Hazel had always been a light sleeper, her dreams often fleeting and forgettable. But this night was different. As she slipped into unconsciousness, the dream began to take shape, vivid and strange.

She found herself in a misty forest, the air cool and tinged with the scent of pine. Tall trees loomed overhead, their branches entwined like fingers. The path beneath her feet was worn, as if it had been traveled many times before. She wasn’t sure how she knew, but she was certain this wasn’t the first time she’d been here. The sense of familiarity was unsettling, yet she couldn’t remember ever having visited such a place.

Hazel walked along the path, drawn forward by an unseen force. The silence was profound, broken only by the soft rustle of leaves in the breeze. As she ventured deeper into the forest, the mist thickened, swirling around her like a living thing. And then, she saw him.

He stood at the edge of a small clearing, his back turned to her. The boy was about her age, perhaps a year or two older. His hair was dark and unruly, falling just below his ears. He wore a simple white shirt and trousers, both of which seemed out of place in the wild surroundings. Hazel couldn’t see his face, but something about him felt achingly familiar, as though he were someone she should know.

“Who are you?” Hazel called out, her voice sounding strange in the quiet.

The boy turned slowly, and as his eyes met hers, a shiver ran down her spine. His eyes were a deep, haunting blue, the kind of blue that held secrets. They were filled with an intensity that made her heart race, yet there was something in them that felt safe, almost comforting.

“You don’t remember me, do you?” His voice was soft, tinged with sadness.

Hazel shook her head, confusion knotting her stomach. “No… should I?”

The boy smiled faintly, though it didn’t reach his eyes. “We’ve met before, Hazel. In another time, another place. But those memories are lost to you now.”

Hazel took a step closer, drawn to him despite the unease gnawing at her. “What do you mean? How could I have forgotten?”

“It’s not your fault,” the boy replied. “Time has a way of erasing things, of making what was once clear become distant and hazy. But some connections… some bonds… they can never truly be broken.”

As he spoke, images began to flash through Hazel’s mind—fragments of memories she didn’t recognize. A crumbling castle, a blood-red moon, a sense of urgency and despair. And always, the boy was there, by her side, guiding her, protecting her. She reached out to him, desperate for answers, but her hand passed through him as though he were nothing more than a shadow.

“Wait!” she cried, panic rising in her chest. “Don’t leave me!”

The boy’s form began to fade, the mist swallowing him up. “I’m not leaving, Hazel,” he whispered, his voice echoing in the trees. “I’ll always be with you, even if you can’t see me. But you must find the answers on your own.”

Hazel tried to run after him, but her legs felt heavy, as if the earth itself was pulling her down. The forest around her started to dissolve, the trees melting into darkness. She screamed his name, though she didn’t know it, and the sound seemed to shatter the world around her.

She awoke with a start, her heart pounding in her chest. The early morning light filtered through the curtains, casting soft shadows on the walls. The dream was already slipping away, like sand through her fingers, but the boy’s face remained clear in her mind.

Hazel lay back, staring at the ceiling, her thoughts racing. Who was he? And why did it feel like he was someone she had lost long ago? She knew she wouldn’t find the answers easily, but one thing was certain—she would never forget him.

Hazel couldn't shake the feeling. All day, she carried the weight of the dream, the boy’s face lingering in the back of her mind like a forgotten song on the tip of her tongue. Her friends noticed her distracted mood, but when they asked, she brushed them off with a forced smile. How could she explain? How could she tell them that a boy from her dreams was haunting her, making her feel things she couldn’t understand?

By the time evening arrived, Hazel had convinced herself it was just a dream—a strange one, sure, but nothing more. But when she lay down to sleep, her heart raced with anticipation. Would she see him again?

That night, the dream returned.

This time, Hazel stood on the edge of a cliff, overlooking a vast ocean. The waves crashed against the rocks below, their roar filling her ears. The sky above was painted in hues of deep orange and purple, as if the sun were setting in slow motion. She wasn’t alone.

The boy stood beside her, his expression unreadable as he gazed out at the horizon. Hazel turned to him, her breath catching in her throat. He looked the same as before—his dark hair tousled by the wind, his blue eyes piercing yet gentle.

“I thought you were gone,” she whispered.

“I told you,” he said softly, “I’ll always be with you.”

There was a long silence between them, filled only by the sound of the ocean. Hazel wanted to ask so many questions, but she didn’t know where to start. Her mind was a jumble of confusion, fear, and an overwhelming sense of familiarity.

“Why are you here?” she finally asked.

The boy turned to her, his eyes softening. “I’m here because you need to remember.”

“Remember what?”

He didn’t answer right away. Instead, he took a step closer to the edge of the cliff, his gaze fixed on the sea below. “There’s something you lost, Hazel. Something important. It was taken from you a long time ago, and now… it’s time for you to find it again.”

Hazel’s chest tightened. “But how? I don’t understand any of this. Who are you? Why do I feel like I know you?”

The boy looked at her with a sadness that made her heart ache. “I’m someone you once cared about, someone who cared about you. But I can’t tell you everything. You have to find the truth for yourself.”

Before Hazel could ask more, the ground beneath her feet began to tremble. The cliff shook violently, and she stumbled, trying to keep her balance. The boy didn’t move, his calm demeanor in stark contrast to the chaos around them.

“Hazel, wake up,” he said, his voice urgent. “Wake up!”

She jolted awake, her body drenched in sweat. Her room was dark, the silence almost deafening compared to the roar of the ocean in her dream. Her heart was still racing, her pulse pounding in her ears.

This wasn’t just a dream. It couldn’t be.

Over the next few days, Hazel became obsessed. She spent hours researching dreams, lucid dreaming, and anything else that might explain what was happening to her. But nothing she found made sense. The boy’s face was seared into her mind, and the more she thought about him, the more certain she became that he wasn’t just a figment of her imagination.

One night, unable to sleep, she dug through her old childhood things—photo albums, diaries, anything that might give her a clue. In a small, tattered notebook from when she was six, she found a crude drawing of a boy. Her heart skipped a beat. It was him.

The drawing was simple, drawn with the shaky hand of a child, but the boy’s dark hair and blue eyes were unmistakable. Beneath it, in her childish handwriting, was the name “Eli.”

Eli.

The name echoed in her mind, triggering a flood of half-formed memories. She remembered playing in the woods as a child, talking to someone who was always with her, even though no one else could see him. Her parents had called him her “imaginary friend,” but Hazel had always known he was more than that.

Suddenly, it all made sense. Eli wasn’t just a dream. He had been with her since she was a child, and somehow, she had forgotten him. But why? And why was he appearing to her now?

Determined to find answers, Hazel knew what she had to do. That night, as she lay down to sleep, she focused all her thoughts on the boy from her dreams. On Eli.

As she drifted off, she whispered his name, hoping he would come to her again.

And in the world between dreams and reality, the boy waited.