Daily Write - To hear those words

She wasn't sure what woke her up. There was no sounds, no lights. She simply opened her eyes and was staring at the dark ceiling above her. It was still dark outside of her window, everyone lulled into comfortable slumbers that would only end with the coming of the morning. She sat up and let the covers fall onto her waist. Slowly the fog around her previously sleeping brain started to lift as she become more awake and alert. She sat there quietly, doing nothing but looking at the darkness.

"I guess I should quit pretending that you don't know that I'm here."

The voice came from the shadows in the far corner of the room and was soon followed by a tall, thin figure showing himself in the grey light of the night. She couldn't see the face, but she didn't need to. She already knew who it was. And was not surprised that he was there.

"How did you get here?" she asked, staring at the man standing in front of her.

"That's not the actual question you want to ask," the man answered, taking several steps forward, "Ask me what you really want to know."

She pulled the covers back and swung her legs over the side of the bed. He was right. She didn't care how he had gotten into her room. So she changed her question.

"Why did you leave? Father could have protected you. You didn't have to run."

"Did it ever cross your mind that I ran because I did exactly what they said I did. Perhaps I am guilty and I didn't want to be locked away from the rest of my life or worse, lose my head."

"Then why come back here? Why risk coming into the Capitol? You of all people should know with excruciating detail what will happen if they find you here."

There was silence, nothing moving, nothing spoke. She knew that he had the words that he wanted to say. He always did. So why wasn't he saying them.

"All these years...you and Father..."

Then the silence returned again. He didn't need to say anything else. She knew the question. She got up from her bed and walked over to the shadows. She could see the contours of face. Time had chiseled that juvenile countenance he had left with and replaced it with a more manly visage. However, it was still the same familiar face. The same familiar eyes.

"You are our blood, Brother. You share our pride and honor. We never believed. I never believed."

"Those words," he replied, "That is why I came back. I just wanted to hear someone say those words. I wanted to hear you say those words."

Words I couldn't say

I could never quite understand why it is so difficult to say your dreams out loud. Not the goals that are able speak to anyone who asks you. Those are not the ones I am talking about. And not the ones that you are keeping in the shadows, waiting to reveal when the time is right. No, I am talking about the dreams that sit at the center of your being, the very core of your heart that you are afraid to even breathe aloud to yourself. The dream that burns within and yet something holds you back from giving voice to it.

Perhaps it is just me. I was asked recently what my dreams were. I started going down the list, but then I hit one. This one. And I couldn't speak it out loud. What was it that I was afraid of? Would people think that I was pretentious to want such a thing. Was so I afraid of failure I didn't even want to acknowledge that my dream even existed in my head? Whatever the reason was, I kept my mouth shut and have yet to open it to anyone. So now I am just thinking, are there any others like me out there.

What makes a dream so daunting that you don't want to speak it? Why would anyone not want to acknowledge something they want the most in their life? I haven't figured it out yet and maybe I never will. The only think I can possibly think of doing is just to continue chasing after what I want in life, no matter if I say it out loud or not.