The dream. That horrible dream, the thing that kept me up every night for fear it would come back.
I was running. Black as night and running, not knowing from what or too.
Trees surrounded me on all sides and I tripped over many objects, not looking down to see what they were.
It was so horrifying; the eerie forest, the terrified feeling inside of me, my legs pounding on the ground; not knowing where I was going. I was searching for nothing, yet pushed myself to keep going.
I tripped over what seemed to be a tree trunk and stumbled to the ground...someone or something was calling my name.
As I was catching my breath I tried to inspect my now bleeding knee. The pain shot through me like a bullet, I couldn't get up.
"Elizabeth," they called, "Elizabeth."
I turned my head. Two pale figures only ten feet away stood, gesturing for me to follow them. So inviting, their call was inevitable.
NO my head yelled.
They were pulling me toward them with each call. That's what scared me, why did they want me? I turned in my sleep.
I felt a presence; not of the two pale, cold figures but something warm. Something close.
I stared up at the trees once more, trying to breathe, just noticing I hadn't yet.
"Elizabeth." they called louder. I saw a glimpse of the pale man's face. Then the blur, everything went black.
That's when I started to scream. Standing up only to fall down again.
My leg was broken, I could feel it. Some vision came back, but it wasn't enough for me.
Being on the verge of consciousness I could hear my muffled scream in the pillow.
The world seemed so far away, I couldn't escape what wanted me.
My body and mind wouldn't let me escape the terror.
I turned away from them, trying to block out the musical voices that pulled me.
A darker figure stood before me then. Huge, muscular, it was too dark to see his face also.
He helped me up, I suddenly wasn't afraid.
I could feel the warmth of his body against my freezing and now pale skin, holding my weak fragile body.
He led me away from the calling.
They yelled louder with each call. The woman's voice now begging, what did they want?
Suddenly his body became tense. His muscles tightened under his strong grasp. He started to shake.
Everything was a blur.
The glimpse of his face showed in the night. It was raging with fury, why was he so mad?
Then the blur again.
I became frightened and loosened my grip, he let go and I tumbled to the ground once again.
I could feel he blood on my leg trickling down. It smelled like rust and salt.
I wanted to gag, which didn't help the screaming.
Shaking as if to explode and the pale figures coming forward; I was still screaming.
Somehow it became darker, as if the night weren't dark enough.
The woman voice called out, "Elizabeth, come here." she pleaded.
Musical. Lovely. Pulling. I needed to obey.
Then he lurched.
The tall, huge, and muscular body leaped through the air. He exploded, morphed...and I awoke.

My eyes flew open; my face was stuffed into the pillow.
My face was sweating. I felt tears running down my cheeks. I was burning hot.
Was I still dreaming? It all had felt so real...the figures, the endless darkness...everything.
My room was pitch black, as black as the dreaded forest. My fear became worse.
The scream was stuck in my throat, it wouldn't come out.
I got up quickly which made me dizzy. Knocking over my schoolbag as I tripped over my CD player.
I searched for a light and the room glowed when I flicked the switch.
It was a bad dream. I told myself.
A horrifying, bad, terrifying, horrible dream. Over and over again the faces moved through my mind.
I knew I wouldn't forget them. I would never forget them.
And that scared me too.
It was 3:30 am. I was still dazed which didn't help my confusion. I couldn't remember which day it was, where I was, the fact it was 3:30 confused me even.
The thought of going to sleep again was irrational.
As I was going into my bathroom I was surprised I hadn't wakened Belinda, Kat, or Jess.
I looked horrible, tears painted my red face. My hair was a mess. I wondered if I had talked during my sleep, I tended to do that.
I splashed my face with cold water. It felt good; I grabbed a cold hand towel and placed it on my head as I lay back down.
My earphones were inserted and the slow, soft, beautiful sound of piano filled my head.
It still didn't rid of the vivid dream.
This was going to be a long night.

As soon as I saw the sun peak through the sky I shot up. No more darkness...for only 14 hours.
That felt soon, too soon.
As I got dressed I put the figures in the back of my mind, trying to concentrate on what was important...like school.
It didn't last long; I heard the honk outside of my room, grabbed my skateboard, and headed out.
"Sorry I'm late." Rachel greeted me.
"It's fine. I was late anyway." I agreed.
The whole way to school Rachel talked...she was known to do that. I wasn't listening, to busy trying to get them out of my head.
The two pale figures lurked in my head during Math, Literature, Lunch, biology...
The dark boy was always there also. Watching me and helping me up, dragging me away from what wanted me.
Questions...
Who were they? Why did they want me? Am I going crazy?
I had never been so affected by a dream before. Why now?
They followed me everywhere, even after school. I would shiver and grimace at every glimpse of their faces. So pale, so welcoming. So dark, so angry...
Why, why, why?

A short intro...
Just home from dance class and I'm already bring tortured to death by adopted mom. She is single and dating...but I've never met my mother...my real mother. And so far, this one has made me work like a slave. I can promise you; this will not end up like a Cinderella story.
A couple differences between me and Cinderella are that I'm almost 16. I have red-gold hair and freckles, my mom may be evil but I have one good sister, Jennifer, ...besides the evil one...Kathryn. I have no fairy godmother, except my best friend, Sadie aka. Sade. Who's hobbies are doing makeup, hair and she absolutely loves fashion. You should see the stuff she can pull off...me on the other hand have some clothes, kind of normal, except I have a lot of dance wear. Really that's my only "known" profession. Other things are secret obsessions. My prince Charming you ask? I have none of the sort, wish that I did though.
The dream was fading away as I got home...fearing it would come back I pushed it out of my mind as far as possible...again

CHAPTER 1: DAZED

"Elizabeth darling, come here. You haven't washed my laundry yet!"
My evil, not even my own mother Belinda called from her kitchen seat. Who has to be rich like she is and she thinks she's little miss perfect JUST BECAUSE she got one little offer to be in a commercial that blossomed into being on this stupid show I don't even care to know the name of.
"Yes, Belinda." I replied.
"Excuse me?" she said.
I had stopped calling her Mom. Can you blame me? She didn't act like one! I was 16, she hasn't helped me through any break-ups or even cared to do my laundry once in a while or even FEED ME for that matter.
Although the break-up thing hasn't really happened yet...I'm so not popular at my school and, No Duh, boys don't notice you unless you have 3 inch heals and a lot of money.
"What is it...mom" I pushed out.
"Thank you, Make something with shrimp for dinner, Kay?" she said.
"Not like I can refuse" I rudely replied.
I couldn't help it; I had had a bad day. Maybe having something with the dream; I'd had it again last night. That's all I've been thinking about on my Saturday off. Which was obviously rescheduled; I'd been in a daze all day, I knew I'd gotten at least one F on my 2 tests yesterday.
"Add some crab puffs to the order." Kat called from her room.
"Do the laundry, and cook dinner after that...and clean Kathryn's room; it's getting messy lately with all the things she has to do." she said with an awed look.
I rolled my eyes, "Poor Kat" I said.
It took all my effort to try not to scream right then and there; not to run away and never come back. Yet I felt the need t stay, as if something was going to happen...I have no idea what though...and I'd really like to remove that pulling obstacle.
My cell phone rang then...It was Selena Gomez's song from her movie Another Cinderella Story. Call me crazy for seeing it, but it had dancing in it. I sang along with the phone...
"Tell me, Tell me, Tell me something I don't know, something I don't know, something I don't know. How many inches in a mile? What it takes to make you smile? Promise not to treat me like a child baby."
"Answer you phone Lizzie, you're lucky I even let you have that thing. Such repulsing music" Belinda grunted. She had nothing to do with it, I had paid for it and I pay the bill.
You can see why I didn't like her...

"Hello?" I said. I recognized the voice on the other line.
"Hey Liz, what's up?" Sadie asked.
"Laundry, and cooking...and cleaning Kathryn's room" I said. She knew something other than that was on my mind.
"Anything else?" she asked.
"Long story."
"I want to know, and you have laundry. Just put me on speaker while you do it." she stated. I needed to talk to her so I gave in.
"Let me get the clothes first." I said.
As I gathered everyone's personal items Sadie and I talked about school and made Belinda a new "bad" nickname. Belinda the Witch, just scratch the W and put in a B. Don't look at me; Sade said it. I was surprised she said it too, she barley ever curses. Unless she is mad; I guess she was as sick of it as I was..
"Oh, sick!" I said.
"What happened?"
"I'm taking Kat's(Kathryn) clothes down...an unidentified object is lying on the stairs...I think it's a moldy piece of pizza." I said with a disgusted look.

"Oh nice. You're going to have to clean it up anyway." she said.
"I know," I said back, "I better get used to that with birthdays coming up." A lot of birthdays and parties were happening lately, more work for me...YAY!
"Don't worry, I'll help you" she said. She was the best friend a girl could ever have, and I've told her so too. "Aww, thanks Sade. You're the best." I said.

"I know, why do you think so many people wish they were me?" she said.
I laughed at that, we were invisible...or so it seemed. I'm sure that we're both sure that no one wants to be us. "Are you in the laundry room?" she asked.
"Yea, hold on. I have to fill the machine with the soap stuff." I said.
"You still don't know the name?!"
"Is it...oh, what detergent?" I asked.
"Took you long enough." My laughing was cut short when I hit my finger on the lid of the washing machine.
"What did you do today?" I said trying to ease the pain.
"Slept. School has got me so tired." she said with a yawn.
"Yea, I got a wake up call at 8 O'clock to make people breakfast." I said with a sigh.
"I thought you liked Jennifer?" she said.

"I do Sade, she actually got up and helped me make breakfast for everybody. She even made mine." I said. Jennifer was a really great sister and I'm surprised that she came from Belinda.
"Wow, you're lucky she isn't as bad as Kat." she said. It was ironic, because right at that moment Jennifer came in.

"Hey, I'm so bored with Kat's whining. Want some help?" she asked.
You wondered if she was as good as I said right? There's your proof...
"Hey! I have one more load besides the one it it, but you can sit and talk with Sadie and me." I said.

She looked relieved. "Good. I need to talk with someone who understands." she said with a sigh.

"Spill your guts, Jennifer." Sadie said.

I had put the phone on speaker.

"From the time I got up this morning to right now Kat has yelled and whined at me for taking her favorite clip. I have no idea what or where her favorite clip is! She just accusing me...AND YOU KNOW HOW I FEEL WHEN PEOPLE ACCUSE ME FOR SOMETHING I DON'T DO!!" she yelled.

Then she hit the door, it was kind of scary…well, not compared to the guy from my dream.

"Jenn, chill. I took it, I put it in the top drawer of her dresser. Trick her into finding it for herself. Someday she better get back what she gives." I said.
"Yea, it will turn around." Sadie said.
"Thanks. What were you guys talking about before I came in?" she asked.

"Normal girl stuff." Sadie said. "Boys." I added. "What we want to do when we get older."

"And boys." I said again. We all laughed, and then Sadie commented on how boy crazy I was.

"I am not; I just said that to be funny." I said. Jennifer looked sarcastically at me.

"What do you want to do when you get older." she asked. Please, I was practically 16. I just had to wait 2 more weeks. Didn't I tell you a lot of birthdays are coming up?
"A dancer, of course." Sadie said.
"I'd like to get into dance school before we make that assumption." I said.
"You will." Jennifer argued.
"Not with Belinda over my head. She doesn't want me to over-what's the word...I'm just going to say override her. Like be better than she is or even try to be better, like she's perfect or something." I said. She did care and all that jazz, but when she noticed me getting better I had to secretly take dance lessons because she didn't let me go to them.

"You just need to take your future into your own hands." Jenn said.
"Well Sade is defiantly going to do something in fashion. You are going to do something in the business area."
"Look, someday you're getting out of Belinda's reach." Sadie said. "Yea, you can even find your real parents." Jenn added.
I've always dreamed of my parents; I had so many questions to ask them. They were fun and yet responsible, and they loved me more than ever. I could finally discover why they left me. Wishing every day they would somehow come back for me.

I stood still as a statue and looked out the window; the sun was shining brightly against the rugged trees, suddenly they were filled with life and their leaves began to become greener and brighter.

I just stared out the window for I don't know how long.
Summer was long gone, but fall had not arrived.

"Lizzie, what are you staring at?" Jenn asked.
"What?" I hadn't heard what she said. Daydreaming...

"What were you staring at?" she repeated.
"Nothing, just admiring the weather."
"How about we admire the weather somewhere else," Sade inquired, "Want to do something today?"
"Didn't I tell you? I have to work. Cleaning, cooking, more cleaning..." I argued.

It hurt that I couldn't spend time with Sade.
"Then well admire the weather while doing your work." Jenn offered.
"No, I'm not letting you waste your Saturday helping me clean Kat's room." Just the thought of it made me shiver.
"We aren't letting you waste your Saturday either. It will get done faster and we'll have fun doing it." Sadie pushed.
"If you really want to." I didn't want to be pushy but it would be fun!
"I'll be over in a minute, okay?"
For some reason, I knew that wasn't a question.
"This is going to be so fun!" Jenn exclaimed.
"Hey, we can blare music! Belinda went to her salon appointment!" I said.
"I forgot to tell you Liz!" Sadie said. She always forgets something.
"What? Your dad's house got painted? The pool was fixed at the park?"
"You got a new dog...you dyed your hair green..." Jenn joked.
"I think she should dye it blue or pink...or RED!" I said.
"It would look good with her skin color." Jenn agreed.
"ALRIGHT! Anyway, I saw Harry walking through the halls today." she said.
"You saw Harry walking through the halls today...and today is Saturday." I said with a smile.
"You know what I mean." she said.
"What do you mean...he just walked the halls?"
I really didn't know what she meant.

"He was staring at you" she whispered excitedly.
I felt no reason to become excited over that.

"Oh please, he's dating Wendy the Wicked Witch."
"Are you sure?" she asked.
He better have dumped her. Not trying to be mean or anything but she needs a taste of her own medicine.
"I know I don't like gossip but spill it." I said.
"I don't know all of the details, but HE dumped her. That's what you wanted to hear right?" She said.
Jennifer laughed when she saw the smile creeping on to my face.
"Yea, go on."
"Ok, well He broke up with her last week; it didn't come out official until like Wednesday. Then I saw him stare at you in the hall and now I'm sure he is over Wendy." she said.
I really couldn't believe what I was hearing. The guy that had been one of my best friends just walked away and went with the jocks; he chooses now to come back down to our level!
He thinks that I'm going to waltz right up to him and pretend that for the first three years of my high school life he was always there for me...well, I did that very stupid thing the next day.