"Cassie! Cassie please slow down!" Anna cried out grabbing at her friends hand. Cassandra hobbled through the familiar field towards the clearing in the woods impatiently. Didn't Anna understand? She needed to see the place now. Cassandra shot her friend an annoyed scowl as she worried her ring around her finger. "Why don't you hurry up?" she suggested her voice sounding harsher than she had meant.

"Cassandra" Anna said suddenly coming to a halt, "Maybe this isn't such a good idea. Maybe you should wait… I'm not sure you're in the right state of mind for this"

Cassandra's eyebrows drew together. "I'm going Anna. I have to see this for myself. I have to know that ….." but she trailed off unable to finish her sentence. She knew how crazy the whole thing sounded. "I need to make sense of it all" she said quietly, her eyes beseeching her friends. "The sooner I see, the sooner I can move on"

Anna huffed out a breath, but shook her head. "Ok yeah….. come on then"

After what seemed like an eternity, the two girls stood in the clearing, Cassandra leaning on Anna for support. Her eyes scanned the area, there were obvious signs of her fall here, but there should also be…. There! Her eyes fell to a pathway, now overgrown with weeds, it was a trail she had never dared to take her horse down before, it had looked too dangerous with the low lying tree branches. Instinctively, she hurried towards it.

"Cassie! Where are you going?" Anna called after her, her footsteps crunching the fallen branches as she made to follow.

"This trail" Cassandra said, ducking her head under a branch and moving forward, "It leads to the cottage… or it did in my dreams!"

Cassandra could hear Anna following behind her, if she could just make it there, if she could just show Anna… then what? What would it prove? Maybe she had been down this trail before….. could she bear to see the cottage if there had ever been one, standing empty?

"Alright Cassandra enough!" Anna said suddenly. "I'm convinced, you've … you're not well. We're going back now, and I'm taking you back to the hospital."

"Not well?" Cassandra asked confused. "I'm fine Anna…. I just…."

"You what?" Anna asked crossing her arms over her chest. "You want me to follow you down this trail that hasn't been used in years from the looks of it? For what? To show me a cottage that you dreamed you lived in? Cassandra LISTEN to yourself!"

Cassandra shook her head. "Look Anna, just let me find it. Please. Afterward, well go back. Take me to the hospital if you feel that is best, have me committed for all I care, but please, just let me see for myself"

Without waiting for an answer, Cassandra turned her back on her friend, and continued to make her way down the overgrown path, her ankle protesting with every step. Just ahead of her she could see another clearing, just like she knew there would be. Cassandra hurried towards it, as fast as she was able. She took a deep breath and held it as she reached the clearing and stepped through. Ahead of her, the ruins of an old cottage stood there, just as she had known it would. The sight of the cottage, which she was certain she had never seen in this ruined state, stopped her in her tracks. Cassandra let out the breath she had been holding, as tears began to rain softly down her cheeks.

Hesitatingly, she took a few steps towards the cottage. She already knew what she would find inside. Nothing. No reminder of him, of them. And she knew that would only shatter her more, but still she pressed forward.

Her foot touched the bottom step, and she could see the door hanging ajar. It looked like someone had tried to get it to stay, but it didn't want to cooperate. She reached for it, pushing it open, and stepped into the ruin.

Her eyes swept the tattered remains of what had been her home, feeling her heart sink. Even though she had known that there wasn't going to be anything here, even though she had expected it, had prepared herself for it, it didn't stop the pain that she felt now.

Defeated, Cassandra turned her back, and left the ruins, seeing Anna just where she had expected her to be, standing at the base of the stairs, arms crossed over her chest and an 'I-told-you-so' look on her face.

"Well" Anna said raising an eyebrow.

"Nothing" Cassandra said quietly. "Just as I had known there would be. Alright Anna, lets go."