A Dream, by Edgar Allen Poe

In visions of the dark night
I have dreamed of joy departed
But a waking dream of life and light
Hath left me broken-hearted.

All the girls at the Dead Poet's Society meeting that night clap as Kylar sits down from speaking. Then, when everyone is settled, Adrienne stands up to speak.

"That was great Kylar; thanks for sharing. The poem kind of seems to fall into place with everything that's been going on hasn't it?" she looks around at the girls, who agree silently.

There were only five at the meeting that night; it is the first meeting that not everyone showed up. Both Sally and Lydia were absent; their friends had not seen or heard from either of them since the dance a few days before.

Somberly, Adrienne continues, "But anyway, I think before we close and go our separate ways, we should hear about Tacey's eventful week! Tacey, tell everyone about that thing you mentioned earlier today."

"What? No way!" Tacey shyly states.

But all the girls beg and plead toward her, and she finally gives in. Standing up, she says with a shy grin, "Well, as you all know, Amergin kissed me for the first time at the dance the other night."

Jamie hollers loudly and the others giggle, but Tacey continues, "Anyway, today he asked me to meet him at the dock for a date; apparently he has a surprise for me."

All the girls chatter in excitement, and Adrienne begins brainstorming about how she can videotape the romantic evening.

Finally, the girls depart from the old church. Kirsten begins driving home with Jamie, whose dancing along with the music on the radio. Suddenly, Kirsten's cell phone rings. Jamie turns the music off and answers it for Kirsten.

"Hello? Oh hi Mrs. Sherwood. Yeah, she's here. Hold on!" Jamie hands Kirsten the phone and props her feet on the dashboard.

Kirsten takes the phone cheerfully, "Hey mom, what is it?" After a long pause, Kirsten replies, "What?" And then rapidly, she slams on the breaks and moves off of the road.

Jamie recollects from the incident, and looks over at Kirsten, who's still listening to her mother, silent.

Finally, Kirsten hangs up, looking out through the windshield. Jamie, concerned, asks her, "Kirst, what's going on? Is everything okay?"

Kirsten, white as a ghost, looks at Jamie finally, "It's my brother Matt. I have to go to him, in Charleston."

Jamie, worrying about the situation, replies frightened, "I'll go with you." She lays a hand on Kirsten, who is now in tears.

"I think I might cry!" Amergin declares at the dock the following night.

Tacey comes over to him worrying, "Why on earth would you do that?"

Smiling, he looks down at her and states, "You've never looked prettier than you do tonight."

"But, I'm not even wearing a dress Amergin!" Tacey states as she looks down at her jean shorts and band t-shirt with a pony tail hair-do.

Amergin smoothly lifts her face up to his with his finger and says softly, "Like I said, you've never looked prettier."

Tacey smiles and leans in expecting a kiss, but Amergin moves back and states proudly, "Now let me take you to your surprise! And hey, you get to wear a bandanna!"

"What?" Tacey asks curiously. But before she knew it, Amergin ties a blue bandanna around her eyes and then takes her hands in his, "Do you trust me Tace?"

Smiling, Tacey says, "Yes." Before she knows what's happening, Tacey is being walked by Amergin to who-knows-where.

"We're almost there!" Amergin declares and he turns a corner. Finally, he stops her moves her to a certain spot.

"Now, just wait here!" Amergin says. After a few moments, Tacey feels him behind her, untying the bandanna.

"Are you ready?" he asks eagerly.

"Yep." Tacey responds. With bright light piercing her eyes, Tacey is revealed to a bright and beautiful ferris wheel.

"A carnival?" Tacey wonders curiously.

"Yep. And for the night, call me Kevin Manonamah!" Amergin slyly says.

Suddenly, Tacey remembers, "Oh my gosh! The date I told you about! Wait, Amergin, you have to know that-"

"That you made up the whole date? Yeah, I figured that one out on my own! But the way you talked about it, made me feel like it was a dream you've always wanted to live. So, tonight, I'm giving you that. Come on, we've got lots to do!"

Extending his hand to her, Amergin smiles joyously, and Tacey takes it innocently.

Around the same time, Kylar is at home, playing her guitar in her room. Inspired, she writes down more lyrics to the song she's working on. Suddenly, she hears noise downstairs. However, she is supposed to be home alone for the night.

Her father hasn't been home for the past few days; as far as Kylar knows, he's on a business trip. Her parents haven't signed the papers yet for the divorce; so Kylar believes they still might have a chance. But, that it only in her mind.

Quietly, Kylar sneaks down the stairs holding a metal baseball bat. The living room is dark, and no one is there. But then, Kylar hears something in the kitchen, and slowly goes towards the door.

Suddenly, she swings the door open and jumps in the kitchen with her baseball bat. Seeing this, her mother began laughing, along with a stranger who was with her.

"Mom? What are you doing home? You said you were out with your friends for the night."

"Well, 'friend' to be put more affirmatively. I just came home because I forgot my cell phone. But this is a good chance to introduce you two. Kylar, I want you to meet Kent. Kent, this is my daughter Kylar." Her mother moves Kylar closer to the strange man, who shakes her hand firmly.

"How do you do little lady?" He says politely.

Rudely, Kylar turns to her mother, "Where's dad? Is he coming home from the business trip soon?"

Both adults exchange uncomfortable looks, and Kent leaves the room. Kylar's mother calmly tries to talk to her daughter, "Sweetie, he's not on a business trip. I didn't know how to tell you, so I decided to wait a while. But, I see now that you need to know."

"Know what?" Kylar snaps.

"Your father and I signed the divorce papers last week. We're separated now. We decided that I'd have you on the weekdays and he'd have you the weekends when summer is over. He's not leaving town; but he is moving into an apartment. I'm so sorry about all this-"

But as her mother tries to move in to comfort her daughter, Kylar pushes her away and scream, "NO! Things were getting better! They were! You guys weren't fighting last week! I saw!"

"No sweetie, it wasn't getting better. But now, we can go back to being a family."

"I don't believe you! You both are treating me like I'm a dog; choosing when who will watch over me at what time! It's ridiculous!"

"Kyly please-"

But Kylar only points a finger at her, "Don't you dare call me that! You both would call me that! Don't you ever say that ever again!"

"Kylar I'm so sorry-"

"GET OUT! Just get out of here!" Kylar screams as she marches towards her mother, who is walking to the front door.

Without giving them room to say anything, Kylar watches as her mother leaves with Kent, driving away to who-knows-where and might not be back until the next day.

But, seeing the man with her mother, Kylar can't take it. Feeling the bat still in her hand, she began smashing things in the living room: the lamp, pictures of their family, and everything in sight.

Eventually, Kylar found herself on the floor of her room upstairs. She looks around at all the song lyrics she has destroyed, and begins screaming uncontrollably.

Screamingly uncontrollably, Tacey smiles as she speeds around on the roller coaster with Amergin. After the ride was over, they enjoy cotton candy together, and Amergin takes out a piece of paper from his pocket.

"Let me see; we went on the ferris wheel, the roller coaster, had cotton candy, and I bought you that koala bear."

Tacey squeezes the bear tightly saying, "Which I love!"

"Hmm, that leaves us with one last thing," Amergin looks up into Tacey's eager blue eyes, and she finishes, "The merry-go-round!"

A few minutes later, they are standing alone at their very own merry-go-round. Eagerly, Tacey gets on, followed by a tired Amergin who says, "I'm glad the carnival is in our town this year. That's because I couldn't walk a mile home instead of a couple blocks. That'd be torture!"

"Oh come on a ride with me! We've got this all to ourselves!" Tacey says happily.

"Why is that?" Amergin wonders, looking around for people.

"Two reasons: one, the park is about to close; and two, it's about to rain!"

"Oh," Amergin says as she watches Tacey jump on a horse. He takes the one next to her, and he ride begins. They laugh and ride it around and around, never wanting it to stop.

After a while, Tacey finally speaks, "This is the best night of my life! Thank you so much!"

She lays her hand on his, and their eyes meet. It is as though they were looking at each other like they were the first time, back at the town square party.

Then, suddenly, Amergin knew. So, he clears his throat, and asks Tacey, "Tace, can I tell you something? Something I hold very dear to my heart."

In happiness, Tacey giggles, "Of course you can! What is it?"

The ride starts to slow down, but Amergin doesn't care. He looks into her eyes, and says, "You. I hold you dearest to my heart, above all else. Tacey, I love you."

Finally, the ride stops, and it turns off. The carnival is over. Tacey gets off the horse and off of the merry-go-round, followed by Amergin.

"You know I'm going away next week for the rest of the summer, to drama camp. I hadn't planned saying this at all, not until just now. I knew just in an instant, all at once, that I am in love with you."

Tacey, confident and happy the whole evening, suddenly is turning back into her shy, scared self by saying, "Stop," softly.

"What?" Amergin asks.

"No! Just stop! Don't say it!" She puts her hand in front of her, keeping him away.

But, he didn't understand, "What do you mean, I-"

"NO! Don't say it anymore! I-I'm sorry Amergin, but I don't love you!"

All at once, rain drops began falling onto the ground. The two didn't notice much, however. And then, Amergin tries to come closer to her, just for comfort but Tacey wouldn't have it.

"I can't!" And all at once, Tacey pushes him away, and begins running out of the carnival, down the street, heading for a far away place.

"Tacey! Wait!" But there is nothing for him to do. Amergin falls to his knees, still beside the merry-go-round, the rain pounding down on him.

Still running, Tacey knew she couldn't go home. So, she thinks of the only other safe haven at the moment, Kylar's house. Frightened, she runs over Kylar's lawn, and up to the front door. She knocks urgently, but just as she does, she realizes the door is open.

"Hello?" She says faintly into the silent house. Looking around, the place was dark. However, a light was seen from upstairs.

She heads up towards the light, seeing it at the top, from the bathroom down the hall. She slowly approaches the bathroom, and opens the door, "Kylar?"

But what she sees moves her to complete and utter shock. Kylar is setting on the floor, in tears, with a knife in her left hand.

"Oh my gosh! Kylar!" Tacey runs to her and takes the knife away. She finds blood running from Kylar's wrist. She hurriedly cleans it up, and sees its only a small cut; if Tacey had shown up any later, Kylar would have already killed herself.

Tacey finds a first aid kit and bandages up the small spot, throwing the knife away. After that, she holds the teary-eyed Kylar in her arms.

Whispering, Tacey asks, "Why Kylar? What could possibly make you want to commit suicide?"

Saying only two words, Kylar responds with, "I'm lost."

"I'm sorry we got here so late Doctor. We got lost on the way up from Beaufort." Kirsten says to her brother's doctor, out in the hallway.

Meanwhile, Jamie is inside the room, watching Matt. He is sleeping, but not easily. She can see the pain through his closed eyes still, and she can't bare to watch it any longer. Matt was also like a brother to Jamie; he was her big brother, always to the rescue. But now, it is himself who needs the rescuing.

Finally, Kirsten comes into their room in the hospital, and looks at her brother. Jamie looks at her eagerly, and asks, "What did he say?"

Slowly, Kirsten replies, "The doctor says he has only a 10 chance of living; but even then, they can't give him anything else. He has two days left."

Silently, Jamie leads Kirsten to a seat in the room, and holds her as they watch him sleep. Quietly, Jamie says, "I'll stay here with you 'till the end."