[A/N:]  Well... I guess I can thank a certain someone for talking me into watching the movie Dragonfly...
Ah, and I don't own anything.  The characters belong to their rightful masters.






Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
- Albert Einstein


Misty shuddered once again as she rubbed the skin of her shoulders feeling the tingles of the cold air around her envelope her body.  She reached for her now closed curtains and pulled them open, wincing at the bright morning sunlight that poured across her face.   She felt blindly along the top of the window for the ledge, but noticed that her window was already closed.  Confused, yet almost blind with the large amount of sun against her eyelids, she shut the curtains and blinked at the darker room, her vision blurring for a second.

She made her way across the room and opened the door that lead to the short hallway into the Kitchen of Brock.  There, he was cooking breakfast and the almighty roar of children's voices rang in her ears, "Misty's up!  Misty's up!  Yay!"  

This caught the attention of the young pokemon breeder and he glanced at her.  "Good morning Misty."

"Morning, Brock..."  She said quietly, trying to pry two children off of her legs.  "Excuse me."

The children squealed as their older brother set two more plates of food down on the rather large table where more children ate, some playing with their food as well as throwing it and decorating the table with it.  Misty squeezed past Brock and headed for the fridge looking for the container of orange juice.   She pulled the jug out, expecting it to be light, but instead she ended up having to heave it out of the icebox.  Brock chuckled.

"They don't really like orange juice..."

She laughed lightly and struggled to get it to the counter.  'I'm losing my muscle.'  She thought, twisting off the cap.  "Brock, help, please."

He chuckled and picked up the container as if it was as light as a feather and poured a good amount into a glass.  "I figured after all that sleep, you wouldn't be so tired."

"What do you mean?"

"Well, excuse me for intruding, but I had to check on your window to see if it was open before I turned the air conditioning on.  You were sleeping."  He shook his head exasperatedly with wide eyes, "And talking, for that matter."

He handed her the glass just in time to have a glob of jelly smack his cheek.  A wave of giggles tremored the air.  He sighed and wiped it off and Misty folded a hand over her face to avoid such future disasters.

"Talking?  What was I saying?"  She asked.

"Not much... I couldn't make much of it out, actually."

"Well... exactly how much could you make out?"

Brock grinned and twisted the cap back onto the orange juice.  "Well, you said something about mirrors and zombies... and then all I heard was, "Oh Ash!  Oh, Ash...  yes, yes, yes, Ash!  Oh yes, harder, Ash, harder!" "  He said in a girly voice.  

Misty blushed scarlet and shoved him aside while grabbing her orange juice and headed to her room in 'stomp-mode'.  Brock laughed behind her and she couldn't help but chuckle to herself.  "Oh my.. god.."  She bit her lip to restrain the smile that had crept up on her.

She reached for her doorknob, but just before her hand came into contact with metal, the door slowly pulled itself open a few inches.  She froze, the glass in her hand about to slip from her grip.  Misty grabbed the door, avoiding the doorknob, and pushed it open a little further.   Suddenly, there was a crash coming from the kitchen.

She spun around to see Brock's back facing her, a mess of splattered eggs at his feet.  She gasped, "Brock, what happened?"

He looked over his shoulder, "Nothing..."  

She sighed and walked back into the kitchen, setting the cup of juice onto the table and began to help Brock clean up the eggs.  The children were done eating by now and ran out of the kitchen to play.  "Thanks."  Brock said.  "No problem."   She replied.

However, when Misty turned around for the entire roll of paper towels, she screamed.  Brock jumped up and joined her in gaping.

There, in the center of the large kitchen's mirror, was the word "Find" sloppily written in egg yolk.  Feeling the cold tingles roll down her spine, she balled her fists in fear, dropping the roll of paper towels to her feet.  





Misty hovered over the bathroom sink in deep thought.  She ran the water for no reason whatsoever.  It splattered against her arms and dripped back into the sink.  With a deep sigh, she tore away from the sink and shut off the water and pulled off her shirt, all the while remembering Ash.  

"But... he's dead."  

'Ah, but you have no proof.'  Nagged a small voice inside her head.

She stared into her reflection.  "He's been dead for nearly a year.  He's dead!"

'How do you know?'

"I was there!  I was at his funeral!"

'Hey, was there a body?'

Misty's heart froze.  "No."

'Well?'

"There wasn't because nobody could find all of the pieces!"

'Nobody found any pieces at all.'

"But...  If he was alive, why isn't he here?"

'Maybe he's somehow trapped.'

Misty's stare shifted to the floor.  Suddenly, she scowled.

"No.  He's dead."

'You have no proof whatsoever.'

"My face was soaked with proof."

She looked back to her reflection only to see the blood of her memories run down her face.  Little rivers of the bright red blood of Ash soaking her forehead and cheeks.  She screamed and once again turned the water on, full blast, vigorously scrubbing at her face.   "Stop it!"  

Though in the water, she saw no blood.  Blinking in surprise, she looked back into the mirror.  Normality.

'The pain of your heart was too much to bear.  You couldn't focus on the pain of your body.  You were too close to the site of destruction, how do you know it wasn't your own blood.'

Suddenly, a loud knock on the bathroom door interrupted her thoughts.  "Misty?"

She sighed.

"Misty, you alright in there?"

"Um.."  She heard the doorknob rattle a bit and the door began to open.  She thrust herself against it in desperation, "Don't come in!  I'm shirtless, you idiot!"

"Uh...  okay, just wanted to make sure."  He said before leaving.

"What, that I was shirtless?"  She mumbled to herself.  

She faced the shower once again.  She should've been in there already.  Before... before...

Misty sighed and removed the rest of her clothes, turning on the water and waited a while until it became just the right temperature.  Nice and hot.

She wondered about the writing on the mirror.  And then about her dream.  Do they relate?  What if Ash was trying to contact her?  Wait a minute... Why would he try that after so long?  Why would he want her to find him?  What did that mean, anyway?

She gasped.  The water became too hot and had burned her fingers.  Absently, she stuck them into her mouth and switched the bathwater into shower mode.

"Whatever..."





The curtain pole screeched slightly as it's curtains were abruptly pulled open and the naked red-head grabbed a towel to wrap around her hair as well as her robe.  The floor felt a bit damp and slippery as she stepped out of the tub, grabbing hold of the towel rack in assurance not to slip and break her neck.   The air, despite it's thick humidity, became chillier than usual, however.  The water that dripped down the back of her neck felt as if they were ice cubes to Misty.  

"Wha..."  She breathed, looking around the bathroom.  It was as empty as ever, sans the usual- a toilet, a foggy mirror, sink, and a door in front of her.  

The light bulb above her began to flicker.  The sudden change in lighting appearance made her gasp.  It continued to flicker until the speed intensified, causing the light and darkness in the room blend evenly and cast a certain strange shadow on the wall.   It was on the door.  Misty stood frozen, but managed to step back into the cold tub.  

The light bulb abruptly burst into a million pieces, causing all the light in the room to shatter along with it.  Misty sighed and wiped the sweat/water off of her forehead.  She stumbled towards the door and hoped she could just slip into her room without being noticed.  

Suddenly, her heart froze as the door opened a few inches before her hand reached the doorknob before her.  Another string of cold sweat dripped down her cheek.  It suddenly warmed and she reached up to wipe it off, but only getting the orange-red, metallic- smelling liquid smeared across her fingers.   It was blood.  Horrified, an unintelligible whisper to her right caused her to immediately distract her attention to the mirror.  To her alarm, the condensation on the mirror traced itself into a messy translation to the word 'ME'  

The house shook with the slam of a bathroom door.








Reality is merely an illusion, albeit a very persistent one."
- Albert Einstein



   

   Misty panted in fear as she shut her door behind her.  Feeling the tension finally snap in two, she slowly sunk to her knees against the back of the door, hiding her face in her hands and shaking with both fear and sadness as the all-too-familiar tears streamed down her face.

Could this be for real?  

"How can I find you...  You're DEAD!!"

The coolness of her room struck her again, but nothing happened.  She scowled and locked her door.  She stood with a strange smile and strode across the room to her desk and sat down, looking into the total emptiness of her room.

"Okay...  I believe you.  Prove it."

She waited and... waited..  and she waited...  Her smile widened.  

"It's nothing."  She said quietly, "It's all been a stupid coincidence.  Yeah, I'll bet Jamie was playing around with the eggs... and it's just a coincidence with the whole bathroom mirror thing...  and the dream.  It's all a bunch of bull!"

She crossed her legs proudly in pride of her examination.  "I'm just a paranoid little girl."  She faced the mirror.  "That's why I'm talking to myself."

She laughed lightly and shook her head.  "There's no ghost...  I'm not... There's no ghost..."

Unsure of conclusion, she sat quietly in the cold chair, fiddling with the hem of her robe nervously, expecting something to jump out and tell her to 'find' them.

"This is stupid..."  She muttered and stood quickly.  

Misty began untying the sash of her robe while walking to the tall dresser when she froze.  

'What if I'm wrong...?  What if he is in here.. watching me in my...um...'  She frowned.

"If you've been watching me dress for an entire year now, I'll kill you if you aren't already dead!"