If Only

I couldn't remember exactly why I was in the chapel, all I managed to garner was that it was a funeral, and it was very sad, as funerals are wont to be. I was seated in the front row--was it someone I knew that had died?--trying to listen to the minister, but confusion was bubbling up inside of me. Where was I? Why was I here? Who had died?
Suddenly, I felt the arms of the person sitting to the left of me wrap around me and pulled me close. I peered up and saw a man, maybe in his early twenties, with dark hair and dark eyes.
"I'm so sorry," he murmured, wrapping his arms around me tighter. He was exquisitely warm and--though he appeared very thin--soft.
Like a heated pillow, I thought. I allowed myself to move closer to him and to return his embrace.
I couldn't explain why, but something about his embrace made me feel like it was alright to expose the fact that I was, indeed, sad at this funeral. I couldn't hold it in anymore and I let myself cry on him. He didn't care. He simply let me and stroked my back. He whispered something to me, something possibly in a different language. However, I could tell what he meant. I lifted my head up off of his chest and noticed that he had a small smile playing on his lips. He leaned forward and...

Rumi awoke with a start. She immediately realized it had only been a dream and started sobbing hysterically.
"Mrs. Rhinebeck," she hiccuped. "Mrs. Rhinebeck!"
Her warden rushed in. She noticed that the fourteen-year-old was crying. "Oh, Rumi, did you have the dream again? You poor dear."
"It wasn't a dream," Rumi protested. "It wasn't!"
"Of course," Mrs. Rhinebeck said sympathetically. "Charles, Rumi needs her straitjacket again," she called.
"No!" Rumi screamed while she was being carted away. "It wasn't a dream! He was here this time! Mrs. Rhinebeck, help! Put me down! Someone help me, please!"
Becky, a new nurse at Shady Skies Mental Hospital, looked at Mrs. Rhinebeck with concern. "Is Rumi...going to be alright?"
The older woman sighed. "Unfortunately, no. Her family died, and ever since, she's been having that dream. Scares the poor girl so badly she wakes up every night sobbing. Can't imagine why, though. Sounds like a terribly pleasant dream."

End