Gripping The Fire

Chapter 2

Mika dreamt all night that night. They weren't exactly dreams though. They were closer to nightmares. Either that or really unpleasant dreams.

She kept dreaming that she was running from someone. She didn't know who or what she was running from, that is, until right before she woke up that morning. The person or thing was gaining on her and right before she woke up, someone grabbed her and she turned around to see only the man she feared most. He held a knife up in the air, ready to strike it at her.

"Dwayne! No!" she screamed as she shot up in her bed. She looked around nervously and tried to calm her short and heavy breathing. She was sweating and her heart was beating fast and hard in her chest.

She took a deep breath and then stepped out of bed. Looking out her window, she saw it was a beautiful clear day. She sighed as she ran her hands through her hair and then turned around when she heard her mother calling from downstairs.

"Mikael! Your sister's leaving in ten minutes!" she yelled up. Mika's eyes zoomed over to her clock. It read 7:05. School started at 7:30 and they were supposed to leave at 7:15.

"Crap! Why didn't my alarm go off?!" she said as she began scrambling to get ready.

At school, Mika sat with Kyle at lunch like he asked her to. She felt a bit awkward sitting with him however. He was one of the "popular" guys at the school and he had asked her to sit with him at lunch and go to the dance. They barely knew each other and what was a little strange was he was a grade above her. Everyone thought it was a bit strange for someone to ask a person in a lower grade out. What made things even more strange about this was that he chose her over her sister, who just so happened to be one of the "popular" girls in school. Mika was no where near popular, nor was she as pretty as Adrea was. There were a lot of strange things about the current situation, but it seemed like it never bothered Kyle one bit, so she tried not to let it bother her.

He was a perfect gentleman at lunch even though most of the time he was talking to his friends. After they were finished eating, they all went outside and sat in the shade of a tree. They just talked about random things and laughed at random jokes.

While they talked, Kyle asked her if she would feel uncomfortable if he put his arm around her shoulder. She smiled.

"Aren't guys supposed to just put their arm around the girl's shoulder without asking?" she asked.

"Yeah..." he replied. "But I don't want to make you feel uncomfortable."

"That's really sweet Kyle. Thank you for asking. No, I won't feel uncomfortable."

Kyle smiled at her and then put his arm around her shoulder. Mika looked around to see who all was outside. She then spotted Adrea. Adrea had the most evil expression on her face. It was of pure hate and it was directed at Mika.

Mika quickly turned away. That look scared her so bad. 'Maybe I shouldn't do this...' she thought to herself. 'It would be better if I didn't hang out with him or do anything with him...'

She looked up at Kyle and noticing this in the corner of his eye, he looked down at her and smiled. She smiled back at him. 'Forget it,' she said in her mind. 'If he wants to hang with me and go to the dance with me, then that's what he gets.'

She looked back over at Adrea, who was still glaring at her, and smiled victoriously at her. Adrea rolled her eyes at her and then turned away. Mika began laughing on the inside. Nothing felt more satisfying to Mika than pissing Adrea off. She turned her attention back to Kyle when he waved his hand in front of her face.

"Earth to Mika..." he said. Mika quickly looked up at him.

"Sorry... I was just thinking about something," she said a bit embarrassed, as she had zoned out for a bit.

"It's cool," Kyle said. "We're all going to the movies today after school. Wanna come with us?" he asked her.

"Um... I'm not sure if I can," she said a bit hesitantly.

"Aw... Why?"

"I got a lot of homework and stuff... It might take me awhile to get it done too 'cause I have Croakey's science."

"Aw! You have Mr.Croakey for science?! That sucks!"

"Yes it does," Mika agreed. "And on top of that, I totally suck at science. So I gotta be sure to get home and work on it."

"Yeah... Guess you're right." Kyle paused for a second. "Hey uh...How about we do something together tomorrow? You can make up for missing the movie," he said with a smile. Mika laughed.

"I'd love to, but I gotta study for the math test Berkley's giving on Friday."

"Well don't you have a busy week," Kyle said with a smile. "Well... I'm pretty good at math. How about I come over tomorrow and help you study?" he asked.

Mika raised an eyebrow. "Come to my house and help me study?" she asked, just a tad bit shocked. Kyle nodded his head. Mika looked down at the ground and rubbed her forehead for a second. "Um... Yeah, sure," she said looking back up at him. "That would be great."

"Are you sure? You didn't seem to excited when I said that."

"No! No it's fine. I was just trying to think if tomorrow would be ok."

"Oh ok. Well cool then," he said, still smiling. Mika practically melted from his smile. She wasn't the boy-crazy type of girl, but Kyle's smile seemed so perfect. She watched him as he looked down at his watch and his smile disappeared.

"Looks like we gotta get ready for our next classes," he said looking around at his friends. He stood up and then offered his hand to Mika. She took it and he pulled her up to her feet. He waited there with Mika until all his friends left and went inside.

"Thanks for hangin' out with me," he told her.

"Thanks for inviting me," she replied. They laughed and then there was a sudden awkward silence. Kyle quickly broke it.

"So uh... You sure it's ok if I come tomorrow? 'Cause I don't want to make you uncomfortable or impose on you or anything."

"No! No, no, no. I'd love for you to come over tomorrow. That would be great. I'll need the help. Math is my all-time worst subject ever."

Kyle smiled sweetly at her and she could feel her smiling cheeks turn hot. She hoped her cheeks hadn't turned red, as then he would know she was blushing.

"Alright. Well I'll call you tonight ok?" he told her. Mika nodded.

"Alright. See you later."

Kyle then turned and walked towards the doors and went inside the school. Mika sighed heavily as she leaned back against the tree trunk. Was this really happening? Was Kyle for real? Those questions kept going through her mind. All this seemed too good to be true. Was it?

She shook her head. 'Kyle has always been one of the nicest guys around. This is definitely really happening,' she thought to herself. She pushed off of the tree and went inside the school.

Opening her locker, she saw Adrea's reflection in her locker mirror. Adrea was down the hall talking to her friends. Adrea looked at Mika and raised an eyebrow.

'Enjoying this as much as I am?' Mika thought.

'Not as much as I will be,' Adrea's voice echoed in her head.

'Oh please,' Mika thought rolling her eyes.

'Might wanna watch your back Mika. You don't want anything to happen to you,' Adrea suddenly threatened.

'Whatever Adrea. I have better things to do than mentally talk to you.' Mika grabbed her backpack, threw in a couple textbooks, and then closed her locker. 'Chow,' she thought as she walked down the hall to her next class.

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Mika's eyes slowly began to close and her pen dropped out of her hand. Taking a deep breath, she crossed her arms over her open science book and rested her head on her arms.

It was 7:30 and she had been doing her homework all afternoon and evening. After four hours, sleep was finally taking over her. She slowly drifted into sleep and as she did, she began to dream.

She was somewhere that was just black. There was nothing at all but her. It wasn't dark though. She was able to fully see herself. Just her surroundings were black. There was suddenly a low laughing. It slowly grew louder and a set of red eyes suddenly appeared. Then another set, and another, and yet another. Sets of pure red eyes kept opening around her. They then suddenly all combined together and created one big face. It was terrifying. It looked like a vampire. It smiled and showed its fangs. It then began to lunge at her. She screamed and right before it reached her, she heard a ringing noise. The face stopped where it was and looked around, trying to figure out what the ringing sound was. Then it suddenly disappeared.

Just then, Mika became conscious she was dreaming and woke up. She was a bit sweaty and uncomfortable.

"Where are these nightmares coming from?" she said aloud. She heard ringing again. 'Am I still dreaming?' she thought. She then realized it was the phone. She scrambled over to her phone that sat on a table beside her bed and picked it up.

"He-hello?" she answered.

"Hey Mika. This is Kyle," the person on the other line said.

"Oh hey Kyle. What's up?"

"You ok?" he asked. "You sound kind... Shaky."

"I'm fine really."

"You sure?"

"Yeah. I just fell asleep while I was doing my homework and I had a nightmare. So it's nothin'."

"Oh I'm sorry. Well I was just calling 'cause I said I would and because I wanted to know if I could give you a ride to and from school," Kyle said.

"Oh... Well that would be cool!" Mika told him.

"Great! I'll pick you up around 7:15 aight?" he said sounding excited.

"Sounds good."

"Ok. See you tomorrow," Kyle said and then hung up.

Mika smiled to herself. "Oh yeah... Life is getting good," she said aloud. She then smiled with amusement. 'Hear that Adrea?' she thought, knowing Adrea was listening in on her thoughts. 'Kyle's going to pick me up and take me to school in his car tomorrow. Isn't that great?' She laughed slightly and then started back up on her homework again.