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“Daniel,” his mother called, knocking on his door, “Wake up, you’re going to be late for school. I have to leave for work.”
There was no response, so she pushed the door open, and found Daniel lying on the floor of his bedroom near the wide-open window, unresponsive, cold, and pale. She took him to the hospital where they ran tests and, luckily, he recovered.
That was the first time Daniel had a bout of severe anemia. The doctors couldn’t explain why. He was in perfect health, they said. He kept iron pills on hand at home and it was never as bad as that first time. He didn’t have to be hospitalized again.
Something he never told the doctors, was that each episode of anemia coincided with a dream about stars and a tall man in a black coat. It didn’t make any sense to Daniel and he didn’t want to tell them, afraid of what they might conclude.
When he reached his mid-twenties he developed insomnia. He took a third shift job and only slept with the sun blazing into his windows. That seemed to help until he turned thirty. Then he started missing hours during his shifts. He would wake up in parking lots, away from his workplace, his car. He had no idea how he’d gotten there. His anemia came back. He couldn’t hold down a job anymore.
He managed to work sporadically. He still only slept during the day.
The dreams intensified when he turned forty. They became more vivid and stayed with him for weeks, repeating again and again.
He ended up in an institution, and it helped, for a while. He was getting better. His energy was back. And they sent him home. And then it all began again.
Daniel was strong but he was running out of hope. The night he had decided to give up, his dream became reality.
A tall, ethereal man appeared in his home. At first, Daniel saw only stardust, but then, he materialized. He had white-blonde hair and blue eyes that were too bright to be human. Daniel looked at him blankly, he had seen him so many times in dreams, he wasn’t surprised to see him now.
“Hello Daniel,” the man’s voice purred. It pulled Daniel in, stringing him along. He was on his feet, in the man’s arms in an instant.
“So beautiful,” the man murmured, lips ghosting over his throat.
Daniel sighed, melting into him, supported by arms that were cold and unyielding.
“You’ll be with me forever. Have I told you that before?” the man whispered.
“Mmm,” Daniel replied, unable to speak as teeth sank into his neck, drawing the last of his energy away.
When Daniel woke up, he forgot that it was reality. The man only existed in dreams, after all.
Daniel managed until his mother died. The night of the funeral he collapsed on the floor of his apartment, unsure what he was going to do now.
But of course, he appeared in his dreams that night. He looked down at him and said, “Now that there’s no one to miss you, you can be mine forever.”
When Daniel woke the next day, all his dreams had been transformed into memories. His senses were heightened and when he shifted his gaze to the left he saw the man -- Johnny -- he remembered his name now. When they made eye contact, memories flooded him.
He was sixteen the first time he’d encountered Johnny. The man had appeared before him on the sidewalk as he walked home one evening, pushing his bike.
“You are so beautiful,” he had said, holding Daniel’s face with one hand, “What could I possibly have done to deserve you? And what could you have done to deserve this?”
Daniel had been unable to look away from his eyes, had leaned into his hand without meaning to. His warm skin burned against the man’s palm.
Johnny leaned in close to Daniel and whispered, “They told me you were meant for me, a soulmate, after hundreds of years, here you are.” He squinted at Daniel like he didn’t believe he was real and said, “But you are so young and so … full of life.” He licked his lips and was gone.
That was the night before Daniel had to be rushed to the hospital.
He remembered every other encounter. The times when his energy was taken with complete disregard. But also, the times when he had been watched over -- a car accident averted, a robbery stopped, various falls, cuts, and slips avoided before they could happen because of Johnny.
But he also saw everything he had lost. People had never approached him, and if they did, they didn’t stay long. He saw why clearly in his mind, an intimidating encounter with a stranger, in the dark.
“Why can I see memories that are only yours?” Daniel asked, hoarsely. His throat felt like it was scratched on all sides.
“We’re fully bonded now, you and I. I told you we’d be together forever, and we will be, I just had to add the finishing touch.”
“What do you mean?” Daniel asked.
“You see, before I found you, I was ready to die, permanently,” the man grinned in the dim light, bright white teeth flashing, ignoring Daniel’s question, “But when I realized I could have company for all eternity, well.”
Daniel grit his teeth, “I don’t understand. I don’t … want that.”
“I’m afraid it’s too late for regrets. You see, our fate is shared. But we were not meant to spend our lives together, rather, our deaths.”
Daniel backed up, looking for a way out, “What?”
“It’s a strange thing about our kind. We only have one way to die, truly die. And I have wished for death for so long,” Johnny said, not looking at Daniel.
“I don’t understand what you mean. I didn’t even remember who you were until a few minutes ago,” tears were pooling in his eyes as he backed into the wall, trapped.
“Daniel, the only way for someone like me to die is to kill that which is a part of me.”
He moved so swiftly that Daniel didn’t see him until he was directly in front of him, pinning him to the wall.
“Now, in a moment, we will both die, but we will see each other again, soon,” Johnny whispered.
Daniel tried to struggle out of his grip, but Johnny grabbed his chin, turning Daniel’s eyes to his. Daniel felt his awareness start to fade.
“Tell me you love me, Daniel. I need to hear it once, just once,” Johnny whispered, sinking his teeth into his neck for the last time.
“I love you,” Daniel whispered.
As Daniel collapsed, Johnny lowered his body to the ground, slowly, gently. He sunk to the ground next to him and felt pain for the first time in so many years, and he watched the world go dark around him.
“Finally,” he breathed.