Dream

"Welcome..."

You open your eyes as a sweet voice befalls your ears, directing your eyes upward to find the source of the echo. A girl unlike any other stands before you, half of her face streaked with tears while the other is curled into a malicious smile. Her body seems to be split in two, one side resembling that of a demon with the side effects of a bat wing while the other holds onto an image of angelic beauty, supporting a feathered wing.

"Welcome," she repeats, "to my home.."

"Where am I?" you feel yourself utter, looking around at the monochromatic world around you. Everything's colorless and cold, as if you were suddenly thrown in a black and white picture.

"In between," the girl responds.

"In between what?" you question, staring at her with confusion.

"Heaven and Hell.. life and death.. dreams and reality.. black and white.. who cares? It's all grey."

"And who are you?" you ask, still baffled.

"I am me, of course. Who else would I be?" the girl snaps.

"Do you have a name?" you wonder.

No answer is given. You wait for a response, yet she blankly stares at you. You feel the urge to ask the question again, though as your lips part, the girl turns away from you and begins to walk away.

"Hey, wait! How do I go home?" you ask, suddenly feeling lost and lonely.

The girl suddenly stops, glancing at you over a shoulder. A sparkling tear trickles down her cheek, the left corner of her mouth falling into a depressing frown. "I don't know," the left side of her body sobs.

You glance at her strangely, before snapping out of your trance. "I get it.. this is a dream!"

"Why do you say that?"

"None of this could possibly exist in reality.."

"But do not dreams tell us truths and secrets of the world before we recognize them with our waking thoughts?" The girl's body has rotated completely to face you, and you notice that the right side of her face is glaring at you with an evil grin.

"So this isn't.. a dream? This is.. real?"

"Define.. 'real'.." The girl's right side leans towards you, the grinning seeming to stretch further. Though suddenly, the left side faces you again and the girl sighs. "It is neither, and both, yet something completely different," she notices the confusion on your face and tries to explain. "Have you ever been dreaming and been conscious of both your dream and your reality at the same time? Like you know what's happenning outside your body while you continue to dream? This world is a little like that, only you are trapped in between waking and sleeping, and blocked off from both as well. The only word for this world is.. grey."

"Oh," you sighed, offering a pause before continuing, "What do I do now?"

"I don't know," she states bluntly.

"..Will you atleast tell me your name?" you ask.

A deadly silence falls around you, and you can't seem to pull your eyes away from her. She simply stares at you for a while, then leans forth as if to study your face further. Her grey lips part, both edges falling into a straight line as all emotion is erased from her face. "Nanashi," you hear her whisper.