Creatures were everywhere. Humans, demons, angels, reapers, all of them. They all seemed to be searching for something, but I couldn't tell what it was.

"Excuse me," said an elderly woman. Her hair was a light gray, her dress white. Her face, though slightly wrinkled with age, was nearly flawless. I guessed she was an angel, maybe half.

"Yes?" I asked her, my voice sounding thick and foreign.

"Have you seen a child, about this big, with pitch black hair and different colored wings?" She held her hand at about the center of her thigh, indicating the height of the child she was looking for. As I looked closer at the woman, I noticed that she looked familiar to me, but I didn't know why.

Is she after me? I thought. But I'm way taller than that.

Suddenly, the woman looked confused. "Where did she go? Am I talking to people that aren't there again? I must be losing it faster than I expected..." She continued muttering to herself as she walked toward...... and through me.

I looked down at myself. I looked solid enough to me. I wondered if I had just imagined it, but it had felt so real.

"Selena, hurry. We must not miss the beginning of the play."

I turned to see my mother, holding the hand of a mini me, who was short, and probably about four years old.

I gasped as my mother from the past glanced up and looked straight at me. She smiled, and time seemed to freeze for everyone except for me and her. Probably because it literally had.

The little Selena's mother let go of mini-me's hand and walked over to me. She hugged me tightly.

"Mom," I said, afraid to hug her back. "You said that-"

"I know, but this is your dream. I am sorry for invading, but I can hug me daughter in this world. I was not going to pass up that opportunity."

"And..." I didn't finish, but Mom knew what I wanted to know.

"And you can hug me here, and you will not be trapped. I swear it."

I felt tears in my eyes. I hugged my mother back, tighter I thought than she had ever held me.

"Why didn't you do this before?" I asked her through tears.

"Because you were not having dreams worth remembering once awake. Either that or you were angry with me." Mother looked saddened by the thought of me being mad at her. "I was only trying to protect you, Selena."

"I know, I just wasn't myself."

"Alright then. Now, there is another reason I chose this dream. It is of a memory you had suppressed. This is the day before the incident, ten years ago."

"Why would I suppress this memory and not the one of your death?"

"I am certain you will find out momentarily." Mother snapped her fingers, and another her appeared, holding mini me by the hand. I watched as they both hurried through the crowd of people.

"Mommy, what play are we seeing?" little me asked.

"You will find out soon enough. It is a surprise," little me's mother smiled.

Little me sighed, and her mother laughed.

Mom and I followed them to a stage set up outside a large building I didn't recognize. But I did automatically recognize my father's face on stage.

We watched the play. It was about a little boy and his father, who were trying to save the boy's sister from evil. I watched little me laugh with delight at seeing her father be a clumsy and silly father on stage.

Once the show ended, little me ran up to the stage and waited for her father to come down and give her a hug.

Her father walked right past her and straight to her mother, a serious expression on his face. He started talking to his wife quietly, and then the people in the scene started fading away.

"Selena, I am afraid you are waking up now, so I have to say goodbye for now. I will hold this dream where it is, and I will let you see the rest next time you dream. And I do not want to see you before then." She said the last part while smiling. I smiled back, said goodbye, and let consciousness take me away.

***

I awoke to Maria's smiling, teary-eyed face. She sighed in relief, then sat back and wiped sweat from her forehead. I looked up and saw Finny smiling down at me, and I smiled back.

I slowly sat up and saw my father, who was smiling at me from across the room. He walked over and hugged me tight. I hugged him back, and heard him whisper in my ear. "Please, stop scaring me like this. I don't want to lose you as well."

It almost sounded like he had been crying for me.

I held on to him tighter. "I'm sorry, Dad. I'm sorry I'm useless and can't defend myself from anything, and that I'm in your way. I'm sorry I'm a burden and slow you down. I'll try to be a better demon than what I was as a half."

I thought I heard him sigh. "You're none of those things, Selena. And we will find a way to return you to normal. I'm so glad you're alright."

"Me too," I said, then leaned my head on his shoulder. He held me until Maria informed him that they should continue searching, and then said goodbye. I waved as he walked out the door.

Once the door closed, I lay back on the bed with a sigh. Finny sat next to me, half smiling.

"What?" I asked him.

"How many times are you going to try to die?"

I sat up and gaped at him. "I've only tried to die once so far, so once. I'm sorry that everyone is after me. I-"

Finny stood and walked in front of me. He turned and faced me, fully smiling. "I was just kidding."

I crossed my arms and looked away from him. "Good."

He laughed and sat right next to me. He hugged me gently, and I almost melted into his embrace. "Don't scare me like that, either. If something happened to you, I don't know what I would do."

"Finny..." I said, trying to look at him. I couldn't see his face because of the way he held me, but from the dampness I felt on my shoulder, I knew he was silently crying. I felt my eyes fill with tears as I hugged him back, holding on like my life depended on it. "I'm sorry."