in another life

She swayed, wary and nervous, watching him with those pale eyes, and though he had spotted her, she did not believe he saw her. He moved like a wraith, mechanic, methodical but disbelieving, accepting her presence as a ghost -- a particle in his imagination. How was she to react to this version of him, the haunted state of his stare arousing her nerves, tempting her caution as she quivered in her place, her heart breaking in that instant that they touched. She leaned into him, burrowed her face in the soft fur of his chest with a force that she hoped might prove she was real -- I am here, I am here! "Please don't hate me," she murmured, a hoarse whine, a plea for all the affection he had given her before and that she had ignored all those years, lost in a daze of emotionless reverie. I am real. I love you. Her heart thuded insistently against her chest, her breath fogged against the frosty air and every inch of her screamed her desire to be loved, to make him believe she was not an illusion -- she had returned for him, but oh, she had left for him too, but she wondered now: had she lost him in the process?