Asleep (freewrite)

It was the third time he'd seen the woman. She floated in his head, in a field of grass and loneliness. She visited him in his dreams and he always woke up, wet with sweat. And frightened. She reminded him of someone. Someone strange that he hadn't thought about in a long time.
He used to dream the red-haired woman when he was a child, the same field, same dress she was wearing. In his childhood dreams, she used to come towards him as soon as she saw him, stepping lightly at first, but then faster, until she broke out into a full-blown run, and the child would scream and run away himself.
Back then, the bed wouldn't just be wet with sweat,but also with tears and sometimes piss. He used to be a very frightened little boy, but he'd hoped he'd outgrown that. He hadn't seen the red-haired woman in over twenty years and he only rarely thought about her. More like a curiosity – how strange he used to be as a child. But that didn't matter, because he was normal now.
Apparently, you can't ever be normal, little boy.

The first time he saw her in his adult dreams, he didn't even believe it. When he woke up, he told himself it had been a nightmare that had in turn, reminded him of his childhood ones. But then, she'd come again.
One thing was different now, though, in his dreams. She didn't run towards him anymore. He waited for her, ready to go (some things you just don't forget), but she never came. She would just stand there, watching him. There was something lost in her eyes, it seemed, like something very sad had happened to her and he didn't know.
But, he realized, he wanted to. As a child, he's spent most of his days ignoring the image of the red-haired woman, making as if she didn't exist, because maybe then she'd disappear for real. But as an adult, he was doing the exact opposite. He became obsessed with her, with her eyes, in particular.
What had happened to her, he wondered?
Why did she run and more importantly, why wasn't she running anymore? Why now? There were so many questions he wanted to ask her.
She had seemed a giant in his mind, back then, but now she just seemed...normal.
On that third night, they spent a long time just staring at one another. She hadn't aged a day and was exactly like he remembered. Long, beautiful hair and hazelnut eyes. Freckles.
But unlike the previous nights, he plucked up his courage and began walking across the field towards the red-haired woman.
(to be continued)

Today's prompt was 'wet'. There's a new prompt everyday, so check out @mariannewest's blog if you'd like to join our freewriting community.