Memories

Fires - Jaxx

Feeling a rumble under my feet, I panic, running from the scene. My breath is ragged and my feet sore, but I don't stop until I collapse on the ground, exhausted from running at least five miles. As I look into the city from my place on the side of a mountain, there are plumes of dust shooting into the air every few seconds, bringing yet another building crumbling to the ground. The echoes and aftershocks from the explosions even shake the mountain ground I'm perched on, shaking the loose dirt down the side of it.

All of Oakwood is in rubble and I can't do anything about it.

"We need to do something," Jayden says, and I look towards her, seeing not the familiar blue hair, or even her brunette hair, but hair obviously scorched by fire and there are parts of her body missing, as if she was really close to one of the bombs as it went off.

I can't speak, mostly because of the way she looks, but also because I had inhaled a lot of dust and my throat felt like sandpaper.

"Wake up." I hear the words, but Jayden doesn't say them, and instantly, I'm lurched out of my nightmare into the real world.

"Same nightmare?" My mom asks, and I nod. It's been like this for weeks. I've had the same nightmare over and over again, ever since the bombing at the hospital. I never told Jayden because I didn't want her to worry, but it terrifies me. Although, it doesn't happen every night, so it could be worse, but it shakes me up inside. Most of the details aren't even real, or even close to real, but to my mind, everything is. That is by far the worst part. It all feels real and my brain can't comprehend that none of it is, so I'm trapped. "Do you want to see anyone? Talk about it?"

"I don't know." I shrug, glancing at the clock. Three forty-two. Almost the exact same time as the other ones. Sometimes, I wake up as early as 3:35, and others I wake up as late as 3:50, but it's always within that fifteen minute timespan and I either wake up because someone else—namely, my mother—wakes me up, or I get to the point in my dream where I, too, die due to an explosion.

"World's is in three weeks, right?" Correct. "Maybe, just go once and if you feel like it's helping, you can go until world's." My mom has known for years that I would be leaving after this world's to take my place as Ice King, and that's another reason she's been looking for someone to date, to fill the empty hole I'll leave behind. And I'm fine with that, as long as she doesn't pick someone horrible, and Cole is perfect for her. He reminds me a lot of dad.

"Okay. But, I'm hoping to get a little more sleep in before school." I yawn, before my head hits the pillow and I'm out. Thankfully, I'm not one of those people that can't fall asleep in the same place after a nightmare because it launches them back into the same scene they woke up to. I just fall asleep and dream of blackness until my alarm blares at six thirty.

My days always start with a shower, breakfast, and checking my social media. Especially VidGrabber because I'm usually flooded with comments and likes after I post songs. And, after showering and eating, I see a comment that strikes me as unusual posted under my song about my crush on Jayden.

Ophelea Waitres

I'm sorry

I don't know anyone by either of those names. It's not like they're common names like Perry or Rong or Scine, but I've never seen it before. Clicking on the name to open up the channel, there's nothing there. Emptiness fills the page as I click on every button I can, trying to make something magically appear, but nothing ever does. Even the background is nothing more than a white box. Why would some random person I've never met say sorry? It's whatever. I have to go to school.

First is Advanced Geometry and Calculus. I should probably hate this class, but it's actually kind of interesting. It teaches me how to think more in a three dimensional space, which is good for building, and since it's such a small class, we move through the material faster and usually get free time on Fridays. Which we spend playing board games, or watching movies. Granted, the movies have to be PG, but we all manage to find movies we want to watch from time to time. It's fun to just hang out every once in a while, because it lets us let go of the stresses of homework and classes and, for some of us, work, or sports.