Thank you for waiting.

Chapter Twenty-Four

Flor woke up with a gasp. She found herself on the grassy knoll again, this time in front of the city. Just like in her dream world, she slowly sat up, letting herself gently transition into having to respond to the world.

There was Sakuranoka, just as it had always been. All the buildings looked like little boxes, with the notable exception of Tsukuyomi's tower, of course. And there were the planets above, hanging from the sky with no strings to hold them up. The breeze on her face made itself known. It was a little chilly on her arms, and she wished that she hadn't thrown her sweater down into the chasm below the cliffside. She tried to use her hands to rub and warm up her arms to compensate.

She wanted to go back to the Nicholsons' house. There was no doubt in her mind that there was where she wanted to be. She was still upset at Ali. She hoped he didn't come to help her, but she did wonder what was going on. Surely he wouldn't just leave her up here, would he? The rest of his family would probably ask him about where she was and do something about it, she told herself, so all she needed to do was wait some.

Flor got up, stepping over to the edge of the cliff. She let her legs dangle over the end, and as she did, she pulled out her identification card. From there, she retrieved Midnight Rose and began to play her. Previously, she had just pressed various notes together that sounded good, but this time was different. She wanted to write a new song, something that felt right for the moment.

Hours went by with Flor sitting there, legs dangling, effortlessly experimenting with her instrument. The words to the song danced in her head, refusing to become solid, so she had to hum along at times instead of sing, but she had discovered the keyboard portion. There were only three sections to the song, and once she figured them out, it was only a matter of having them memorized. The trickier part was the button section. There were so many buttons, and she hadn't quite found a pattern to their arrangement. Worse yet, once she found them, they weren't clearly marked, and so she had to keep her eye on where her left hand was at all times to keep from playing a sour chord.

There came a point when she felt like the lyrics were solid enough to let go into the wind.

"I am still brand new to the world-

It still shines bright enough for me,

And I know that the way

Will dim, but slowly

Nevertheless I'll wait for you

And I'll keep asking questions,

If I speak, do you promise that

You'll listen to my confessions?

Why can I only

Consume such a small slice?

When I'm set in a world

So overwhelmingly nice?

I'll take everything in

Once I find a brand new way,

Fold it up, and seal it off,

And save it for a rainy day.

I'm so glad that I met you

We want the same thing,

So, sit down right beside me,

And thank you for waiting."