I paced across the room over and over again. Next to me was my child, Alex, and across the room from me was a man. I did not know this man but what I did know about him was that he was the man of my dreams. He had pale skin, blue eyes, and short dark brown hair. He had a skinny figure and was very tall. He seemed to be looking for something, but there was nothing to look for. We were in a room filled with hardly anything and the doors were sealed shut and there was no way out. What was I doing here?

As I searched around I knew I would have to confront the man. This was the only way to find out where I was and who he was. I pulled Alex to my side as we walked slowly but steadily towards the man. We stood right next to him waiting, but he did not move nor say a word. I tapped him on the shoulder and he turned around. When he looked me in the eyes I could not move. Not only did his looks stun me but he looked oddly familiar. When I finally snapped out of my shock I realized he had been talking to me the whole time and I had not heard a word he had said. I asked him to repeat himself and when he did it was of an English accent and it was nothing like I had ever heard before. He told me his name was Nick and that he was from Holland, but that he had absolutely no idea where we were. The last thing he remembered was sleeping in his bed and then when he woke up he was here. We talked all night long and from that point on things changed.

I felt a sense of passion for him that I had never felt for anyone else before. There was just something there. Whenever I saw him my heart tingled and a surge of heat ran through my body. Whenever he touched me I jumped. I couldn’t sleep at night with him there. His playing with my hair and doing flirty things was just too distracting. Even though I had no idea where I was I didn’t mind it that much because I had everything I ever wanted: Nick and Alex. But still we searched and searched for a way to get out, but found nothing. We had no food, water or supplies. There was no way we could live like this for much longer. We slept on the floor bundled together to keep each other warm, which of course I didn’t mind. I was in the middle with Nick on one side of me and Alex on the other. It felt like a family. Something I had never had. My mother and father divorced when I was only two months old and my husband left me as soon as I got pregnant with Alex. Without him I fell apart. The only thing that ever kept me going was Alex. He filled the gap that was always in my life.

When I woke up the next morning the aroma of bacon and syrup filled the air. I thought I was the first to wake up but when I rolled over Nick looked straight in my eyes and brought his finger over his mouth as a signal to be quiet. He turned over as if he was still sleeping and when he did I saw the three men standing by the door. He then turned back over.


“I’ve seen these men before,” he said almost silently. “I don’t know what they want with us but they always have this disgusted look on their faces. It looks like they brought food for us. I don’t know what to make of this.”


I then answered, “Sooner or later they are either going to realize we are awake or we are going to have to wake up.”


“I know,” he said. “I would rather it be later than sooner but I think it would be better to do it now while Alex is asleep.”


“Okay,” I replied, “Whatever happens, I will never forget you.” I then moved closer to him and gave him a peck on the lips.


“I won’t let anything happen to you, I promise,” he whispered.


The men turned around as Nick rose, with me following quickly after him. They walked towards us as we walked towards them. Nick then stepped in front of me so he could protect me as he promised he would.


“Who are you and where are we?” Nick asked urgently.


“We have no answers for you,” one of the men replied. “You will find many answers here, though. Not only will you find answers about yourselves, but about your whole lives. Once you have found these answers you will be free to go.”


“What the hell are you talking about?” Nick screamed. “You have us here to find out answers? I don’t even know what you mean by that. I have a perfect life and I don’t need you to help me figure out answers, I am very capable of doing it myself.”


“You think your life is so perfect and you have everything you need and want?” the man asked. “Then what are you doing with this lady over here? Is she just a game? You don’t even know what you are doing here, so how can you say anything like that? You are lucky we are giving you food and that you are safe. How dare you speak to me like that! Eat your food and we will be back.”


As the men exited Nick turned towards me. He tried to comfort me but I didn’t know what to do. I suddenly started asking myself if maybe this all just was a game. I didn’t even know this man and I was getting closer to him than I had ever been to anyone else. I didn’t know how to control these feelings and the men could easily come back and hurt either me or Alex in the end. I stared blankly at Nick.

We both had no idea what they were talking about. Why did they want to help us find out answers about our lives? There had to be something wrong with this situation. I then went over to wake up Alex, so that we could eat breakfast. We ate mostly silently until Nick blurted something out.


“What did you say?” I asked.


“Never mind,” he said, “I just thought that maybe if we tried to get through that…never mind, it’s a dumb idea.”


We found a pack of cards by our trays so we taught Alex how to play Crazy 8s and Go Fish. Nick was very proficient with children and Alex seemed to enjoy him. That night, about when we thought dark would be approaching, I put Alex to sleep and then Nick and I stayed up and chatted for a while.


“You know you really do mean a lot to me,” Nick explained, “I know we just met and we haven’t known each other long but I feel like I’ve known you my whole life. When we get out of here, I’m never going to let you go. You will be mine forever.”

“Nick, I’m glad you feel that way and I do too. It’s just that I don’t even know anything about you. All I know is that your name is Nick and that you are from Holland. I need to know more than that before I can declare you as everything to me.”


“That sounds fair. What do you want to know?”


“I want to know everything about you.”


“Well,” he said, “I am a doctor at St. Elizabeth’s hospital in Denmark and I absolutely love my job. I was once married, but I got divorced because my wife and I did not get along well at all and it was dangerous for my daughter, Alexis. I haven’t seen either of them since. In fact, Alexis should be about the same age as Alex now. This left me in a depression for a while, but I feel a lot better now that I am here with you.”


“Will you stop making me more attracted to you than I am already,” I said laughing. “A doctor? In Denmark? That is amazing. If only I could compare to you. I’m a teacher in England. Which means we must be somewhere in Europe because I don’t think they would take us far.”


“You know, that reminds me of something. The last thing I remember before coming here is that I got a phone call from someone in England. She said that she was my wife and that she wanted to give me Alexis back. She told me to meet her at a certain address. Everything is blank after that. Let’s not think about this now, tell me more about you.”

I could not concentrate at that moment because the last thing he had said was still on my mind. Now that I thought about it, I remembered getting a phone call from a man, telling me to meet him at a certain address in England and that he was my husband and that he wanted to finally get divorced after five years of being missing. I decided to tell Nick about this strange coincidence and he was astonished. We tried to link it all together but nothing fit. Why would someone want us both here at the same time? And how was it that it was both of our spouses? We stayed up a while trying to remember more, but nothing came up. After a while, we went to bed. I laid down next to Alex and then Nick laid down on the other side of me like always. When we were both settled in bed, Nick reached over me and kissed me on the cheek. Then I rolled over and returned the favor, but in a better manner.

The next morning when I woke up Nick’s arm was around me. I felt dizzy. What had happened last night? I thought to myself. I tried to pull Nick’s arm off of me but he woke up. We got up together and went to see if the men had brought food but there was nothing around. That was when we heard a knocking on the door. Why would they knock? I asked myself. I came up with no answer.

Alex woke up frightened by the noise and ran to my side. As we approached the door, it flung open and the same three men came into the room. They were infuriated for some reason, but when they barged in they grabbed Alex and ran out of the room. As they took him away my heart tore to pieces, but Nick tried to comfort me in his arms.


“It is going to be okay.” He assured me.


“How can it possibly be okay Nick? They have Alex and there is nothing I can do about it. I don’t even know what I am doing here or who those people are and know Alex could die. I can’t live with this. I don’t know what to do.”


“Rachel, I’m sorry. I know what you are going through. I haven’t seen my daughter for five years. But something good will come from this, I feel it. I feel that Alex could be our way out. He is going to come back with something useful, I just know that everything is going to be okay. So just please try to trust me.”


“Okay. But if something happens to him, I will never be able to live with it.”


Somewhere deep down I knew that whoever these crazy people were they would not be insane enough to hurt a child. So for some reason I did believe him. That night Alex still not had returned and I slept with terror. During the middle of the night, I awoke with a tapping on my shoulder. Nick reached over me and whispered in my ear that Alex had come back and was sleeping next to him. I was so relieved. I slept peacefully for the rest of the night. When I awoke the next morning, I woke up Alex. He was happy to see me and I was extremely happy to see him.


“Alex, what did those men want from you?”


He gave me no answer. He just simply glanced at me and then back at Nick. Then Alex ran straight to Nick and called him daddy. We were both shocked.


“What did you say?” I asked Alex.


“Nick is my daddy.” Alex answered.


We were both extremely confused, so we just let him call Nick daddy. Things got even weirder as the day went on. Alex was telling us things about me and Nick, things that we didn’t know were even possible. How were we married and Alex was our son and we did not know a thing about it? Things were starting to get really weird. That was when there was another knock at the door. It was the three men once again. They marched in the room in a strange fashion and stayed quiet for a while. Then they finally spoke:




“You have found your answers. The little boy has brought them to you. Now you are free to go. Do not ask questions, just simply leave.”


They showed us the way out. We tried to figure out where we were but we had no such luck. We had to have walked in circles for hours. Then we walked down a street and there was an alleyway. We turned down the alley and that was when we saw it………….

I woke up startled in my bed by this dream I had just had. I looked over my shoulder and there was my husband Nick reading a magazine.


“Are you okay honey?” he asked.


“I’m just fine, now that I’m here with you. That was some dream.”


“Why don’t you tell me about it?”


“I have other ideas.”


“And what are those ideas?”


“I guess you’ll just have to wait and find out.” I laughed.


I leaned over and kissed him. I could tell that he was still thinking about what I was saying because he was not into the kiss as much as I had wanted him to be. Everything was just the way it was supposed to be. I was here with my wonderful husband Nick and my son Alex was in the room right next to me. This is how life is supposed to be, I said to myself. Not thinking about the dream anymore I took the magazine out of Nick’s hands and threw it on the floor.


“This was my idea.” I said.


He then stopped me for a moment and said, “I want you to know that I love you so much. There is nothing I want more than you and Alex. When I was little, I never thought that dreams came true, but now I know if you believe hard enough, they will.”



“You and Alex are the best part of my life too. But will you please shut up and kiss me.”




He laughed with me. And we continued with my total non-dreaming life.