Grace

I reached my bathroom, after a long restless night. A strange sensation barged into my bladder and swirled itself with purpose.

'What the...' I muttered, but did not finish the sentence. I had to get yesterday's departure away from me before I burst.

On return I noticed Grace; an old Victorian beauty, never intended to be a plaything. She was fashioned with an ideal in mind, though time had worked on that and now she blended into the modern world, as whatever you wanted her to be. With a sigh I smiled and remembered her flying in my arms when I was a child, the wonder we used to share in imagination's freedom, sadly lost now to the ravaged pace of age.

'If only I could return to those days.' I whispered softly.
'You can!' Came a reply.

My heart skipped passed the first five seconds, which hovered above my open mouth. Surely this was a dream that visited me. I must be asleep still. But no, there I was, half naked and empty, thankfully.

Grace moved! If I could have left the room I would have, but fear held me tight in its grip.

'Don't be frightened,' she said with a smile.
'I am Heaven-sent.'

Slowly I began to feel my skin again as I watched her expression; a symbol of a distant time, dance across her porcelain face.

With a swoosh! I found myself a child once more. Delight spilled into my heart and I wept with pure joy. Grace was again inanimate, in appearance but not in spirit. Warm pleasure accompanied us as we swirled around the room like two miniature ballerinas; pirouettes of innocence. I lost myself. The future did not exist in this place, the here and now took over and washed us both with intense fascination. As I wondered whether to search out the teacups and teapot a weird feeling approached me, its hat in hand. I felt myself being pulled by some eerie force. Grace fell to the rich patterned carpet with a dull thud and bounced a little before she came to a halt.

Birdsong stole my tears upon awakening. For the first few minutes I just lay there sobbing, the presence of a wish delicately kissing my lips.

'There, there. There, there.' They said soothingly.

It was such a detailed dream. I questioned reality, as I always do when such intensity pays me a call. Grace, she was a dear friend to me in my younger years, no real person had ever come close to that connection we shared then. Maybe today I would go and visit her, unwrap her protective clothing and place her on display for all to see, and perhaps remark on if they so desire.