'Raina, thought you'd escape me?'

A surge of pain climbed up my spine and I gasped eyes wide open. "But? How did you?"

'Oh but it isn't me Raina. It was never me. It was always you."

I gasped in more pain. "Me? How was it me? Where's Cal…?"

"Raina!" Cal yelled. I turned and saw him he ran up to me and held my arms. "You need to wake up Raina. You need to wake up."

"But….where am I?"

'Wherever you want to be,' my father said from behind me.

Cal shook my shoulders. 'Raina. It's your choice. I realize it now. You can change it all. Right now if you want to. Change it forever. Change it so we don't have to ever have nightmares again!"

"How?" my voice trembled. It couldn't be true. "How do you know I can? Wouldn't that mean you can too?"

"No. You see. I'm your other half. I am of nightmares and all things frightening. I've got my powers under control, but we need you to even it out. Give into the light."

I swallowed.

"Breathe and learn what Juniper said. Come on! He's a figment of your imagination! Stop making it more than that! You've got to forget this Raina. Forget him. Forget all he ever did, ever was. Heal him Raina!"

"I…" I was about to object. I can't, I thought. I just can't. But then I was pulled under into some other place. I was in the garden, my garden. But it was different and I felt different. I looked down at my hands; they were small, child-like. I wasn't about to speak, as I was shocked. What was this? Where was I?

"Raina, come here my darling," a voice called me over. It was a man. In fact, it was my father. I cringed and just stood.

He walked over to me. "What's wrong Raina?" He smiled. "Are you getting all shy on me?"

I just stood still and looked at him, afraid to speak at all. I held my tongue.

"Stubborn little girl aren't you? Well, I suppose I'll just have to give you that lollipop after all then. Will you ever forgive me for leaving you bereft of it?"

Lollipop? What was he talking about?

He walked over to the table that I never remembered being there. Then, vaguely, I remembered a broken table cracked and covered in twigs and growth. It was outside in the garden, only it had been there so long, I couldn't remember it when it was truly in one piece.

I walked over to him. Surely any little girl would be curious about a lollipop. However, it wasn't all that I was looking for. I still remained at a slight distance, recognizing a face that had been cruel and twisted only moments before this vision had pulled me under.

There was something in the middle of the table; a sphere of some sort. It was perfect and sort of floating near the surface of the table. I looked at it curiously.

"Do you know what that is Raina?" He asked, looking in my direction. "It's the bond between your mother and I. It's the balance."

"Bond?" I said, looking up at him. There was kindness in his eyes; pure kindness. This certainly wasn't the man I had just left behind.

"Yes, Raina. If it weren't for your mother I could lose control. If it weren't for this sphere, we would not be always so tranquil."

I looked at the sphere again. It looked so powerful and yet so….fragile. I put my hand up to me but my hand moved through.

"It can't break," I commented.

"Sweetie. Only one with dreams or nightmares can tend to it. Luckily for you, you only experience the dreams and nightmares of mortals. Still, you'll know soon enough."

I nodded, understanding entirely what he was talking about. I swallowed. I looked up at him one last time but then I felt the pull again. He was gone and I was in the same place in the future, only this time no one could see me.

Mother and father, they were arguing, fiercely. I could feel the intensity in both voice and mind. I could read their mind! Not that I needed to, to get their point. It just…made everything so much worse.

I looked up at the glass. It was broken, had been broken. Father was losing control and mother was crying.

I just stood there unable to take my eyes off them. Then I saw something in the corner of my eye. A boy. He was crying.

"I'm sorry!" he was screaming. Tears were also climbing down his face. Apparently he'd done something wrong. "I didn't mean to break it. I didn't mean to."

He could touch it?

I walked up to the pieces and place my hands on a broken shard. Accidentally, I slit my finger, instinctively holding it up to my mouth.

Father stiffened a moment and stopped yelling then he turned to me with something I didn't recognize in his eyes. I could tell something had overwhelmed him.

"Jack, no!" my mother screamed and grabbed for him.

Eyes wide, he was suddenly beside me, kneeling down.

My mother was right behind him. "Do not give into any instinct. She is only a child! She is your child!!!"

And just before, he glared at me hard. I…I couldn't help but fall into them, those beautiful green eyes. They were deep and so frightening. It brought out every nightmare I'd had. It was eating me away.

Just then, mother reached us and pulled him away. She grabbed hold of me and just like that, we vanished.