Ch. 4

Ok. So I wished myself sweet dreams before I went to bed. They were anything but. I woke up in my current state, drenched in sweat and clutching the sheets as if for dear life with a heavy pounding headache. Why? Due to the worst nightmare of my life. I dreamed about what was beyond the Gate.

Sure, every kid dreams about a land of monsters and ghoulies beyond the Gate for awhile in their early childhood, but this wasn't one of those dreams. This was terrifying. I looked over to my Tab. It was in charge mode, so its clock displayed front and center. I checked it, and it was way too early to be awake. Especially on a Saturday. I try to sleep.

After fifteen minutes of tossing and turning, which leaves me more awake than before with every second of thought about my dream, I decide to give up on the effort to sleep. For a couple of minutes I just sit there on my bed, wrapped in disorderly mint green sheets, thinking about my dream.

I was alone, at the Gate. At the very edge. I looked back over the city. Essira looked completely empty. The few people I did see in the late hours looked like tiny bugs that we had heard of in history called ants. I had never seen a real one, but apparently, they used to exist. I looked back at the Gate. I glanced down to my wrist to find that my price was gone. I had no idea why that was, but I suddenly didn't care. All that I cared about was that I had this urge to move through the Gate. So I did. I was always taught to trust my instinct, and right now it told me to leave everything I ever knew and venture into the unknown. As I walked through, I knew there was no going back. I stepped through the Gate, and on the other side was nothing. Absolutely nothing. There was just a bunch of desert. I took one step forward and my toe hit something hard. I figured it to be a rock, but when I looked down, I found a human skull. I looked back up, and, much to my horror, I was surrounded by human skeletons that I had not seen with my previous glimpse. I tried to turn back, to run back through the Gate. But it was completely gone. Like nothing had ever been there. I looked all around me. This was all that there was. This was what the Revolt left behind.

That was when I woke up. I couldn't stand to sit and be alone with my thoughts like this any longer, so I went to a place that Kaden and I used to go all the time to clear our minds, my roof.

Kaden lives next door. That is why we ride the same hovershuttle and how we became friends so young. We used to meet on my roof when we couldn't sleep. His roof was more slanted and his parents' bedroom was upstairs, rather than downstairs, like mine were, so we met on my roof so that we wouldn't wake them up.

I climbed out the window and onto the roof, and for a moment, I didn't see him in the dark. Kaden was there. But why? Before I could ask him, I noticed that the moonlight hit his features quite nicely. I had never before noticed his strong jawline or full, soft, perfect lips. He hadn't noticed me yet, so I tried to be quiet coming out of my window. Apparently, I wasn't very quiet, because he jumped and nearly screamed at me.

"Woah! I didn't even see you there!" he whisper-shouted.

"Sorry," I simply replied.

"You do realize that you can't just sneak up on people like that on a roof, right?" he asked me, not really expecting an answer.

"I already apologized," I told him, "Don't make me take it back."

He just lowly chuckles. That sounds like heaven. Before I can stop myself, I have crawled up next to him, and I am about to nearly snuggle him when I realize that I can't just do that. What has gotten into me? Do I like my best friend? Just a week ago I would have said no, but I think my answer may have changed. It honestly scares me a little more than a little.

That is when I notice how deeply he stares into my eyes. I can feel myself blush. I am so grateful for the darkness now. My eyes flutter down to his lips for a second before they bounce back to his eyes. I thought he couldn't stare more intensely into my eyes with his brown ones, so like my own except their flecks of gold, but I was so wrong. His gaze, if you could even call it that, had intensified to levels I had not even imagined possible.

"You're staring," he mutters in an amazingly hot tone.

"I think you were the one who started it," I replied.

"But will I be the one to finish it?" he asks.

I am about to ask what he means when he takes my cheek in one hand and brings my chin to his lips with the other. My arms wrap around his neck for a second before one starts trailing through his short, dark, soft hair and the other moves to his chest. His lips feel warm and soft against mine, as do his hands against my skin. He still has his hand on my cheek, but now the other moves through my hair. Our lips move together in a rhythm that sends sparks flying through my body. We continue to kiss for a couple more seconds before he pulls away. He brings our foreheads together so that our noses touch and we can look into each others' eyes.

"I have always wanted to do that," he tells me in a low voice.

I just stare back, silently reflecting the events of this last half hour in awe. He pulls away, undoubtedly taking my silence as something bad.

"Wait," I tell him.

"I wasn't going anywhere," he responds.

"Oh, well," I begin.

"Yes?" he questions.

I think about telling him how much I enjoyed that kiss as well, but I decide against it. I go for the safe route.

"Why are you here?" I ask him.

"I came to clear my mind," he replies quickly.

"What is it that is making you upset and stressed?" I prompt, just as the sun starts to peek over the horizon. Kaden seems to notice it also, and he makes a move to leave.

"What is it?" I repeat my question, more demanding of an answer this time.

"I cannot tell you now, but I will later. All that I can safely say is that things are not what they seem," he tells me, slightly forcefully, as he makes a move to climb down the tree off of my roof.

"But what is it?" I say, more confused than the moment before he kissed me, which I had thought to be impossible.

"As I said, I am unable to tell you now. I suggest that we both get back into our beds before our parents catch us back out here," he commands as he descends on the tree.

The last time we came up here, our parents caught us when we had fallen asleep late that night talking and laughing. Needless to say, they were not happy to find their two young teenagers asleep on a roof by themselves. That put an end to our late-night roof chats, or so I had thought at the time.

I obey his orders and climb back into my bedroom. I tiptoe back into bed and decide to try to get a few more hours of sleep now that I have gotten past my nightmare. After all, it is the weekend.

Soon, I begin to drift off, but not before I feel myself place a hand over my lips as I give a small grin.