Her hands were outstretched. That was all that mattered. That she would reach him on time, that she would prevent him from any suffering. Her fingers curled around air, having just missed her target. A desperate cry of anguish leaped from her throat, her feet stuck in place as she was unable to reach out anymore but she tried, with all her might did she try. She felt as if she was being torn in half, every nerve in her body felt as if it was being split apart as she managed to gain an inch. She hated this dream because that was all that this was, just a dream. A sick, twisted one but a dream nonetheless. And yet she couldn’t help herself but to play right along with it, every time reaching out for his hand and every time failing to grasp it, always just out of reach. It was an endless cycle and she only followed the circle. She couldn’t break herself from its pattern no matter how much she wished for it to end. She knew what would come next. It always ended the same way. She yearned for a different ending, for an ending that didn’t leave her waking up in a cold sweat, tears burning her cheeks as they slid down. And yet as the story approached its finish, the same scream would leave her mouth as it always did and that would be the signal for her to jolt from her sleep. Her eyes opened from their dreary prison, shaking hands making their way up to rub at her puffy eyes, the tears already flowing. She hung her head in her hands, tears making their way into her lap. She trembled as she sat upright, her head pounding from her hangover but it was the least of her worries now. She stayed in this position for another hour before her tears finally dried, her inner demons having finally been laid to rest for the day until night would come again and with it the same dream of never-ending failure of being only inches away.