Dreams

Some time ago, I dreamt of her. We were in the countryside, she looked at me and smiled, then I woke up. I didn't know her, I had never seen her before, but she appeared in my dreams. I felt as if I was in love, but it was impossible because like I said, I didn't even know her name. Sometimes, the dream was different, we danced slowly in a dark room; other times, she said goodbye to me from a train or we were in the beach and she played with the waves. I didn't know what this entire meant.

Although she was beautiful, actually, she was not my type. The girlfriends I had were tall, determined and sophisticated, but she was short, she had long brown hair, a sweet and childlike smile, and she seemed very carefree. On top, she wore clothes from another time, like the 20's.

I did some researches about dreams, I even went to the psychologist, the doctor Honda listened to me attentively, then he explained the mechanics of the dreams and the brain. Every time he asked me how I felt when I saw her, I always had to admit that I was happy.

At times, I thought I was crazy, but how this girl could be a product of my imagination? I talked about it with my siblings and they tried to help me, but I didn't think there was a solution. I wanted to believe this would end soon. I supposed that she could be part of a book or a film. I felt like an idiot that time when I spent the entire day looking for movies from that time, but those actresses didn't look like her… now no women looked like her. I drew her many times in my sketchbook and it frustrated me.

I tried to go on dates just to forget her, but no one had a happy ending, I felt as if I was cheating on her. Every time I saw a couple, I couldn't help but miss her, that was the worst; I guessed I had lost my mind. However, I really doubted that I could find her… or that's what I thought…

I was walking with a friend, and then, on the opposite sidewalk, I saw her… I thought I was dreaming but no, it was real. I noticed that she looked quite fashionable, very girly, she laughed when she spoke, and accidentally, she let fall something. She was accompanied by a young woman. Then she and her companion turned in another direction, so without hesitation, I followed them. My friend looked at me surprised. There were many people but I did not want to lose sight of them, it was my chance to finally solve this mystery. I caught them up:

"Excuse me, I think this is yours", I said breathless.

"Ah, thank you", she said and smiled.

Her voice was so sweet. I felt defenseless; I didn't know what to do or what to say. The other woman looked at me with suspicion. Before I let them go, I dared to ask her name. Both of them looked at me as if I was crazy, and I don't blame them.

"And who are you?", her companion asked.

"I-I'm sorry. It wasn't my intention to make you feel uncomfortable", I said while I tried to go away. Actually, I wanted to run but my legs didn't respond.

I could see that they both were gossiping, she didn't misunderstand it, she looked quite amused with the meeting, but then, she looked at me with pity.

My friend saw everything, and he invited me to drink something to cheer me up. I felt like a complete stupid, that was the worst rejection I had ever in my life.

"I've never seen you doing something like that, Lars", Mathias said laughing.

"I don't know what came over me"

"Those things happen; even you have the right to be impulsive".

He said it because he knows I always think carefully; besides, I am not a skirt chaser. Then, I told him about my dreams, my appointments with the psychologist, my sleeping problems, everything. He looked at me, at times, skeptical and other times, moved. I don't know if it was because we were drinking, but he promised me that he would help me to find her.

That night, I dreamt of her again.

Two days later, Mathias showed me the announcement of a private detective, I thought it was a joke, but he took me to his office. Since I didn't know her name, I just described her in detail. Detective Kirkland told me that it would be hard to find her, but then I remembered my sketchbook and I gave him one of the portraits I had of her.

"This will help!", he said.

I tried to don't overthink, but a few days later, the detective called me: he found her. Immediately, I went to his office, he delivered me the report: "Wang Xiao-Mei, 25 years old, single, Taiwanese, journalist, ...".

I read the information several times; I could easily approach her... then, I felt like a stalker, but I really wanted to know everything about her and find out why I dreamt of her. But what I was going to say: "Hi, I don't know who you are and you don't know who I am, but I dreamt of you every night". It sounded ridiculous.

I bought the newspaper just to looking for an article written by her. After work, I went to my sister's house, she and my brother-in-law were talking about a town not far from here. When Antonio made a comment about a bar, for some reason, I felt sad, so I decided to go home. As soon as I arrived, I went to sleep. In my dream, she was lying next to me, then she got out of bed, got dressed, kissed me, and left without saying goodbye, I knew she was crying, because I pretended I was sleeping. I wanted to stop her, but I couldn't. I woke up in tears. So, I was determined to find her at all costs.

The first time I approached her was one afternoon, when she left her office. She looked at me amused when she recognized me. I invited her to drink a coffee and she accepted hesitantly. After introduce each other, she said:

"Maybe, this sounds weird, but that day, I was thinking that your face looked familiar", she laughed. "It's impossible, that was the first time I saw you. And I was impressed that someone approached me in that way, you know?"

I think I blushed because she smiled satisfied.

"But Lien was worried, she is my best friend, almost like my big sister, and well, she is very mistrustful"

"Probably, she thought I was harassing you"

"Maybe, but to be honest, I feel as if I've seen you before…"

I didn't tell her about my dreams; we needed time to get to know each other better. Regularly, I picked her up after work; she didn't seem annoyed by this. We talked about our jobs, our daily routine, any topic. Until she told me she dreamt of me, it was the same dream I had, but from another perspective: she said goodbye to me from a train.

"What do you think this means?" she asked me sternly. "Moreover, I think this is not the first time I have this dream, it feels like a memory. I almost never remember my dreams but this one…"

I was about to tell her about mine, when she received a phone call, it seemed urgent. I helped her to take a taxi and she left. I didn't see her for a week. For the first time, I felt alone, I drew her in my sketchbook, waiting for her to come back soon. Finally, I saw her again; she told me that she had to go to Taiwan because her grandmother was sick, but now she was better. Then she looked down shyly.

"I missed you", she murmured.

"Me too"

After that, we started dating. Even thought, I had some girlfriends, every time I went out with her, I felt nervous, like the first time. She was so unique, always cheerful and lively, also funny and she made me laugh. It was as if we had years of being together.

One night, when I took her home, suddenly, she asked me to close my eyes, I did it waiting for one of her pranks, but instead, she kissed me. I opened my eyes; I noticed that she had to climbed a step to be face to face with me. I kissed her back, then, all of a sudden, she pulled away, she looked at me confused, and went into her house saying: "Good night".

I didn't understand what was going on, I was happy but something was wrong. The next day, when I went to pick her up, she wasn't there, the same happened the rest of the week. She didn't even answer the phone. After so many tries, she finally replied, she asked me to don't misunderstand her, but she needed time. I told her that she didn't have to explain it. I couldn't believe it, why?

I took time out too. An impulse made me go to that town mentioned by Emma and Antonio, as if that place was the answers at all my questions. As soon as I arrived, I went into that bar; the owner, an elderly man, looked at me for a while. When the place was almost empty, he called me.

"Excuse me, by chance, are you relative of Abel Vestdijk?"

"I do not know anyone with that name" I told him surprised for the question, but the name seemed familiar.

"I'm sorry. It's just that you look exactly like him"

"No problem, but tell me, who is he?" I asked him suddenly.

He told me that Abel was his father's best friend, he came from the Netherlands. He was very stoic but nice and a hard worker. He started to work there as soon as he arrived. One day, a young woman arrived asking for an address, he accompanied her; she was looking for an art school. The girl's name was Ling.

They fell in love, but their romance was a secret, she was engaged with a rich guy. Abel knew it and they argued a lot because of this. Ling didn't want to marry that man, but she couldn't disobey her father. One day, she left Abel without telling him a word, even though he probably knew where she had gone. That devastated him; he became more reserved and unfriendly. He didn't want to fall in love again.

Years later, she came back asking for him, but he wasn't here. She was divorced, but Abel didn't want to know about her anymore, his pride didn't let him to forgive her. They never saw each other again; rumors had it that she never got married a second time. She died a few years later than him, without knowing more about each other.

The story made me sad. Then I realized it was late and I didn't have where to sleep, I asked to the old man for a place, he told me that I could sleep in Abel's room. The room was exactly as he left it, because they estimated him a lot.

That was one of the places I dreamt of. There was a little bookcase, there, I found his dairy, I opened it, just for curiosity, and all my dreams were written there, but they weren't dreams anymore but treasured memories. Also, I found a very old photograph. I was surprised because they looked like Mei and me. In the reverse it had written: "Ling and me, 1928". They seemed really happy.

I thought about Mei, what was she doing? I was thinking about her until I fell asleep. In the morning, when I was about to go home, she was there, and she wanted to talk to me. I took her to the room. The first thing she said was:

"I feel that I've been here before… with you"

She sat next to me in the bed. Then, she asked me to listen to her even if it sounded ridiculous.

"That night, I didn't want to run away like that. I really wanted to kiss you, it's just that when I did it, for some reason, a lot of images came into my mind, it confused me… it was like..."

"If you saw all our memories together?"

She looked at me, and I showed her the dairy, she read it carefully, she had dreamt of some of these moments too but from Ling's perspective. Then, she saw the picture, she was quiet, thinking. She put her head in my shoulder, and without waiting for an answer, she said:

"Lars, do you want to know how I found you? I got into my car, and somehow, I drove to this place, something told me I could find you here"

I hugged her, finally, I was calm. She kissed me. Later, we decided to take a walk, the town had changed a lot but it still existed the formerly essence. We said goodbye to the old man, he seems glad to see us together.

At home, Mei told me that she wanted to be with me again, she missed me so much and actually, me too. We got back together as an official couple. They said that sometimes love give us a second chance, and this time, it did it in a very particular way.

More than a year later, Mei and I are happily married. When people ask us how we met, we share a knowing look and tell them about our first meeting on the street. We doubt they could believe the rest. Except for Mathias, he knows the whole story.

Again, I'm here with another story in English. Of all the fanfics I've written, I had to say this is one of my favorites. I know it's kind of vague but I think it's how I write, I have to work in that. I had the Spanish version too, but I don't know if i want to publish it. I apologize for the mistakes, remember that English isn't my first language. I hope you enjoyed. Anyways, thank you for taking your time and read it, it means a lot to me :D