![\"pool\"](\"http:\/\/thewonderchildblog.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/07\/pool.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nNo One was there when I opened the door after being awoken by a frantic knocking.\u00a0 I stood there, afraid, and yet, by some miracle, invited No One in.\u00a0 I cleared off a chair and invited No One to sit down.\u00a0 I asked if they needed a drink of water.\u00a0 They nodded yes.\u00a0 I turned to get some water and No One started weeping.\u00a0 I stopped, knelt at No One\u2019s side, and took their hand.\u00a0 No One wept like a torrent of rain.\u00a0 They collapsed off the chair and into my arms.\u00a0 They started to try to speak through the sobs.\u00a0 I couldn\u2019t understand what they were saying.\u00a0 I caught pieces of words and phrases:\u00a0 Lonely, please, it\u2019s chasing me, afraid, tired.\u00a0 I rocked No One in my arms and they wept for a long time.\u00a0 In fact, Time stepped aside and let us be together for as long as No One needed.\u00a0 I was grateful for Time for letting go of control and allowing No One\u2019s pain to be witnessed in the kind of timelessness they reserve for dreams.<\/p>\n
No One gradually wept into a deep sleep.\u00a0 I stayed there, holding them in my arms on the floor.\u00a0 My legs started tingling and falling asleep.\u00a0 I got up slowly and lifted No One into bed.\u00a0 I stroked their hair and pulled the blanket up over their deeply breathing body.\u00a0 I sat down in the chair and wondered why No One had come to me.\u00a0 Who, or what was chasing them?\u00a0 What could I do to help?\u00a0 And with those thoughts drifting through my heart like wisps of mist, I too fell into a deep sleep.<\/p>\n
Inside (or outside?) my dream, No One had risen from the bed and stood radiant and strong, alive. I watched in awe as No One began to change their form.\u00a0 Their body shifted and fluttered, lighting up like a million fireflies, taking on other shapes and forms, until, at last, No One had transformed into Everyone, and it was then I understood why they had come.\u00a0 But then, Everyone too began changing shape.\u00a0 Their illumination settled a bit, and their form, a moment ago like a sun that somehow fit into the space of my apartment, began to shrink in size. \u00a0As Everyone continued to distill in form and intensity, their light became focused and channeled to a specific spot in the room.\u00a0 It was then I understood why Everyone had changed.\u00a0 They had changed, wonder of wonders, into myself.\u00a0 And yet somehow, Everyone was still there.\u00a0 We were one being, one light, one heart.\u00a0 And No One suddenly flickered into the room, never to be alone again. And I let myself, wonder of wonders, be embraced by Everyone, as they rocked me in their arms, for I had collapsed from the chair weeping like the rain.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n