Username 1

9 - Falling to my Death

"My number went up to 10," I answered rigidly.

"What?" Cassie whispered, "I'm behind you...13."

"Mine went down to 11," Kiara pouted.

"This is really strange," I thumbed the number 10 on my wrist. The tattoo had somehow changed in an instant. I pulled my finger and poked my palm out of habit. Just as the boy suggested.

"What was your dream about anyway?" Kiara asked.

We were at the back of the classroom and Miss was teaching stage two of sleep in the front. We did our best to sit up straight and whisper to one another without getting caught. I was surprised we even made it this far.

"It was about this boy-"

"Excuse me?"

All heads turned to me. That wasn't the scary part. Miss' eyes were charged with anger. Anger that someone had interrupted her lecture. My heart fell.

"Miss Anonymous?" her voice was like a whip.

"Y-Yes Miss?" my voice squeaked as I shot up to stand.

The chair screeched loudly in the silent room, as if there was a dying cat. I saw some people shift uncomfortably in their seats.

"Did you want to share something with the other Awakened Ones?"

"No, Miss." I shook my head and felt heat rush to my face. I bit my lip in angst.

"It was my fault!" Cassie stood up right away. "I started the conversation."

Miss smirked with her thin lips and amusement danced in her face.

"Playing hero, are we now, Miss Cassie?" she spat.

"I'm sorry?" Cassie's face looked like she had been slapped.

"Sit down, you two," she waved at us dismissively, "I will deal with you delinquents after class."

Turned out, we had to scrub toilets for a whole week. Starting today. Miss had looked at me with such disappointment that I hadn't felt this much guilt in...who knows for how long.

It hadn't even been a week since I've been here and I had gotten in trouble twice. I still haven't even been able to go around the school by myself. No tour for me.

Leaving the classroom, I reviewed today's lesson. We learned that Stage 2 of sleep was when the heart slowed and our body temperatures went down. Our brain produced sleep spindles and we were definitely drifting in between reality and dream-world.

This is definitely gonna be in the final exam. But why'd I get promoted to Username 10, huh?

Going up thirteen rankings apparently wasn't something common, but my dream was definitely different. Lucid dreaming? Who in the world knew about that?

I had obediently described the boy, the beach, the sand, the arm and fingers. Typing it just as how I had remembered from my dream into the computer screen this morning. Why would any of that be "useful" to this academy? Or to the competition at all?

Days passed with scrubbing toilets and filling our stomachs up with healthy foods. No grease, no soda, and certainly not candy.

At least nobody had diarrhea.

More dreams with the boy had taken place. His nagging voice was constantly in the back of my head.

"Keep your habit of checking if you're awake or sleeping. If you're desperate, look at clock for a reality check. That's the best way to know if you're sleeping or not. Pinch your nose, tug your foot, feel your hair.

Try to stay red alert when you go to sleep. Try to remember all of the dreams you've had by writing them down."

"Like I have a choice," I mumbled as I made my way down the hall. I hadn't seen him since the incident in the doctor's office. For some reason, my ankle felt heavy. Getting out of class, we finally had free time. One free break without scrubbing pots of pee and poopoo.

"Hey," a voice called out from behind me.

Turning around, there was nobody in the hallway except for me and...Vince. His green uniform looked as clean as ever and his chest was puffed up with pride. Guess being a leader wasn't so bad after all.

"Hi," I answered back with a quiet voice.

"Did you get to look around the school?" He smiled.

I shook my head.

"Not really. I'm under probation."

"For doing what?"

I bit my lip in embarrassment.

"Talking in class..."

Vince let out a charming laugh that seemed to warm up the hallway. He lightly punched me in the arm.

Was that supposed to be friendly or provocative? Should I fight him?

"Don't be so down in the dumps about that. Here, I'll show you around um...Anonymous."

Down in the..what?

I followed him down the hall and up some stairs. A large room opened up and there were beds everywhere. Possibly about fifty, which were occupied by kids with light grey uniforms. I scanned the room and saw Winter at the far end.

"What is this place?"

There was a monitor next to each teen and it seemed to be calculating their heartbeats.

"The Practice room."

"Why the Practice room? What do we need to practice for?"

He smiled a sly one at me.

"Nobody told you yet?"

I was very much confused. A bit offended, really. The whole room seemed to have a secret that only I didn't know about.

"Told me what?"

"Do you know what the last exam is going to be on?"

I flinched. The mystery boy had told me it was on lucid dreaming, but nobody knew about that except my dream log.

If Vince knew I found out through my dream, would I be reported?

"N-No," I lied, "I have no idea."

He chuckled and put his huge hand on me. It covered my whole shoulder and I knew my bone would break if he clenched his fist.

"You'll find out sooner or later. Shall we continue?"

I reluctantly nodded.

We walked through the Practice room and left through some double doors. Walking down another hallway, the closed walls seemed to open up to a bridge. The other end was barely visible and the skywalk was higher than I had predicted it to be.

"Didn't we only come up one flight of stairs? We're so high!"

Looking down the side, I could see a plaza where other students milled about. There was a fountain in the middle of it and the water was cobalt blue. I stared in awe at the multicolored uniforms that seemed to be fifty meters below my feet.

"Everything is not what it seems," Vince said quietly. He stared out into the open.

I raised an eyebrow.

"So would you say that this bridge isn't as high up as it appears to be?"

"Why don't we find out?"

Panic struck me. Before I could ask how, he made his way to me and grabbed my shoulders with his massive hands. Lifting me up and over his head, he leaned back and threw me far off the skywalk.