• Chapter 2
    Nightmare

    A dark shape loomed over Lea. It reached out to grab… grab what? Its hand passed her, and yet it still felt like it meant to cause her harm. Lea turned and saw the hand squeezed tight around another person. The once thick and healthy hair now fell in limp strands around a face gaunt in pain. The skin was a color that made Lea’s blood turn to ice. Eyes that used to be so full of life and laughter were now pleading, fighting death. It was Jake.
    “NOOOOOOOOOOOOO! You can’t have him!” screamed Lea and attacked with all her might. Nothing she threw at the giant appendage did any good. She could feel Jake slipping away from her. Then suddenly, the hand released its grip. Jake fell to the cold, hard ground like a rag doll. Lea rushed over and cradled his head in her arms. Jake was gone, nothing could Lea do. Her tears, tears that had never come before, now washed over her cheeks and onto her fallen friend’s face like a gale, drenching his body. She dragged him to a crevasse in the rocky face that surrounded them. Lea kept on crying and fell across Jake’s no longer heaving chest, weeping bitterly and openly.
    Then, Lea awoke, back in her room. A dream, just a dream. It wasn’t real. She brushed her cheek and felt it wet. Tears, so they were real. Lea threw herself out of bed and fled to Jake’s room. Knocking quietly, she tried to compose herself.
    Jake opened the door, rubbing his eyes, “It’s three in the morning, what could you possibly want?” he asked.
    “Come on, I need somebody to talk to. Let’s go to the library,” Lea shuddered.
    “The library? At three in the morning? Are you insane Lea?” Jake asked, infuriated.
    Lea choked back tears, “I just really need someone to talk to, OK?”
    “Oh my gosh, you’re crying! You never cry!” Jake said, immediately worried. He put his arm around Lea’s shoulders as she shuddered. The two of them walked slowly to the campus library. As soon as they were there Lea sank onto a bench and started sobbing.
    “What happened?” Jake asked her, looking bewildered and helpless.
    Lea told him in between shuddering, wracking sobs. When she was done, Jake looked appalled and frightened. He seemed almost as terrified and disturbed by the dream as Lea.
    Jake shuddered and then pulled himself together, “Come on, let’s get you back to your room, there is nothing that we can do about a bad dream. Just try to get some sleep, Ok?”
    Lea nodded and stood to follow her friend. Jake put an arm around her shoulder. After they reached her room, Jake swung her around to look at him and he put his hands onto Lea’s shoulders.
    “Try to get some sleep, Okay? Nobody is going to hurt you… or me,” Jake whispered to her.
    “I’ll try, but there are no guarantees,” Lea sniffled, trying to bring a smile to her trembling lips.
    She fumbled for her room key and unlocked the door with shaking hands. The shock from the dream had not yet worn off and Lea lay awake on her bed for hours. Once she fell asleep, the dream came again and she sat, curled up and shivering, for the rest of the night.











    Chapter 3
    Athy
    The next morning, Lea was on her way to her first class when she saw a blonde haired girl walking through the hall with a thoughtful look on her face. She was whispering to herself and twirling a strand of her lush, golden locks between thumb and forefinger.
    “Hi Athy,” Lea called to the girl half-heartedly. She had told Jake that she would try not to be so judgmental of Athy, but the way that the girl seemed to be able to bend her environment to her will, and the way that her eyes shifted from grey to blue, and then from green to brown, back to grey, wierded her out.
    “What? Oh hi Lea,” Athy replied absently.
    Athy was a tall, golden haired, beautiful girl with a wit as sharp as a sword and a mind to rival Einstein’s. A far off look almost always adorned her face. Her figure was made even more elegant by the white blazer and grey, pleated skirt that were the school uniform. Her hair was pinned away from her face by a beret that was shaped like a tiny owl. Silver hoops dangled from each ear. She was the picture of beauty and poise, and Lea hated her for it. Athy was not easily intimidated and would not back down when any normal girl would have run away crying. Lea found her to be both a puzzle and an annoyance.
    “Hey, I have my science midterm later, could you help me study; I just can’t seem to remember the difference between spontaneous and genetic mutations,” Lea asked, trying to make amends.
    “Honestly, Lea, I would expect more from a daughter of Ha... I mean one of Jake’s friends. Isn’t he like a total nerd or something?” Athy said reproachfully.
    “Well, that’s one thing that we agree on. He is a nerd, but as he would say, ‘He’s not a nerd, he’s a twelfth level dark paladin.’” Lea laughed.
    “A what?” Athy asked, looking confused.
    “It’s an M.O.R.P.G. joke.”
    “What’s that?” asked Athy, still confused.
    “A Massive Online Role Playing Game. You really need to get out of the school more, or, in this case, I guess you need to stay in more,” Lea explained.
    The two girls seemed to relax and they laughed together, and talked about how nerdy Jake was all morning. Lea saw that Athy was a little strange, but no more so than she herself was.
    That night, Lea had the same dream as the previous night, but this time, she didn’t even try to go back to sleep, the nightmare was so terrifying.