A/N: I am beginning to think I'm allergic to having less than 3 ongoing stories at one time. Either that, or I have some strange need to bite off more than I can chew. Whatever the case may be, here is yet another story from my overactive imagination.

Many huge thanks and hugs to EtheHunter. She is my fanfic soul mate, for real. Love her dearly.

Disclaimer: Charlaine Harris owns them, I just play with the world she created.

Intro

I used to have this recurring dream, and it wasn't until I started having it again that I remembered I'd even dreamt it to begin with. As a child, the dream often haunted me on a nightly basis, and I'd always awake the same.

Screaming.

It has always started the same, innocuous enough. I'm standing in an open field. The ground beneath my feet is solid but dry. Barren. No life, no grass, no trees. It's the same as far as my eyes can see. No matter how hard I try though, I can never see where I'd come from. The path that lay behind me, bringing me to that place, is not visible. I look to my left and to my right, and the scenery remains the same.

Dead earth for miles and miles.

My arms are extended from my sides, stretching far as they dare. Pulled. I feel the fingers grasping them, hands around my wrist and elbows, tugging. To one side and then the other. My legs are spread in a similar fashion, helping to keep me balanced.

The wind kicks up, coming in from behind me and whipping my hair up and around my face. It blinds me instantly, and the temperature changes just as swiftly, as if taking advantage of my momentary weakness. The breath freezes in my lungs, and I gasp.

When my hair clears and the wind settles, I'm disoriented for a flicker of time, not quite understanding what has become of me. I breathe freely, the air coming out in puffs of white against the cold climate.

On my left side, nothing but darkness remains. Cold and dark, a fathomless pit envelops me, and I can see nothing past my shoulder. It is only blackness. On my right, is the opposite. Blinding in its warmth and light, the sun covers my hand and leg, my hip and shoulder, in pure white. I have disappeared between the two.

Dark and light. Night and day. One on my left, the other, my right. My muscles stiffen and I feel the earth, solid. It supports me, secures and grounds me. Those same hands are on either side of me, holding me, tethering me to the earth. I'm calmed by their presence.

I look up and up, tilting my chin toward the sky. It is blue and cloudless and yet there is no sun. I smile sadly, knowing that is not where my future lay, but not how I know this. I frown. I tremble, frightened for a moment before the hands that hold me caress my arms.

My light. My dark.

Those hands, so firm and sure and steady, that is where my future lay. I know this and have accepted it. I tremble again, and realize it is not I that shakes, but the ground, the soil beneath my feet.

As I lower my gaze, the tremors turn violent, dust and dirt erupting in a cloud around me. I watch helpless as the ground crumbles and the earth below me disappears into a crevice deeper than eternity. Nothing, nothing, nothing; an infinite fall is what awaits below. I scream builds in my throat, not quite escaping.

My tethers, the sun and the night, tighten their hold on me and they tug fiercely. It is time for me to choose. One way or the other, I must decide, whether it be light or dark, I am out of time. It seems my entire life has prepared me for this moment. This crossroads, and yet I still struggle to decide.

The dark is frightening, cold and so very dark; I'm afraid I couldn't handle it forever. Will I freeze? Will I even be able to breathe? The light is just as scary. What if it is too warm? What if it is so bright I cannot see? I struggle, panicking, because I know I must pick.

My hands, my lifelines, they hold me and pull; they will not let me go, but I must choose one or the other, or I know I will fall. Fall, fall and fall, for the rest of forever. They each strain and jerk, urging me to choose them. Light. Dark. Day. Night. I love them both. How do I decide?

The wind picks up again, stirring the earth into a cloud. The sound of it drowns my light whimpers as I battle to decide my fate, my future. Light or Dark? My face is wet with tears as my soul weeps.

As the sound of the wind howls, the volume and shriek of it piercing my ears to the point of pain, it moves ever closer to whisk me away. I cannot allow myself to be blown away into the nothing. Into my death.

Those hands, my hands, loosen on my arms and I slip. I cling tightly, desperately. I feel my nails cracking under the pressure. I will not fall though, and yet I will not choose one or the other. When the wind reaches my skin, prickling my flesh with goosebumps like tiny needles, I slip again. I plead.

Barely clinging to the safety of my guardians hands, I look left into the dark and right into the light. They both call to me, I love them both. They are both mine. Should both be mine. Stubbornly, I decide I should not have to choose. I will not.

I am let go.

I fall.

I scream.

The sensation of falling awakens me. I am sweating and panting, and my heart beats like a wild horse racing behind my ribs. I struggle to remember my dream, but never can. I only know that I waited too long, that my chance had been lost. For what, I'm not sure, but I am scared all the way down into my very marrow.

My throat hurts from screaming, aches and scratches, raw from the ferocity in which I had let it out.

At one time in my life it had been my parents that came running, checking on me, settling me down and hushing my cries with gentle strokes and soothing words. But not too far into my childhood those comforting caresses and hushed whispers started coming from my Gran.

Eventually the dream had ceased, so with it, the need for coddling a scared youngster. Well into my twenties when it returns to me, I no longer had the arms of my family, the kindness of a loved one, to settle my shattered nerves.

When it awakens me again, anew and back with a vengeance, I cry. Alone.

A/N: Yeah, alright, so there you have it. This will be a little darker if you can't tell. But I'm really excited about this one. I hope that you will share this journey with me and enjoy.

Thanks for reading. I do hope you'll take the time to leave me your thoughts by pressing the button below.

KISSES!