• Where am I...
    Drear lay face down in puddle of what he guessed what his own blood. He could barely pull himself up, his whole body felt as if it were on fire. Brushing the dark dripping hair out of his face he managed to get back on his feet. Looking around he recognized absolutely nothing. Drear paced himself as he walked down the foreign streets, racking his brain for anything that could have hinted at why he was here, what had put him in this state. He found a bench in front of small cozy looking cottage, sitting down he rubbed his aching muscles, wiping blood from his face. Laying his head back he dove into his memories; the ones he could remember.

    "Drear, it's time for you to go." Uoni, Drear's long time girlfriend said to him as he ran his fingers through her hair.
    Drear sighed heavily and nodded his head, "You're right. I'll see you tomorrow right?"
    Uoni nodded her head smiling. That was the last time Drear ever saw Uoni. He could recall walking to her house in the morning, it was abnormally quiet from the typical bustle of the small village they both lived in. There were no adults working in the gardens, or kids chasing each other around. Everything was in some words, dead.
    Drear paused outside of Uoni's house, knocking twice on the door. As Drear went to grab the knob the door casually opened slightly, Drear could see nothing. He pushed it open, the suns light shining into the house, lighting up only the small living room. Drear called Uoni's name but there was no answer. As he was about to leave a man stopped him on the side walk.
    "You're looking for the woman that lives here are you not?"
    Drear looked at him cautiously.
    What an obvious question. I just walked out of her house didn't I?
    "Yeah, do you know where I can find her?"
    "She's never coming back," the man answered. "You will never see the woman again."
    Drear was speachless, he looked at the man harder, and right then he disappeared.

    For six long months Drear started his work spiraling downward until he completely hit rock bottom. He didn't know what to do, he truly had no idea what he had until it was gone. And now that she was gone, why continue on? Drear started to drink heavily. He pushed everybody else that was close to him away. He blamed himself for Uoni's disappearance, or whatever had happened to her. He figured he was being too clingy and that night she just up and left, to start a new life, a free life somewhere far away. Lots of his friends tried to talk him out of this idea. But Drear was too stubborn to listen to them.
    One night while Drear was making his daily trip from bar to bar in town he ran into three men sitting in an alley way.
    "Hey, look at this punk. Don't know you know that this is our alley?" One of the men said, getting into Drear's face.
    Drear smiled at the man, just standing there.
    Another man came up and pushed Drear back against the brick wall of one of the surrounding buildings, "You going to answer him or what punk?"
    Drear then spit in the mans face acting before thinking.
    "Get off me you slum pig. Do us all a favor and crawl back into your whole."
    All three men then grabbed Drear dragging him farther into the alley, shielding themselves from the street lights. They beat Drear for close to an hour leaving him to die.
    That is not where he woke up.

    As Drear recalled all these memories, he could feel somebody sit down next to him. It was Uoni. The pain in his body was suddenly no more, the blood at the corner of his mouth vanished.
    "Uoni, I've missed you so much. Where have you been?"
    With out waiting for an answer Drear flung his arms around the woman he loved, tears swelling up in his eyes. Uoni pushed him away gently, a smile on her face.
    "I'm glad you're finally here. It seems like I've been waiting forever."
    Drear was confused by her comment, and was too speechless to ask her what she meant.
    "The night you left Drear, I was murdered. I don't know by who and I don't know why. I've been sitting here waiting for you to come to me."
    Drear then shook his head. Looking around him he realized what she meant.
    I'm dead...
    Uoni nodded her head, she could tell by Drear's face that he understood. But she knew he wasn't scared. She placed her hand on his holding it tight, "We can finally be together. Our relationship will be better here, there will be no worries that can come between us. Look at it this way, we were meant to be together. We just ran out of breath down there."