I would like to say that my incident at school was the last time I ever had something totally weird happened to me, but to my dismay it was only the beginning.

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After my tough morning, (do I have to mention that it was a Monday morning), I spent the rest of my day in the local park.

Exhausted from my "battle", I found a nice shady spot under a weeping willow in the corner of the park and collapsed on my back.

Throwing my shoes to the side and taking off my shirt, I let out a sigh of relief.

"Note to self", I said aloud, "Be happy to be alive".

"You got that right", the voice in my head laughed.

"I feel perfect right now", I thought to myself as my eyes began to flutter open and close, "And I don't want it ruined by some stupid voice in my head."

"Too bad!", the voice laughed.

"Yeah", I sighed, "Too bad".

Then focusing my thoughts, I created a sound proof black box in my head and placed the voice inside it.

"Hey! What are you…", it yelled, followed by a couple of muffled screams as I sealed the box in my mind.

"Note to self…", I yawned and my eyelids slowly began to slide down across my eyes, "Don't open… black… boxes…"

And with one more yawn, I fell asleep.

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I was on a boat in a cabin that faced out to sea. Not your everyday fishing boats, but a big boat like a cruise ship.

It was the middle of the night during a huge storm.

Shivering, I sat up in bed. If there is something I hate besides snakes, it's storms.

Rain blasted at the porthole window as I lightly began to walk across the floor of the cabin. The floor was wet, and not just a small leak that made a certain patch of the floor wet, but wet as in you're standing ankle deep in water.

The ice cold water seemed to cut through me, as all I wanted to do was stand there stiff. My muscles tightened and I continued to shiver as the water slowly rose.

I might have stood there to my death, but a banging on the door brought me to my senses.

"Jake!", yelled an unfamiliar voice, "We've got to get off! The ship is sinking!"

I didn't have to be told twice. I bolted to the door and found that I wasn't the only one on the ship. Crowds of people were running down the halls screaming and looking for their loved ones. I was about to run with them when I noticed a man in a black suit standing before me.

"Mr. Elspy we need to go", he said sternly has he gestured for me to go do the hallway.

"Who are you?", I said backing up into a wall.

"I'm…", he began before he was cut off by another person's scream.

"Who?"

"It's not important. What is important is that you need to escape this ship."

The boat shook violently as thunder boomed in the air.

"We need to go now!", he boomed as he grabbed my wrist and shoved me forward down the hall.

"But…", I stammered back as I tried to fight my way back to my room.
A snake-like hissed came from down the hall followed by a bark of a very large dog.

The man's face turned pale before he yelled, "They've found us. Go!"

Running down the halls, we weaved in and out of the people running around as we headed farther down into the ship.

I didn't look back, I wasn't scared, and I didn't have a clue what was going on. All I knew was there was something after us; something after me.

As we got down toward the bottom there were no more people. But we continued to round corners until we came to a dead end.

Struggling to catch my breath, I suddenly realized there was no water down here.

"Why… is there… water… above us… but not below", I struggled.

He turned and looked at me for a minute and I could have sworn he muttered "magic", but he kept his lips sealed and placed his hands on the ground.

Another hissed sounded throughout the hall as the man continued to frantically feel across the carpet.

The hiss got closer and I found myself backing up toward the dead end.

"Come on!", I could hear him mutter, "Where is it?!"

I was about to scream when he yelled, "Here!", and ripped up the carpet to reveal a small trapdoor.

"Quickly", he whispered grabbing me, "Get in!"

He had just enough time to get in and bar the door down before something above us let out a scream.

"Come", he said pushing me father into the bottom of the boat, "The door won't hold for long."

"What was those things?", I whispered as we continued forward, "What were they?"

"A Dracaena and a Hellhound", he said without looking down, "Sent by the Fersza".

"Who?"

"The Fersza is the original name of the…"

Tearing and ripping sounds rung out across the room.

"The original name of who?", I asked trying to continue the conversation.

"Never mind", he whispered as we turned a corner, "We're here."

The room was lightly lit with torches that hung on either wall. It was breathtakingly cold, as my breath seemed to freeze in front of my eyes. There wasn't much else in the room, except for a shimmering purplish black oval in the center of the room.

"Is that…"

"Yes. A portal", he murmured.

The sound of wood breaking followed his words.

"I have a few minutes", he whispered as he reached into his pockets and knelt down beside me.

"Jason", he whispered quickly, "I thought you'd be safe here. But I was wrong."

A hiss flew down the hall."

"I need you to go through there and escape to safety", he said pointing over toward the portal, "We need you alive."

"Why do I need to be alive? Why are you sending me? Why don't you go?"

"I don't have the time to answer your questions. I'm sorry", he whispered apologetically, "But you'll understand soon. You just have to trust me."

Another howl and hiss echoed through the room.

"Okay", I whispered, "What do I have to do?"
Pulling his hands from his pocket, he spoke, "Take this. This is the only important thing you need."

As I held out my hand he placed a small vial in it.

"Take this as soon as you get in the portal. No question about it. You must do it."

The hiss grew closer. I predicted we had less than a minute left.

"And take this", he said as he pulled something off from around his neck, "Never forget your past."

It was a small necklace with a small heart hanging off of it. Looking at the heart, it seemed to mold itself into different shapes and colors, changing right before my eyes. But then it melted into my hand and was gone.

"Where…!?!", I shouted.

"Don't worry", he said standing back up, "It will always be with you."

Then he walked with me over to the portal.

Stepping in, I found myself materialize in a cave.

I turned back to look back into the portal to watch the man to see if he followed me.

"I love you… son", he whispered as he tore his hand through the portal to keep me from coming back.

"Wait? Dad!", I thought.

As it began to disappear in front of me, I could hear the dracaena hiss, "Where's the boy?"

"He's gone. You're too late."

"You'll pay for the disloyalty to the Fersza", it hissed back.

"It doesn't matter! You've killed my people!"

"Yes", it laughed, "And now you're next!"

I screamed as the portal completely fizzled away. I was alone.

Opening my hand, I remembered what my dad said and drank the vial.

My vision instantly went black and I lost consciousness.

I woke up. My head was pounding, my heart was screaming, and I was drenched in sweat.

Frantically turning back in forth, it took me a few minutes for me to find out I was no longer in my dream.

Sighing, I curled up into a ball.

I hate dreams, or at least I hate my dreams. They're never happy or imaginary like everyone else's. I don't go on a magical pony ride to a magic kingdom, nor do I ever eat my heart out at Willy Wonka's Chocolate factory. Instead, I have dreams that make me wake up screaming and drenched in sweat.

Sighing again, I put on my shirt and shoes and looked around.

The sun was setting, and the air was cooling down. Night was quickly approaching. But not that it mattered of course.

I wasn't going to go home, not to see my mom. It was bad enough last night.

Instead, I wandered out of the park and down the city streets avoiding as many eyes as I could as I headed for the pedestrian bridge.

Reaching my favorite bench on the B.D. Legan Bridge, I threw my backpack down and curled back up.

I laid there gazing out at the water for about an hour before sleep again began to overcome me.

Letting my eyes slowly flutter shut, I silently wished for better dreams before I was fast asleep underneath the moonlight.

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