Nikolai

The dream dissolved like smoke the moment I opened my eyes.

I lay still for a moment, staring at the ceiling, trying to catch the fragments before they faded completely. Her face. Her scent. The feel of her skin beneath my fingers. But it was already gone, slipping through the cracks of consciousness like water through sand.

I pushed myself up and swung my legs over the side of the bed. The floor was cold against my bare feet, grounding me in the present. In reality. In the mess I'd ...