'Faye'rytale

Chapter 4

Raeburn woke up with a start. He felt an intense electric current pass through him. Instinctively, he touched the pendant on his chain – a broken half of a silver colored heart. It gave off an extraordinary glow. The other half belonged to Sahara. He bought the pair of pendants on Friendship Day and gifted one to Sahara. Ever since, the duo never took it off, until Sahara died. He took the locket off her corpse to close it shut in their time capsule and sealed it. He tossed it in the sea for some weird reason. The time capsule was made a year before her death, on a Christmas Eve, for them to open, years later in the future when they would be at a ripe old age.

His eyes welled up at the memory of the making of the time capsule. They were in his kitchen, listening to music, preparing fish pie, and drinking wine, when all of a sudden Sahara came up with the idea of the time capsule. Without delay, Raeburn went out in the freezing night and came back with a wooden box. He could still remember her signature million-dollar smile when she saw it. Together, they filled it with special memories. They did not seal it though, for Sahara said she'd want to look at it all for a bit longer. And then, it lay there forgotten, in his attic.

In a trice, he found himself being taken away to a heavenly place. One glance and he knew who the lady in red was. Sahara.

                                 ...

Athena was marveled at the sight of the antique piece of jewel. The contents of the mysterious box enlivened her. She wondered why she experienced a personal connection with it. The moment she touched the half heart pendant, she felt invigorated. As she adorned her neck with the chain, the feeling levelled up to the point where she couldn't take it anymore. It was almost like she was transported to a different realm. All of a sudden, she found herself in the middle of a desert appareled in a red dress with an endless cape that flew behind her in the wind. The starry sky illuminated the place. And then came the guy she saw in her dream looking like a Disney prince – the same hypnotic eyes, the alluring aura of confidence and the exact dazzling smile. It was too unreal to be real.

What followed was magic. As they danced, a euphonious stream of Arabic music flowed. She didn't know why he kept repeating 'Sahara' under his breath. She was way too entranced to be worrying about that. As they stood, looking into each other's eyes, their half heart pendants fused magnetically to form a perfect heart and, in that instant, everything around them froze.

When she woke up the next morning, she saw the wooden box lay open. She grabbed the chain and put it on her neck to check if the experience would repeat. But unfortunately, the magic had worn off. Or was it just another dream?

                                   ...

"I dreamt of her again last night.", said Raeburn to his therapist. 

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