the figure's face, staring intently. "Can I see what you look like?" requested Viola. "I'm sorry." The figure whispered. She wanted to question the figure, about who he was, where they were, why wouldn't the figure let her see his face and how this is all happening, but she can't. she was awed by the figure. She couldn't dare ruin this moment, the only moment where she felt like she was finally complete. "Can you please stay?" viola asked again. "I know your life can go on without me, that you can be happy without me, that you can survive without me. But even if you turn me away, I will still choose to stay with you and be your sweetest stranger forever." the figure replied, each tone felt like a sad song to viola. She started to cry and she didn't know why. Suddenly, a blinding white light shone from above, reflecting everything underneath it. Just as she was about to see the figure's face, she felt her heart stopped beating and in a matter of seconds, her shoulders collapsed. Before she knew it, she was lying on her bed again, sweat trickled down her forehead. She felt breathless, she was panting. She rose up, trying to process everything that happened, what she thought happened. Was I dreaming? She wondered. She ran the back of her hand across her forehead. I was dreaming. She confirmed. But it was nothing like any of the other dreams she had. It felt so real for her; she could still recall every detail of the paradise she was in, like it had been permanently inked on her mind. She was baffled the whole day, thinking about the figure and how she missed him oh so dearly. She felt like a blackhole was forming inside whenever she thinks of him. She longs for him. He must be real. She thought to herself, almost pleading to the whole universe to make the figure real. Please let him be real. Please let him be real. She kept repeating these words before she fell asleep every night. She would always find the figure, of course. She would always find her wish; her mysterious, faceless-but-not-faceless wish. But she would also go through the horrendous nothingness and almost death of an event before being barged down again on the sand. This would repeat every night since it started. She felt like she had spilled on the figure her every secret, every fear, every teardrop. And she still felt just the same as when she first met him, complete. "Why do you keep wishing for me when you know you'd suffer first, and after?" the figure asked with deep concern. "I may have come to love you," said Viola. "and I know your life can go on without me, that you can be happy without me, that you can survive without me. But even if you turn me away, I will still choose to stay with you and be your sweetest stranger forever." There was no response, but the beating of the figure's heart was enough for her.