The light poured in through the opened window as the world around me came into view, I was in my bedroom where I had gone to sleep the night before. I saw my friends all sleeping around me, and none of us were ninjas. It had all been a dream, of course, something as wonderfully awful as that story could never happen to me. I was blessed with my friends, but cursed with loneliness, and neither of them would ever leave me. With a sigh I rolled out of my bed and fell onto the floor with a thud, but then I jumped to my feet and screamed. He should not have been here, I closed my eyes and turned to face my bed, then I opened my eyes once more. Once again I screamed, what he was doing in my bed I could never have guessed. I backed away from the bed and tripped over a still body, but when I saw the face I scrambled to my feet and trampled another one.
Finally, overwhelmed with terror and confusion, I yelled at all of the sleeping figures in my room. "How the hell did all of you get into my bedroom?!" There was moaning and slight movement among them all, and one-by-one they awoke and sat up rubbing their eyes. The only one I was worried about, though, was the one who had been on my bed with me. I crawled up to him and tapped his scarred forehead, "You're you, right? Not Shukaku?" When his dark eyes opened, Gaara simply starred at me with a mixture of fear, astonishment, and joy. And before I knew what was happening I was being held by everyone in the room, every single person from my dream had their arms around me.
Gaara, being the closest to me, leaned in to whisper in my ear. His warm breath tickled my neck, and his words made my gut do flips. "I love you, Abbie. Please, do not ever leave me again." Then from behind me I hear Sasuke's voice saying the same thing, and then came Naruto's voice, then Ramona's and Rebecca's. Everyone in the room had exactly the same thing to say to me, all of them felt it necessary to tell me that they love me and that they do not want me gone.
I felt my eyes burn and my vision blurred, it had been too long since I had heard those words from anyone. And now everyone who meant anything to me was holding me close and saying those words, and for the first time in my life I felt the emptiness melt away. It was as though the hole within me had begun to fill in, and I was climbing out. The first step was something that I had not been able to do in years, and which now I was glad to be doing.
I wept. On Gaara's shoulder I sobbed openly. From the happiness that came with the love I was receiving, from the bitterness of all of those years wasted in solitude, from the fright at finally turning onto a new road and not knowing what was in store. One thing I knew, though, was that whatever awaited me down this new road, I would not face it alone. Fore my friends all stood by my side. I no longer followed along like a puppy, no longer lead like a god, but walked side-by-side with my friends. I had equals for the first time in my life, and it was wonderful.
Able to breathe again. Able to move again. Able to call for help for the first time. A fire blazed from my heart to the very tips of my fingers. Slowly awakening and I am perpetually loved.
This is my reality, and my new beginning.