• I sneezed. The clock went so slow, it seemed to be moving backwards. Sunshine beamed through the curtain streams, waving across the dull tile. The words on the chalkboard had been written harshly, and at what looked like a four year old had written them. The desk in front of it had been light brown, with a rotting apple on it. My eyelids seemed to flutter away. After I tried to fight falling asleep, my head dose into my hands on my desk. Before I knew it I was in my school cafeteria. A long line was slowly inching across the butterscotch tile. Serena, a girl, shouted, "OMG! THE---" a bitter voice broke through the commotion.

    "Brandon Micheal!" I jerked up. Mrs. Hayes lay inches away from his face

    "I will see you tomorrow, Mr. Micheal." spit shot out from in between her teeth and onto my bottom lip.

    ” What!? I only had one day!" I slammed my hands on my desk and started rising up from my seat. I looked into her beady eyes, which felt as though they could pierce through my skull.

    "Well," She began

    "Maybe you should've thought about that before you ---- Oh, How do you kids say it?" Mrs. Hayes pulled out a small red handbook that read in big bold letters:
    xxxxxxxxxxTHE HIPTIONARY; FOR THE PEOPLE OF THE 70'S
    Mrs. Hayes began to read straight out of the book.

    "You get an extra day for catching Z's in detention, my homey." She crossed her arms over her chest. She put the little red dictionary into her shirt pocket.
    I was walking home with Shaun. He has sandy colored dread locks that he keeps in a Bob Marley knitted cap.

    "So, Dude, What are you doing tomorrow?" He said with his fake Jamaican accent.

    "Going on a date with Mrs. Hayes." I said.

    "Again?!" He stopped and turned to me as he said this. I turned to him.

    "Yeah. I kinda, sorta fell asleep again."

    "Man, you and your dreams." He raised his hands up.

    "I know. They, just, kinda pull me in. You know?" Shaun closed his eyes and lowered his head.

    "No, I can't say I do." He said shaking his head no.

    "Com'on," I say. "We gotta get home."
    We start walking again. Shaun’s house is after mine so he usually walks in my house and, and hangs out with me. As soon as I reached home my mom was standing on the front porch step. Her foot was bobbing up and down. Shaun grabbed my shoulder and turned me toward him. "What did you do?" He said.

    "I don't know." I said. He sent me an eye glare with his green irises. He started walking away.

    "See you tomorrow!" He said, waving as he bursted out sprinting down the sidewalk.

    I take a deep breath and prepare for the worst. I began walking towards my mom. Her arms were folded and a paper was in her hands. A graphic organizer is printed on it. Down the row of squares is a subject and a square over is a big fat bold "F" all the way down. As I walk up to my mother, arms crossed over her chest she begins to shout, "What is this?!" she says, furiously waving the paper in my face.
    "My grade card." I say looking at the torn aglet on the end of my shoelace. "Your report card!" she repeats, more formally, though.
    Her black hair is a tangled mess on her head. She is suited in a pink bathrobe with blue bunny slippers.

    "What am I going to do with you, Brandon?" she asks pushing her head into her closed fist.

    Her eyes are closed and a string of tears manages to slip through the corner of her right eye. I walk up to the door. As I begin to twist the doorknob my mother calls to me,

    "Brandon," She begins "Your grounded."
    Her voice was firm as she spoke. I sighed. I continued turning the handle and entered my living room. The TV had a note on it.

    "Don't Even Think About It - Love Mom."

    I went into my bedroom. 'Time To Go Away' I told myself, mentally. It was really fast. I closed my eyes and it seemed almost immediately I was dreaming. The dream from detention continued, except Serena was already speaking.

    "OMG, THERES AN ---" Her voice was interrupted by the sound of a giant crash.

    Out of nowhere an ice cream truck bursted through the lunch room. Strawberry and sardine ice cream went flying through the air. One landed in my hands, right side up. A beeping was incorporated into my dream. All of a sudden I started thinking, which never happens in the dreaming state.

    I squinted my eyes open. It was still dark outside. I flipped over onto my stomach to see what time it was. Five fifty. I wake up at this time so I can take a ten minute shower and then get my clothes on. I do any homework I need to, and then after that I usually cook breakfast and draw. I am a big artist. Every time I can, I draw. This is one of the reasons I am grounded. Instead of listening to boring Mr. Gorder, Mrs. Hayes, Mr.Kanjunk, and all the other teachers, I like to draw on anything I can get my hands on. Worksheets to desks, I draw on them all.
    It was six fifty two by the time I finished my Canadian bacon. My bus was coming in seven minutes and I had to take a five minute walk to the bus stop. Two minute run in this case. I grabbed my backpack and slung it over my shoulders. I ran out the door and slammed it shut behind me. I was running down the sidewalk by the time Shaun ran out of his house and started running with me. We both sprinted toward the bus stop. "So," Shaun panted.

    "Why were you in trouble?"

    "My mom found my grade card that I hid in my mattress." I said.

    "Wow. Tough luck for you." He gave me a quick glance.

    All of a sudden I heard a rumbling behind us. The bus zoomed past in a yellow blur.
    "You stupid bus!" I shouted. "Stop for us!" I grabbed up the biggest rock I could find. It easily fit the palm of my hand. Without thinking, I hurled the massive rock out at the bus. It hit the rear end with a thump. It landed to the ground, breaking off into three pieces. The bus tires squeaked as it screeched to a halting stop. Mack, our driver, turned off the bus and came out the door. He put his hands on his head. He ran to the rear bumper of the bus, only to see a big dent right on the side. He sent me an evil glare. "What are you thinking?! Why didn't you come out sooner if you wanted a ride?" He screamed. I stomped up to his face and looked into his blue eye, and his one glassy blind eye.

    "Well why didn't you stop? You saw us running towards you, you bitter old man!" I wanted to take my words back. Mack’s jaw dropped to his feet. He looked hurt.

    "I'm sorry. Com'on, get on the bus." He tried to smile.
    Kids pulled their heads back in as they saw me shoot a look up at the windows. Shaun and I got on the bus. Everyone on had their eyes stuck on me. One of my friends, Darren, scooted over to signal us to sit next to him. Shaun dropped down on the seat. I sat in the empty one next to them.

    "I heard that thump from all the way up here." he said, leaning over Shaun to look me in the eyes. "So?!" I yelled louder than I wanted to.

    I didn't think it would echo through the air like it had. I directed my gaze to the bus drivers mirror. I could see his eyes looking back at me. A shook the image of him out of my head, and turned so my feet were in the aisle of the bus. Ever since middle school started, my life has been hectic. I leaned my hand against the seat across from me, also known as, Shaun's seat.

    "So, brah, do ya' think yer gonna get detention?" He asked in his Jamaican accent. My glance turned up towards Mack. I shrugged.

    "I dunno. I think Mack isn't gonna. After all, he isn't that bitter." I say. It was true. Mack was a bitter man, with thinning white hair, and a large gut, but he must’ve had some heart. I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't, though. Shaun just subtly glared at me. He seemed quite surprised.

    "You sure are confident." He said. He put a hand to my forehead. "Sick? No. No fever." Darren started cracking up across from me. He loved it when people over exaggerated, and such.

    When we got to school, I hopped off the bus stairs onto the cement. I started my way to first hour, geometry. It was a least favorite subject, with Mr.Gorder as the teacher. He was a plump man, with red hair on the sides of his head, but not the top. He usually used big words that I couldn't understand, like, comprehend. Or, irregular. I'm not sure what it means, but I think it means, 'not different', although I'm pretty sure it doesn't.

    When I get into the class room, I set my binder down on my desk in the corner of the room. I lay my pencil in the groove at the top of the desk. I pull out my homework from last night, and then I finish the last problem before the bell rang. Not the late bell, but the bell that told you, you had four minutes before class started. After that, you'd be late. Mr.Gorder came into the class and set his ceramic coffee mug down on his desk. His name plate had a lot of luster, and it reflected a lot of light off of it. He turned around and eyed around the class room, seeing how many students were here. He pulled out a piece of blue chalk from a little Crayola box he kept on the wooden groove that ran along the bottom of the chalk board. He went up to the board and drew an odd shape. It had six sides, and the all looked about the same, except they were different angles. Underneath that, he wrote how long the lines were. Seven centimeters. Underneath that, at the very bottom of the board, he wrote, 'Find the perimeter of this geometric shape'. I pulled out a piece of loose leaf paper and started to take seven, time six. The answer was thirty six. I pushed the paper beside, and I pulled out a little sketchbook. I pulled out my pencil, and started to draw. I started to draw my hand, and then, erasing some lines, I drew an ice cream in it. It had a fish head sticking out at the top, and then at the bottom the ice cream was just thin enough to see glittering scales. It wasn't just a drawing. I didn't just draw. I sketched the things I saw in my dreams. Well, not usually. This was the first time that I did.

    When the late bell rang, most everyone was in class, and I had just finished shading the last scale at the bottom of the ice cream. Mr.Gorder went to the front of the class and pulled out his roster.

    "Brandon Micheal, what is the perimeter of the shape?" He asked. I looked up from my drawing, and pulled the piece of paper in front of me.

    "Thirty six?" I answered and asked, simultaneously. Mr.Gorder shook his head. "Not quite right, but close." He said, pointing a pencil at me. Chloe Cortez' hand shot up, eagerly.

    "Chloe?" He asked, directing the eraser towards Chloe's hand. "Forty-two." She said, nodding.
    "Precisely. Good job, Chloe. The perimeter of this shape is forty-two. You take seven, times six, and you'll get your answer." Mr.Gorder pointed the tip of his pencil back at me. "You multiplied six by six. Not six by seven. Simple mistake." Mr.Gorder said. He had a tendency to use his pencil to express stuff.

    Mr.Gorder went around the classroom, handing papers. "Now, this is not a group effort. It's a pop quiz and you will work on it, alone!" Mr.Gorder emphasized the last word. I read the top caption of the page he handed out. In big bold lettering, there were the words, 'POP QUIZ.' I rolled my eyes and put the tip of the lead on the clean white paper.



    After the final bell rang, we put our papers into the first hour bin. Chloe popped up behind me and slid out the door. A girl named Jennifer caught up to her. I was waiting for Shaun. He poked his head into the class room. "Com'on, dude." He said, pulling my wrist. He stood next to me while I got my things out of my locker and started off towards my next class. I had second class with him, and Darren. Then two periods after that, then I have lunch.

    Through the next painfully boring classes, the lunch bell finally rang. I was speeding through the halls, until I ran into a girl I'd never seen before. She had short strawberry blonde hair, and had her binder tucked under her arm. She was wearing a pair of military tags, and her hair was swiped across her face. Her blue eyes rested behind her glass, and her skinny jeans had holes at the knees. She was staring at me from down on the linoleum tile. Her hands were cupped around her face, and her elbows were resting on her knees. I bent down, and extended a hand out. "Hey, are you okay, dude?" I asked. She looked up from her hands, and gathered her papers up from the floor. I straightened my back. Guilt tugged at the bottom of my gut. She stood up, and took off her glasses. They were cracked a bit, and the rim was bending on the frame. The girl popped up from the floor turned around and started speed walking off. I tried to catch up to her. "Hey, are ya' alright?" I asked, putting a hand on her shoulder. She spun around and nodded. She had a part of her cheek bleeding, probably from the glass breaking. She turned around, and started walking away again.

    When Shaun caught up to me, we started to walk to the cafeteria, flooded with people. I snaked through the line until I got to the register. That's when I realized I'd been here before. I tried to recall when, but I just knew I had. And then one voice sparked my memory. Serena's. I spaced out, and when I popped back into reality, my hand was chilled, and there was a bunch of screaming. I looked down at my palm to see a pink blob of sardine and ice cream. I jumped, and threw the ice cream in the trash. Everyone settled down, despite the fact an ice cream truck was stuck in the side of our school.

    "Students! Continue with your lunches, and settle down!" Mr. Boran, our principle, urged. I noticed a blob of blonde at a single table. I sat down, instinctively. The girl from earlier looked up from her tray at me. "What'd you want?" She asked. Her voice was timid, and she sounded scared. She had cleaned up her cut, but there was a tiny red mark across her right cheekbone. "Nothin'. Just your name." I said. To me it sounded like a cheesy pick up line, but I was trying to figure her out.

    "Naomi." She said.

    "Brandon."

    "Nice to meet you." She flipped her hair a bit, and continued eating.

    "What grade are you in?" I asked. Naomi just looked at me a bit, before I think it finally clicked. "Seventh." She replied. I smiled. Same grade I was in. "Me too." I said. For the rest of the lunch, I continued eating, and talking to Naomi. She loosened up a bit after we began talking, and I actually got her to laugh.

    After lunch, I tried to recall everything Naomi said. That made the class zip by, pretty quickly. Before I knew it, the final bell rang. I picked up the stuff from my locker and started to walk home before Shaun flashed by me.

    "Hey, brah, I'm gonna ride home with Darren. I'll see you later." When I walked out the front door of the school, the one thing I remember is having a sack thrown over my head. Then everything went black.




    I heard two deep voices, and then a bright light shined over my face. A tall, black man was towering above me. His voice was deep, and there were veins popping from his shining hairless head.

    "Brandon Micheals?" He asked.

    "Brandon Micheal." I corrected. The man looked over his shoulder and nodded.

    "Come with us." He said.

    "Do I have much of a choice?"

    A deep laughter escaped his throat. Or, I hoped it was laughter. He turned around slowly, and patted me on the back, hard. "I like you, Micheal." He said. I followed him through the painfully white hallway. Lights were beaming down from the tall ceiling.

    "I'm Nicholas Yancy Jr." He said, continuing to lead me through the room. He turned left, and soon there was a pitch black room, with a chair and a bed.

    "Sleep." He said, kind of pushin' me towards the bed. I lay down, and closed my eyes. Literally, in about two seconds flat I was dreaming.

    I was in the room, and I sat up from the stuffy bed. Naomi was in a glass room across the hall, and Shaun was by my side. Naomi was stuck with a needle, and Shaun looked much different. He wasn't wearing his Bob Marley cap. I opened my eyes to be frightened by the image of Nicholas hanging over my face. His hot breath beamed against my nose. He sat me up, and handed me a pencil.

    "Now, Micheal, draw what was in your dream." I did as told, and carefully sketched Naomi, and Shaun. Mr.Yancy stopped me for a split second, and pointed at the girl.

    "Do you know who that is?" He asked.

    "Yeah. That's a girl I met. Her name's Naomi." I replied. Mr. Yancy nodded up at one of his guards. "Brandon, that's Naomi Buckles. Her dad owns this entire facility. She's one of you, Micheals. She's a dreamer." He replied. I must've looked confused, because he started to explain it to me.

    "Dreamer's, Micheal, are people that have been gifted with a special disorder." He began.

    "Whatever they dream, and then draw, comes to life. Micheal, get in the room." He said, pointing behind him. All of a sudden, Shaun was there. And across the hall, in a glass case, was Naomi. She was sitting on the floor, and she was being stuck with a syringe.

    "Hey, brah." Shaun said. I looked at him, with an eyebrow raised.

    "Hey, 'brah'? Hey brah?! Shaun, what's going on? Why are you here?!" I asked. I grabbed at his shirt collar, and pointed across the hall.

    "Why is she here, why am I here?!" I must've been yelling pretty loudly, because Naomi looked at me from across the hall. She wasn't in the case anymore, but something more strange happened. Behind her, swaying from side to side at her calves was a tail. A skinless tail, with a dollop of fur at the end of her tail. She was wearing her tags, and her eyes weren't contained behind her glasses. Her ears were big fluffy lumps extending off the side of her head, and she had teal tattoos extended up and down her arms. She walked down the hall like earlier. I stood up, and stomped over to the glass room. All of a sudden, the doors shut behind me. I felt a sudden p***k in my arm, and my head started swimming. My ears were burning hot. When I barely touched them, I jerked my hands back. I could feel prickly hairs beginning to cover them. My spine started to hurt against my skin. I doubled over. My arms felt like pins and needles were going up and down, just gently prodding them. I closed my eyes, and fell asleep.

    When I was in my dream, I was out of the glass box, and running along the dirt. My toes had warm mud creeping in between them. When I finally woke up, I traced the image with my finger on the bottom of the block. If Mr. Yancy said that we could make things appear by drawing what we dream, I might as well give it a try. All of a sudden, I was in the mud. My knees were in brown mush, and my ears no longer burned, but they were hot. When I reached a frightened hand towards my head, my ears were bigger. The reached my finger tips when I had my hand about two inches away. I felt something bushy beat against the bridge of my foot, but my brain told me not to look down. I felt a hand on my back. It was Shaun.

    "Com'on. I'll explain." He promised. I grabbed his hand and pulled myself up, but first a sharp pain ran through my back. I tripped, and before I could stop myself I looked behind, over my shoulder. Moving from side to side, in front of my very own, real, twenty-twenty vision, was a glob of orange and black fur. I whimpered a bit, as Shaun helped me up. I noticed he was holding back laughter. I could hear his stifles.

    “Com’on, I’ll buy you lunch.” Shaun offered. I nudged him a bit. “Fine. But this isn’t something I’ll forget, Shaun.”

    When Shaun stopped in front of a large cabin, I could hear a clamor of voices within the tall red building. The shining gutters sprayed glimmering spots of sunlight into my eyes. As I brushed past Shaun, and pushed aside the heavy doors, my eyes widened. A whole cafeteria was filled with people. Not just people. Oh, no. Of course they aren’t just people. A line of tails is laid out along the long benches. Each tail is different. Not one looks the same. One was a tail covered in blue scales, glistening a bit. Another tail was long, and slender. It was hairless, and wrinkled. It reminded me of a rat.

    Shaun pulled me along to a short line of people. Some ears twitched a bit. One pair I in particular I couldn’t keep my eyes off of. They were large, and stuck out vaguely. The tuff of the fur on the tip was curled around in a pretty way. “Don’t stare.” I heard Shaun whisper. I looked down at my feet, instead.


    When Shaun and I got our trays and sat down, an eerie silence came over the whole cabin. Two heavy doors swung open. The clacks of boots spread across the tile. I looked over at Shaun.

    “Shaun, what’s going ----“ Shaun stuffed a hand over my mouth. I rolled my eyes and opened my mouth, clamping my teeth around his hand.

    “OW. What the hell, Micheal?! I told you, shut up!” Shaun said. Everyone looked at me with wide eyes. I didn’t do nothing. I just didn’t want his hand over my mouth. I saw shadows come closer, but I couldn’t see anything besides that. Shaun’s eyes looked bigger than a cow’s. He grabbed my wrist, and pulled me up. He turned around to me.

    “Run.” He said. “But -- what, I didn’t even finish my ---“ Shaun looked at me, and raised up a fist like he was going to hit me.

    “Gosh damn it, Micheal, I said run!” I didn’t see the point, but with his hand around my wrist, I had no choice when he started running.


    Shaun pushed open the doors of the cabin. He stopped and looked at me.

    “Quick history lesson, Micheal.” He said. I was getting pretty mad that he had kept calling me that.

    “Hey, what happened to my first name?!” I shouted. Shaun raised up a fist again.

    “Not now, Brandon.” Shaun said behind clenched teeth.

    “For the past century, we have lived in peace. But, a few years ago, a new guy came along. He didn’t like the humans, so he decided to dream up an apocalypse. The only problem with that, is that when you dream things that is going to be in huge proportion, you need followers. So this guy, Zerverious, gathered everyone who seemed to hate regulars. And now, he goes to every camp and tries to find more followers. Legend says that one person will put a stop to it, but we don’t know who, and we don’t know when. You know that girl, Nami, or whatever? She was looking for you. You don’t think she just didn’t look where she was going, did you? She saw you, and she made sure she saw one thing about you.” Shaun pushed a stray piece of brown hair behind my ear. He pointed to the upper part of my ear. I felt a sharp pain, and suddenly felt the need to flail something. I twitched my arm. Shaun looked back at me.

    “So get yourself together. The reason you didn’t see anything is because there is a giant piece of cloth there. It makes a different scenery.” Shaun pointed to the forest.

    “Go.” He said, pushing me a bit. I got up, and took a step back. I ran as fast as I could.

    “No, Bran--!” But it was too late. I ran right into something and something hard. Before I knew it, there was a blue cabin in front of my face. I stumbled backwards.

    “And that’s how we hide.” Shaun said. I got up, and opened the door. I walked in, and looked at a bed. My first thought was to lie down, and go to sleep. That’s what I did, too.

    I walked around in a giant landfill. A lady in baby blue robes was sitting a top of a tall hill of trash. A man came up behind her. He had on a black ski mask. He wrapped his arms around her. I started to panic, and I ran up to the man.

    “Hey! Quit! Dude!” I shouted. He didn’t seem to notice me, though. The woman flinched, and then I saw why. Red soaked through her billowing gowns.


    I woke up in a cold sweat, and my first impulse was to get out my sketchpad. If I could go there, maybe I could save that lady. From, ya’ know, dying. I sketched out a quick draft. Mostly circles, and waves. The primary stuff. Color blurred past me, and then the smell of rotten stuff filled my nose. I ran up to the woman.

    “Hey, lady, com’on!” I shouted. I pushed her out of the way. When the guy came up to me, I did the one thing my mom taught me to do in case of stranger danger. I punched him in the throat.

    “Hey! What the hell do you think you’re doing?! I’m training, here!” The lady shouted.

    “But, but, I saw he was going to stab you.” I said, rather confused.

    “So what? If he did, Mr.McTrainor would get in the medic staff. Get outta here, ya’ friggin nuisance!” She shouted. I looked around. There was a crowd of people behind me. A man in a black shirt, and jeans was waving at me. I decided to run up to him.

    “That was very brave of you, Brandon.” He said.

    “How’d you know my name?” I asked. The man put a hand on my back.

    “When a new student comes here, I get an alert.” I shook my head a bit.

    “No, no, no. No. I’m not a new student. Ya’ see, here in a bit, I’m gonna head home. Or, here’s a funny thought. Wake up.” I said. I felt a cold hand on my shoulder.

    “I assure you, Mr.Micheal, this is no dream. Treat it like so and you shall be killed.” I felt a shiver through my spine.

    “By the way, Brandon. Welcome to ATTDA. I’m Mr.McTrainor.” The man pulled out a package of chocolate cigarettes, the kind in the paper wrapping. He popped on in his mouth, and walked away.

    I was walking around the camp a bit. All of this still confused me. I saw a girl up on a hill. She had red short hair, and was wearing a pair of red cargo shorts and an ACDC shirt. She focused on her opponent, across from her, and pulled out a marker. She quickly drew on her arm, and then behind the black haired boy across from her, a dog appeared. The girl across from him whistled, and the tall Great Dane came sprinting towards her. The boy stumbled backward, and that gave her enough time to pounce on his chest and hold a blade to his throat. Out of nowhere, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I jumped a bit, and glanced behind me. “Oh. Hi, Shaun.” I said. Shaun raised an eyebrow and looked at me.

    “That’s Eli. Brah, she’d chew you up. No one really likes her, ‘cause she is all weird. She has ADHD.” I glanced up at Shaun and smirked.

    “And you?” I asked. Shaun looked over his shoulder at a blonde blur. I opened my mouth.

    “Oh my god! You like Naomi?!” I yelled, chuckling a bit. Shaun gave me an icy glare.

    “Shut up! Me and Naomi have been friends forever!” Shaun said, shoving a hand over my mouth. I licked his hand, and rubbed it in his face.

    “Well, I’m gonna say hello to Eli.” I said.

    I approached Eli as she was rubbing a sweaty towel over her face. “Hey.” I said. She looked me up and down. “Hi.” She said, shining her blade a bit.