She finds herself chained to her desk in her Advanced English class with Mr. Reynolds towering above her almost like a troll holding a meter stick out like he was going to hit her with it. Unable to move, all she can do is scream. Screaming with all her might she stops when she runs out of breath and closes her eyes, preparing for the worst.

Just then, the sound of wood splitting could be heard and she opens her eyes to see two giant black wings blocking her view of the situation.

"Uh, excuse me? Could you move your wings please? They're kinda in my way." she said in the kindest way she could. The figure with the wings ignores her, but moves out of the way anyway to attack the towering teacher. With his wings out of her way, she can finally see what had happened and the guy who saved her clearly. The guy looked to be older than her but she wasn't sure and he wore dark clothing; a purple shirt, black jeans, and a black leather trenchcoat. He had messy, mid-length, black hair and pale white skin. He fought with his fists, occasionally using a dark purple misty sphere shrouding his hands that could be magic.

When he was finished defeating the teacher, he stood where he was for a while before he flew over and landed on the desk the girl was chained to.

"You could've given me something more than an apparition. Maybe another dream demon." he mumbled to himself, eyes wandering away from the girl.

"Who are you? Actually, what are you?" she asked. He looks at her with a gloomy expression on his face.

"Jack, a dream demon and apparently you're my vessel." he answered.

"Wait, what!? YOUR vessel?" she said with surprise.

Jack looked at her dully. "You're supposed to give me your name now." he said, not wanting to go any further until he knew her name.

"It's Sarah. Now tell me why I'm your vessel."

'Sarah. What a nice name. It suits her.' thought Jack before speaking. "How to explain this…? Um, I'll start by explaining what I am. A dream demon. What is a dream demon? We, us dream demons, are creatures created in the dream world. We look like nightmares to the one's dream we're dropped into. In that dream, we take over the person by making them our vessel. Some of us ask nicely and some of us don't as in some are bad and others are good. Do you understand?"

Sarah looks confused but nods her head anyway. Jack frowns and shakes his head.

"Don't nod when you look confused. It confuses me and I won't know if you really understand or not." he said frustratingly.

"Sorry. It's just that I still don't know why you need me as your vessel." she explained.

Jack gives a look of surprise. "Isn't it obvious! So I can be in the real world and experience real world things through you." he said with gloomy excitement.

Sarah couldn't take her eyes off of Jack. He was so interesting. The way he held himself on top of the desk that she was chained to. Chained to? She looks down and finds herself still shackled to the desk, then she looks at Jack.

"Um, Jack? Do you mind unshackling me from this desk?" she asked, holding out her shackled wrists to Jack. Jack just stares at her. "Jack?" she said with concern.

"Will you be my vessel?" he asked. Sarah sighed.

"No. I barely even know you and how would I know if you're going to make me do something bad or not." she answered.

"You can trust me." he said.

"Is that answer enough for you? Can you get me out of these now?" She shook her arms angrily, making the shackles rattle.

"No."

"Fine."

"Fine what?"

"Fine! I'll be your vessel!"

When Jack breaks the shackles off of Sarah, a high-pitched wail was heard from all around. Sarah had to cover her ears to keep herself from going deaf. Jack ended up flying off to see what was making the sound. When he came back, he found Sarah standing a ways from the desk holding a long weapon.

"I-Is that a-a s-s-sword?" he asked rather nervously. Sarah turns to face him, grasping the sword in front of her.

"Yeah. It's a katana. Why do you sound so scared? It's just a sword."

Jack started fidgeting with his belt. "Nothing. I just am really scared of swords, y-you know, because I fight with my fists and bringing a sword to a fist fight is wrong. It makes the person with the fists vulnerable to getting sliced to pieces."

"Then bring a sword." said Sarah, oblivious of Jack's fear.

"I just told you that I'm scared of swords!" said Jack, infuriated.

Sarah gasped. "Sorry. I didn't realize you said that."

"Geez! Start paying attention, will you?"

The sound of paper crinkling could be heard from the source of that sound before. Jack flew up in the air to see over the classroom walls. After getting a good look around, he lands next to Sarah.

"What's out there?" she asked.

"Just a bunch of little black things circling around us. They seem to be climbing some wall." replied Jack. Sarah started moving toward a part of what Jack had seen from the air. He grabs her by the arm and she turns to him surprised. "You don't know what those things will do to you when approached." said Jack. Sarah puts a reassuring hand on Jack's arm.

"I'll be okay, Jack. I have a weapon to protect myself with." she said, pulling her arm from Jack's grasp. She continues walking toward the mysterious beings, blade held firmly in her hand.

Getting closer to the inky black creatures, she sees that they were practically climbing an invisible wall eating away at it. What was left behind by them was a blank white area that continued to get bigger the more the creatures ate of the wall. She took a step toward them.

"Hey! This is my dream and you're not allowed in it!" she screamed at them. The creatures ignored her and kept eating away at the wall. Growing frustrated, she takes action and slices her katana through a long line of them and they dissolve instantly.

'I have to get the rest of them now!' she thought desperately. "Jack! Kill the creatures! It's the only way to stop them!" she yelled. Jack heard what she said and flew over to part of the circle of creatures and started killing them all with magic. Sarah started running while slicing her blade through the creatures.

When all the creatures were defeated, Sarah and Jack met tiredly at the center of the dream. Panting in exasperation, Jack falls to the ground along with Sarah. Jack turns his head partially to her.

"You're really amazing with that sword of yours." he complimented. Keeping her head down, Sarah blushes at his compliment.

"Thanks Jack, you too except with your fists." she compliments him in return. Jack smiles at that.

"Let's work together. We can find and fight more of those things if they show up in someone else's dream and maybe, if we can, find one of the bad dream demons and teach 'em a lesson." he said, "Wanna do that, together?"

She looks partially over at Jack and frowns. "How do we enter people's dreams?" she asked, confused. They both turn to face each other as Jack closes his eyes, smiles, and points at himself with a thumb.

"Just leave that to me and if you happen to have some sort of magical gift, let me know." he said.

"Okay, Jack." she said. 'Magical gift? If I receive anything after this, I might be going crazy.'

"I'll be seeing you again soon then, right?" he said making sure their agreement was final.

"Yes, Jack. Now how do I get out of this?"

"Just open your eyes."

Sarah's eyes flew open as she sat up in bed. Sunlight coming through the window blinded her a little.

"Rise and shine, sleepyhead or you're gonna miss breakfast." said the familiar voice of Torrin from behind the door, which was opened slightly. Getting out of bed, she ran over to the door and opened it all the way.

"Morning, Torri!" she said happily.

"Morning to you too my little writer." he said with a smile.

"Little? I'm only two years younger than you."

"And I'm taller."

Nothing was said after that as Torrin went downstairs so Sarah could get dressed.

Another day of school. she thought glumly. And I'll have to deal with that teacher again.

When she was fully dressed, she came downstairs to the smell of bacon and eggs. She greets Michael and Priya Yong before sitting down at the table. As Michael took his seat at the table, he gave Sarah a sad look.

"I'm glad you managed to get a good night's sleep, but I went to check up on you once because I thought I heard you screaming. I came in and you were fine though. Were you having a nightmare?" said Michael with worry.

"Um, well it turned out to be a nightmare but I was rescued and it became a happy dream." explained Sarah. Michael smiled at that.

"I'm glad to know that you're doing all right, even in your dreams." he said happily, "I'm happy me and Priya decided to take you in. You had no home to go to and we couldn't leave you on the streets."

"Thanks Michael. I appreciate your hospitality." said Sarah.

"No need to thank just me. Thank all of us." said Michael indicating his wife and son. Looking at the time, Priya decided to speak up.

"It's about time you two get to school before you're late." she said, getting up to clear the breakfast dishes.

Or marked absent. thought Sarah, getting up from the table to clear her plate. Torrin got up to clear his plate too.

Along with Torrin and Sarah attending college, Michael and Priya also worked; Priya worked as a nurse at the hospital and Michael worked as a temp at a law firm. They got along well with their jobs. Though it seems they could afford college dorms for both Sarah and Torrin, they left that to them to take care of which Torrin understood and has been working at a department store in the mall. Sarah on the other hand would get a job if she'd stop playing in her head so much which she did a lot. So all the work was left to Torrin, yet she didn't take advantage of him much but if asked nicely Torrin would do anything for her.