A Figure in the night

Her eyes began to go vacant as she entered shock and drifted into the ether.  She closed them slowly and the tears streaked her face silently... her mind mind was beginning to be torn asunder and she was too weak to stop it.

Silently and without warning, a figure appeared in front of her.

'Why are you crying?' the Figure whispered.

"Because... I have lost everything... everything.  Everything I held dear is... gone..." she finished with an exasperated breath.  

She fell to her knees and placed both palms on the ground, her hands trembling.  The Figure lowered itself to her level.

'What have you lost?'

"...everything" she responded weakly.

'Why have you lost everything?'

She closed her eyes even tighter.

'Why have you lost everything?'

"Because... I could not hold onto it all..."

She fell to her side crying uncontrollably as she uttered the last words.  Every thought, memory, and vision seemed to seize her at once as she sobbed without seeming end in sight.  Her body wretched and convulsed and she was quickly losing consciousness.  

The Figure slowly moved closer and brushed her hair away from her face.  The Figure whispered.

'Why don't you retrieve it?'

This time she would not reply, too weak to turn sounds into syllables, syllables into words.

The Figure lifted her up as her body twitched and jerked silently.  The Figure whispered again.

'You have not lost me.'