Andre stared at the vast barren metal landscape nothing grew on the ground or flew in the bizarre red sky. His olive green- silver tinted eyes followed the land hoping to see something on the land or fly in the sky. As he stood in the strange place Andre began to feel his short dark brown hair stand on end. Something was coming! Then as if his thoughts had created it a sharp pain began to surge through his hands. Grimacing with the pain Andre dropped to the ground to his knees, his hands felt like he had just struck them with a hot iron.

Boom. Boom. Boom.

Opening one eye, painfully, Andre peered up at the sky and immediately regretted doing so. An immense dark shadow loomed over him, reaching at him with demon like hands. Feeling fear begin to rush over him Andre raised his hands to protect himself. Abruptly the land and sky lit up with intense silver blue light, Andre stared at his hands as they too began to glow more and more intensely. As the light grew brighter and brighter the shadow that had been reaching for Andre slowly disappeared in the light until nothing was left.

"Help us Andre! Save us!" A voice called until everything including Andre were lost in the intense light.

Andre woke up with a jolt, forgetting where he was he looked around dazed. Spying other partially asleep kids Andre relaxed realizing he was on the school bus. Sighing Andre sat up and stretched his stiff muscles, falling asleep in a cramped bus seat had made his muscles almost unbearable to move. Looking down at his hands Andre immediately found them covered by a pair of grey and black fingerless gloves.

Same dream, huh, same pain. Andre thought as he flexed his aching hands. Staring at his hands Andre growled. Why were these dreams so constant? Why had his hands been aching for the last four years? Andre had been to several specialists and each had said the same thing, "there is no explanation for what is happening." Looking out the slightly fogged window and finding familiar surroundings, Andre gently maneuvered his backpack on his lap to his back and steadied his body to stand.

"All right y'all have a good one." The bus driver hollered, Andre nodded and pushed his silver sunglasses from on top of his head to over his eyes, then stood as the bus pulled to a stop.

Stepping out of the bus Andre took a deep breath of the crisp, clean autumn mountain air and sighed. Pagosa Springs High School the dwelling of both friend and foe, of both sadness and strength. The one place that took Andre's mind off of the pain in his hands and the pain of his dreams. Moving up the rain drenched sidewalk and into the warmth of the high school. Inside Andre perched his sunglasses back on to his head then glanced around the semi crowded cafeteria seeing hot eggs and hash browns Andre's mouth watered.

"Hey Andre over here!" a voice hollered.

Turning to his name Andre found his two best friends Drake Okumaru a blonde spiky haired guy with tons of spunk and Raul Sparkson a jet black haired guy who was always a fair opponent. Both sat at a nearby table waving to Andre, seeing them Andre gave a short wave back then tiredly walked towards them and sat down.

"Man dude you look like something the cat dragged in. Rough night?" Drake asked slightly worried as he watched Andre sit down. Andre nodded letting out a huge yawn stretching his limbs again Andre noticed the concerned looks on his mate's faces; a fresh but tired smile appearing on his face.

"I'm fine guys…..really." Andre grunted confidently, "Its…it's just one of my rough…..patches." Andre smiled again, but could tell by the skeptical looks on his friends faces that he hadn't convinced them or himself.

Fifteen minutes later, Andre sat in his science class carefully massaging his now burning hands. After communing with his friends about their weekend plans of horseback riding Andre had retreated to his science class for some study time. When he had entered the tile floored room, however, his hands began to burn with a new aggression. Deciding against seeing the nurse and being spotted by his friends Andre sat down and began to massage them as his father had shown him. As he rubbed his hands his mind began going back to his dreams. What did they mean?

First that shadow appears, then light emerges from my hands running all over the place, and finally as the world disappears I hear people calling out to me for help. Ahhh! Andre growled as a fresh wave of pain came on, Man what is up? Seems the more I think about my dreams the more pain surges through my hands! Something was wrong, very wrong!

Ding. Ding. Ding.

Andre sighed and slipped his gloves back on as the other students started filing into the classroom. As the others settled into their seats Andre took out his notebook and pen from his one strap backpack opening it to yesterday's notes. As he stared at his hand writing Andre again thought about his dreams and one thing he knew for sure was that those dreams were trying to tell him something. Only what was it?

"Okay today we are starting the astronomy chapter of the year. Now who here can tell me the name of the star which the sailors used for directions?" Mr. Rosser asked as he set down his soaked hat and jacket eagerly searching for a hand, but found none. Andre sighed as he scanned the room watching every other student either twiddle their pencils or stare up at the suddenly fascinating ceiling.

"Oh come on you guys it's an easy question." Mr. Rosser replied in an annoyed tone; Andre sighed heavily and raised his hand.

"Well Mr. Randell. Please inform us what is the name of the star, which sailors used for directions?" Mr. Rosser asked happy to finally see a hand.

"The name of the star that sailors used for directions is the North Star the brightest star in the sky also known as Sirius." Andre said slowly dropping his hand and taking up his pen.

"Correct Andre. Now can you tell me what constellation it's in?" Mr. Rosser questioned, Andre rolled his lowered eyes. He had expected this to happen; Mr. Rosser always continued to question the one who answered the first question of the day.

"The summer constellation, Draco. Latin for dragon." Andre replied again his eyes following his pen as he wrote down the answers to the questions.

"Correct." Mr. Rosser said surprised, "Well then as told the North Star is the brightest star in the sky…."

Andre slowly fell out of sync with the lesson as a fresh wave of pain began to burn with a new passion. Growling Andre silently rubbed his hands under the table trying to relieve at least some of the pain. As he tried to sooth the pain strange images began to shimmer in front of Andre's eyes glass breaking, metal moving, and people screaming. Andre shook his head removing his hands from under the table and began to rub his eyes; slowly the images faded until all was left was the classroom. Glancing around in confusion Andre searched the room.

What the heck was that? Andre questioned worryingly as he laid his hands on top of the table.

Bang. Smack.

Abruptly a large sound and vibrations shook the classroom, everyone became frantic at the unexpected sound and movement. Andre gritted his teeth as a new ferocious wave of pain surged through his hands, swiftly forcing him to slide out of his chair and to his knees in raging pain.

"AAAHHHH!"

Crash! Bang!

Suddenly everything broke into chaos people running for their lives; screaming like banshees in fear. Opening his eyes Andre stared at what had brought such fear in his classmates. A giant metallic hand was reaching in through what had been the large observation windows at the back of the room; desperately trying to grasp something or someone. Staggering to his feet fighting through the pain in his hands and quickly grasping the table Andre lifted it above his head. Fighting both the pain in his hands and the strain of his muscles Andre hurled the table over his head at the reaching hand, breaking it into several thousands of pieces. Quickly the hand was pulled back making an even larger hole than it had entering the room. Seizing the opportunity Andre raced after the other students quickly shifting his jacket collar up and slid his sunglasses over his eyes. Finally catching up to the others Andre was stopped in his tracks by a shocking sight.