Darkness crept in every corner as the midnight air surrounded Lianne’s bedroom. The silence was deafening, but it was suddenly broken by her frightening shout.

“Nooo!”

She sat on the bed, panting, beads of sweat ran all the way down her temple to her neck, and her eyes stared widely at the window.

For almost a year now, she had finally dreamt it again.

A man standing on top of a cliff as if waiting. His face covered by the shadow. The ocean waves were furiously splashing the cliff, but he was unaffected by the sight. His hair and coat were wet with the rain.

Lianne was there, standing some distance behind him, but she was transparent. She didn’t have a solid body.

When he turned to his back, it looked like he was looking at her, his eyes aglow, but it was dishearteningly sad. Then, his lips moved shaping a name - her name.

The surroundings then changed into a room of such grandeur; full of marvelous stones of various kinds, fresh bouquet of white roses in every vase and a fireplace that gave warmth all over the room. The man then entered it from the main door wearing a white robe that exposed his masculine body.

Lianne, in her dream, was there again, still transparent standing at the edge of the bed. She saw a lady in the balcony leaning against the railing facing the beautiful scene of sunset in the mountains. He walked intently towards her and then gently enveloped her back with his strong arms and caressed the curve of her smooth neck.

It shivered Lianne upon seeing it. Never had she seen so much passion and longing in a man. There was familiarity about her form and stature, Lianne thought, but she couldn’t clearly see who she was. She wanted to see this lady. She wanted to know who she was. It felt as if she had known her before.

Then, the next scene wholly disturbed her. She saw blood staining at the back of the white satin nightgown of the woman, and in her standpoint, at the same time, she felt a sharp stabbing pain on her abdomen. The woman fell down onto the marbled floor with the man supporting her in his arms.

This stunned her true, but what really affected her was seeing the face of the lady.

It was her.

After turning the lights on her bedroom, Lianne went downstairs to her kitchen and opened the fridge taking a bottle of mineral water. She heavily drank the cold refreshing liquid knowing it would calm her pulse down. She was quite astonished finding out that the woman in her dream was her, but it confused her as to who the man was. She had dreamt it quite often in the past years but was so vague, she didn’t actually care to reflect on it that much. But now, it felt like it was so real it made her very uneasy.

Leaning against the kitchen table, she suddenly got a slight cramp on her abdomen making her cringe a bit, and during that moment, she thought that it was odd. Really odd.

“Why now?” she asked herself. “Just when I’m gradually forgetting about it, that’s when it came back clearer? Like, it’s a real memory.”

She leaped in fright, turning quickly to her right side when she felt something touch her arm. Her grip on the bottled water came loose and instantly, it came splashing down between her feet.

A man stood in her front, but this was not just any man. Her eyes widened upon recognizing who the person was.

His face was slightly illuminated by the upstairs light and fridge. His eyes were fixed on her as if studying her from head to foot.

Now that they were both at close proximity with each other, Lianne could now undoubtedly see his face.

‘This is the man from the library this morning!’ she shouted to herself.

“You! How-how did you get inside?” she asked with trembling lips. He, on the other hand, responded with silence, but progressed closer to her.

“No. Don’t you dare come nearer or I’ll, or I’ll scream!” she added as if her meager threat would frighten him.

She stepped backward, slowly moving to the kitchen’s cabinet next to the fridge. In there, she found her right hand touch the knife shelf.

Bingo.

She was at wit’s end thinking she might have stumbled upon a dangerous stalker or a rapist, or worse a killer knowing he was able to find his way inside her apartment. How could she have let her guard down?! Now, she was unsure on what to do.

He approached her even closer despite her warning and this time, he spoke her name in an affectionate manner.

“Lianne...”

Like a bottle of alcohol, his warm voice was lethargic. It was as if she had heard his voice before, but wasn’t sure where and when. However, thinking that she had charmed a stalker, with all her fear, she quickly drew out a long cutting knife from the shelf and thrust it in between them.

Her meager protection didn’t so much as frighten him because in an instant, he got a hold of her hand, removing the knife from her. She immediately screamed, frightened by the contact of their skin, but her scream abruptly stopped.

Silence followed as the man swooped in and claimed her mouth.

Lianne’s eyelids fluttered, amazed by the quickness of the events. ‘He is kissing me... He is kissing me!’ her mind screamed.

The silence was broken when the rain started to pour heavily and a couple of thunderous rumble sounded some distance away. The knife he held fell directly on the floor making a faint sound too, hinting Lianne that she could no longer defend herself with it.

She clenched her fists wanting to punch his chest, but before that could even happen, the man grabbed the back of her head and angled her face to the side, enough to give him more access with her mouth. His kiss was intense, melting, all too consuming that Lianne’s hands loosened from their tight fists.

Her heart skipped a beat when he traced her face with his hands. The way he handled her, it was so gentle it made her think she was a baby.

Then, she noticed her eyes turning wet. She couldn’t explain it but her heart just wanted to explode.

His kiss didn’t seem like from a stalker’s, all the more not from a rapist. Whoever he was, his kiss truly affected her more than she could allow.

The alarm clock wrung loudly noting eight in the morning. Lianne quickly sat on her bed after reaching the alarm clock on her headboard turning it off. Then, her cellphone’s tone played next at the kitchen table below giving Lianne a hint that it was Jen on the other side of the line. She still felt rather woozy but managed to stand up from her bed and hurriedly walked downstairs.

“He-hello Jen, good morning, ” Lianne answered in a groggy voice.

“Oh! Hello Lianne, good morning to you too. Oh my! I bet you just woke up right?”

“Yah, you’re-” All of a sudden, she stopped after seeing the water bottle lying on the wet floor of her kitchen. Instantly, memories of last night came surging in leaving her agape.

“It wasn’t...a dream?!” she whispered to herself, her eyes turning to saucers.

“What wasn’t a dream?” Jen asked, her voice dripping with confusion. “You’re not daydreaming again are you?”

Lianne snapped out and answered back. “Huh? Day...daydreaming? Well, no...uhm...not at all.”

“Ohhhh! No! Don’t YOU ‘um’ me like that! You’re hiding something from me I’m sure! You better tell me that when you arrive here at the bus stop, or else I’ll keep on pestering you. Anyway, you’ve got to work your ass off your bed now so the plane going to the Since Resort won’t leave us!” Jen commanded.

“OH YES!” Lianne immediately realized, pulling herself out of her bewildered state. “Yes! Yes! I’ll be there now Jen, just give me thirty minutes, ok?!” she answered back and then hung up.

Knowing last night’s event wasn’t a dream made her feel more anxious, but at least now, she had finally concluded that he was no rapist or especially a killer because if he was then she should have been defiled or dead by now.

She remembered his half-illuminated face and the way his lips felt against hers; the caring way he touched her and those eyes! How could she ever forget those piercing brown-green eyes? It was like he had the ability to read her soul.

Before she walked out of the kitchen door, Lianne took a deep sigh, eyed the kitchen and wrapped her arms around herself.

“Who...are you?”