Fu Tu re

6: Riel

 Shoes were kicked off the moment the Daetaer sister and brother stepped inside their home. Forti fell face-first on her bed with a gentle bounce, unbothered to change clothes or tuck herself under the duvet. Exhaustion could normally never hinder her committed bedtime habits, but this time was an exception.

Vasi was rushed to the hospital after Forti's revelation.

Although her autonomic nervous system was fine, Vasi's neuroimaging scan and unresponsiveness to extensive stimuli resulted in a diagnosis of a coma. Her parents spent the hours away signing paperwork, consulting with doctors, and assuring quality care to their youngest daughter for the unknown future. When Wyver and Forti exited, accompanied by one of their cousins, the night burned under artificial daylight, fuelled by street lamps and city life. Their mother and father wanted at least one guardian to remain in the hospital and the other at home. Wyver and Forti insisted on being with them, but the parents were adamant on having their children rest, so the siblings changed their entreaty to letting both parents stay beside Vasi. Forti and Wyver were old enough to be on their own.

Since Vasi's "death", Forti had been dreamless.

Tonight, her steps crunched upon thick snow as she headed towards dark blue mountains. An overcast twilight sky saturated the tundra in deep indigo like ink spilled on paper, soaked in every pore. Where she was going, Forti had no clue, but she dreamed of this desolate place before, of emptiness and longing, and she was unafraid of the familiar. She walked forward, preprogrammed by her own mind, a self-inflicted destiny. Then without reason, she looked behind her, seeing a desert of snow that stretched far into the haze of the horizon. All it took was a blink for the scene to change.

She recognized the subway station as the one near her secondary school. Blurred faces ghosted by. No one stood still to wait for a train that would not arrive, pedestrians crawling all over the platforms. Hence why her sights trained instantly on a person at the other side, across the maglev tracks at the only unmoving being. A fluffy, shimmering gold head of hair, like rolling wheat fields, peeked through the nebulous masses, curls that have tempted Forti countless times to run her fingers through it, and their owner always relented, bowing his head.

He glanced around, searching but not lost. Finally, he saw her, and it was like he found who painted the skies and dappled spring in summer dew. Forti looked at him like a ship realizing it had at last emerged from a storm, sailing to her beacon to be brought home.

"Riel!"

"Forti!"

They called each other's names in unison and ran towards each other. The glass barriers that protected people from falling vanished like a magic trick. From the caverns of the subway tunnel, sounds of crashing waves and rushing rapids echoed out. They rode on winds split apart by the incoming train, but neither Forti nor Riel slowed. They threaded impatiently through the phantom passengers, and when the kids reached their platform ledges, the train bolted out the corridor. They sprinted off opposite edges, and the train lunged like a metal python.

In a space of nothingness, akin to the darkness that closed eyes see, Forti and Riel hugged. Their hearts fell in sync, and the two long-awaited friends held each other until their warmth was shared so evenly, neither could tell where who began and who ended.

Though they pulled away, they held their hands together.

"How've you been?" Riel asked tenderly, and Forti melted. Soft voice, soft hair, soft hands. Everything about him was gentle and velvet. He reminded her of rabbits and the dawn.

"Alright." Riel quirked a brow. It had been eight nights since they last dreamed together. They regularly dreamed every night, unless Forti had substantial homework or Riel had to scurry off for an assignment. The longest they usually went without each other was three days.