Sang's Freedom (Original And Rewritten)

3

-Chapter 3-

Sang Sorenson's POV:

I checked myself in the mirror after slipping in through my bedroom window.

My hair was frazzled and the bandage on my forehead covered everything from my right eyebrow to my hairline. My sweatshirt was covered with broken twig leaves that had snagged the fabric during my fall.

How had I lost my footing? I couldn't remember. I had hit my head pretty hard and it had brought on strange dreams. I was kidnapped by a blond monkey boy and a guy with glasses kept telling me he was going to have a doctor cut me open.

I shivered.

I hated nightmares.

It was a good thing Gabriel had found me. I could have gotten lost out in the woods. It was kind of him to bandage me up, too. Charleston didn't seem all that bad. At least there were nice people. Gabriel and I would be going to the same school.

I knew I would have to keep him a secret from my mother, but I could do that. He could just be a school friend. We wouldn't ever hang out, but at least I would have someone to talk to in class...I mean, if we had any classes together.

Alone in my room, I blushed. It was silly to get all worked up over a guy I had only just met, but it was his comment about my hair that had got me. He wanted to cut my hair. For a split second after he had made the comment, I thought he was gay.

The notion relieved me, but then I saw something else in his eye. He had a skill for style. I could see it in his clothes and down to the way he did his hair and tied his shoes. He saw I didn't have that same gift and wanted to help me.

I looked down at my filthy clothes and began stripping them off. I wondered what he had thought when he looked at me. An idiot, probably, I realized. Some weirdo who likes to climb trees at midnight and fall on strangers. I sounded like a whore and looked like a garbage collector.

I shook my head free of some of the pine needles before stripping down into my tank top and panties, tossing the dirty clothes into the hamper before sneaking across the hall and getting in a quick shower.

After that, sleep came instantly.

***

I awoke at the break of dawn, covered in a sheen layer of sweat. I was shaking violently and wrapped my arms around my knees, sitting up.

Nightmare.

Another one.

I took a breath, shaking my head, trying to wake myself up, I did my count.

I could see the walls of my new bedroom. I could smell the dew of the sweet grass outside my open window. I could taste...yuck...morning breath. I could feel the scratch of my old comforter around my shoulders, and I could hear...voices?

I glanced at my alarm clock to see it was a quarter past four.

Seriously?

I had to check this out.

I padded barefoot to my window to see a group of seven boys lined up in the front yard of the house kiddy corner from my own. A few of their faces looked painfully familiar and anxiety hit me like a train.

I had forgotten about last night and my late night adventure.

I fell out of a tree!

I talked to boys! Or...boy? Was meeting the kid with glasses and the monkey just a dream or...no... I could see Gabriel there, next to the monkey! The monkey was real! Did that mean I was kidnapped last night?