Chapter 4

I open my eyes and see a scene that is all too familiar. The beautiful garden, with its colors and aromas, urging me to push forward. Even the bright colors and the sweet scent couldn't ease the sense of foreboding in the air. It's as if the entire garden was holding it's breath, waiting for me to make the first move. The garden knew as well as I did, everything has changed. My mother is gone. What will this dream become without her?

Who will stop me from following one of the beautiful boys into the unknown?

I close my eyes tight, praying that when I open them i'll be in my bed, safe from the darkness this garden holds. It never worked in the past, but I hoped this time would be different. I opened my eyes and the garden remained. I began to walk toward where the familiar sound always came from, the gazebo.

Once the gazebo was in sight, it was only a matter of time until the first boy appeared. Absolutely beautiful with his short chocolate hair, and eyes the color of fresh soil, the first boy appeared standing in the gazebo. His tan skin and white smile made it seem as if he had been carved from the earth. I had to catch my breath. I couldn't let myself become overwhelmed this time. This time was different, my mother wouldn't be there to save me this time.

"Hello Marina, are you finally going to come with me?", The dazzling boy in the gazebo asked, flashing me a smile that made my insides twist. I felt his desire swirl around me as if it was a tangible substance. I wanted badly to take his hand and follow him into the unknown. Where would he take me? What was beyond this garden?

"Who are you?" I asked, regaining what wits I had. I couldn't let myself give in to the things I feel in this garden. Emotions seem overwhelming here, wherever this is.

The boy flashed me a taunting smile, as if correcting a child who gave the wrong answer in class and said "Marina, you're asking the wrong questions. Come with me and I might tell you who I am"

At this moment I hear the cracking of fresh branches, and I know the other beautiful boy is in our midst. The boy with the shoulder-length golden hair, and the eyes of the sea stepped forward, his harm stretched towards me as it always is. This boy looked as if he were carved from the sun and sky. I could feel the desire pulsing around me, as well as the hostility the two boys had for each other. They were each urging me to choose them, to follow them. 'I cannot give in, I don't know who they are.' I repeated this mantra in my head, ignoring the things I continued to feel. My heart urged me to choose, but my head knew better.

"Marina, you can't trust him. Come with me." The boy with the golden hair pleaded. Something about the boy made me want to trust him, to take his hand and see where he led me. Maybe if I chose I would get answers. It doesn't matter if anything bad happens, it's only a dream. The darkness couldn't really be responsible for taking my mother. It was just an accident.

"I wouldn't listen to him if I were you. Choose me Marina." The boy with the chocolate hair urged, making his way down the stairs of the gazebo, as he always did.

"I don't know who either of you are. I'm not choosing anyone." I said stubbornly, crossing my arms over my lace gown. Each boy looked at the other, as if they were having a silent conversation I couldn't hear.

"Look, you have to choose." The boy with the chocolate hair said, his voice hardening.

"You can't trust him, you need to choose me." The boy with the golden hair said, cutting the other boy off.

"You both say I can't trust the other, so I pick neither of you." I say trying to shrug nonchalantly, but the barrage of emotions makes it look forced. The urge to choose was starting to become unbearable, it felt as if it was my only option. The gentle humid breeze began to pick up, becoming more harsh and threatening with each passing second. It felt as if my time was almost up. Typically, at this point in the dream my mother appears, but she isn't here this time.

The wind began to whip and thrash, shaking the flowers and branches of each bush. It became hard to hear as the wind began screaming in my ears. I turned, expecting to see my mother behind me, but all I saw was the garden. I don't know why part of me expected her to appear, some small part of me had hoped.

"You need to choose Marina, you're out of time." The boy with the golden hair pleaded.

And with those last words, the darkness appeared. Snaking out of the shadows in the garden as if it had been waiting there all along.

"Choose Marina, NOW!" The boy with the chocolate hair screamed through the wind. But I couldn't hear him, I couldn't hear anything except for the screaming of the wind, and my heart thumping. I felt the icy cold of the darkness before it actually reached me. The wind became so cold it felt sharp, as if it were piercing into my body. The darkness exuded no emotions or power to pull me forward. The darkness used force. I began to feel my feet slip from beneath me, leaving trails in the dirt as it scooted me towards it.

"Marina, grab my hand!" The boy with the golden hair screamed, arm extended.

"No Marina, grab mine!" The other boy shouted with his arm also extended.

The cold around me became almost unbearable, it took all of my strength to reach my hand out.

But who would I choose?

I felt the cold pulling me deeper in, urging me to let go and stop fighting. Part of me wanted to give in, but I knew that wasn't the choice I had to make. My choice lies with the two beautiful boys.

My vision began to cloud and I knew that if I didn't choose, I wouldn't have this dream again. I wasn't sure if I would wake up. The piercing coldness felt too real to be a dream. My vision began to fade, the garden with it's beautiful flowers was all but gone, the only thing I could make out were the faces of the two boys.

"Choose Marina, choose!" They both screamed through the wind.