Chapter Ten:A Dream?

A Dream? (ch.10)

I can see her. The woman, I haven’t thought about her for days, weekseven. I can see the silver-eyed woman. Is she but a dream? Am I aslumber or is this my reality?

Through the cluttered and distraught Hospital hallway, through a windowpane on the stairway doors, I see her, for just a moment. Was it real? Was it all a dream? Her eyes widen and I wish they were at me, but not, for they were directed tot the policemen and security just outside the door. Her silver eyes widen and she is pulled out of my sight, out of my mind, and away from me. I feel as if part of me is torn away with her, and this makes since not, for I do not even know her name.

I cross that hall and the next, my horizon zooming in closer. You don’t even know her. I know her well. You don’t know her name. I know the name of her homeland. She just spoke to you once, so you heard her accent. That’s not the same. I spoke once to her, and she followed me as far as she could. Farther than anyone ever has. Farther than Ianto? I stop. What am I doing? I’m going after a girl I saw once, and I’m not even thinking about it. What would I do if I were right in front of her? Would I speak to her, ask her name? Kiss her?

Suddenly I’m in front of the security guard and he’s asking me questions. I don’t want to listen to him; I don’t want to listen to anyone except her. He’s asking if I’d seen a girl in a hospital gown. I shoot him a sarcastic look. I zone out, and back in. Over and over. He’s showing me a picture of the girl he’s looking for. I look at it so it would seem I’m paying attention. It’s her. I listen. He says that she had metabolized the sedative faster than they thought, and that she had woken up and gone somewhere. She’s disappeared, and I know where she is. Why isn’t my mouth opening, telling him to look behind him? Why won’t I tell him that I’m the only one that knows where she is, that she’s running away, fast and that she could be gone any second. I open my mouth, and I think I’m going to tell him. I ask her name.

A second he pauses, and my hope shoot skyward. He states, almost robotically, that he can’t tell me because it’s patient/doctor confidentiality, and that even if he could, he doesn’t know. I frown as he walks away and head to the stairwell. I’ll tell her that the guards are looking for her. She’ll look at me as if I’m her hero, just as she did that day. I’ll lead her out of the hospital and away from this place. I’ll take her home and tuck her into her beg. I might even shag her.

But she’s not there, and Rhys is walking out of it. He looks scared and pale, and I know exactly why. I ask him if he’d been with someone in the stairwell. His eyes go wide and he rapidly tells me that he’d just now met her and that he wasn’t involved with her. Of course, the stupid git wouldn’t know what I’m talking about. I ignore him and ask her name.

He paused, stood up straight and with a look of puzzlement on his face, his mouth opens.

“Tegan.”