Page 311 of Sweet Nightmare

“I almost didn’t.”

I tighten my fingers around his.

“But then a little girl found me.”

A smile tugs at his mouth, but my heart stops.

“She couldn’t have been older than six. Maybe seven. But she looked like she’d already decided she was tired of everyone. White hair. Big doe eyes. The grumpiest little thing I’d ever seen.”

He looks down at me, smiling.

“She looked at me like I was inconveniencing her by just breathing.”

My eyebrows draw together.

I know this story.

I lived it.

“Stephen…”

“She was dressed all in white. Even her shoes sparkled in the dark. She marched up to me like she owned the entire street. And now, I’m pretty sure she did.”

He chuckles.

“Then she looked me straight in the eyes and told me…”

He pauses.

“Be a jellyfish.”

I go completely still.

My lips part.

And then I whisper, “The world isn’t for the weak.”

His smile widens.

“That was you…” I whisper.

“Me.”

Tears prick my eyes as I smile at him.

“My ghost. The boy with the sad eyes.”

For a moment, neither of us moves and the jellyfish drift silently above us, weightless and beautiful, while the past suddenly feels like it was just yesterday.

“Did you know all this time?” I ask.

“Not at first.”

“When, then?”

“The first night I saw you standing in the snow, looking up at the moon.” His gaze holds mine. “That’s when I knew.”

“Knew what?” I whisper, my heart swelling with hope.