Las Vegas. Such an exciting place. Too bad I don't actually live in the city.

Oh, by the way, my name's Riley. Riley Baker. I'm 16 years young and currently living with my parents and younger brother.

As of right now, life is alright. School sucks, but what's new? I don't have a boyfriend. Shocker!

I'm not exactly what you'd call a "prep" or the pretty girl that everyone wants to be with. No, I'm just…average. Nothing exciting ever happens in my world.

But anyways, today was the day I had to work after school. I'm working as a babysitter right now. It's easy and it makes money.

Today, I have to babysit the kids of my parents' friends.

I pulled up to the house, parked my car, and walked inside. I was instantly greeted by a crawling, drooling toddler.

I laughed and picked her up. "How are you today Miss Jessica?"

She replied buy blowing a spit bubble and laughing hysterically before wiggling out of my arms.

I followed her into the living where her older brother was in front of the TV playing video games.

Figures. That's all the boy ever does when I come over to watch him.

I grabbed Jessica and sat down beside of him on the couch.

"Whatcha doing Trey?" He replied to me without taking his eyes off the screen.

"Final Fantasy X"

"X? Don't you mean 10? Sounds like a roman numeral to me."

"Whatever."

I chuckled at his slight addiction then turned to watch him play.

I knew Final Fantasy was a popular game series but I never understood why.

I watched as Trey navigated himself through a dark, temple like area surrounded by water.

His character was a tan, blonde teenager with a strange almost cross-like symbol on his outfit.

It didn't take long for me to become mesmerized by the game. It made me feel as though I was actually with the blonde Adonis, swimming through the water.

After awhile, I shook myself away from the TV and went to find Trey and Jessica's mother. We talked for a few minutes, and she left to run some errands.

I played for Jessica and accomplished getting Trey to stop playing his game so he could do his homework.

About an hour later, their mom came home, paid me and I went home.

Thanks to all the idiots planning on getting drunk and gambling, I was stuck in traffic for about 25 minutes.

I walked inside to see my brother playing the same video game that Trey was playing.

"Jeez, this game must be really fun. Everyone's playing it!"

My brother, Hunter, replied to me, "Duh. This game is amazing."

The blonde man was there again, except on a ship this time.

He had a very excited look on his face, like he was seeing something incredibly new. I have to admit, for being someone who isn't real, he was very handsome. I must've been gawking at the TV screen because my brother ended up smacking me upside the head.

"Quit drooling on my head! He's not even a real person!"

I shook my head and tried to hide my red cheeks. How embarassing. Drooling over a fictional character, get real, Riley!

I ran upstairs to my room and decided on doing my homework while listening to music. When I was done, I took a nice, hot shower.

It was starting to get colder outside. Winter was fast approaching! During my shower, I thought I heard something outside. Nothing was there, so I continued without a care.

When I was done, I combed my hair, got dressed, and crawled into bed.

For the first time in a long time, I prayed for some excitement in my life. It was a silly thing to pray for, but it was enough for me.

DREAM SEQUENCE

I was standing in some pitch black room.

"Where am I?"

I never expected someone to answer me.

"It begins."

"Huh?"

I looked around for the person who had answered me. I saw nothing but darkness.

"Where are you?"

"Don't cry."

"I-I'm not crying?"

This strange voice sounded so young, it was creepy. I turned around to see a little boy wearing a purple and blue hoodie that he had covering his face. As I tried to get a better look at his face, everything went white.

END DREAM SEQUENCE

I woke with a start the next morning. It was still slightly dark outside, so I was guessing it was around 5 in the morning.

I cautiously scanned my room for the little boy. After seeing that I was alone, I sighed and lied back down under my covers.

"I guess it was all just a dream."

But it felt so real. I thought it was all a dream, until something hit the window above my bed.

I sat up and looked outside to the street.

And right there was the little boy from my dream!

He just simply smiled and waved to me.

"What the…?"

The boy signaled for me to follow him as he started to run away.

"Huh? Uh, wait!"

I jumped out of bed and put on some jeans, a tan belt, black hi-top converse, a plain green t-shirt and a gray jacket.

I ran outside and down the street as fast as I could in order to catch up with the boy. Man, he was fast! Either that or I'm just out of shape. He seemed to just glide across the ground.

I finally spotted the kid and yelled to him.

"Hey! Wait up would ya?"

I'm not sure why I still followed him, but I chased him all the way across separate streets until I cornered him in an alleyway. We both stopped running and I tried to catch my breath as I knelt down in front of him.

"Okay. Who are you and why were you in my dream?"

The boy just smiled at me. "You will find out soon enough."

"What are you talking about?"

"Are you ready?"

What is this kid thinking? Is he on drugs or something?

"Ready for what?"

He simply replied, "Your journey."

Okay, it's official. I'm losing my mind.

I'm talking to a little boy about my journey? RIIIIIGHHHT.

As if I'm going anywhere.

That's when the boy reached out for my hand.

"Please, come with me."

In my moment of weakness, I let him grab onto my hand and all I could see was his smile through the blinding white light.