[Mitch's POV]

Today we shall see how much your abilities have matured a voice called from nowhere.

"What are you talking about?" I asked the voice.

There was a distant chuckle. See you soon.

Psst, Mitch! a different voice called. "Yo, Mitch!" A finger poked my side, startling me awake.

My head shot up from my desk. "Huh, what?!"

Snickers rippled across the fifth grade classroom, while a slightly irritated Mr. Remington stood in front. "Well, sorry to wake you Mitch. Did you enjoy your nap?"

I looked down at my math paper, noticing the significant amount of drool on it. I fell asleep again? Great. I gave a cheesy smile to Mr. Remington up front. "Uh…yes?"

"Well, I'm glad to hear that. You may go back to sleep now, just please keep your sleep talking under control. Other people here actually want to learn and be respectful." He tossed one last glare my way, indicating that I may certainly not go back to sleep, then spun around and continued writing math problems of the board. I picked up my pencil, dried the sheet as best as I could, then frantically tried to figure out what the heck was going on.

They seemed like normal math problems at first, but then I saw something strange; there were letters on the worksheet. This must have been a mistake. I should probably ask someone first, though. I don't want to go up to the teacher and have him yell at me for not paying attention again. I was on the end of the row, and there was only one kid next to me: Adam. Usually I wouldn't ask him for help, not because I don't like the guy, but mainly because he kinda creeps me out. Ever since the beginning of the year, he's been staring at me. I have no clue why. I don't think I ever did anything to him. I'm sure he has a good reason to stare, but that doesn't make it any less weird.

I weighed out my options. A: I could ask the teacher and risk getting in trouble. B: I could walking across the room to ask Jason or Ty and definitely get in trouble. C: I could ask Adam for help and risk an awkward little chat. I leaned over and tapped Adam on the shoulder. "Hey."

He looked over, and was silent for a second. "What?"

I pointed to the worksheet. "Uh...is there something wrong with the worksheet? Because I'm pretty sure that the alphabet isn't supposed to be in the middle of a bunch of numbers."

"No, it's supposed to be like that," he said. "They're called algebraic equations or something. You might've known that if you hadn't fallen asleep," he replied in a teasing tone.

"Hey, I've been having a hard time sleeping, okay?" I snapped. Oops. Probably shouldn't have done that.

"Jeez," Adam said, looking back to his paper. "Sorry. Didn't know you couldn't take a joke."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "I'm really sorry, Adam. I didn't mean to snap. It's just this nightmare I've been having lately…"

I didn't realize that I said too much until it was too late. "Nightmares?" Adam asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Uh...yeah. I know it sounds kinda childish but-"

"No, no, I get it," he replied.

"Wait, you don't think I'm weird for losing sleep over nightmares?"

"Nah. The same thing happens to me, actually. See-"

"Adam! Mitchell!" Mr. Remington yelled from his desk. "You two better quiet down or you'll be staying inside for recess with me for a bit! Understand boys?" We both mumbled yes then stared down at our worksheets.

The rest of the school day was absolutely brutal. No matter how hard I tried to stay awake, I kept dozing off. The only thing that kept me from falling completely asleep was Adam, who every once in awhile noticed me drifting and kicked me in the shin. I'll have to thank him for that later. During lunch and recess I walked around like a zombie. Once we got back in the classroom, my body finally just said "no" to keeping me awake, and while the teacher was telling us about sciencey stuff, I fell asleep. And I do literally mean fell. When I woke up, I was half on my chair and half on the ground, my face on the floor. It was not a comfortable position. The entire class surrounding me, looking worried. I blinked and glanced around at everyone. "'Sup?"

"Mitch, I need to see you once the day ends," Mr. Remington said calmly. "Now get up, please." Adam and some other kid that sat in front of me helped me up from my mangled position, then class continued on like normal. I still dozed a bit, and Adam still kicked me. At least I was able to somewhat pay attention now.

When the last bell finally rang, everyone got up to leave except for me. "You gonna be alright, Mitch?" Adam asked before he left.

I nodded. "Yeah. I'll probably just get some extra homework or something. See you tomorrow Adam."

He waved one last time then walked out with the stream of students, leaving no one but me at my desk and Mr. Remington in his. "Come over here, Mitch," he said. I got up and stood in front of his desk. He stared at me a moment, then asked, "Is everything alright, Mitch?"

"Yeah. Why?" I said all too quickly.

Mr. Remington shrugged. "No reason. You've just been falling asleep a lot. I take it you're not getting enough sleep at home?"

I sighed. "No. I guess not."

"Do you want to explain?"

"Not really." We just stared at eachother for a bit. It was silent and awkward, but I felt like Mr. Remington understood my situation, even if he didn't say anything.

"Alright then," he finally said. "I understand if you don't want to talk, but just know I'm always here if you need me. If you ever need help with your schoolwork, just stay after school and I'll be happy to help. I don't want you failing my class a month before school lets out because of some sleep problem. I suggest you tell your parents about this whole sleep thing too. Got it?"

"Okay," I replied.

"You're free to go, then." I grabbed my backpack next to my desk. As I was walking out the door, he called. "Oh, and Mitch? Be sure to have those dog tags of yours ready. There'll be a bit of a surprise waiting for you on Crystal Oak Drive."

I turned back and looked at him. "What do you mean there'll be a surprise?"

He smirked. "Afraid I can't tell you that, just be ready. Have a good afternoon, Mitch." Then he looked down and started grading some papers.

I walked out the front door of the school building, wondering what the heck Mr. Remington meant by "surprise". Then Jason, who was waiting for me right outside the door to walk home, interrupted my thoughts. "Did you get in trouble?"

I shook my head. "He just asked me if anything was going on and why I was falling asleep all the time."

"Well, what did you say?'

"I said I didn't want to talk about it."

"And he just let you off the hook?"

"Pretty much."

"You got lucky. Had it been anyone else you would've had to explain that whole dream."

To make a long story short, ever since the camping trip a couple of months ago I've had these dreams that all involve Jason getting killed by Jerome in the forest or Jerome getting killed by me, then asking why I left and telling me I was a terrible friend. Either way I wake up feeling extremely guilty, angry at myself, and scared. I'm never able to back to sleep after that. I'm usually too busy freaking out or crying. Yes, I know it makes me sound like a wimp, but those dreams haunt me. It just reminds me of how I betrayed my friend. I hate that it keeps me awake at night. There's not really much I can do, though.

"So what are you gonna do about this sleep problem?" Jason questioned.

I shrugged. "Wait for it to go away, I guess."

"What if it doesn't?"

"Then I live with it for the rest of my life. No biggie."

"Uh, yes Mitch, it is kinda a huge biggie. You need sleep to function, and without it you could…" He went on this long rant about how important sleep is and how my life will be ruined if I don't do something about my problem as we walked. I just tuned him out as soon as I realized that this was going to last more than a minute. When you live with Jason you just learn to do that. It's irritating, but at least he shows he cares.

I glanced up at the street signs as we got closer and closer to Crystal Oak, still wondering what the "surprise" might be. I don't know what Mr. Remington meant by that, and frankly I'm not sure if I want to know. With my track record, any surprise is bound to end terribly.

When I finally saw the street sign that read "Crystal Oak Dr", I stopped walking and just stared at it. Jason stopped ranting once he realized I was a good ten feet behind him. "C'mon, Mitch!" He called. "What are you doing?"

"Let's go a different way," I suggested hastily.

"Why? It'll take another half hour any other way."

"We need the exercise. It's healthy for us and...yeah."

"Since when do you care about your health? You ate a an entire box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch the other day. That's not exactly what the serving size is."

"Well, maybe I wanna change my lifestyle."

"Mitch, a minute ago you didn't care about your health."

"I change my mind on things very quickly."

Jason crossed his arms. "Why do you not want to down this road?"

"Because Mr. Remington said there's a surprise waiting," I blurted out.

Jason burst out into laughter. "Seriously? He was just pulling your leg, man. There is no good reason we shouldn't go down Crystal Oak. Besides, aren't surprises a good thing?"

"I don't know Jason…"

"Well, you do what you want. I'm going, but you can take the long way of you really want." He turned down Crystal Oak, leaving me behind.

"He's probably right," I mumbled to myself. "I'm just being paranoid. Wait up Jason!"

Crystal Oak is a pretty long street, and the road to our neighborhood is at the very end of it. This made for a very suspenseful walk. I kept looking behind myself, and when I was looking forward I was tense. "Calm down, Mitch," Jason told me irritably. "Nothing's. Going. To. Happen." He turned me forward and pushed me. "Now walk forward and don't look back."

As soon as he said that, a loud hiss sounded behind us. "Okay," I whimpered, both of us freezing in place, "I will gladly take your advice."

"Forget that," Jason replied, his voice shaking. "There are giant spiders behind us. Maybe if we stand still, they won't attack us."

"Wait, giant spiders?!" I choked out. "You're joking, right?"

"You can turn around and look if you want, but I don't recommend it," he whispered.

Well, I did turn around. Then I instantly regretted it. Yes, there were giant spiders behind us. Five giant, three foot long, black, hairy spiders with eight blood red eyes, long legs, and huge jaws that showed when they hissed. "W-why... what...?" I whispered.

"You act like I should know!" Jason hissed back.

For a slow couple seconds, the spiders just stood there idly, but then they spotted us. Their ruby eyes sparkled like they had found their prey (which they probably did), then sped toward us. Jason and I did the obvious; we ran the opposite way. But apparently giant spiders are fast. They came after us, the fastest one zooming ahead then leaping onto Jason, pinning him to the ground behind me. "AH! Mitch!"

For a second, my brain went numb, then jumped into overdrive. One second I was panicking, the next thing I know I'm right next to Jason, who was a good fifteen or so feet away from me before, and the blue sword from my dog tags was in the spider's abdomen. Then I appeared right in front of two other spiders, and stabbed them both in the head. Another one lunged at me, knocking the sword out of my hand and pinned me to the road. The red eyes regarded me with a sort of intelligence. It cocked its head to the side and hissed spawn of Herobrine.

Just hearing his name sparked a little rage in me. I hadn't thought about or seen Herobrine in months, and I was very thankful for that. But why did the spider know him? Wait...the voice from my dream earlier... I'm an idiot! This was the surprise from Herobrine. Wait, then how did Mr. Remmington know about it? I guess that's a question for a time when a giant spider isn't on top of me.

"Did Herobrine send you?" I asked the spider.

The spider opened it mouth like it was going to answer, but before it could a stone axe came from behind and lodged itself right between its eyes, sending it flying backwards in the process. "Stay away from my friend!" A familiar voice yelled.

I didn't even have to turn around to know who was there. "I thought you said that you'd kill me if you ever saw me again, Jerome," I called back with a smirk.

"Baccas can change their minds if they want to. Besides, I thought about it, and I decided that your offer sounded pretty good," my furry friend said, helping me off the ground. I turned around to thank him, but he retreated back a few steps when he saw me. "Woah! What happened to you?"

"Guys!" Jason yelled from behind us. "Spider! Help, please!" Jerome and I turned around to see that the last remaining spider had managed to corner Jason by one of the barren houses a couple yards away. It slowly advanced towards Jason, preparing to kill him. Jason, fear dominating his expression, screamed one last time, "Guys! HELP!"

Jerome charged forward; I didn't. I knew I had to get to Jason, but my legs just wouldn't cooperate. "Move," I mumbled to my legs. The world went blurry again, then suddenly I was next to Jason.

"Holy-" he yelped in surprise as I killed the spider. "Mitch, how did you do that?"

"And why do you have no pupils?" Jerome asked, walking up to us.

For a second, I was confused, but then I remembered when I first met Herobrine after the plane crash. Wow, that was so long ago, but I remember it vividly. I looked down at my dog tags, and sure enough, the name on the front read 'BajanBrine', a name I had never wanted to see again. "Stupid Herobrine," I muttered. I swiped my finger over the tag, changing it back to 'Mitch'. I looked back at Jerome. "Do I look normal again?"

He nodded, but his expression was still amazed. "What. Was. That?"

I glanced over at Jason, who had thankfully turned his attention away from me and towards the giant spider carcass that was now glowing a faint red. "I don't understand," he muttered. "How did they get here?"

"Wait, you've seen these things before?" Jerome asked him.

Jason's face turned a bright red. "It's not important."

"Jason, you are a terrible liar," I said to him. "What's your secret?"

"I really shouldn't tell," he said quietly.

"Fine," I retorted, crossing my arms. "Then I won't tell you mine."

"Oh c'mon!" Jerome said with exasperation. "Please...uh…"

"Jason."

"Jason. Just tell him! It probably won't be anymore ridiculous than his explanation for why he can turn into a guy with white eyes."

Jason looked back and forth between us and the fading spider. "Alright," he finally sighed. "But you go first, Mitch."

As much as I didn't want to, I told them everything. Herobrine, my supposed powers, the plane crash, dreams, everything. By the end of my story, Jerome looked absolutely shocked. "And you have no clue who this Herobrine guy is or why he did this to you?"

"Nope. No idea." I turned to Jason, who looked more disturbed than shocked.

"But I thought Herobrine was just a myth," he mumbled.

"What? You know this Herobrine guy too?" Jerome asked.

"Know him," he said, "no. I thought he was just a story to scare little kids."

"What are you talking about?" I asked him.

Jason just sighed. "It kinda ties into my little secret, I guess. Herobrine was a kid's' story, and the spiders were one of the many things we hid from once night fell. I didn't think I would ever have to see them again." He looked me square in the eye. "Look, I'm not from here."

"Well, I knew you were adopted," I replied.

"No, that's not what I mean." He took a deep breath like just talking about this subject stressed him out. "My parents sent me here when I was three so I could escape from the war between our people and the monster invaders." The giant spider finally disappeared from the ground, and Jason proceeded to stare at the spot where it had been. "I'm an alien, and my home planet was a place called Minecraftia."

[Adam's POV]

I sat just around the corner of Crystal Oak Drive, trying to process what I had just seen and heard. Giant spiders attacked Mitch and Jason, then all of a sudden Mitch pulls a sword from out of nowhere, starts teleporting around, and turns into a miniature version of Herobrine. Now there's no doubt in my mind that he was the Mitch that Herobrine was talking about. The one that he had giving all of the powers to. The perfect version of the Herobrine's test subjects. The perfect version of me. The thought was mind boggling, but another thought was overpowering that one; I needed to talk to Mitch asap, before something terrible happens. And believe me, from what I can tell with Herobrine, something will happen.

(Uh...hi. I know that people are probably getting annoyed with all the apologies, but to me it just wouldn't feel right if I didn't say I'm sorry for the almost three month delay after I promised to update consistently. So, I'm really sorry. Honestly. Things have just been so hectic with school and the holidays and other things in my life. From here on out, I'll try to update as much as possible, but I can't promise anything. But I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter regardless :) )