The air hung thick with tension in Glen’s room as my parents, who both wanted to be there for him, put aside there issues and were both able to sit in the same room.  However, the storm cloud hovering over their relationship was still very obviously present.  After I don’t even know how many hours of sitting there, I needed an escape.  Clay and Sean had headed for the cafeteria about an hour ago and I had declined their offer to join them, which at the moment I painfully regretted. So instead, I left the room and began strolling through the hospital hallways, not really looking for anything in particular, but searching for refuge.  I realized how much I did not like hospitals and I silently wondered how my mother was able to do her job.  The few hours I had been here were already enough for me and she practically lived here.  The smell, the lingering feeling of sadness everywhere, the sobs you could hear emanating from certain rooms, the beeping and gentle humming of machines keeping people alive, it was all too unsettling.  Then I found what I unconsciously had been looking for: a secluded family waiting room, complete with a comfortable couch and TV.  The couch provided refuge as the intensity of the situation began to overwhelm me.  A single tear escaped my eye.  I closed my eyes to fight off crying any more.  Unintentionally, I drifted off to sleep with some cable movie rambling on in the distant background. 

And there she was, in my dreams.  I clearly saw her in all her beauty, walking towards me in the most mystical ways.  As she approached, I studied her soft features and gazed into her eyes as she raised her hand to my face.  I felt like I was floating and that she was the reason.  She continued caressing my face and it felt so genuine, so real, that at that moment I was not sure if I was still dreaming.  As I remained lost in the paradise of my dream world, I whispered the words that she had wanted to hear from me, “I love you too”.  With that, I saw her smile as she leaned into me, brushing her lips against mine, but this was not enough for me.  I leaned back into her and continued the kiss. It felt so real.  I could feel her, I could smell her, I could taste her, even in my dreams. I refused to wake up; I wanted to stay in that moment forever.  I kept my eyes shut tightly as I begrudgingly became aware of my surroundings.  The TV barked softly in the background, yet I still could smell the Ashley of my dream. I could still feel her, in fact I could still taste her. And then I knew; it hadn’t been just a dream. She was there with me.  I threw my arms tightly around her neck and began to cry as I pulled her into a hug.  I wasn’t sure why I cried; perhaps because of the realization that my dreams could come true.