The lights started to blend together as I was brought down the hallway. I looked to my left side and thought I saw Captain Quentin Lance from Arrow. I closed my eyes tightly because there was no way a tv character could be there and looked back. This time it was just a doctor. "Ma'am can you tell us your name" I heard a voice from behind my head say. "Carmella" I murmured. "Last name"? "Sandalwood" I said again. I tried to sit up but was gently pushed back down. "What happened?" I asked confused. "Your at Star City General" the voice behind my head said again. "You were shot". My head was spinning. Was this some sort of joke? If so it wasn't funny at all. It felt so real. I felt the cold air pass over me and I could hear the machine that was attached to me humming. I also felt this horrible pain in my chest as well. Either I was having the most realistic dream in history or someone went to a lot of trouble to punk me. I heard the voice of Captain Lance again asking how I was and when he could speak to me. From the conversation I must have been shot right above the heart. I panicked and I felt the doctor to my right put his hand on my arm. I looked at the doctor. He smiled and said "you will be alright". I heard doors behind me open and I heard them telling Lance he couldn't come past that point. "What the hell was going on" I asked myself. The last thing I remembered was heading to bed. "That must be it. I must be asleep. I shouldn't have had that late night Juice and snack." I told myself. I was moved onto a cold table with a bright light above me. I closed my eyes and knew that as soon as I opened them I would be back in my bedroom asleep. The last thing I heard before going out was "I hope we can save this one" and then the world was quiet.
"Carmella, can you hear me" I heard someone saying. I opened my eyes and was staring face to face with a very blurry Captain Lance. "I must be dreaming, you aren't real". Quentin gave me a weird look. "I think she is still too medicated to question. I will come back later" he said to the officer standing by the door to the room I was in. "Get better Carmella and we will talk then" Quentin said as he left the room. Closing my eyes I tried to figure things out. I needed to wake up. I needed to be back home, out of this hospital, out of this dream. I heard rustling and I opened my eyes. I saw someone sitting in the chair by my bed. I noticed the door had been closed. I tried to get my eyes to focus but my sight was blurry. I did notice the black hair and chilling smile and oh crap it must be Damien Darhk which meant I was living in season 4 dream world. "Don't fret child. My name is Damien Darhk but you knew that already didn't you. I bet you know the names of a lot of people here. Your not dreaming. You've been brought here for a purpose. But that's for much later. I didn't mean for you to be caught up in that gunfire and for that I'm terribly sorry and I'm going to allow you ample time to rest." Damien said. Kissing me on the forehead he left the room, magically of course. I took a deep breath. I wanted to scream but honestly didn't have the strength to do so. This was crazy. Why wasn't I waking up? Damn this is annoying I thought as I counted tiles on the roof. My hand swiped over the remote control so I decided I might as well watch some dream tv. Flipping it on I managed to come across the news. "Oliver Queen, son of the deceased Moira and Robert Queen and the CEO of the now defunct Queens consolidated has thrown his hat into the mayoral race after his six month hiatus from Star City". I clicked the tv off. I was like in episode three of four and I didn't like what was going to come next. I wanted to wake up. I didn't want to dream about the devastating turn that my OTP Olicity would be taking. I lived through it once I didn't want to do it again. I closed my eyes and counted backwards from ten. As I drifted back to sleep I thought about home and my family.
"Buzz, buzz buzz" went the alarm clock. I stretched and reached out to shut the dumb thing off. Realizing I was just dreaming, and that I was now back home I jumped out of bed. I ran downstairs and found my brother eating breakfast and my dad getting ready to head off to work. I remained calm because I didn't want them to think I was crazy. I headed back up to my room to get changed for the day. I couldn't wait to tell my friends about my crazy, realistic dream.
As soon as the lunch bell rang that day I hurried to collect my friends. We got our lunch and chose a table outside since it wasn't raining for the first time in quite awhile. "You guys want to hear about this crazy dream I had" I said. Without really waiting for an answer I told them the whole story. When I was done there was silence. Finally my best friend Kirsten said "what if this is the dream" and laughed. I laughed too because there was no way I was even going to entertain that thought.
The bell letting us know to head to our next class rang way to soon in my opinion. We all headed to social studies. We were surprised when we got in because there was a man at the chalk board instead of our normal teacher. She must have called out that day or something. He was writing his name on the chalkboard. Mr. Clark. He turned around and I almost fell out my chair he was so handsome. He had the body and face of a super model. How did I get so lucky today. He smiled and I felt the air from my chest just flutter away. He started the day off with a description about the Second World War and then we got into discussion groups to work on our end of the year project. He walked around the classroom stopping at each group and helping them out. He couldn't get to my group fast enough. I think I asked way too many stupid questions but I just wanted him to stay there all day. When the end of class bell rang, half the class population moaned because we didn't want to leave Mr. Hottie but to our enjoyment we found out he would be teaching the class all next week, the awful part was today was Friday.
The walk home consisted of nonstop chatter about the new teacher, and that was mostly about how hot he was. By the time we got to my house we had only gotten done discussing his face and shoulders, we decided as I said goodbye to my friends at the gate to my house that we would discuss his arms and chest on the school bus ride to school on Monday and with that inheaded on inside thinking that this was going to be the longest weekend of my life.
Saturday flew by as I spent it mostly just sitting around and thinking about Mr. Clark. I had a new obsession and the great thing is it kept me from worrying or even thinking about that dream. The only real dilemma was that I had to redo my homework a couple times because my last name became Clark on it.
Sunday on the other hand looked to be dull dreary and never ending. My dad found out that he was to be deported at the end of the month to Afghanistan and with my mother already on tour in Iraq, my brother and I would have to stay with my grandparents until one of them got back. I hated staying with them. They were nice enough but they didn't have tv and they didn't like the cellphones being used around them or music unless it was something the put on or anything else we found entertaining but that was a month away. We spent the day at my brothers football game, which in my opinion was major boring because they always lost, then we had to do the grocery shopping, which with my dad could take hours depending on how many things we needed and how many different stores those items were at and then some other menial chores. Once we were home though I was free to head upstairs and daydream about the best social studies teacher I've ever had. Just as I was about to doodle another heart onto my doodle book the ping of my messenger went off. It was Kristen. She wanted to once again talk more about my strange dream. I told her I didn't really want to think about it. She sent an emoji sticking it's tongue out and got off. I flopped down onto my bed and sighed. Kirsten had been trying to get me to go into more detail since after school on Friday. Hoping that by tomorrow Kirsten would be over her new found fascination with my wacky dream, I finished up the rest of my homework and decided to turn in early. I finally had a reason to want to be at school.
The next morning I got up extra early and made sure I had everything ready by the time my dad got up and made breakfast. "Hey Cam, why are you up extra early" my dad asked. "I decided that I was going to put more effort into school" I said and thanked him for the breakfast. For the first time I was the first one at the bus stop. As the other kids started to gather I noticed that Kirsten wasn't there. "Hey, where is Kirsten" I asked Josh. Josh and Kirsten had been friends since kindergarten and he even came out to her first before anyone else. "You didn't hear Cam, she vanished last night from her room. There was no sign of forced entry and her window was still locked from the inside. Her cell phone and laptop were still in the room. Her parents are worried sick" he said trying not to cry. I started freaking out. I started to wonder if she wouldn't have disappeared if I had just kept talking to her last night.
The bus ride was full of whispers and worry. The teachers were waiting for the bus and they escorted us to our first classes. We were informed that we would change classes as a group and that lunch would be brought to us in the classroom. My heart sank as I looked at Kirsten's empty desk.
The day dragged on. Nobody was paying attention in class. Nobody really ate anything at lunch. Some kids had to even go home because of anxiety attacks. Finally the last class of the day, social studies and
Mr. Clark. Even he couldn't make me feel better. After what seemed like hours the final bell rang. I was heading out when
Mr. Clark asked me to stay back.
"I was told by some of the other teachers that Kirsten is your best friend. I just wanted to see how your holding up?" He asked. "I am really worried and I just hope she comes back to us safely" I said choking back tears. "You know this pain will be over soon Carmella. Soon you will awaken where your supposed to be and it will be you that's missing, not Kirsten. Soon you will be back in Star City but if you keep fighting it, well let's just say Kirsten's future is pretty Darhk." And with that Damien Darhk was again standing in front of me. I tried to scream but no sound came. Damien smiled and said "you have 24hrs to come back or I will make sure Kirsten finds out just how real I am" and with that he vanished. Falling to my knees I started to sob. This can't be happening. Magic, Damien, and Star City were all fictional. I sat there until one of the other teachers came in and walked me to the bus.
My dad was waiting for me at the bus stop. He put his arm around me and we walked inside. I noticed that the security system was activated and that my dad had his service weapon at his side. What usually was a very noisy meal in my house was silent and solemn. I thanked dad for dinner and headed up to my room. Today had been the worst day of my life. My friend was missing and I think I have finally gone clinically insane. I decided that I would just go to bed and try to forget about the confrontation at school. I mean I probably just imagined it because I was upset and it was easier to come up with Damien then the very, non magical human that actually took Kirsten.
"Crack" came a sound within the room. I hadn't even noticed I fell asleep. I opened my eyes and looked towards the standing mirror. Within I saw Kirsten. I rubbed my eyes but she was still there. Taking a deep breath I pinched myself. "Ouch" I said in a whisper. I was awake. Just like at the hospital. I had felt everything. I went to the mirror and put my hand on Kirsten's. "Kirsten, I'm going to save you alright" I said trying to sound brave. She looked at me in tears and just when she was about to say something she disappeared. "Damien I take your deal, I will go back to Star City" I screamed. Normally I would expect my dad to come running but I doubt he had heard any of this. Damien appeared next to the mirror. "Alright child, just lay down in your bed and relax your body. Your mind will wake up where it should be and your friend will be back home, safe in bed and no time would've passed." I nodded my head and laid down. Closing my eyes I thought about my dad and brother and whispered "I love you" to the empty room. Drifting off to sleep I didn't know what was going to happen next. The last thing I saw before the world faded away into slumber was the haunting smile of Damien Darhk.