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“I could never leave you….”
Seth’s eyes fly open and he bolts upright, breathing hard. He reaches for the glass of water by his bedside and takes a long drink then sighs, slumping back against the headboard as he tries to make sense of what just happened.
He’d only just gone to sleep when in a haze, Kate’s face began to flit in and out of his dreams. Only, they hadn’t felt like dreams. Not really. It had felt more real than any dream Seth had ever had. It was like she was in the room, really speaking to him. But that couldn’t have been right…. could it?
Seth sighs and scrubs his hands over his face. Kate may be alive inside Amaru, but she was far from herself at the moment. But still…. that dream….
With another sigh, Seth downs the rest of his water and settles into bed again. The last thing he remembers is staring at the shapes in the ceiling before sleep claims him again.
“Seth….”
Seth blinks his eyes open slowly and in an instant he’s sitting on his bed and he’s fully dressed. In the next instant, his room is completely empty and he’s standing in the middle of it. A hazy light filters in through the window, and when did he get a window? Was that always there? His head feels heavy and it’s hard to focus on anything except for the thump-thump thump-thump sound that seems to fill the entire space. It’s like a heartbeat, and Seth realizes the walls are pulsating now, like the entire building is beating and breathing and living.
“Seth…”
And then, the building is gone, but the beating persists. He’s on a sand dune, and the sun is beating down but he feels no heat. The sunlight is a golden yellow but the sun… the sun shines a brilliant red as it sets over the horizon. Or is it rising? It’s so hard to tell. Seth stumbles towards it, unable to keep himself away. But then it starts… moving towards him? Seth pauses. How can the sun be moving closer?
“Seth…. it’s me… Please…”
As the sun moves closer, Seth can see that it’s not actually the sun. It’s a person. A woman…. She wears a long red dress and her hair blows in wind that Seth can’t feel. She reaches towards him as she moves closer and her face finally comes into focus.
“Kate?” Seth breathes.
“Seth…” she calls. “Seth, it’s me! Please help!”
Seth moves towards her again, this woman that came from the sun, that wears Kate’s face. It’s a trick, his gut tells him. It’s Kate, his heart responds.
“I can’t hold her long, please Seth!”
They finally, finally meet each other and Seth reaches out, but is barred from touching by some invisible force. “Kate…. What… what is this?”
“I found a way to reach out,” she says softly. “She doesn’t sleep often but when she does, her soul is weak. I can reach out. I found you, and now you need to come find me. Please Seth…”
She starts to fade, and Seth tries to reach for her again. “Kate no! Where are you! You have to tell me!”
“I don’t have much time!” Kate responds. “An abandoned church with a blue cross. There are mountains Seth, so many mountains…”
She fades out even more and Seth tries to reach her again. “Kate no! No, stay with me, don’t leave me Kate!”
The last thing Seth hears before he wakes up again is Kate’s voice, calling to him from somewhere far away.
“I could never leave you.”