"...is...""...ennis..."
"Dennis?!" Dennis woke up from his seat while Victoria, his cla.s.smate, nudges him violently.
"How long are you going to wake up, Dennis?! Mr. Longbottom is gonna be here any minute, you know?!"
"Oh... umm, yea... sure..." He"s still feeling drowsy and avoids himself to get some sleep.
"You know, I was having a great dream... And you just ruined it."
"I can"t help it. You"ve got to detention five times in a row, so-
HEY!!! DON"T SLEEP ON ME AGAIN!!!"
He crossed his arms on his desk as he lays his head to sleep.
"... It was a great dream. I can almost remember it...
The bright gra.s.sy plains;
The forest of fall;
The beautiful lights in the dark winter;
The elegant scenery from the depths of the ocean...
...
I want to go there again."
***
Valera wakes up in her hospital bed.
Everywhere around her was dim. She looked at that window on her right to see streetlights and the windows of building lit up to fight off the darkness of night.
Confused, she sat straight to look further in the room.
The light suddenly shone across the room, blinding her as she reactively covers her eyes with her hand.
The nurse, who entered the room, saw the resurrected body of a supposed-deceased patient and petrified at this shocking miracle.
She then runs to the hallway after a moment of silence between the two. As she bolts through the hall, she can see Dr. Rogers leaving in one of the rooms.
She screams at the doctor, still surprised at Valera.
"Doctor!!! Doctor Rogers!!!"
He looks at the distressed nurse running towards him.
The patient...!
Valera is...!"
At the stroke of midnight, Marie scurries to the hospital as they called her about Valera"s sudden awakening.
She opens the room, only to see her niece inspected by Dr. Rogers. She notices the immediate opening of the door and saw Marie stunned by her existence.
"...Valera?"
"Aunt Marie..."
She approaches to her slowly, filled with joy to see Valera finally awake. Without a delay, she hugs her tight.
"I"m so glad... I"m so glad..." Marie repeats the same words with nothing to verbalize what she feels for this wonderful sensation.
Valera embraces her in response. "...I"m back, Aunt Marie."
However, she looks down the floor with a form of a silhouette lurking to the shadows. She then looks at the door to see the mysterious person in front of her.
Valera looks at the door as she sees her mother standing with delight.
"Mom...?"
She stands up to her bed and approaches to her mother, alive and well.
"H-Hey! You can"t just-" Dr. Rogers warns her, for she might fall because she"s been bedridden for four months. Nevertheless, Valera is moving just fine.
He is surprised at her while she moves and runs normally; as if she isn"t bedridden at all.
She embraces her mother with glee.
"Mom... You"re finally awake. After all those years, you..."
She puts her hands on her daughter"s back and head. "You"ve grown, Valera." Seeing her daughter to be awake in her dreadful dream makes her feel more than satisfied. She embraces her daughter with a gentle touch of a mother.
Valera looks around the hallways whilst holding her mother.
"...Where"s Phillip?"
"..." Her mother is silent to her question while her grip to her slowly subsides.
"Let"s go inside first, ok?"
Valera and her mother go in the room to talk about Phillip"s whereabouts.
After her euthanasia, Phillip is the last person who stayed in this very room. Even once he pulled the plug, he still hopes for her to wake up in this very moment.
Two hours has pa.s.sed, he"s on the verge of giving up, forcing him to accept the outcome and goes out of the room.
...
Her mother told Valera the whole story while Dr. Rogers checks her condition. She"s devastated and worried about his feelings. But even so, she looks at her with resolve in her eyes.
"I want to see him."
She isn"t surprised at her daughter"s response. Rather, she expected her to answer that because her love shows no bounds toward Phillip.
"If that"s what you feel, than its fine.
You"re okay with this too, right?" She looks towards Rogers with a sincere look.
He"s hesitated to answer, but eventually...
"... I suppose I have no choice. If I examine her even further, the result would be the same anyway, due to the fact that there was another patient who showed the same outcome." He points his eyes unto Valera"s mother as he said those words.
"Another...?" She almost got the point, but unsure.
"I"ve prepared you a spare of clothes, just so you don"t go out looking like that."
Valera forgot that she still wore her hospital gown.
She"s shocked at her mother"s preparedness to these kinds of situations.
"Mom..."
"Hurry up, Valera. You don"t have to keep him waiting, you know?"
She is grateful at her mother and goes to the bathroom on the corner to change without delay.
As soon as she goes inside, Marie then asks her.
"How did you know that Valera will survive,
Victoria?"
Victoria looks down at the floor.
"... I just guessed. I only just woke up two months ago and because Dennis is already dead, I"m hesitant about the answer."
"I forgot to ask you this earlier, but how did you gone out in that situation?"
"I still have no clue. It"s almost as mundane as I thought,
Like I"ve slept for a million years..."
***
"What?!! They didn"t accept it?!!"
Dennis sits on his office chair, frustrated of their response.
"After I waited for years, this is what I get...?"
Victoria looks at the doc.u.ments sent by them.
"They said that the pill didn"t work positively, as the testers have showed no signs of awareness for a few weeks."
"..." Dennis has gone to the end of his career. He places his hand on his mouth and thinks on how he can take this adversity around.
After his thoughts came up an idea, he stood up, takes the pill on his desk and rushes upstairs.
"Dennis?" She pursues him afterwards.
He takes the first stop at their kitchen and grabs a gla.s.s of water.
"Dennis, what were you thinking? Don"t tell me that you-"
"I"ll do it, Victoria. I have to. I need to let them know that if you had to take control of your dreams whenever you please, I"m sure it"ll help the mankind."
"Dennis..."
"Prepare the laptop on our bedroom. You should keep an eye on me until tomorrow and-"
Victoria holds his hand and the pill to calm him down.
"Then I shall accompany you." She smiles at him with rea.s.surance.
"No, you don"t have to. I-"
"Dennis...
You don"t have to do everything alone."
"But..."
"You believe that it"ll work, right? I"ll trust you. After all, it is your life-long work."
"... Just wake up until tomorrow, all right?"
"It depends on who"ll wake up first, dummy..."
Victoria kisses him and also takes a gla.s.s of water with her, along with the capsule. The two takes the pill on their bed and fell asleep in hopes of Dennis" success.
Hours after their slumber and it"s already early in the morning.
...
"Hahaha! Mommy! Daddy! Wake up! You"ll be late for work!
I prepared the ingredients for this morning, just as you promised...!"
***
On the blackest of nights and no light to lead the way, Valera sprints through the forest, wearing her white cardigan and blue jeans. She already memorized the pathways, given that she"s always been here since she was a kid.
"Phillip? He just left an hour ago. I don"t know where he could be this late... But still, I can"t believe that you"re alive."
Even if the area around her is dim, this darkness is nothing compared to that of the dark forest in her dreams. She can roam around as clear as day, provided that she remembers the way of the place where she first met him.
As she runs deep into the forest, she can see the fireflies rapidly increasing, giving the dark woodlands some light to spare.
The forest is getting brighter as she goes on.
And Valera has arrived at the lake, gazing at the scenery beholden to her.
It is the same tree she saw in the fall forest. There are numerous amounts of fireflies around, illuminating the obscureness of the lake, including the tree in the island. The bugs also rested themselves in the branches of the tree, making it glow like the leaves are its own lightbulb.
On the edge of the lake, he can see Phillip looking in the luminescent tree, placing his hands on the pockets of his jacket.
After all of the things she has been through, Valera has finally met the person she loves.
She breathes heavily from exhaustion. Phillip is already on her sights and she can"t just stand there to catch her breath.
Due to that fact, she walks towards him while she recuperates.
He can hear the footsteps behind him, thinking that it might be a stranger. He then turned to the direction of the sound alarmingly.
As he looks at Valera, his eyes widened. He might have seen a ghost. She"s supposed to be dead and yet she showed in front of him.
"Phillip?"
After she called his name, his delusions became reality.
"...Valera? You"re..."
He runs in the direction of Valera. Valera also wanted to run towards him, but she"s too fatigued due to her rush to the forest.
Phillip goes near to her, enveloping his arms unto her; filled with rea.s.surance of her wake. He"s speechless, that only his tears responded to the unbelievable sight.
Valera had felt two embraces from two separate people. But each of them had a different sensation.
Marie had a sense of relief whilst Victoria gave a motherly feeling around her.
As for Phillip, he"s almost the two sensations combined.
She can feel the respite in his arms and the protective side that a parent would act.
Valera somehow felt this before, yet it didn"t happen to her since the moment she was born. The feeling of having the person you love the most giving a warm and protective hug is practically alien to her.
This touch gave her a sense of achievement. After all of those past memories hunting her again and the pain she felt from the calamities in that world, Valera"s persistence to her aguish decisively pays off.
In response, she hugs him tight. So much that she doesn"t want to forget this feeling again, as the fireflies radiates around the lake.
...
After their short reunion, they sat to the ground while they witness the phenomenon that happens once every June. The fireflies usually go here in their breeding season. They also roam around looking for food, giving light and aesthetic feel around the area.
"I never knew that I would"ve seen this place again..." Valera said as she daydreams to the sight beholden to her.
"It is the place where we first met, so why wouldn"t you?"
"*Chuckles* Well, I guess you"re right. I"m just happy that I can be with you again."
Phillip didn"t oppose her, for he also has the same feeling as hers. He can only smile at her.
"It"s been three months since then.
The flowers on that island are increasing in numbers as that time pa.s.ses."
"Flowers?"
"You don"t remember?"
She gestures her head with a no.
He smiles with antic.i.p.ation and excitement.
"Let"s go to the boat. I"ll show you." He stands up and extends his hands to hers to help her get up.
Just before he offers his hand, Valera is already on her foot.
She grins at him,"...How gentlemanly of you."
"Um...I...well..."
"Hahaha. Come on, let"s go." She goes off with laughter.
"Oh, c"mon! You"re making me sad."
"I"m kiddin"!!" She looks back as she said this with a smile on her face.
Valera moves to the boat with a happy-go-lucky att.i.tude whilst Phillip is questioning himself what happened to her lately.
Afterward, they ride to the rugged boat, circling around the lake as they go behind the tree.
She puts her fingers on the surface of the water, generating ripples in its way. The fireflies are scattering to the lake while Phillip is rowing with an oar in his hand.
As they finally go behind of the tree, she can see a bed of white flowers sitting beside the small island. The flowers resemble the one in her past recollection, but didn"t know why it is that important.
Valera suddenly felt a jolt in her memory. She closely inspects the flowers and she remembers a part of her memory.
Her name, her father"s greatest Achievement.
***
"Where do you get the name "Valera"? It"s such a cute name." She smiled as she said her name.
"Well... That name came from one of my greatest achievements in my early years. And that name is the cause of why we"re here now. From the time you were born, I decided that I want to give my most precious accomplishment to you."
***
"A pill that can help you remember your dreams?"
"Yes. People only had their limits when it comes to their imagination. Most people can get their ideas in their dreams, but most can only remember one or even none of those five dreams they encounter every night.
However, if we can recall those five dreams every night, there will be unlimited potential that our human society can improve; with the use of our unconscious mind."
"It is, very useful.
But are you sure it"ll work? You didn"t even test it on a human..."
Dennis shouts proudly.
"Of course it"ll work!!! It"s my life long work! I conducted experiments, researches; I even tested it on lab rats! Their brain waves share the similarities of the times a human remembers their dreams!
All because of the important catalyst for this pill;
The Valerian Flower!!"
Frequently called the garden valerian, this herb is commonly used for sleep disorders or insomnia. It is also used orally for anxiety and psychological stress, but it"s simply a theory.
Dr. Dennis uses his intellect to bypa.s.s and have sufficient evidence to support those uses, only to complete the pill he"s willing to accomplish.
Those flowers bloom in the months of June and July, and its scientific name comes from the Latin word "Valere", meaning "To be strong"; A reflection of faith.
As Valera goes near the flowers, she remembers the time she was with Spirit, her father, on the start of her journey.
Dennis" creation botched, died of his own making. Everyone who knew him believed that.
But in Valera"s eyes, she remembers every single bit of her memories. From the time she met Spirit, helped her, and traveled through worlds together... It somehow feels too real for her.
Dennis" invention wasn"t in vain, it didn"t fail.
It was a success, for Valera has seen it all. She gets off of the boat and puts on her knees on the ground whilst looking at the valerian flowers, reminiscing the last time she was with her father.
"Phillip... From the time I was unconscious, there are so many things in that dream that I just don"t want to forget."
He jumps out and goes near her.
"Do... you want to talk about it?"
"...Yes. It was a long journey." The two sat on the trunk of the tree, talking about the dreams she experienced in her sleep.
About Spirit, the sceneries, and the sad memories; she lets out every detail as Phillip emphasizes and enjoys her adventure.
The exchange soon turned out to be extensive, while the sun wakes up from the other side.
The bright daylight walks through the forest, letting the fireflies" glow useless on this dazzling morning. The crystal-clear lake shines like a mirror while it shows the unfurnished rocks from below. The sun glimmers the bed of valerian flowers, the tree in the middle, and both Valera and Phillip"s worn out body as their heads and shoulders intertwined while they sleep with delight.