WHEN DREAMS BECOME REALITY
By Mike Morettini

One night, a very windy night, 12 year old Bobby Marshall had a dream. In his dream, he had gone to school, and it was all normal, except that something wasn't right. Bobby seemed to notice that nobody paid attention to him. He would look them in the eyes, or raise his hand, and they still wouldn't notice ANYTHING. When he entered Language Arts class, a fat man in a blue shirt and red pants was in the classroom and talked to the class about writing. And in this dream, his friend, Marcus Smithe, got locked in a locker and stayed over night. He died in that locker.
Bobby woke up, scared and confused, but he went to school, thinking about that dream. When he found Marcus, he told him that he had had a freaky dream last night, but didn't mention any details about it. Just, "I had a freaky dream last night, man," and kept on walking down the hall to class. When he entered the class, he kicked the door shut, ran to the table, and sat down. The teacher told the class to raise their hands if they knew the answer to the question she was asking. Bobby raised his hand. She didn't seem to see him. Next question, Bobby raised his hand higher, this time waving it around. She didn't notice him. It kept on just like that to the end of class, and Bobby felt that he was being ignored by, say...EVERYONE! He had some weird feeling. "This is like the dream," he thought.
Bobby entered Language Arts class, and screamed. A fat man in a blue shirt and red pants was in the classroom. "This is Dr. Wheijchlowski, he's an author and he's hear to..." Bobby's teacher began, but the fat man chimed in, "...Talk about writing!" Bobby felt his heart beat harder. He shook so much, he could might as well have been sitting on dry ice!
Bobby left the classroom in a panic. He passed his friend, who was having trouble opening his locker, and ran off. Just then, some tall, punk kid came stomping up to Bobby's friend, and slapped him on the back of the head. "Where's my $4.00, Smithe?" the tall guy roared, pushing Marcus into the wall. Of course, Bobby didn't see any of this, because he was gone.
The next day at school, Bobby heard over the loudspeaker that somebody has killed a student, the woman over the speaker named the names, and said that the student had been cramped in his locker over night. The student was Marcus Smithe. Bobby shrieked, knowing that his dream had come true!
That night, Bobby dreamed that his friend was alive again, and that Bobby had an extra-good day, the best day of his life.
In the morning at school, Bobby heard over the loudspeaker that Marcus Smithe was not dead, but instead had narrowly escaped death, and in fact, was in great health and back to school. Bobby tilted his head in confusion. Was his dream coming true?
Bobby rushed to Fine Arts downstairs. He accidentally tripped down the stairs, but didn't hurt himself a bit, yet instead, started bouncing high in the air and landing back on his feet.
He got the main role in the school play, he found out in drama, and it was a REALLY funny role, too. His best friend was also one of the MAIN characters. And plus, the drama teacher told the kids to submit their scripts they've been writing for the past 3 weeks to a Hollywood director, and maybe one of them will become a movie...Could it be Bobby's?
In gym, the floor had been crowded with a HUGE trampoline. Bobby looked up towards the ceiling. The REALLY BIG ceiling that had never been that high up before, with some ropes hanging from it. "Today, we'll be jumping around on the trampoline for two periods, and practice jumping high enough to grab one of those ropes up there," the gym teacher explained, letting the kids onto the HUGE trampoline. Bobby jumped 30 feet in the air at his first jump, and then 37 on his second jump, grabbing the rope hanging high on the ceiling. He looked down, surprised to see what looked like tiny ants jumping on a deflated balloon! He noticed that he was WAY higher than 30 feet, and that the ceiling had grown higher. When he blinked, the ceiling seemed to rise even HIGHER. He could hardly see anyone down below, he was THAT far! About, say, 100 feet off the ground now. He let go of the rope, falling for about which seemed like 30 seconds, and landing softly on the trampoline, not a scratch on him.
In lunch, the lunch ladies were giving away free hot dogs and Subway sandwiches. Bobby sat at his table, and talked with his friends. They agreed to all come over to his house and go see 3 movies. One in the morning, one at lunch, and one at night. Then, they'd go to laser tag. Bobby was surprised when some of his old friends agreed to go with him, too. And this girl walked up to Bobby and asked him is he wanted to go to the dance with her. He said yes.
At recess, he accidentally did 7 back-flips in one jump, landing on his feet. Everyone said he was cool. And, he learned how to accidentally climb up walls. So did his friends. And he learned how to accidentally jump from the roof of the school and onto the pavement face-first without hurting himself.
When he got to band, he played an excellent rock song with his friends, and then learned how to become the first of the best of all kid guitarists ever. And everyone loved it. Then, he got to write and create his own music, and watch the band as they played it.
That day ended with his mom and dad giving him an X-box, Gamecube, and PS2, and giving him the news that they one 500,000 dollars in the lottery. Then, he went to bed. He regrets that moment when he went to bed.
He had a dream about something...Something he couldn't remember the next morning, but he knew it was something bad. REAL bad.
The next day, he went to the dance with that girl he met at Lunch. While they were dancing, he stepped on her toe and toppled over onto the ground, knocking down everyone else like a row of dominoes! When Bobby got up, everyone else was down, except for the girl. She poured the punchbowl over Bobby's head, and soon after, everyone started a food fight. Bobby tried doing the 7 back-flips again, to dodge the food, but he only hit his head on the ground and knocked himself unconscious. When he woke up, the food fight had stopped and everybody was dancing. The girl was dancing with someone else. Marcus Smithe. Now, he was the most popular one. Bobby walked home that day, and a car came driving past him, splashing mud on his pants and shirt. He reached his house, and his mom and dad told him that they had been burgled. Everything in his house was gone. And, they didn't have any money at all. But, all of that changed after Bobby had his NEXT dream............ That morning, Bobby woke up to find himself lying in a bed with drapes over it. This wasn't his bed! Bobby opened the drapes to look around the room. It was huge, with a hardwood floor and a fireplace, ceiling light, and old fashion-looking lights that looked like candles. He got out of bed and started walking towards the door. He opened it, and noticed his hall had also changed, and was now very long with lit candles on the wall every 2 inches apart. He walked down the hall, down the stairs, and into the kitchen, where he found a woman dressed in 1700's clothing. "Theodore! You've awoken!" the woman said in an English accent. "You mean Bobby," Bobby said. He ran out the door. Bobby stood there in the street watching a boy chase a chicken and a women beat clothing with a stick. I'm in the 1700's, Bobby thought. "LAD!" a man called, waving at Bobby. "Where's that gold you be givin' me?" he held out his hand. Bobby didn't know, of course. "What gold?" Bobby asked. "The 50 pounds!" the man whispered. Bobby felt shocked. "Huh?" "Pounds!" "What do you mean?" "Gold, boy!" "I don't have any-," "Hush, lad. They be comin'," the man said, squinting his eyes at something in the distance. "Who?" "You know. THEM. The pirates, lad! Now hand me the 50 pounds of gold, quick!" "But I don't have any gold!" Bobby cried, as if the man thought he was keeping the gold in his pockets. "Quick your lollygaggin' boy! Hurry!" Bobby saw them coming in the distance. Saw them piling over themselves in a huge crowd. Heard them screeching and laughing. "I'm sorry, man, I don't have any gold," "Never mind, lad! Let's clear the area!" "What?" Bobby said, scared out of his mind. Without a word, the man grabbed Bobby's arm and pulled him towards some other old 1700's style house, and through the door. The man scanned the house, filled with broken pottery on crooked shelves, and jumped at the sight of a tattered old woman. "What are you doing?" the women gasped, backing up against the wall. "Lady, you have to hide us!" Bobby shouted, looking out the window and back at the frightened woman. "The pirates are coming!" The women rushed to the window. "Oh heavens above, they are," she gasped. Bobby saw out the window a better view of the huge crew of pirates parading down the street in the distance. "Thy'r after me 50 pounds of Gold!" the man explained. He looked at Bobby, who looked at the woman. "And he stole it from my pocket! That boy!" The woman shrieked, and grabbed a broomstick. "Shoo! Get out, boy! Don't you be bringing them pirates in here!" she yelled. "But I swear I don't have any gold!" Bobby said. "Check his pockets," the man said to the tattered old woman. She wobbled over to Bobby and reached into his pocket. "No gold, ay? Then what be this!" She held up a red velvet bag and shook it so Bobby could hear the jingling of the gold in it. Had she gotten it out of Bobby's pocket? Yes. Bobby went blank with fear. That wasn't there before. And when did he put on these clothes? And what happened to his voice, which now spoke in an English accent? Why was Bobby changing? "Sir, really. I don't know where those came from atall!" Bobby put his hands over his own mouth. He had used that stereo type English way of saying, "at all". "Sure, lad," the man laughed, "I'll believe ya'" "I'm getting' out of here!" the woman cried, looking out the window at the now very near pack of pirates. "If you tell them where I'm hiding, I'll kill you, lad. I'll kill you," the man said, handing the Gold pounds to Bobby. Bobby stood there in the middle of the old tattered woman's house holding those Gold pounds open mouthed. He had to hide! And fast, before the pirates caught glimpse of him. But where? Under the table. Under the table, Bobby heard the pirates scatter about the town yelling, and then a sudden crash. "Lassies! Where ya be now?" a pirate sneered, stepping into the house. Bobby heard another pirate shout, "Captain! There be an old woman!" and heard the "captain" shout, "Come here missy!" The woman screamed, and the pirate pulled her closer. "Where is the gold, missy?" he grunted. "A-a-a-a boy has it!" she yelled, laughing nervously. "He's hiding! HE has the gold!" Bobby couldn't help it. He had to sneeze. And he did. And soon after, the captain lifted up the long tablecloth to find Bobby staring at him. "Hand me the gold!" he yelled, snarling. "I swear! I didn't take it! I don't even know how I got here!" Bobby cried in fear. "He's Jonathan's boy. I can tell by that nervous look in his eyes," the captain sighed to one of his crew members. "Ol' John's kid!" one of the other pirates laughed. "Come out, boy," the Captain said, looking back at Bobby. He pulled Bobby out and walked him outside with his crew, and all of the other pirates in the clan. He dragged Bobby down the boat dock and onto a pirate ship. "Bring Jonathan out to see his kid," the captain ordered, and almost immediately, two raggedy men came out from the crowd with a man all tattered and torn. This man couldn't possibly be Bobby's father... Bobby's father was a businessman working in an office in Chicago, Illinois. This man was just plain filthy. But it was! "Bobby!" the man yelled, wriggling to get free from the pirates' grasps on his arms. "Bobby, why did they bring you?" "This man isn't my father!" Bobby shouted to the captain, but he just smiled blankly. The man looked hurt. "Robert. Remember me? Do you? You were just 3 years old and they took you away and put me in jail. But I didn't do it!" he said. "Do what?" Bobby asked. "I didn't kill anyone," he cried. "I just happened to be there when it happened." "What happened?" Bobby gasped, jumping back. "The murder." That was all Bobby's so called father had to say, because the Captain of all the pirates grabbed Bobby by his arms and tied him to a pole. Then, they took his father back into whatever that room below the ship was.