Chapter 49

His head hit the floor as he moved the covers off of his head to look at the clock. "What? I don't remember anything".

Fox picked up his phone to look at it to make sure he got the date right. "No way, this can't be right. There's absolutely no way."

He was afraid of it and it came true, it was just a dream.

"But it all seemed so real, how can that not be real." He got up and walked in to talk to his parents. "So do you think you're ready?" His dad asked him as the three of them sat at the kitchen table. "Ready for what?"

"Well, ready for today. You know, talking to Krystal? Trying to find out what's going on?" 'Oh no, this can't be happening'. "But…I already did that. That was yesterday." Fox looked and sounded confused about all of this. "Really? But you didn't say a word about it, didn't bring her around, her parents didn't say anything to us. Why didn't you tell us?" His mom asked with an even more confused look.

'Oh no, this isn't real. Tell me this isn't real'. "So then I guess I have a bit of a day ahead of me." He put his bowl in the kitchen sink, grabbed his bag, and waved goodbye to his parents as he walked out the door.

When Fox got to the school he made a B-line straight for his friends, specifically Lucy. "So are you ready?" "Ready for what?" "Talking to Krystal today, don't tell me you already forgot?" He let out a near silent sigh, knowing that his hypothesis turned out to be true.

'And I remember everything from that dream like it was real. The conversation with Falco, my fur around my eyes feels wet like I just finished crying, talking to Mrs. Diane.' He knows how everything felt when it worked out, now he just has to hope that things continue to work out that same way. As per usual, Krystal didn't appear in first period. Fox tried his best to be attentive with his notes and worksheets, but they only had half his attention.

When gym rolled around the next period, the guys and girls minus one just sat around for the period. "Hey dude" Fox said to Falco as he put a hand on his shoulder. "Thanks man." Falco's face had confusion on it, "For what dude? Did I do something?" Fox just had a weak smile on his face, "Just for everything dude." Falco's face had a weak but confused smile on his face. Fox had given up on his alleged dream, he was convinced now that it was just that, a dream. Now he would need to figure out how to handle this.

'Maybe I should just do everything the same way, maybe it's not as big a deal as I think'. Packing up his backpack for the next class he took a slow stroll towards his next class, making sure he didn't miss any sight of Krystal, or something that might give him a lead to her whereabouts.

In his fourth period he asked for a restroom pass for a brief respite. He walked into the restroom and washed his hands. 'Get it together.' He thought to himself. 'It was just a dream, it's probably not as big a deal as you think it is.' He splashed a little water on his face to wake himself up some, when he heard the door open. He expected to see Falco, as per his dream, but it was just some other student he didn't know. Fox returned to his class and prepared for lunch the next period.

He sat down with his friends once again and relaxed, dug into his lunch trying to avoid the thoughts that have plagued his mind all day. "So did you find anything?" Lucy whispered to him as he took a sip of his drink. "About Krystal? Nothing." Her ears drooped a little bit at hearing this. "I'm sure we'll find her, what's the worst that could happen?" Although he thinks he may know the worst that could happen, he tried to be more positive than he has been today.

The day reached its end and Fox had prepared himself. He walked out to the front parking lot and looked for Diane again, but this time she wasn't at the same spot as in his dream. 'Okay, no big deal. It was just a dream, just a parking spot, she's probably somewhere else.' He scoured the rest of the parking lot, and didn't see a sign of her car anywhere. He had a bad feeling boiling in his lungs when his search results yielded nothing. He brushed this aside and went to the tennis courts, in a desperate hope that Krystal would be there.

She wasn't.

He stood there at the bleachers by the courts and just stared at them. He stared at them for what seemed like ages.

'She isn't here'. He thought to himself.

The only thing he thought to himself. 'Why wasn't Mrs. Diane here to help me? Why is this happening?' He could only hope that Krystal's situation in his dream was still part of the dream. He hoped that she wasn't leaving him, he hoped that he would not lose her. He sat there on the bleachers waiting, what he was waiting for was a mystery even to him. He just sat there, and sat there.

'How am I supposed to do this? If I can't find her, I can't talk to her.' He got up, looked at his phone, seeing that he had sat there for an hour. He even saw some of his teachers finally leaving the school as he waved to them.

He drove home to see his parents. "So? How did it go today?" His mother asked him with vigor in her eyes. "I don't really know, I didn't find her. Where's dad?" "He went to the store to get something for dinner, is something wrong?" Fox had a confused look on his face as he leaned against the fridge and began to tell his mother about the dream he had last night.

"So I just don't get it, all of it seemed so real. I went to the bathroom today and Falco didn't show. Diane was nowhere to be found today in the parking lot. I sat on those bleachers for an hour and Krystal never appeared. The dream seemed so real, but now…" His mother gave him a warm hug, trying her best to comfort him. "Fox I'm so proud of you. You tried so hard." She tightened the warm hug on her son.

"Yeah, thanks. I just hope that what she said in the dream doesn't turn out to be reality because…"

Vixy relinquished her hug and shook her head. "You don't have to say a word, just don't think about it". Her smile managed to make him smile back, he thanked her and took his bag to his room. Later that night he decided to go for a run, maybe shoot some basketball to try and focus on something else.

He shot and shot and shot at the basketball goal making it every time without a problem. After breaking a minor sweat he began his run. He ran without paying any attention to where he was going. Almost as if he lost track of everything, time, his location, what he was seeing. Then he saw it, as he figured he would, Krystal's house.

No cars in the driveway, no lights on with the exception of a dim light from the living room. He figured it would have no negative consequence, so he went and knocked on the door. No answer, no sound from the other side of the door, nothing he could see through Krystal's window. He put his hands on his hips, looked down at the ground, and sighed.

He held that position for a minute and then walked off. He walked, not ran, home and picked his basketball up. He dribbled it in place for a bit and then threw it as hard as he could at the backboard. It bounced off the backboard and hit him right in the head, bouncing off his head into the street.

Fox grunted just a bit, almost completely ignoring the ball bouncing off his head. James rushed outside with a weapon, fearing the worst from the loud noise. "What happened?" Fox turned over towards his dad while still rubbing his head a little. "Nothing, just missed a shot." His mother also peaked her head around the corner as James put his weapon away.

"That sure sounded like more than just missing a shot." Fox shook his head and noticed his mother coming off the porch towards the two. "Did she tell you? About my dream? About today?" James nodded towards him. "I just lost track of everything, time and my location, seems to always happen when I head towards her house. I knocked on the door and no one was there, no noise on the other side, no cars at the house." James nodded as he heard the story.

"It just scares me that the dream may have come true, that she's gone forever. And that maybe I acted too late." James put an arm around his son's shoulder. "That's rough pal. I wish I could really tell you more, something that'll actually make you feel better."

Fox returned his fathers one-armed hug and looked at him, he saw his mother coming in to close the hug with the three of them.

"Your father is right, Fox. I don't like telling you this, but she may be gone forever. Maybe she just wasn't the one. Maybe this is just the end of one chapter." Fox sighed a little in the three way embrace.

"Yeah, maybe you're right. I'll miss her."

"We will too, son." His father told him. They all went inside, it had gotten later than they thought.

Fox lay in his bed, staring at the pitch black ceiling, then the star covered sky outside his window.

'Maybe one day I'll find you.'


Hey.