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This is dedicated to Jewelarose because she has left me wonderful comments and threatened my life if I didn't fix this story. I hope this makes you happy <3

Chapter 23

Tyler

    I don't know what willed me to crack an eye open, but when I did, I came in contact with a light so bright that my eye burned like nothing I had ever felt before. When I closed my eye, I felt myself slip back into the numbing darkness; however, I slowly became aware of the slightest things.

    At first, I noticed my breathing. It was calm and steady.

    Secondly, I began to notice things around me. I heard voices, voices I didn't recognize.

    Thirdly, I felt a warm hand in my own. Instinctively, I tightened my grip as I strained my ears to focus on the voices around me; I had no such luck.

    It seemed as if focusing on the things around me pulled me into an unsettling exhaustion, but I couldn't fight it. Slowly but surely, I sank back into a warm darkness. I found comfort in the darkness; I welcomed the darkness, but something inside me ached to once more live in the light.

Daniel

    Seeing Tyler crack an eye open was the start of many things. I was in near hysterics as I called for the nurses. As the hours went on, it became clear that Tyler was working towards coming out of his coma.

    The nurses came by more frequently, asking if he moved, and I told them that he turned his head or opened his mouth. The whole time, I held his hand. My hope didn't return in full until he squeezed my hand.

    It was the best feeling in the world, and I couldn't contain my joy.

    Tyler woke up from his coma at a glacial rate, and I stayed by his side the entire time. It wasn't until he opened his eyes and mumbled that the ice from my heart finally melted away, bringing life back in my veins.

Tyler

    "Where am I?" I rasped and automatically winced at the desert state of my throat. It felt as if someone dumped a bucket filled with sand and broken glass down my mouth.

    "You're awake?" The voice belonged to Daniel. "You can hear me?"

    I nodded and turned my head. As my eyes adjusted to the bright light, I smiled as I focused on a very disheveled looking Daniel. It looked as if he hadn't shaved in weeks or taken a shower at that, but the smile on his lips shone so brightly that his emerald eyes glistened with tears.

    Daniel kissed me. He kissed my lips, my cheeks, my forehead, my nose; he kissed my entire face. "I hate you, you fucking idiot," he said as he kissed my lips once more. He ran his fingers through my hair.

    I cleared my throat; the action nearly brought tears to my eyes. "Where am I?" I asked once more. This time, my voice sounded more like me.

    Daniel sighed. "You're in the hospital, babe. You've been in a coma for weeks."

    Blinking at him, I furrowed my brow. "Oh," was all I could manage as I recalled the events that took place.

    "That's all you're going to say?" His words sounded sad.

    "I saw you," I began, but I couldn't say it out loud. I didn't have to because Daniel touched his lips to mine softly.

    "Your dad kissed me, Tyler." He kept his emerald eyes glued to mine. "I would never do anything like that to you; I love you too much, Tyler."

    I chewed on my lip. "I'm sorry."

    "You should be," Daniel choked out as tears dripped from his eyes. "You have no idea how upset I've been." He kissed me once more as he stopped himself from going on. "It doesn't matter though because you're awake.

    I smiled an alien smile at him as exhaustion crept through me once more. "The room is beautiful," I said tiredly as I yawned. "I don't think I've ever seen so many flowers."

    A small laugh escaped Daniel's lips. "I tried to keep fresh flowers in here for you. I wanted you to wake up to something beautiful.

    I smiled and reached out, sliding my finger down his nearly bearded cheek. "You're the most beautiful thing in the world." I closed my eyes and yawned widely. "I'm really tired, Daniel," I mumbled.

    Daniel climbed in the bed beside me, wrapping his arms around me. I rested my head on his chest and smiled. "I love you, Daniel."

    He kissed the top of my head gently. "I love you too, Tyler, but if you ever do something like this again, I will personally bring you back to life, kill you, bring you back to clean it up, and then kill you all over again."

    I yawned widely one last time. "Point taken, my knight."

Daniel

    Tyler fell asleep in my arms, and I couldn't keep myself from smiling. I would never tell him how close I had been to leaving him because I knew deep down that I would have never been able to stay away.

    My prince was my reason for living, and I loved him with my entire being. He and I had our chance to start over. I hadn't planned on being a personal assistant my whole life anyway.

    I actually thought that I would make a good lawyer.

    Tightening my grip around Tyler's shoulders, I sighed as the weight of the world left my shoulders. Things were going to be ok. I wasn't naïve enough to believe that things between Tyler and me would be perfect every single day of our lives, but I knew that whatever life through at us, we could get through it.

    Tyler was worth it; I believed that to my very core.

    Resting my head on top of his, I closed my eyes and fell asleep. It was a nice sleep that seemed to recharge my bones. When I awoke, I found Tyler smiling up at me. "Why do you look so happy?" I asked with a smile of my own.

    Tyler shrugged. "You didn't leave me," he said matter-of-factly.

    I lifted my brow quizzically. "What do you mean?"

    "When I woke up, I remembered a dream I had while I was in the coma." He smiled once more as he nestled against my chest. "You were going to leave me, but you didn't. Why did you stay, Daniel?"

    Tyler held this innocence about him that made me chuckle. I kissed the top of his head. "I stayed because I wouldn't have had a reason to live without you."

    Tyler leaned up and placed a kiss on my cheek. "I think that's why I didn't die."

    He met my eyes, and found myself in near tears once more. "What do you mean?"

    "You need me as much as I need you; your need is what kept me alive."

    Tyler and I needed each other more than either of us knew. We weren't exactly opposites, but we were like puzzles, each missing a few pieces that the other possessed.

Tyler

    I sat on the edge of my cluttered desk and stared across the room to my twenty-seven students. Teaching a high school art class turned out to be exactly what I wanted to do with my life. I smiled as I spoke to my students. "There is no right or wrong when it comes to art. If I didn't have to give grades out, I wouldn't because everything that each and every one of you create belongs to you."

    I stood from my desk and walked to the middle of the class. "This week, I want to start a new project." I moved in a semi circle, making eye contact with all of them. "I'm going to give you an eight by ten piece of mat, and I want you to mix mediums and create a single emotion."

    I paused as some students groaned, but I continued. "I want you to focus on capturing the emotion in the way that you see it; I want you to put your entire person into this one emotion and produce something that you'll be proud of."

    A junior girl raised her hand. "It can be any emotion?"

    I nodded. "Any emotion in any medium as long as you use at least two mediums." I glanced down at my watch and took note that my class was ending in less than two minutes. "Today, I just want you to think of the emotion you want, and we'll worry about the rest tomorrow, ok?"

    The class nodded and began to gather their things.

    "I mean it, everyone. I'm going to ask you your emotion tomorrow." They weren't paying me much attention at this point, and when the bell rang, they made it out of the doors before the buzzer stopped. I didn't blame them though; I remembered my high school days and very clearly recalled the urge to run in fear.

    Chuckling to myself, I turned to find a small boy staring up at me. "Hello, Greg," I said with a warm smile. "Do you need something?" Greg was the quietest student I had out of six classes. He had pitch black hair and wore dark liner around his bright blue eyes.

    "What if you don't have an emotion?"

    I furrowed my brow. "What do you mean?"

    He shifted nervously. "I want to do the emotion of nothing."

    "I don't think I understand."

    Greg went on to explain. "You don't really just feel one emotion at a time, and it will be hard to pick out a single one," he began. "When you feel nothing, you're actually feeling every emotion at one time, but they're moving so quickly that you can't decipher them. I want do nothing."

    I smiled down at my student. "I think that will be very interesting. We'll talk more about it tomorrow. Have a nice day, Greg."

    When it came time to turn the projects in, most of the frilly girls chose to focus on love and turned in posters filled with pink and red hearts. A few of the boys chose the typical hyper masculine approach and chose to do emotions such as anger.

    Out of all the projects, one stuck out in my brain. It was the one done by Greg. His poster was in black and white, completely devoid of life, but as you worked your way to the middle, there was a gradient, rainbow tornado wrecking havoc on the black and white world.

    Greg was right, the feeling of nothing was actually a combination of every single emotion trying to work its way through your mind at the exact same time.

Epilogue

    Daniel and I lived happy lives together, and one day when I came home from work, I found Daniel in his suit and tie standing in the living room of our new house. We only moved in a few days ago, which left the house nearly empty save for our belongings from the apartment.

    It didn't take long for him to establish himself as a damn good layer, and he worked his ass off to be the very best he could be. Daniel held hopes of having his own firm and being his own boss.

    "What's the occasion?" I asked in faux confusion.

    This time, I didn't fool Daniel. He walked over, wrapped his arms around me, and claimed my lips. "Happy five year anniversary," he whispered as he hovered over my lips.

    I grinned up at him. "Happy anniversary, my knight."

    Daniel took a step back from me suddenly and ran a hand through his hair nervously. "I've wanted to do this for a very long time, but I wanted to wait until you were finished with college and established yourself as a teacher." Daniel fell to his knee and looked up at me with his emerald eyes.

    I felt my heart clench as tears already began to well behind my eyes.

    "Tyler Lee Greer, will you do me the great honor of becoming my husband?" From the pocket of his black suit, he pulled out a black velvet box, opening it to reveal a simple golden band with small, delicate diamonds circling it. He pulled the ring from the box and held it out to me.

    Without hesitation, I extended my hand, and he slid the ring over my finger. "Yes!" I screamed as I jumped into the air.

    Daniel stood and wrapped his arms around me. "You are my prince, Tyler, and I want to spend every waking moment with you."

    I captured his lips with mine. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

    My dreams came true, but as time went on, I realized that dreams change with age. I remembered a time where my biggest dream was simply finding someone I could love. Now, halfway to thirty, I found myself holding onto new dreams, new aspirations.

    I wanted to get married, raise my own children with the man I adored, and live.

    I wanted more than anything to live.

-----

Can you all believe that it's over?

I am so happy that I've been able to write this story for you all because of how attached to the characters I am.

I want to take a moment to thank each and every one of you that has taken the time out of your day to read what I have written, voted, and commented on this story. It has truly made me happy to share this experience with all of you.

I may write a short story for Daniel and Tyler, MAYBE a sequel with their new lives together. I'm not sure yet.

This story (as of right now) has over SEVEN THOUSAND reads, and this is just mind boggling to me. OVER 300 votes!

I've recieved such a wondeful feedback from this story alone that I'm truly pumped to share my other stories with you. If you're feeling a bit lost without this in your life, please read my newest story 'Souls Entwined.'

http://www.wattpad.com/story/1836835-souls-entwined-boyxboy

Also, check out my blog for a behind the scenes where I'll divulge on a little information about Imaginary that none of you know :D

http://masonmaddnesswattpad.blogspot.com/

I love all of you so much. Thank you 1000 times over.

-Mason

PS: Don't forget to vote and comment! Just because this is the last chapter doesn't mean you can slack off ;D <3

EDIT 12/17/2012

Guys and gals, I am utterly stunned that Imaginary is working its way to 45 THOUSAND reads! That is just absolutely insane to me. There is no way for me to properly thank all of you. I appreciate all of you so much <3

xoxo Mason

EDIT 11/16/16

I'm still shocked at the success of this story. It has gotten to a point where I can't really keep up with the comments, but I thank you all so much. You really are the best.  

If you are looking for things to read after this, I have a few stories on here that you could check out.

The Skinny Boy Tales - Completed - Teen Fiction/Romance

https://www.wattpad.com/7353204-the-skinny-boy-tales-boyxboy-completed-the-skinny

The Last Sprite - Ongoing - Paranormal/Romance

https://www.wattpad.com/story/67619438-the-last-sprite-manxman

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