One, then two, now three. Three sets of footsteps outside my small secret.

Three too many.

Oh man, what have you gotten yourself into now, Timber? Man, i'm never even got a sweet sixteen, not that i had any friends to invite.

One has left from the right side of the alleyway. One is across from me, digging around in the dumpster with a stick it sounds like. One is looking in the garbage can near mine. So close, a couple more inches and it will find me. What if i ran? Could i escape? I am pretty fast.

I looked out from under the lid of the can to see that the one nearest to me was faced away. There was a broken broom handle against my can. I reached out and grabbed it, then quickly jumped out of my can and smashed it over the thing's head.

I ran.

But from what? This was just a dream. A nightmare. These things shouldn't be able to hurt me.

But they could.

I ran and cried as the monsters chased me. My cloak billowed behind me, making me a slightly bigger target. I ran towards a building and ran up the wall slightly, just high enough to grab onto a window sill. From there i climbed to wall to the roof. I ran from there, jumping from building to building by roof. I could hide easily once i got to the wastelands.

The city was surrounded by wastelands. They were like deserts, except the sands were extremely flammable. The city has a ring around it. I don't know what it is, magic? It keeps any fire from spreading into the public area. But that doesn't mean the city is green or happy. It was a terrible place, full of terrible… people. I think they are monsters. They all look different. Some have long ears that make them look like puppy dogs, but some have teeth and claws that make them look ferocious. But no matter their look, they are all evil. It's no wonder they are all trapped here, they wouldn't hesitate to kill an innocent child.

But it doesn't matter to me at the moment why they are here, it matters to me why i'm here. Is this all just a dream? If so, why is it my wrist still hasn't healed when i fell down here three weeks ago? And the only reason i know that is my watch still works.

I made my way to my hideout as the fires began freezing over for the night. It always happens, from the cold. I hugged my cape closer and shivered. I felt the blood on my toes from the building i climbed up. The bricks messed my feet up badly, ripping up the bottoms of them.

The walk to my hideout was brutal. My feet are extremely resistant from all the time here, but the hot sands and the cold sands mixing under my feet burned, then froze, then burned again.

The wide stone was hollow. It was large enough that you wouldn't think it could be moved, but small enough that it wasn't noticeable from the city line. I nudged it to the left a bit and stepped into the dark. I put my hand inside the stone and pushed it back into place, blocking out all light and air circulation, but it was always okay. The hot steam vents froze over at night, though, and allowed as much air as needed. In a small space under the slope to the surface is a small room. It is surrounded by a sort of… stone? It keeps the warmth in at night and the cold in during the day.

I kept a blanket in there. I entered as soon as i could, to keep myself from freezing. I ate what i had in my satchel after i crawled in the small cubby. The curtain that closes off the room is made of thick wool. It gathers dust like you wouldn't believe, but it worked for me. As i ate i grabbed my notebook, a small grey thing i found on one of my excavations. It was in a garbage, so i figured nobody wanted it. It was also blank with no writings or pictures on it.

I liked to draw in it. I knew it was probably the only one i would ever get, but that didn't stop me from drawing pictures in it. I wrote a couple sentences every day, then would doodle on the rest of the page.

I had a picture of a guy with golden hair and eyes, though he had an eyepatch covering up one. He always wore a black cloak with yellow on the inside. His suit was yellow and black and he carried around a cane. He didn't look like a monster, but i knew he was.

I also drew a picture of a broken sky. It was like the sky had been ripped apart with a knife. Out of the cut, the colorful blood of the dimension poured out. I remember that dream so well. The picture was based on what i saw. Monsters, bleeding into a different realm. I could hear the people screaming, but i couldn't help them. The monsters were taking over the town for no reason what so ever. Causing destruction just for the fun of it.

But it was just a nightmare.

Right?