Broken Nightmare

The flames licked up Claire's legs, fire shooting out of her pale hands, fire surrounding her before I could get there. Her piercing screams splitting the air in two, and for the longest moment of my life, I couldn't get to her fast enough.

I rounded the burning cafeteria tables and reached out to help her, but only finding a pile of ash in the place she last occupied.

There was no way she was gone. She just got away, right?

An overwhelming feeling of helplessness sat heavy in my chest as I continued to search for her.

The sight flashed over and over in my mind and no matter where I was or what I was doing, my dream was still hauntingly fresh.

“Suthard! What is it?” I finally snapped out of my trance and was greeted by my ticked off history teacher.

“I’m sorry, I don’t know, Mrs. Kirkwood.” I blurted, not even knowing the question.

“You don’t know why the American Civil war started?” She asked, dumbfounded as the rest of the class burst into a mass of giggles.

I didn’t want her to catch on my dozing again, so I hung my head low and mumbled, “No.”

Mrs. Kirkwood seemed to buy it, “Alright then, let’s hope your friend here can help you. Ms. Bound, what is it?”

My best friend tore her gaze from me to the teacher and told her, “because of slavery.” When Claire replied, she turned back to me and mouthed, ‘are you okay?’

With a quick nod, I turned back to our teacher and tried to focus on what she was saying, but my mind kept drifting back to this dream I had.

The bell snapped my attention back into the present and I scurried all my belongings back into my backpack. I flung it onto my shoulder and looked up to find Claire waiting for me by the door.

I hurried to catch up with her, the whole time avoiding eye contact with my flustered teacher, who was watching me intently. I finally reached the door and rushed Claire into the hallway.

We made our way to my locker, like we always did after sixth period, with Claire shooting me worried looks all the way there.

When we made it to my locker, Claire finally demanded, “Alright, spill it.”

I tried to shake her off, still knowing it wouldn’t happen.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, please. Don’t play this with me. I saw how distant you were in class. You were practically drooling. What’s going on in that mind of yours?”

I tried not to make it sound too creepy. “I haven’t been sleeping too well lately.”

She stared blandly at me for a second before her mouth dropped open and stayed that way until I finished placing my history book in my locker.

She finally spoke after what seemed like forever, but it came out as a small whisper, “Shut-up! You had another dream! Like the other mojo one? What happened?” She demanded.

I faced her full on after I shut my locker. “Nothing really. This one was really stupid and I doubt it would ever happen like my ‘mojo ones’.” I let some sarcasm seep into my voice at the end of the sentence.

“Yeah, but if it’s not a stupid one, it could mean something or tell the future like your last ones. Tell me!” She begged.

A year ago, I told her I had a dream about her current boyfriend, Brody, getting mugged in an alleyway behind the old bookstore. I had never told anybody besides my brother, and I was surprised when she believed that I have these kind of psychic dreams that can tell the future.

We had called the authorities ahead of time and they arrived before anyone managed to get hurt. When asked by them why we called it in, Claire covered for me, saying she saw these creeps watching her boyfriend recently, and she was just worried. They are no longer together, but that incident has made me put my trust her in the highest possible way. The only other person I trust as completely as her is my older brother, Liam.

“You’re probably going to think I’m losing it. Seriously, it’s stupid.”

“Yeah, right. When was the last time I laughed at you? Come on, I’ve known you for years. Just tell me what happened.”

I took a deep breath and gave in, “Fine, but you can’t laugh at me, okay?”

I waited for her nod before continuing.

“You set the school on fire—and it wasn’t matches or anything. You actually shot the fire out of your hands.”

I tried to ignore her confused look and continued.

“But, I couldn’t get to you in time. No matter what I did, the fire made sure you were unreachable then you—”

I cut myself short, because I couldn’t tell her the two of us went in there, but only one came out. I just stopped and looked at her

She was looking at me as if I had three heads.

She opened and closed her mouth three times, and I took the time to turn around and start heading for our next classes.

She appeared beside me before I could go far.

“Well, maybe this one is figurative, like, I start a problem or something, and there is no backing out of it?” she suggested

“Yeah, maybe…”

I let the skepticism seep into my tone, but then dropped it.

“But, it all felt so real. I felt the heat and the smoke suffocating me, like I couldn't breathe anymore. I don’t know. Maybe this time, I am losing it.”

“No, El. Look at me.” She grabbed my shoulder and forced me to look at her.

She stared into my eyes as she spoke, “You haven’t lost it. This entire thing means something like it always does. Okay?”

I still didn’t really believe her, but didn’t get a chance to voice my opinion before the bell rang.

She mirrored my smile and we both rushed up the stairs and into our classes, hers thankfully right next to mine.

I walked into my advanced Calculus class, which was full of seniors. I have to say it was a little awkward being the only junior in this class, but I loved math. It was one subject I was good at.

The assignment was easy, as always, and I finished early again. So, instead of studying or reading, like I usually did when I finished the assignment, I just sat back and let my mind wander.

What if Claire was right? What if it were just figurative, then what did it mean? Or was it just a regular, stupid, pointless dream like normal people had?

As much as I wanted to believe that, my dreams have never been normal, and there was no reason why they would start now.

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