As the rain poured down on a cool, fall evening, Charlie was about to go to bed for the night. Complaining to his parents about how every one of his friends had a girlfriend, he expressed his sadness about having nobody to hang out with anymore. “Don’t worry, Charlie,” his mother exclaimed. “The girl of your dreams is out there somewhere.” Charlie gave his mother a sarcastic “thanks” and then took off upstairs. He jumped into bed and pulled the covers around him so tight it was as if they were a part of his body. As Charlie was dozing off, his mind began to wander about the conversation that had just occurred with his parents.

The next morning, Charlie woke up and continued to dwell on the fact that he did not have a girlfriend. As Charlie sat up, he heard a beautiful, harmonious sound the came from the woods in his backyard. He crawled out of bed, threw on a pair of jeans and a bright red flannel shirt, and ran out of his house towards the patch of woods. The grass was coated in dew under his feet as the water began to seep through his shoes and cover his socks. Charlie began to slow down as he reached the entrance of the woods. He peered in before beginning his search for the lovely sound. There was an ominous shadow over the patch of woods that made Charlie nervous about going in. Eventually, he gained enough courage to take his first step into the woods.

Charlie slowly walked into the trees and bushes and tried to follow the sound of the beautiful harmony coming from deep within. As he walked, it became more and more difficult to follow the melody because of the snapping twigs, crunching of dead leaves under his feet, and the faint drip-drop of stale rain hanging onto the leaves in the trees. Nonetheless, Charlie was determined to find the sweet music coming from deep within the woods. As he continued to follow his path deeper and deeper into the woods, the trees and shrubs became denser and denser until he became completely lost. The sweet melody was now beginning to fade, so Charlie decided to give in to the complications of the forest and return back to his house. As Charlie pushed his way through the thick shrubbery in front of him, he burst out of it and almost fell into a fast paced stream. I don’t remember a stream ever being back here, Charlie thought to himself.

Nothing was to be seen from upstream. Charlie then returned his gaze downstream and spotted an object brightly reflecting the sun’s rays into his eyes. He shielded his eyes with his forearm and walked downstream towards the object. Now, only standing a couple yards from the object, Charlie realized what rested on the rock in front of him. It was a beautiful, bright gold harp. This is strange, Charlie thought. Why would somebody leave this beautiful instrument just laying out here in the woods? He walked up to the harp, kneeled down behind it, and began plucked at the strings. The noise that was produced was hideous. No matter how hard Charlie tried to play with harmony, the harp just did not seem to cooperate. Saddened by his inability to play the harp, Charlie began to walk back towards the dense forest that he popped out of ten minutes earlier.

Just as Charlie started to split the trees to walk back into the woods, he heard the wonderful melody coming from the harp once again. He quickly turned around and, to his delight, saw the most beautiful girl upon whom he had ever laid his eyes . She was effortlessly plucking away at the strings of the harp and creating a melody like none other. Mesmerized by the sound, Charlie began to stumble over his feet toward the beautiful woman. He stepped into the water, and crossed the river on his path toward her. Charlie was only a few steps away from the woman when he suddenly woke up.

Charlie sat up in bed breathing very heavily and his heart pounding. From out of his window, he was able to see the sun coming up from just about the tree line. He jumped across his bed, threw on some clothes and shoes, and sprinted out the back door. Please, let it be real. Just let her be real, Charlie thought as he ran through the tree line separating his yard from the forest within. His cheeks and arms were cut and gashed by the branches and briars as he ran through the woods. Charlie, out of breath and blood dripping down his cheeks, stopped to check where he was. The forest was very dense, but Charlie was able to see the exact spot where he had almost turned back in his dream. The tree line was just in front of him, so he dove through it and out onto the rocks in front of the stream. He stood up and immediately looked downstream. There it was. The exact harp was standing in the exact spot it had been in his dream. It’s real, Charlie thought. She’s real. With that, Charlie hopped across the stream and went to talk to the girl of his dreams.

Everyone knows what he or she wants his or her boyfriend or girlfriend to be like when he or she finally comes. Some spend a whole lifetime waiting for their perfect person. Be patient. Just wait because the perfect person is out the thinking the exact same thing.