Young Alex was standing at the tree line that separated the forest from his backyard. He felt he was in a bubble but it was just the penetrating darkness around him. As he was staring at the house that he lived in, at the end of the large backyard, the house where he knew his brothers and sisters and mother and father were right at that moment, the place where he felt the safest, he began feeling a sense of melancholy and comfort at the same time, he looked down to notice that he was holding someone’s hand. Someone his own age, about 5. The hand felt comfortable and natural to hold. It was a human touch.

He turned to his right to get a look at the owner of the hand but couldn’t make out any features. As he stared the figure began to glow just a little and within a few seconds, Alex noticed that the figure, is him, or at least, looked like him. Or was it too dark to tell?

He felt compelled to ask this, being, a question.

“How am I going to get through this?”, Alex asks the slightly glowing being.

“Follow your heart”, said the slightly glowing being. “You may feel sad at times but, you will make it”

“I don’t want to leave you or leave this moment. I want to stay right where I am. With you.”, said Alex.

And then suddenly everything started to seem like it was being sucked into a vacuum. The darkness was fading in a funnel shape above him and then….

“Alex, it’s time to wake up” said his beautiful and comforting mother. “It’s your first day of kindergarten, are you excited to make new friends?”

Alex stared back at his Mom and said nothing. Only smiled.