Email: Secondfiddle85@aol.com

Website: http://bls.faerydust.net/

Character's Story:
"Mareo!" The girl's voice was eager and excited, and Mareo couldn't help but smile. Her dream, like the girl herself, was beautiful. Some dreams were sweet and pleasant in their simplicity. Others puzzled him with their overwhelming emotions. Still others emanated a dark aura; nightmares that oozed fear the color of blood. The girl's dream was bright and pulsated with unbridled joy and anticipation. She stood before him now, smiling expectedly, head tilted to one side, cheeks flushed. "Mareo?"
He swallowed and ran a hand through his hair, knowing that what he was about to do would hurt them both, and hating himself for it.
* * * * *
Mareo had lived in dreams all his life. As a child, he had played in the fantasies of other children, sharing in their innocent joy and avoiding the nightmares, when he could. Life had been easy, for the most part. He would stay with one child until bored, then move on, letting the memory of each face fade away until nothing remained but a faint sweetness.

As he matured, Mareo visited the dreams of adolescents, and began to develop deeper feelings for each person who shared their darkest passions and fears with him. He shared in their excitement, sympathized with their problems, and comforted them in times of distress, sometimes taking a sort of guilty pleasure in learning deep fears and secrets that only he would ever know. But, like before, he was always able to leave without hesitation. Cool and detached, Mareo could always move on; could always forget. Until now...
* * * * *
The girl sighed contentedly. "This is so perfect... it feels like..."
"A dream?" Mareo finished her sentence.
"Yes...a dream..."
"It is." The words that came from his own lips sounded harsh. Cold. He hated himself even more.

The girl raised her eyebrows in curiosity, and received only a nod in return. "Fine." She smiled again. "It doesn't matter anyway."
Mareo stepped back and forced himself to speak. "This is it. The last time."
Now the pain in her eyes was unbearable. "Why?"
Mareo's face softened. It wasn't that he wanted to leave her. That, he knew, was his own fault. As one who lives only in dreams, he had made a huge mistake: he had become attached to a human. A girl that he could never be with, because when she awoke; when she began to live, that was where his existence stopped. He lived in her dreams. Only in dreams.
*Get out now. While you still can. Before you hurt her anymore.*
His voice was no longer harsh. Instead, it was now a simple plea for understanding. "When you wake up, that's it. When you come back, I won't be here."
The girl was fighting back tears now. "Mareo...I love-"
"Stop. Don't make this harder than it already is. There's no point in staying, because we can never be together. Not really."
Silence. Then, quietly, "Promise that you'll never forget me."
"Never," he lied, knowing full well that as soon as he left, the memory of the girl would be nothing more than a vague bittersweet sensation that would eventually fade away as well. Forgetting was, after all, the only thing that made life bearable.
As soon as he had spoken, she was gone, along with her dream. Mareo smiled as he too began to fade away. He only hoped that, wherever she was waking up, she had already forgotten...

Comments: What a cool idea for a contest! I had fun with this...by the way, he's pictured here at two different ages (in case anyone couldn't figure that out). Sorry about the high sappiness level of the story. ^_^;; Thanks to all who took the time to look at my pic!

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