I sat straight up. I'd forgotten I was going to talk to Blade. I hopped out of bed, still in my sweatpants and hoodie.

     "Blade." I whisper-yelled through the door. I knocked on it quietly, afraid to wake Smasher. An eternity later I was met with tired yellow eyes.

"Amaya?" He said, yawning. "You do realize this is booty-call hour, right?"

"Well, I hate to disappoint, but I'm here to talk." I said crossing my arms.

He nodded, "I figured you forgot earlier." He motioned me in.

I stood in the doorway, "We can go to my apartment, I don't want to wake Smasher."

    "He didn't come back yet. He wanted to stay at Nikki's." We both smiled at this. It seemed like Nikki and Smasher had really hit off. "It's just us."

    The butterflies awoke in my stomach. I felt like I was on a rollercoaster. I followed him to his bedroom and stopped in the doorway. "Are you sure this is the best room to talk in?"

     He smirked. "Yeah, this is the most private room here. Smasher could come home any minute." He took my hand and pulled me in. He took me to the bed.

"Already off to a bad start." I shook my head.

He rolled his eyes. "I promise to behave."

"It's not you I'm worried about." I looked straight into his eyes. "So, teach me about you."

   "The reason I'm so close to Smasher is because I was his roommate, in the asylum." He stared at the floor as he spoke.

I remembered the people I'd seen in Clementine, he was nothing like them. "Why?" I asked.

    His eyes were distant. He had transported into some past world I wasn't apart of. "I had a lot of hallucinations. It got to a point where it became dangerous for me and anyone around me."

    Hallucinations? I would never have guessed that Blade saw or heard anything I didn't. "Is it better now? Are the hallucinations gone?"

    He laughed. "Kind of. I have a better grasp of reality now." He paused. "The thing is, I didn't need medicine. My problem is different." Something flashed behind his eyes and he turned to me. "Are you sure you want to hear all of this? It's a lot Amaya."

   "Yes, I'm positive. It's a part of you." I knew that I couldn't pick and choose which parts I wanted. If I was going to be with Blade, I was going to be with all of him. Not just the pretty parts.

     I saw a light in his eyes. He smiled. "When I was born, something in my brain was wired differently. I always knew I was different, but I pretended to be normal. It wasn't that hard then; it didn't fully develop until I was 18 years old. I turn imaginary into reality. It started out with just a very vivid imagination. I saw a million more colors and shapes than everyone around me. Then, I could see people and things that no one else could. It scared and confused me at first, but as soon as I realized that nobody else saw or heard them,  I learned not to mention anyone or anything unless I knew everyone else could hear and see them too." He took a deep breath, watching me. I did my best not to wear my emotions. I went through every emotion imaginable as he spoke. "By the time I turned 18, I was able to make everyone see the things I did. On my 18th birthday I had been thinking of having a brother, a twin brother. I had always thought it would be cool. I asked myself, "What if I had a twin brother?" Then there he was, standing in front of me. I blew it off as my imagination. He said hello and walked away. I thought for sure I had been hallucinating. Until I was being arrested for attempted homicide. I was told I had attacked a man on the street, I had a knife. That's where my nickname comes from, the blade I was accused of using that day. When they took me in for questioning, I told them that it wasn't me, it was my twin brother. They checked my records and saw I had no twin brother. I explained that he wasn't technically real, that I had conjured him in my imagination, but he had somehow got out. They said that I was psychotic and needed to go somewhere for treatment rather than jail. I begged them to give me a few days to find my twin. They agreed, they told me that for the next few days an officer would escort me on a search to find my lost twin. Each day I came back without him. So, I ended up in Clementine. I didn't know it at the time, but the things my imagination creates only last a few hours in the real world." He laughed a little, "You know it's funny, at first I thought that I made you from my imagination. When you didn't disappear, I was shocked to find you were real."

    His last comment made my heart skip a beat. He thought I was good enough to be something from his dreamland. I sat for a minute, sorting through everything he had just told me. I had so many thoughts going through my head. "What happened in Clementine? How'd you get them to release you?"

    "I escaped." He said the words slowly. "In the beginning I thought that maybe I could just fake being normal, like I had as a kid. I couldn't. I felt like I was giving up a piece of me every time I said I knew there was no twin, that I had almost killed that guy." I could see the anger he held pent up inside coming to the surface. "Then Smasher came. We understood each other. We didn't belong there. He told me about his ex, how he lost control. He had Smashed everything he owned. He put it all on the street, for everyone to see. He felt guilty being alive and healthy when his girlfriend was six feet under. I talked to him about my story. He asked me to show him, but I was afraid of what would happen if I did. I wasn't even sure what caused one of my creations to come out of my mind. He and I discussed all the possibilities. One day, when Smasher saw a puppy I had been imagining in my room, I discovered what brought them out. I had to really want them here. I was a little anxious the day I imagined the dog, and deep down I wished I could actually hold him. My 18th birthday, I wanted someone who was like me, I was tired of feeling isolated. I wanted someone I could truly be myself with." He stared at me. There was no trace of sorrow or self-pity on his face, but I felt it for him. It hurt me that he had been alone for so long. I knew the feeling. His was worse because he didn't choose it, he was forced into isolation. I had made the conscious decision that I didn't want to be close to anyone. He went on. "We played around with this for a while, testing the limits. Besides my twin, all my creations were harmless. One day, we came up with a plan to get us out. I would create someone. When the guards saw this person, they would think somebody broke in and scramble to see how they managed to get through security. It worked, except last minute one of the guards realized we were trying to escape and grabbed Smasher. Smasher told me to go on, he said I could come back for him. I promised I would get him out. After three years of being in there, I was close to breaking. He said he was okay, he had only been there for a few months. It took a year of planning and close calls to finally break him free. I went undercover, never using my real name. If anyone ever looked me up, they'd find out who I was and send me right back."

      My mind raced. All this truth felt like a freight train coming my way. Blade waited patiently for me to think. A question popped into my mind. "Is that why you were kicked out of med school?" My heart was heavy, I could feel his sadness.

    "Yeah I started med school when I was 16, almost 17. I managed to get through a year before I was placed in the asylum. I tried to self-teach there for awhile, but it was sort of hard you know?" He shrugged.

"You were in med school at 16?!" I couldn't hide my surprise. That was so young.

"Yeah, I graduated a little early." He said nonchalantly.

I wanted to know more. "What made you decide you wanted to be a doctor?"

"When I was five I broke my leg. I jumped off our roof when my parents weren't paying attention. I thought I'd be fine." He laughed. "I had to go to the hospital. There I met this little girl who was being treated for a heart condition." My heart was running a marathon. "We were in the waiting room together. She was a little bit younger than I was, so I was shocked that she was going through something like that. She seemed so brave. She went straight to the model train they had set up. She wearing the brightest smile I'd seen in my life. I couldn't help myself from going over to her. I had to meet her." He was smiling. "She told me she was going to have surgery soon, that her heart had a hole in it. We talked for thirty minutes about our shared love of trains and fear of hospitals." He met my gaze. "It was right then and there I decided I wanted to be a doctor. To meet more people like this little girl and help them."

   "Blade..." I wasn't sure how to even say it, but I remembered that day. The friendly boy who watched the train with me. He'd had changed that day from scary to exciting and fun. How hadn't I noticed it was him? "I was that little girl." I forced the words out. I had been born with a heart defect called Atrial Septal Defect, a hole in my heart between the upper chambers (atria). I was fortunate to catch it early enough, even though I had no real symptoms. They performed a surgery to close the hole and I had been living a normal life since. It had been terrifying, but it made me see just how precious life was. I was the reason he had decided he wanted to be a doctor.

He smiled at me. "I know."

"Why didn't you say anything?" I asked, wide-eyed and confused.

"I didn't want to freak you out." He looked back down.

    "I never thought I'd see you again." I said. I felt my eyes get a little teary. "You have no idea how much that day meant to me. How much you meant to me. Still mean to me."

He wiped my eyes gently with his hand. "That was the most important day in my life."

In that moment I forgot anyone else existed. It was just us. "Why are you so sweet to me?"

    He laughed. "I'm not that nice Amaya. You should see the dirty thoughts going through my mind right now."

I hit him playfully. "You and your vivid imagination."

He grinned at me. "Anything else you wanna know? "

     I considered this. I could only think of one more question. "What was the duffle bag you were packing the one night for?" I thought I knew the answer, but I wanted to hear him explain it.

    "I was sneaking Smasher in some clothes and a walkie talkie so we could communicate. We were getting prepared to break him out of that prison." He shook his head, flustered. "They never let anyone leave there. He should've been released months ago."

     Everything started to fall into place. I waited a moment to speak, making sure he was finished. "Thank you for being open with me. I get the sense you don't do this a lot." I smiled at him.

"That bad huh?" He said smirking.

    "No. It's just I can tell it's not rehearsed." It felt like an honor to have him let me in on his secrets. "I've been alone for along time too. It makes you feel crazy. Even if you're content, everyone needs someone sometimes."

He squinted at me. "What's wrong with you?"

It was like I'd been slapped in the face. "What?" I stuttered.

"I can't find anything wrong with you. You're perfect." He looked like he was genuinely confused.

     The slap I'd felt transformed into a kiss. I was blushing. "I'm not perfect. There are so many things wrong with me Blade. I put way too much importance on trivial things, I abandon people who care about me, I party way more than I should."

      He looked me straight in the eyes. "None of those things make you imperfect. Who you are inside, is flawless." He laughed. "How aren't you freaked out by what I've told you?"

     "You're not that scary Blade." I rolled my eyes. "You've been nothing but kind to me. You've been patient, and understanding. Just because you have some special ability doesn't make you a bad guy."

He smirked. "Don't make me prove you wrong."

"You can't." I challenged him.

     He moved in on me. "Wanna bet?" He gripped my waist and kissed me. I felt myself giggling against his lips. I laid back on the bed. He followed me.

     The door to the apartment opened. Smasher walked in, interrupting us.