Note: This story was dynamically reformatted for online reading convenience.
 
 Fever-Dreams Unfinished Thoughts by Adrian Mailenna

   I'm reaching out, past the fuzzy edge of the world, to pull the dreams
out of the ether, give them flesh.  Maybe if I let her pour through my
hands and onto the page, I can be happy, even when I know she isn't mine.
It's not working very well.  It's starting to break up already, and I only
remember pieces, fragments, slipping over my mind like some high-speed
Hollywood preview, slick and formless and marvelously exciting.  Heavy
black satin looks almost wet against her creamy-white skin.  She's kicks
away old tennis shoes, running away, lightly, through the surf, playing,
daring me to follow.  Her laughter tinkles, like champagne flutes, and I'm
chasing her, always an inch behind.  I can see her eyes sparkling, green
and flecked with brown.  What comes next?  I can't remember.  I taste white
peaches.

   She's gone.  Hands are shaking.  Maybe if I sleep again, I'll know more.

   --

   I think I know I'm dreaming; It's too good to be real, But somehow I'm
enchanted By how she makes me feel.

   It's less a premonition, More a trust in fate, *next two lines
illegible*

   --

   She has the greatest smile.  It's a little shy, a little confident, a
little amused at how stupid I'm being.  It's been a year since I saw a
smile like that.

   --

   Is she just humoring me?  Does she only want to save me hurt?  Limbo
hurts, worse than Hell, because at least there, I'll know exactly where I
stand.

   --

   Tell me now, You wondrous girl, What you think of me.  Stain not today
Those precious lips With the filthy kiss of lies.

   --

   Have you ever wanted just to /hold/ someone?  Did you ever want to keep
her close and safe and warm, and know that that would be enough?  Could you
ever crawl out of bed, before the sun, just to make her smile?

   Have you ever reached to touch the dream, and watched it slip away?

   -- Copyright 2004 Adrian Mailenna.

   Personal use encouraged.  All other rights reserved.
   ftp://ftp.asstr.org/pub/Authors/adrian_mailenna