TITLE: The Boy
AUTHOR: Snark
RATING: G
SPOILERS: None
FEEDBACK: snark_911@yahoo.com

===

The voice soothes me, as it always has. From beneath the constant pain it
whispers, quiet yet almost alive.

"There was once a Velveteen Rabbit."

I don't remember much from Before, but I remember the voice. It was there
almost every night, drifting down from somewhere above a flashlight's circle of
light, above the finger moving down the page as the words sprang to life.

"'You were Real to the Boy,' the Fairy said, 'because he loved you.'"

I loved the Boy, too. He was always there. He laughed with me, ran with me,
pushed me in that silly tire swing every time I asked... 

"G'night, Samantha."

...and he read to me. I slipped into my dreams each night with both the blanket
and his kindness tucked warmly around me.

As the tests begin once again, I wonder if the Boy loves me too, after all
these years.

I wonder if I'm still real.


* * End * *