Cassidy closed her eyes She could feel the rough texture of the sand between her toes. She could smell the ocean as the breeze hit her nose. She could taste the salt as the water sprinkled her lips as she heard the waves crash against the shore. When Cassidy opened her eyes the blurry image of the beach became clear. Looking to the left the sandy beach traveled pass her line of sight. Turning to the right she saw her friends and family sitting around the fire and waving her over. She smiled at them as she made her way through the warm sand. But behind that smile was a hint of sadness.

She knows this is not the real world. She knows her loved one are all safe in their own beds sleeping through the night. This is just a dream. It's the dame ream every night. She meets up with her loved ones on this beautiful sunny beach, maybe a bonfire or barbecue, and they talk. The conversations usually consist of the talks they had a day ago, weeks ago, months ago, in the waking world. The world around them never changes. After having the same dream for over a week Cassidy asked her mother what it all meant. Her mother gave her the logical explanation of electrical current jumping for brain cell to brain cell while she was in the REM cycle of sleep.

Cassidy is fifteen now and has been having the same dream everyday for the last four years. After that first talk with her mother she never brought it up again. Why make a big deal over something that wasn't harming her. She quickly learned how to maximize the benefit of her situation. Just because they always said the same thing doesn't mean she had to do the same. All these practice conversation gave her extra confidence in the waking world. She even made captain of the debate team. But it didn't change the fact that having the exact same dream with no surprises for four years was excruciatingly boring. The only thing that changed was her. If she cut her auburn hair or for a piercing it reflected that in the dream world.

Tonight's dream was like any other night as she sat at the bonfire. All of her friends were wearing matching summer camp shirts while a couple people roasted marshmallows. She was replaying her days as a camp counselor a few months ago. The whole thing seems completely out of place. There they were making smores on near a fire on the beach in the middle of the day. In the waking world this actually happened in the jungle in the middle of the night. But the beach was another thing that never changed.

Cassidy was pulled out of her thoughts when she heard her friend's voice, Ellie, calling out for everyone's attention.

"How about a game of..." Ellie paused for dramatic effect. "Torch Tag." She flashes her light in everyone's eyes before running away giggling.

The rest of the group grabbed their flashlights and ran after her. Cassidy runs pass them all and turns to watch. All her friends are running around, using their lights in the daytime, and dodging the imaginary trees of the jungle. She knows she doesn't get caught in this scenario so she decided to watch on the sideline. But this too lost her interest. She knew this game would last a few hours and decides to take a walk.

'There is never anything this way.' Cassidy thinks while the warm water hits her feet as the tide comes in.

All she could ever see is endless beach. She would run this shore line the first year the dream started. But it never ended. She would always give up when she grew too tired to continue.

Cassidy picked up her pace to a light jog. It was still early in her dream and she knew she wouldn't be waking up for at least seven hours. The hours went by and Cassidy's jog have become a full on sprint. Her legs were cramping and her lungs felt like they were on fire. But Cassidy pushed forward. She knew the pain was all in her head. Her dreams couldn't hurt her and she always woke up refreshed. She knew she might only have an hour before she wakes up. But there was no point in stopping now so she continued her run.

She was staring at her feet trying to concentrate on anything to block out the pain coming from her body. Cassidy was stopped dead in her tracks when she ran into what felt like a brick wall. She landed hard on her ass and held her head in her hands. When she pulled her hands away there is a small trace of blood on the tip of a couple of fingers.

She lift her head her eyes met an unexpected sight. Right in front of her was a large tree. Cassidy had never seen a tree that wasn't driftwood on her beach. She followed the trunk down the roots were covered in dirt, not sand. The roots and dirt end at the edge of a stream. On the other side, her side, The stream cut through the sand. Turning to the left stream continued with no end. To her right the stream emptied into her ocean. Facing forward she leans her body to the side to look pass the tree and into the never ending forest.

Pushing herself up and dusting herself off Cassidy took a tentative step into the stream. The water felt colder than her sin kissed ocean. The next couple of steps put her on the other side of the stream and in the forest. The first thing she noticed was the chill that ran down her spine. The sun didn't shine as brightly on this side. Alot of it was from the overcast from the thick branches. The other thing she noticed was the deafening silence. There was no sound of critters or birds She couldn't even hear the flowing water behind her. Even the air felt thicker here.

Cassidy took a deep breath, held her chin up high, and started walking straight. This was the first new she had ever seen and she only had an hour to explore. Finally she sees a stream of light illuminating a clearing. Cassidy steps out into the clearing and the sun instantly warmed her skin. She leaned her shoulder against an almost perfectly round boulder that was about twice her size. She kept her eyes on the only cabin in the clearing. It was an ashy white cabin that did not look familiar to her. It definitely was not the cabin from summer camp. Maybe it was a memory from when she was a small child. That would explain why she didn't recognize it.

Cassidy pushed off the boulder and and walked up to the front door. "Locked?"She shook the knob thinking it was just stuck. "It's not suppose to be locked." She peeked in the window only to see a dark room. "Hmmm?"

She spun around looking for a good hiding place for a spare key. Her eyes traveled up the large boulder where a person sat a top of it. She covered her mouth muffle the squeak that came out and awkwardly jumped behind one of the porch's wood poles. She peeked her head out even though half her body was clearly visible. She saw a boy sitting with his legs crossed. He was wearing what looked like a white bath robe and sweats. His black hair was a few inches long.

What made her tilt her head in confusion were that his eyes were closed. "Was he sleeping or just not activated yet?" Cassidy had always wondered that happened to the people when she woke up. She just assumed they popped out of existence.

The boy didn't move as she tip toed over to the rock. Carefully she tried to climb the rock as quietly as possible. When she reached the top she slowly crawled to kneel in front of him. She snapped her fingers next to his ear. He didn't even flinch. He looked to be about her age. There were tiny little freckles on his nose. the also noticed a bump on the bridge of her nose, possibly broken, that she didn't noticed on the ground. He wasn't too bad to look at. She scanned his chest as it slowly rose and fell with every breath. His throat caught her attention as it bobbed up and down. Then her viewpoint shifted to his bottom lip that was currently in his teeth. That's when she felt it. Something was watching her. When she lifted her head she was met with wide open hazel eyes.

"KRIFF" Cassidy screeched.

She pushed the guy away as she threw her body backwards. The gravity in this dream is very real as both teenagers tumbled backwards off the boulder. Cassidy's head, back, and legs got scratched up as she rolled down the rock and landed on her already sore ass again.

"Son of a blaster." Cassidy cried out in pain as she rolled on her side to rub her lower back.

There was groaning coming from the other side of the boulder. Laboriously she forced her bruised body to its hands and knees and crawled while cautiously looking for the boy. When she gets to the other side she finds nothing. A throat cleared itself behind her causing Cassidy to rapidly twist her body aroun . She cringed at the tingling agony as her ass hit the ground...again. she looks up at him as he stares down at her with Danny hazel eyes. His side was leaning against the boulder while he held his ribs. Cassidy scurried to get on her own two feet. Both stood there in silence analyzing the other.

Cassidy still had no idea who he was or how she knew him. But there was an easy solution to that. "What's your name?"

The boy blinked a few time in surprise before stealing his features. "How are you here?" His deep voice held no emotion at all.

She looked back at him in even more confusion. But there was something else. It was excitement."You know it's rude to answer a question with another question, right?"

"But you just answered my question with another question." The boy pointed out.

"I never said I wasnt rude." Cassidy shrugged off his comment.

"You will tell me who you are and how you got here" he responded calmly while waving his hand in her face.

"You first" Cassidy waved both hier hands in front of his face mocking him.

The boy sighs in defeat."Ben, my name is Ben."

"Nice to meet you Ben." Cassidy holds her hand out for him to shake. "Cassidy"

Ben eyed the offer a few extra seconds before reaching out.

But before they could shake Cassidy opened her eyes and found herself back in her room with he alarm blaring.