My name is Eclipse. I might be here, but then again, I might not be. So where am I exactly?

I'm in the nightmare.

If you learn to protect your dreams, maybe they won't get taken. And the mirror that you hold inside of you won't be tainted. Then you could live forever, in your sleep. But what would be the reason for living forever? To keep wondering and dreaming about the same people and the same things?

If you make your mirror too perfect, you become nothing. And when you're nothing, you are simply erased.

No one deserves to be erased.

So why do you think I steal the dreams away?

I was going to leave again. Maybe I'd head away to Putnam Valley, where I could start over.

"One ticket to Putnam Valley, please!" I giggled, unable to hold my pleasure in. I like leaving, it's always full of so much food and so much excitement.

The ticket man was holding up my ticket, and I was reaching out, but...

"Stop!" I turned at the voice. This is why friends were useless. They try to hold you back, but you're trying to go forward. But I can't take away the dreams of someone that I trust or that I love…it eats me up inside.

"…Sonic." I narrowed my eyes. "Are you coming with me then?"

Amy was with him, I noticed. She was crying. She was so angry with me. Because I should be nice, and just fall over and die. That's what I should have done. Way back when.

"How could you?" She asked. "I trusted you! I thought you were"

"It's not what you think." I smiled, and she gaped like a fish. "I eat to survive. I don't want to die. Is it wrong that I want to live?"

Sonic pointed at me, his finger trembling. "All those people!" He said.

"They're just in pain. Everything will be fine." I smiled. "Everything will be fine."

"But they…" Amy cried.

"Come with us, Eclipse." Sonic said. I blinked, frowned, and shook my head.

But I guess I didn't have any choice, because I was just dragged off.

"Why?" Amy asked, crying. "Why? How could you, Eclipse?" So many tears, so many sobs. Why? They weren't dead. But I would be.

I smiled. "It's very easy, actually." I told her. "I got hungry, and so I ate."

"hungry?" Sonic asked. "Why can't you eat bread?" So many questions, but it's so simple! Do I have to answer?

"This is a dream." I told him. "The people in here might be real, but the things are just imaginary." I shrugged and said, "So I could just eat humans if you'd like. But I take their dreams."

Sonic widened his eyes. "Eat humans…?"

Why was that so mortifying? I wasn't doing it. And now, I had to take their dreams, and their memories, and everything they wanted all because they just didn't want to leave me alone.

"Don't you hurt…when you do this?"

"Why would I hurt?" Hurting was what I was getting away from. And since the people weren't aware of their dreams…

"Because you're hurting other people." Amy whimpered.

"You want me to die, because I can get the food I need but it hurts people, and hurting people is bad?" I asked them.

"die?" Sonic wondered aloud. "Are you even really alive?"

"That's a lovely question." I said, with a half grin. "Maybe not. But then, when I close my eyes…I'm alive again."

"Alive again? Have you died before…?" Amy widened her eyes.

"I might have." My tone was nonchalant, because dying didn't hurt if you were dreaming.

"But you can't just live off of other people. It's wrong."

"But you do it. You don't make your own bread, or grow your own crops…you just take."

Sonic winced when I said that. Was I wrong? I don't think so. "But we make an even trade for it."

"What about the people who don't have the money to…?" I asked. "Aren't they in pain? Why can't you help them?"

Amy looked taken aback. "Don't you see…?" She asked. "You're just causing more pain."

"But pain can be dulled…death can be stalled…and you can't live without the pain that you get."

It's all so true. What is it they say? C'est la vie, that's life.

They looked at each other, and then… "Why are you running away?" Sonic asked.

"Running away?" I asked, and then I laughed. away? From what? "I'm not running."

"But…you don't want to die." Amy said. "You just keep running away."

"I can't die…not now. There's so much I need to do. So much I have to see." So many dreams I haven't tasted. So many Mirrors I have to see.

"But it's your time to go." Sonic said.

"You can't live forever." Amy continued.

"I don't want to live forever." I told them. "But…" I really don't want…to live for eternity. Eternity is a long time. And forever is too short of a word to describe itself.

"Don't you think it's time to go?" Sonic asked. "It's time for you to leave."

"…I don't need to leave." I said. Wasn't that true? Why leave when I could do what I want?

"…someone is out there.." Amy said. "Someone who is dying from a disease who wants to keep living too…but they have to die."

Yes, there were many people like me. But should I stop living because they haven't figured it out? Then what do I do, Tell them about it in heaven?

"I know I have to die. But, why, when I can live to be old, and then die? Why can't I live and be old like normal people?"

"We can't tell you…" Sonic said. "But living through other people's pain.… is it satisfying?"

That… I'm not sure of. Was it satisfying? Was I running away?

"Maybe it's time to face your own pain, Eclipse." Amy whispered.

"…" I lowered my head. "Maybe."

As I put my head down on the pillow, I remembered how much fun I've had. All the things I've done. The places I've been. I was pretty lucky.

But I have to die now. Because I can't live forever, even thought I don't want to, and I can't live for longer than I'm supposed to. Maybe I'm dying for a reason. Maybe there's something that I'll find out, from dying. Whatever it is, I'm ready for it now.

You can stall death. But it'll always linger with you. You'll smell like it, look like it… you'll feel it inside you.

But you can't not die. Living for an eternity kills you inside. It'll kill you because you're going to be so…so… alive. You'll be so alive, so full. The parts of you that you cherish, your imagination, your mind, and your sanity- they'll wither away. If everything you dream became possible, if you could live without check…

Then you'd truly be in a nightmare.

I know, I ended kinda weird, but…

Hey, now you know, right? Please review and thanks for reading! You're so awesome!