Timmy began to dream of his classroom from when he was ten. It was the same dream he'd been having for the past few months but each night something about it changed. At some point it would turn into a nightmare based on all of the past changes and it made him afraid to sleep. Sometimes the changes were subtle but other times they were sudden, so he never knew when it would finally become a full-fledged nightmare. The only solution he'd found to stop the dreams was never to sleep more than three or four hours at a time which didn't always work out.

His friends were all there too, all at their present ages, and sitting at their desks staring at the front of the room. Experience told him no one would pay any attention to him if he called out. They were all busy taking an exam that was always blank. Still Timmy couldn't help but look down at the one in front of him.

"Blank as usual."

This was the part he hated, the waiting. Every time he dreamed this part changed, sometimes it would seem like hours, other times mere seconds. So he sat and waited. Trying to tune out the sound of the pencils was all he could do. In the past the noise had driven him crazy to the point that he woke himself up screaming at everyone to just shut the eff up. Luckily his room was still sound proofed so he was able to avoid a very awkward conversation with concerned neighbors or his father. Ever since then he'd been waking up to find he'd bitten his tongue or lip in his sleep to stop from screaming.

Tonight wasn't as bad as the others since he only had to wait a half hour for the next phase of the dream. In the center of the board a seam ripped like the ones in the old sci-fi movies when someone rips the fabric of time in a botched attempt to take over the universe. Even though he was never able to see the other side Timmy seemed to know what was on the other end, a realm of never ending pain, dread, cold, and something else he couldn't quite put his finger on.

Something was waiting on the other side of the opening that was slowly getting wider. Timmy felt his heart begin to race in anticipation, while the creatures on the other side roared, growled, and licked their chops. Now the opening was four feet long, still too small for anything to come through completely. Past night terrors had taught him that there was no way out of the classroom, the windows didn't break or open and the door was locked from the outside, yet he still had a hard time keeping himself from running.

Suddenly something tried to force its girth through the opening, causing Timmy to jump out of his chair and knock the desk on him. To his horror whatever it was trying to come through, it was succeeding. In his fright the teen scrambled to free himself from the desk so he could run. Once he was able to stand he felt warm breath on the back of his neck. His heart skipped a few beats as he wheeled around to face the creature. What he saw shocked him. It was a younger, less menacing version of the monsters that haunted his nightmares.

The adults looked like skeletal dragons with canine skulls (no flesh or muscle, just bone) for heads. There were no eyes in the eye sockets which had never interfered with the monsters' vision but they did have tongues. They stank of burning, rotting flesh and blood. All over their bodies and necks were scars, burns, and oozing wounds. However the baby didn't have quite so many. It was also a peculiar shade of purple; most of the others were blackish. Only two other of the dragons weren't black but they rarely appeared.

Having lost interest, the youngling made its way to Crocker's desk, knocking an oblivious Sanjay over in the process. As he watched Timmy didn't notice the opening now stretched from floor to ceiling and was now growing wider. Or that a second, fully grown dragon was now standing in the room, that is until it shook the room with a heart stopping roar. Shaking from head to toe Timmy looked up at it. His instincts shouted for him to run but his fear kept him in place as the adult took a step towards him. What finally made him run was the overpowering smell of decaying flesh, barely escaping the monster's jaws snapping shut on him.

He ran towards the back of the room but never made it more than a few yards before a set of claws closed around him from his knees up to his middle, lifting him off the ground. As the claws tore into his flesh Timmy yelped. Drawing blood the creature tightened its grip until it cut his thigh down to the bone. He screamed. As the blood flowed down his leg the dragon released its grip. Timmy yelled when he hit the ground, hard before being swatted like a fly against the window.

Coughing he gripped his leg as more of the creatures came through the opening. The evil looks they gave him turned his blood cold. A third made its way over to him without so much as brushing against one of his friends. It was slightly larger than the one that had just maimed him, which is the only reason the smaller one backed off. If memory served, this one gave him burns that would end up closing up his wounds. Of all the dragons this was the one he hated most, even though it didn't give him the worst wounds. This one just meant he'd get to suffer at the hands of the others longer, allowing them all to have their fun.

He called out to his friends in hopes that this time one of them would react, surely this time one of them would help. But they continued to ignore him so he tried to drag himself away from the approaching monster. He wasn't able to get far before being grabbed by his arm and once again being lifted into the air. The other set of claws pressed red hot coals against his flesh. Despite his struggles the creature continued to press the coals against his torn flesh for thirty agonizing seconds. The boy's cries had no effect on the creature. As the others expressed their delight in Timmy's suffering the one holding him set him down on the floor. Then the rest began to fight amongst themselves as to which would get to torture him next. This part would drag on until he woke up, once every creature had gotten a second turn. Nearly every inch of his skin had been burned during that nightmare. That morning he swore he was going to die of fright or shock from the pain that had lingered for a moment after he woke.

Tonight, however, his nightmare had other plans. A new creature emerged from the other realm; it was more human like but far more terrifying. Never had it come through before, Timmy had only ever seen its eyes glowing at him through the rip; he'd hoped that was all he'd ever see of it. Forcing himself up Timmy fought against the pain to get as far from the new creature as possible, yet he knew it was pointless. It wrapped its clawed fingers around his ankle and began to pull him back towards the portal between the two realms. Timmy frantically started to grope at anything he was dragged past. When he was finally able to grab something it turned out to be A.J.'s leg. For the first time since the nightmares had begun someone reacted, A.J. looked down at his friend with a smile.

"Say Timmy, do you remember what Caesar was told to warn him about his impending death?"

"A.J. help me!"

"Come on, it's not that difficult of a question, you answered it at the study session remember? Just think it over for a second."

The monster realized that it was no longer dragging its victim so it gave Timmy's ankle a quick yank to try and get him to let go of A.J. When that proved ineffective it simply pulled harder until Timmy, A.J., and the desk began to move.

"Beware the Ides of March!" Timmy yelled.

A.J. frowned, "Timmy you know that sharing answers during an exam is cheating."

"YOU JERK YOU ASKED ME!"

"So that means you'll be getting –" right before his eyes Timmy watched as A.J. morphed into Mr. Crocker, "A SUPER F!"

As Crocker began to spaz out yelling about faeries he pried Timmy loose.

Now nothing was stopping the monster from dragging Timmy into the other realm. His friends suddenly started asking him questions on every subject and shook their heads when he was dragged past them. They called out words of encouragement or the answers, completely blind to the situation. In desperation Timmy clawed at the floor, leaving a blood trail as his fingernails were torn off. All the while the other creatures laughed and mocked him, one was even wearing his pink hat.

Soon he found himself at the opening between the two realms. His eyes darted around the room for anything he could use to save himself, but this time there was nothing. Tonight his nightmare would finally kill him. A voice in the back of his head said that when people died in their dreams, they died in real life. That wouldn't happen! Any second now he'd wake drenched in sweat yelling at the top of his lungs. Right?

A pair of creatures caught his eye, one was pink and the other was green. Relief rushed over him as he called to them for help. The pair looked at him lazily until he made a wish. Then they moved towards him as if to help but then the purple baby began to whimper and yelp as a full grown dragon began to bully it, the same one that had sliced his thigh open. In response the pink one charged towards the attacker with the green one in toe. They had abandoned him to his fate, right when he needed them the most.

Terrified Timmy began to cry, completely forgetting that none of it was real or that he could wake himself up if he focused. His feet began to pass through and a painful cold began to creep up his body, allowing an intense, nauseating fear to grip his heart. When his torso began to pass through he looked up to find his friends were all waving at him with smiles on their faces, as if he were going on a vacation. The cold made it difficult for him to think as his head passed through. And yet, he was fully aware that the end was coming. As soon as his fingertips passed through, he would be gone, lost to the depression growing in his heart.

Just as Timmy had accepted his fate something grabbed his wrist. The touch was comforting, warm. It began to replace the cold. A soothing voice reassured him as its owner pulled him back into the classroom, out of the monster's grip. Shakily he got to his feet before looking at his rescuer. Whoever it was, was barely a head taller than him. A hood drawn lower of their face kept Timmy from seeing them, making it hard to distinguish the gender of the person even after hearing their voice. A roar from the monster that had tried to take him nearly made him jump out of his skin as it came back through, teeth bared. The cold and fear once again began to spread as he realized his savior had only prolonged the inevitable and had also sealed his/her own fate.

"Shh, don't worry, you'll be alright." The hooded figure placed their hand on Timmy's shoulder.

Timmy whimpered. There was no way this wasn't going to end badly. All of the monsters, including the little family, were closing in on them. They had nothing to defend themselves with. It all seemed so hopeless.

"Easy. Nothing's going to hurt you."

The stranger stretched their hand in front of the both of them. A light seemed to glow from his/her palm that drove the dragons back to the opening to their realm. Now the stranger's free arm was around Timmy's shoulders, it gave him some comfort. His breathing slowed some.

"See? You're okay. There's nothing to be afraid of."

The light shone brighter, forcing the creatures back into their realm.

"There, nothing's left to scare you now."

Timmy turned to look at the person who'd saved him, to thank them and find out who it was. But he was waking up. His rescuer's identity would have to remain a mystery for now. The last thing Timmy Turner saw before waking up in his bedroom was a smile on the face of the person who'd saved him.

Reluctantly, Timmy woke up in his room, his sheets drenched in sweat. There was no sign of anyone in the room with him but that didn't stop him from believing that someone had come in and woken him up. However there was no one in the house besides him. Maybe Wanda had asked another faerie to check on him. She'd seen him going through a couple bad nights so it would make sense, but there was no sign of another faerie. He did see the numbers on his alarm clock glowing back at him. It was only 4am but the alarm was set for 5am. Groaning Timmy got up and groggily made his way to the bathroom to start his day.

An hour later he walked out of his room fully dressed carrying his sheets. In another hour he was suppose to meet A.J. for a last minute study session at school so he needed to waste some time. He threw the sheets in the washer, started it, and grabbed some breakfast. After waiting for the washer to finish and putting the sheets in the dryer Timmy went back upstairs to grab a textbook before heading off to school, never noticing the faint light glowing under the door of the guest bedroom.