Dreamer's Lake

"Shallow? Honey, just because your feet touch the ground doesn't mean the pool holds nothing else for you." She gently splashed the water in front of her, and held her arms outward to me. "C'mere," she said, smiling warmly at me. It was the kind of warmth that only existed in the past, too brilliant for the present. Maybe it would have too, if I only knew. I saw my legs below me, a child's legs, clumsily waddling towards her in the pool.
    "I don't want to ever leave," I said. I don't want to wake up, I thought, knowing that she wouldn't be there.
    "See, that's one of the beautiful things about life. This pool, you could live in it for a lifetime. There's more here than you could ever know. In different things, in singular things... we could find whole lives in each of the minutiae."
    "But I want this one." The voice that came out sounded pouty, like a child. "I want this life." She paused. "I know. Don't make me say it. You'll... you understand," she said, the words trailing off. You are not minutiae, I wanted to say. I wanted to say it with all my heart. I knew she wouldn't let me.
    I woke up.