Chapter 6: The Dream

Mindy stared at her surroundings. The light was almost blinding. Mindy shielded her eyes, and when she took her arms away, she saw four figures in the distance, all of them getting closer with each step.

Soon enough, she recognized each of the figures in horror. They were her mother, her father, Sadie, and Josh. They surrounded Mindy on all sides so that she could not escape.

Mindy tried to conjure up her ability tumor powers, but she couldn't! They were gone!

Josh grabbed Mindy's arms and twisted them over her head and behind her back. Mindy hadn't even thought that was possible until now! She felt her dad punch her in the face and her mother grab onto her elbows. Mindy screamed in agony and pain. Sadie stepped in front of Mindy, blood dripping down her face from where Mindy had struck her 4 months ago, blood that was fresh and new. From what Mindy could tell, Sadie couldn't even speak real words anymore, only gibberish.

Sadie murmured indecipherable gibberish before shouting it in Mindy's face so loud she couldn't even hear herself think. Suddenly, everything stopped. Her parents backed away, and Josh let go of her arms, and also backed away until he and her parents faded away completely, leaving her and Sadie alone.

For a minute, nothing happened. Mindy stood there rubbing her sore arms, looking at Sadie, who was staring at her with intense eyes. Mindy glanced down.

Then, without warning, Sadie grabbed Mindy's neck and began choking her. Mindy saw the world spinning around her, colors spinning in a horrifying mix of tie-dye. Sadie had a demonic look on her face as she looked Mindy in the eyes. Sadie released her grip on Mindy's throat, and for a split-second, before Sadie completely let go of her throat, Mindy thought she saw Sadie's face morph into Ahsoka's face. The Ahsoka face smiled an evil smile at Mindy, as if to say, "I won't help you. I won't save you. I will only kill you, so give up now."

Then the face turned back into Sadie's, and the hand released its grip. Mindy fell. She fell into darkness. A bottomless black, empty pit where nothing ever had or would exist.

After falling for what felt like hours, Mindy reached the bottom of what she thought previously to be an endless fall. It was abrupt, and the ground below looked like gray asphalt. She felt a scraping feeling as she hit the ground, and then...

She opened her eyes and bolted upward. It had all been a dream.

Mindy looked around. She was back in the tent, in her sleeping bag, and it was still dark out. Mindy rubbed her eyes and looked over at Ahsoka. She was fast asleep, facing the wall of the tent.

Mindy was too afraid to fall back asleep, for fear of the same dream coming back again. She decided she needed a minute or two to think, so she got up, put on her bathrobe and slippers, and crawled out of the tent for some alone time.

Ahsoka woke up feeling a little better and a little refreshed, but there were still a few aches and pains everywhere. She looked over at Mindy, only to find that the 12-year-old was gone.

Where'd she go? Ahsoka thought.

She climbed out of the tent and looked around. There was no sign of her anywhere on the campsite. She looked around, noticed the trees, and suddenly she remembered the lake she had crashed down in.

She pushed her way past the trees and sure enough, saw Mindy sitting by the lake, the moonlight beautifully reflected off the body of water. Ahsoka sat down next to her.

"Hey," she said.

"Hi," Mindy replied distantly.

"What are you doing out here so late at night?" Ahsoka asked.

"Oh, I just had a bad dream," Mindy replied. There was silence for a few seconds. Then Ahsoka said, "It's so beautiful. The lake, I mean."

"Yeah," said Mindy. "I usually come here when I feel depressed. Which, for me, is all the time."

"How come?" Ahsoka asked.

"Well..." Mindy said. She didn't respond for a minute, but then said, "Let's just say I'm not proud of my past."

"You sound like my Master," Ahsoka said.

"Really?" Mindy said.

"Yeah," Ahsoka replied. More silence. Then Mindy worked up the courage to ask:

"Ahsoka, where did you come from? Like, what planet? What place? What was your life?"

This time, it was Ahsoka's turn to pause for a moment before answering. She took a deep breath. Then Ahsoka began her story.

"I was born on the planet Shili into an era of war. When I was three, my parents abandoned me for no reason at all other than, "The War." I looked around, trying to find a new family, but no one wanted me. Finally, I just gave up and started living on the streets. Then, one day, a Republic cruiser showed up when the Separatists attacked. The Separatists are political enemies who turned against the Galactic Republic. Anyway, the Separatists attacked and destroyed much of our village. I was scared. I hid in a makeshift box in a dark alleyway which I had come to call my home. I was in there for hours until finally someone found me. It was Jedi Master Plo Koon, a defender of peace for the Galactic Republic. He convinced me that I could trust him, and he allowed me to go with him to the Jedi Temple to train to become a Jedi like him. I did, and I've been there ever since. I've also considered Master Plo my closest friend ever since. Only recently did I get assigned to Jedi Master Anakin Skywalker as his Padawan, and we were on a mission one day fighting the Separatists, when a missile hit my ship, and now, I'm here."

Mindy was speechless. Ahsoka was just like her.

"Wow," Mindy said. "I-I'm so sorry that happened to you, Ahsoka."

"It's all in the past now, Mindy," Ahsoka said. "Anyway, what's your story? Why are you out here all alone in the woods? Don't you have any friends, or at least, a family that cares about y-"

Ahsoka was cut off by Mindy's sobs.

"What's wrong, Mindy?" she asked.

Mindy tried to control her sobs enough to tell Ahsoka what was going on, but it was so hard to do that. Eventually, she regained control over her breath and began her story.

"I had a family...but they didn't love me. In fact, they wished they didn't even have a child. At every opportunity they got throughout my life, they would abuse me, physical or emotional, but mostly physical. They would always tell me how much they hated me. One night, several months ago, my dad took it too far, and told me that they wish they had a miscarriage. After that, I felt something inside me snap. I heard weird noises in my head, until I discovered my ability tumor for the first time when I struck my dad in the face. I DIDN'T MEAN TOO! I JUST COULDN'T CONTROL MYSELF!"

At this, Mindy was overtaken by another on spout of sobs. Ahsoka put an arm around Mindy.

"Calm down, Mindy," Ahsoka said, trying to sooth her. "What happened next?"

"I couldn't stay there any longer," Mindy choked out between sobs. "So I ran upstairs, packed my things, and I ran away from home. It wasn't 'till much long after that that I met a girl on the street who took me in, and gave me food, water, and a bed to sleep in. Her name was Sadie."

Mindy sobbed hard again and sunk into Ahsoka's hug, where she stayed for the rest of the story.

"The next day, her friend Josh came over, and we were friends right off the bat. He lived with us for that time that I was there and I didn't mind one bit. But then, THAT DAY CAME. THAT DAY!"

Mindy sobbed again, and after several attempts by Ahsoka to calm her down, she continued.

"They told me they were going out somewhere and offered me to come with them. I did, and they took me to a house to get supplies for themselves. But when I snuck in, I found out that it was my parents' house! They beat me up once more, but I got out of there, and I knew that Sadie had betrayed me! And... And..."

"And what?"

"And one thing led to another, and I ended up striking her with my ability tumor and killing her!"

Mindy collapsed into a heap in Ahsoka's lap, crying endless tears. Ahsoka tried to comfort her as best she could, but she didn't know how.

"Is that all?" Ahsoka asked after a long period of Mindy crying.

"No," Mindy replied. "There's more. I went back to the hideout we had lived in and packed my things, only to find that Josh had been waiting for me, with Sadie's corpse. He beat me up, but I stole a motorcycle and managed to get away. I've been out here ever since that thing ran out of gas."

Mindy cried harder than she had all night, and as Ahsoka tried to comfort her, she came to a realization in her mind: she had to teach Ahsoka how to survive Earth! Ahsoka could never make it on her own, Mindy realized. She would be squashed and pummeled like she had been! Mindy couldn't let that happen, so she would take Ahsoka under her wing and tell her everything she needed to know about Earth. She told all this to Ahsoka, who said in response:

"I don't know, Mindy..."

"I have to do this, Ahsoka! Otherwise, if you go out there completely defenseless and get knocked down by the world, I'll never forgive myself! Besides, think of it as a chance to learn more about a place you've never been to before!"

"Well... I guess I could give it a try." Ahsoka said.

"Great! Mindy exclaimed. "We'll start lessons tomorrow! But I can't do it alone. We need some extra hands teaching you how to be a confident, sassy Earth girl! And I know just the chick!"

"Who?"

"She's one of my closest friends, and an expert in teaching you how to be sassy, and how to handle stuff similar to my experiences! But I know a lot more about culture here on Earth, as well as trends!"

"Okay," Ahsoka said. She was starting to warm up to the idea.

"Alright, so we'll go over to her house tomorrow and we can begin!" Mindy said. "In the meantime, tell me more about this Anakin guy."

And so they chatted on about each other's lives for the rest of the night. Mindy finally knew that she could trust Ahsoka. She was not another Sadie. She was a completely trusting, pure-hearted friend that had crossed her path. And since she had accepted this the moment Ahsoka had finished her story, she could just let the joy sink in even further as she watched the sun rise.