I was walking around a cave. I couldn't see anything except for a very faint light coming from behind me. The only thing that I could hear is the occasional sound of a droplet of water hitting the ground. And the occasional breeze sweep across the cave giving it a creeping tone and almost dangerous atmosphere.
Even though I saw light behind me I didn't turn around. I knew that it was moon light shining through the cave even though I was too far to be able to see anything from the entrance. I just sort of knew that I could leave from there, however it almost felt as though it was challenging me to stay; as if to test my limits.
After waiting a couple of moments in the dark trying to make out anything from the dark I decided that it was pointless and I turned around and began walking towards the light, however, when I was about 50 feet from the exit I heard a deep rumbling voice coming from within the cave, vibrating all throughout the walls, that started out low but was getting increasingly louder. At first I couldn't perceive what was being said so I turned around and began to walk towards the noise. As I got closer it gained in power and intensity and I began to be able to decipher what was being said.
"Jake…"
As soon as I heard my name I instantly stopped walking and my heart began beating like crazy. I tried to turn around but I lost all feeling in my body. I was paralyzed by fear.
"I was expecting to see you here Jake. Now listen very closely because I'm only going to say this once." I swallowed a lump in my throat, that I didn't even notice had appeared, before it continued.
"You're in a lot of danger Jake. They are coming, you must get ready. You have one month. After that all hell will break loose, literally. You must be ready; keep your friends close. They will lead you to safety."
In an instant it was as if my body caught up with my mind and I turned around and I ran, the light seeming to almost be mocking me at my cowardness. Right before I ran out of the cave the voice said one last thing.
"You are in danger."
Then I hurtled straight into the bright shimmering light.
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I instantly shot up from my bed. Sweat dripping down my face and my heart beating at a mile a minute. I took a deep breath and held it in for a couple of seconds before exhaling, telling myself that it was just a dream to try and calm myself down.
After what felt like two hours, I managed to control my heart rate and calm down to the point where I wasn't drenching my bed in sweat anymore. I looked around my room and saw the faint light of the moon seeping through the windows and casting strange shadows that seemed to dance around the room.
I looked to my left to glance at my clock to see that it was 2:47 in the morning. I let out a loud groan and plopped back down onto my bed to try to fall back to sleep because I had to go to school in a couple of hours.
I tried to get myself to fall back to sleep but no matter how hard I tried I couldn't get myself to stop thinking about the dream. It just felt all too real. I'm no stranger to nightmares, I tend to get them every night, but this one was different. A bad type of different. Normally my nightmares just consisted of me fighting some scary looking monster, but never did any of them know or even mention my name. Nor did they try to talk to me directly. And never in any of my dreams have I ever felt air hit me; it's not possible to feel something that isn't real, right? However, over the years I've learned that my dreams always tend to have a meaning that help me out in someway in the future.
The only problem is that if this dream is a warning then what is going to happen in a month's time? Also why did the voice say that I was in danger? Why was it so direct? More importantly, what am I in danger from?
All of these questions were swimming around in my head and keeping me awake. I checked my clock to only find that it was 3:16 in the morning. I decided to try and sleep one more time and luckily I was successful.
As the my eyes began to close from the soothing sound of crickets outside and the delicate moonlight I made out a very weird shape from the edge of my bed. It was the outline of a woman, but I was so exhausted that I didn't even think twice about it and let myself drift to sleep.
"BEEP! BEEP! BEEP!"
I punched the snooze button as soon as I heard the horrendous sound of my alarm clock going off. I didn't want to go to school. I wanted to stay home and try and figure out what to do about my dream.
After spending about a good five minutes, contemplating whether or not I should try and pretend that I wasn't feeling good to get my mom to let me stay home or waiting for her to leave and calling the school pretending to be her. I rolled out of bed and walked out into the hallway to use the bathroom to get ready realizing neither would work.
Once I had finished washing my teeth and face, I showered and went to my room to try and figure out what I was going to wear. Today I felt lazier than normal due to my lack of sleep. So I decided that I would wear something comfortable so that when the teachers start their lectures it will be easy for me to fall asleep.
A couple of minutes later I was wearing a plain black t-shirt, a pair of grey sweats, an extra fluffy sweater, and a pair of black and white Adidas. Satisfied with the coziness of my outfit I went downstairs to eat some breakfast.
As I headed down the stairs I could smell the delicious aroma of freshly made pancakes and other, equally delicious *cough bacon cough*, food coming from the kitchen. I started skipping steps to try and get to the kitchen faster.
I confirmed my suspicions when I walked and into the kitchen to be greeted by my mother placing three pancakes, two fried eggs, and four slices of bacon on a plate on top of the table.
I walked over to the food and licked my lips in anticipation of the feast that I be having for breakfast. However, before I was able to completely devour my food my mom cleared her throat loudly to try and get my attention.
"Did you forget something?" She asked me with a smile on her face. Clearly amused by my excitement for the food in front of me.
"Oh yeah good morning." I said real quickly before grabbing the syrup and pouring a generous amount on the pancakes and taking a bite of my food.
"That's it?" I looked up from my plate confused at what she meant before realizing that I hadn't thanked her for the food.
"Oh Yeam. Damk shou ma." I struggled to say anything with the food that was in my mouth.
"Your welcome sweetheart. How did you sleep?" I swallowed my food before opening my mouth to answer that way she might be able to understand what I was saying.
"I had another nightmare as usual." I shrugged my shoulders unsure of what else to say.
"Again? What was it about this time?"
I went to answer but I didn't know what to say. I could tell her about what I saw in my dream but that would just make her think that I'm crazy, even though I know she would think that it's still always in the back of my mind when comes to sharing my dreams to their full extent. Plus I didn't really want to tell her, or anybody for that matter. It was different and I don't want to go making assumptions and worrying other people for something that my mind could have just made up.
"Nothing much, just the usual monster chasing me around until they finally trap me in an alley and kill me." I said trying my best to sound like I was telling the truth.
"Okay well you know if you can't handle the nightmares anymore the doctors say that they can give you some medica…"
"Look ma, I'm thankful that you care but I'm fine they're just dreams I don't need medication." I said what I thought my mom wanted to hear when in actuality I'm not fine and I would love to have some way to get the nightmares to stop. But I don't want to have to take medication for my ADHD and for nightmares. It makes me feel different from the rest of the people who don't have to take any medications.
My mom looked at me questionably but if she was going to say anything she decided against it, which I was grateful for because it was way too early in the morning to have this conversation and I had way too much on my mind, aka my food and growling stomach.
She simply nodded her head and left upstairs to get ready for work. I quickly finished my food and joined her upstairs to grab my backpack before leaving to head to the bus stop.
BANG!
My head shot up instantly from the desk. I looked around the room to see everyone failing at trying to stifle their laughter at my sudden rude awakening. I looked up to see the teacher standing right in front of me with a ruler in his hand (which he probably used on my desk, which would explain the loud bang that was still resonating within my ears).
"Well Jake, since you understand the material so well that you feel that you can sleep right through the class, will you please tell me what you think is the meaning behind this quote from Shakespeare." He said pointing to the chalkboard that had writing on it.
I tried to read what it said but it was practically impossible with my dyslexia. All the letters kept on switching in all different places. However, I kept on trying to read after a couple of seconds of making no progress I was about to say that I don't know when all of a sudden I read something from the mumble jumble of words that were on the board.
'You're in danger'
I felt all of the blood drain from my face. Why did I just read 'your in danger' from what is supposed to be a quote from Shakespeare.
"Well do you have an answer for us or are you just going to sit there all day staring at the board trying to make sense of what it is saying." He said looking at me as if he had just made the funniest joke in the world.
"Look at his face, he's so scared his face went pale!" One of the kids, Derick said, and the rest of the class burst into laughter.
Little did they know that their words hit home harder than what they had anticipated it to. If I had a chance I would sit here all day and try and figure out how or why I read 'your in danger' , the same day that I had a nightmare that was felt way too real to be a dream. Unfortunately I didn't have that luxury because when I looked back at the board the message was gone and all I saw was just a jumble of random letters in no particular order. I was so engrossed with the thoughts in my mind that I had failed to notice the fact that the teacher had been talking to me.
"...So now do you understand what the quote means?" He said looking at me with a straight face.
"Huh… what I'm sorry what did you say?" I internally slapped myself for being so dumb as to not just say yes and get on with the lesson. Instead I was an idiot, again, and I said that I wasn't paying attention.
The teacher looked at the ceiling and let out a long and deep sigh before looking back down at me.
"So you think that it is okay to fall asleep in the middle of class and then you have the audacity to not pay attention when I'm trying to explain the lesson to you." He said, his voice beginning to rise and his anger starting to become prevalent from the wrinkles starting to appear on his face. "You have detention after school with me today. Now pay attention or I'll kick you out of class! Am I clear?!"
I just nodded my head not really caring what he had to say. He didn't scare me and nor did I care about getting in detention, or in trouble for that matter. However, I willed myself to stay awake and pretend that I was paying attention to what he was saying because I didn't want my mother to be mad at me. While he might not scare me, my mother can be truly terrifying when she wants to be.
I practically ran out of class as soon as I heard the bell ring. I didn't want to stay in that classroom for any longer unless it is absolutely necessary.
I was walking to my next class when I heard something from behind me.
"Jake..." I turn around to see Anthony pushing through the crowd of students to get to me. "Jake. What's up man? I heard that you got detention again with Mr. Krassy. What did you do this time?"
I looked at him with a smile forming on my lips. This guy always seemed to know whenever something was happening inside the school, even something as small as a teacher's detention.
"So now your stalking me are you?" I said giving him a friendly glare.
"Hey man you know me, I know everything that happens in this school. I stalk everyone, you of all people should know that so don't go feeling too special." He said pushing my shoulder jokingly. "No but seriously, what happened with Mr. Krassy?"
I struggled to answer his question. It wasn't that anything happened with Mr. Krassy per say. It was more of what I read on the chalkboard and how it correlated with the dream that I had that same night. I just didn't know how to answer. I trust Anthony, but this is a whole new level of weird.
Unfortunately I hesitated for too long and he noticed. He raised his eyebrows questionably at me.
"It...it was nothing. I just fell asleep in his class and he woke me up and asked me to tell him what some quote by Shakespeare meant." I said as convincingly as I could so that he wouldn't begin to interrogate me. "Then he explained what it meant but I wasn't paying attention so he gave me detention."
He stood there looking at me for a couple of seconds and I could tell he knew something was up. Luckily though if he was going to say anything he decided against it.
"Alright well we should probably get to class before you get another detention for being late."
He began walking ahead of me and I stopped for a split second to calm myself down. This dream thing is going to drive me crazy.
School was starting to feel like it was taking an eternity for one period to end. So in math class I decided to do what I know would help time go by faster; I went to sleep. Well I didn't entirely fall asleep before I was able to just sink into my sweet abyss that is slumber, I faintly heard someone talking.
I concentrated as hard as I could to try and make out was being said. But it was only growing more and more faint with each passing second. Then out of nowhere it came back one-hundred times louder, similar to that of a clap of thunder.
'You're in danger'
I let out an involuntary, very emasculating yelp. Everyone's eyes landed on me and I immediately tried to sink into the floor. After a couple of seconds of everybody laughing at me for my sudden outburst, they all turned their attention back to the work that the teacher assigned them. All except one person.
"What was that about man? Why did you just yell in the middle of class?" Anthony said sending daggers at me with his eyes.
'I'll tell you later' I mouthed to him because the teacher was still staring at me. He just simply stared at me before nodding his head.
Once class was over I bolted out of the class and made my way to the cafeteria. Only to be forcefully dragged out of the cafeteria before I was able to take a bite of my pizza.
"Hey! What the he…"
"What the heck is going on with you Jake? Why did you yell in the middle of class for absolutely no reason?"
"I was dreaming and I had a nightmare. Now can you please let go of my arm. I have a freshly made pizza calling my name, and you know how much I love food." I said starting to get annoyed by the fact that I wasn't able to sink my teeth into the pizza.
"What kind of nightmare?"
"A scary one. Why does it matter."
"It matters a heck of a lot more than you think Jake! Now what heck did you see in your dream!" I was taken aback by Anthony's sudden outburst. Anthony never screams, ever. Obviously something was troubling him and normally nothing gets him this nervous.
I was about to answer before I realized something. I had seen this before, in a dream. I had seen and heard Anthony yell those exact words to me. Then it started to click and all of a sudden I remembered what was going to happen next. In a split second decision I tackled Anthony down to the ground. Just we landed, two arrows whizzed right by where Anthony and I had been standing only moments ago. Before he was able to question what was going on I grabbed his arm and started to drag him down the hallways.
As I ran I willed my brain to try and remember what had happened in the dream where all of this had happened. But then right as I turned a corner I felt something hard hit my chest. The next thing I knew I was on the ground staring up at the ceiling. I shifted my gaze down to try and see what I had ran into to see Anthony wielding a sword in his right hand trying to fend off another guy who seemed to be our age.
I watched in awe and fear as Anthony quickly disarmed the other boy before quickly hit him across the head with the hilt of his sword, making a bone chilling crack resonate throughout the hallway.
He turned his attention back to me and helped me back up to my feet, but I was too scared to move. I didn't understand anything that was going on. It was all too much for my brain to comprehend. It also didn't help that my head was pounding from the fall that I had just endured. Everything sounded so faint and far off that I couldn't comprehend what Anthony was saying. I could see his lips moving but I couldn't make it out immediately. After a couple of seconds that felt like hours I started to begin to hear what he was saying.
"Jake?! Jake! Are you okay?" Anthony said his voice gone of all emotions and he looked deadly serious. All I was able to do was nod my head. My brain was too rattled with all the information that was being thrown at me.
"Alright let's go. We have to get out of here you're in danger, it's not safe here." He said practically dragging my whole body along the hallways. But the only thing on my mind was the words that keep on seeming to be making an appearance everywhere I go.
'You're in danger'
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Okay so this is the first story that I've ever written, and it's not the best, but I got bored one day and this happened. Sadly I'm quite busy with work and school so it might be a couple of days (about a week from when this was published) to be able to pump another chapter out. But don't let that worry you I will still try my best to come out with earlier if I get the chance.
Also comment and let me know what you think about the first chapter. Like I said earlier this is the first story that I've ever written outside of school and any feed back would be greatly appreciated. If you like it or not let my know why; also I might make another story that might be a little different than this one once this is completed.
Lastly this will not be a short book, I have a lot of plans for this and I think that it will turn out pretty good. Anyways, hopefully you like the story so far, and thanks for spending your time to read this, your awesome and have a great day/night. :)
~Kevin