Hope you like it. Don't own anything, just a fan.

I

The sound of the phone woke Christine from her slumber with a start, she didn't even bother to look at the name before answering, although even if she had she would have picked up, always.

"Hello, who's this and don't you have anything better to do than to call people at..." she paused to look at the time, " at 3:45 am in the morning?!" her annoyance was very clear in her words.

"I'm sorry, I just wanted to hear your voice," came the reply which was softer than she had ever heard him.

"Stephen? ", she was suddenly more awake and a little concerned,

"What's wrong? Are you okay? Do you need help?", she rambled on without taking a breath.

He suddenly realised that him calling out of nowhere was not something she was used to;

"I'm fine, physically speaking," he answered which somewhat calmed her down a little.

"Okay...So I think the next question should be that why are calling at 3:45 in the morning?".

After a pause of few seconds he replied in a low voice,

" I had a bad dream."

'Okay...', she got up from bed and went to sit in the chair near the window knowing it might be a long conversation, "...what did you see?", she asked softly.

There was a long pause as if he was trying to find the words or maybe he was afraid to say the words.

"I was in the sanctum.. and I saw a chair...," he paused again as the visual appeared in front of his eyes as a fresh memory,

"...and someone was sitting on it... I wanted to say something, but... before I could, the room filled up with an excruciating amount of sadness...I could feel it in my bones," he paused to take a breath, surprised on how much this had affected him "as I started to move forward... someone... something started rising from the back of the chair and...", he literally was scared to say it out loud,

"And?", her voice came as an encouragement, but there was no response, as if he just couldn't get the words out.

With only silence between them she realised he needed a little more of a push,

"This is the first time you are sharing something with me, Stephen, it'll be a shame to leave it unfinished."

The realisation dawned on him too, "It was you, Christine. On the chair."

"And..."

"Go on.."

"And I saw you die."

She was sure what she heard in his voice was fear.

"It's just a dream, I'm right here talking to you."

" I know, didn't stop the chill that ran through me..."

She was too surprised to say anything. He got worried about her because he saw her die in a dream. That's a new one.

"...Or the fact that I am standing outside your window."

She took a split second to get up and peered down to see him standing across the street leaning against a tree, looking at her with a smile.

"Hey." he said due to the lack of words;

"Hey", she replied as she leaned against the window;

"It was just a dream." she assured him again;

"It felt so real, the happiness when I saw you..," he could dimly see the smile on her face, "and the fear when..." he trailed off , not wanting to repeat it;

He looked tired, she noticed and different, maybe because he was wearing a hoodie and pants, not what she was now used to seeing him in.

After a few seconds of looking at each other in the night light, she gave in;

"Coffee?"

"Do you have Tea?"