Whispers in the Dark

Did I Dream That?

Written by Me
——-Present Day——-

Dear Diary,

I'm trying to decipher if yesterday was a dream or not. When my eyelids flew open yesterday morning, everything felt normal. I was in my normal room with my normal lavender colored walls. I walked on my normal feet, put on my normal clothes, and brushed my normal teeth. Well, my teeth were somewhat normal. They didn't clink together to make words flow out of my mouth as many people's teeth do. It was like every other normal morning. I like it that way.

To me, a normal day is a great day. I don't like a change in any way, shape, or form. I didn't even want to do the writing class I'm taking, but my Aunt Becky- I call her Auntie- forced me to take it. She said it would be good for me.

——First Day I Went to Writing Class—-

"Auntie, do I have to go to writing camp?" I signed, asking the question with puppy eyes and a pout on my lips.

She rolled her eyes. "No. Nuh-uh! That puppy dog face will not work for me this time! And I mean it! Neither will the reminders of what you've been through work for me either."

To get out of things I didn't want to do, I would always do the puppy dog face. I would also always remind her that I had to go to therapy my whole life after I saw my parents die in an accident and that I'm practically mentally unstable and change is not good for me.

"Auntie!," I yelled in sign, huffing. "But I'm mentally—"

"No! I will not take any of that 'mentally unstable' bull crap!" she said, making air quotes with her fingers. I was taken aback. Auntie usually never swears. She sighed. "I'm sorry. The only reason I'm being hard on you is that change is good, darling. I know you're scared of change. In a way, everyone is. Everyone is worried that they won't survive when the sun sneaks behind the clouds and the snow begins to fall, threatening to surround you with dull days."

With eyebrows knitting together in confusion, I walked over to her and put my elbows on the wooden countertop. She normally always falls to my knees when I do the pouty puppy dog face. She normally lets me do whatever I want when I tell her what my terrifying past has been like. This was not one of those times. She was forcing me to join this writing camp. She was forcing me to forget about my anxiety and walk into a room full of strangers and write. She was trying to prove a point to me. I wasn't quite sure what that point was.

"If everyone is worried about change, doesn't that make it a bad thing, Auntie? What if the sun goes behind the clouds and never comes back out?," I asked in sign, still confused on why she was making me do what I obviously do not want to do, still confused about what point she was trying so desperately to prove.

"I don't think it's possible that the sun will never peek out of the clouds again. If that happens, though, do you know what you have to do?" Auntie asked, looking at me directly in my vibrant blue eyes.

"What do I have to do?" I asked, my fingers grasping the air curiously, seeking for answers to land in my soft palms.

"You have to be your own light, be your own sunshine," Auntie signed instead of talking, smiling down at me and enveloping her arms around me tightly, squeezing me in her warm embrace.

"Thank you, Auntie. I'll go," I signed when we finished our warm embrace.

——-Second Day I Went to Writing Class (aka yesterday)——-

Certain that my Auntie was making me do the right thing, I walked into the room full of old, small square-shaped computers. It was my second day of writing class.

Sitting down next to Jackson, I logged onto the computer and entered a new word document.

"Good morning, students," the teacher said.

"Good morning, Mr. Cooper!," the class replied.

"I hope you enjoyed this class yesterday because today we are going to do even more work!" the teacher said, smiling.

Some kids groaned. I, on the other hand, was actually excited to do more work! Doing more work means doing less talking, and doing less talking meant less talking to Jackson.

The teacher explained that we had to write about our favorite animal that not everyone knew about. I chose to write about narwhals. Narwhals are basically whales but with a horn on top of their head like a unicorn. So, narwhals are basically unicorns coming to life underwater! That's why I love them tremendously!

I shook my head, knowing I couldn't type those unprofessional words. Instead, I started with typing my name and then typing my title: The Glorious Mammal Swimming Beneath the Sea.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Jackson's brown eyes looking at me in a strange way. Was he...starring at me?

I swished my red hair around and turned to face him. "Why are you staring at me?"

"I wasn't staring at you! I mean...I-I didn't mean to stare at you. I was just...thinking about what I was gonna write next," Jackson said, his eyes darting everywhere but my face.

When I did catch a glimpse of his brown eyes, though, I saw something I never did before inside of them. Was there....was there nervousness inside of his eyes?

Was I making him nervous? I never in my life made boys nervous! Boys never have said anything or done anything romantic to me since the car accident. Before the accident, I remember boys used to wear cute little blue tuxedoes, hold a rose and ask me to be their valentine. Even though the tuxedo and rose did impress me, it was never enough to convince me to be their girlfriend. When I was little, I thought the whole concept of being a couple and getting engaged and getting married was insane. Who would ever want to spend the rest of their life with somebody? I surely did not! As I was sitting in the writing class, starring in Jackson's eyes, my little girl thoughts began to change. I really like this boy. I've never felt this way about anyone before in my life.

But, surely, he couldn't possibly feel the same way about me, right?

"You are so beautiful," he said, the smell of his words sweet in the air like cotton candy.

Did I just hear him correctly?

Snapping out of my daze, I responded, "What?"

"I just said you should probably get back to work now," Jackson said.

Yeah, sure you said that! I thought in my head. I know I heard you correctly. Maybe...just maybe you like me too!

I turned towards the computer, and I covered my mouth with both my hands to hide from Jackson the fact that I -a girl who hasn't smiled in what seemed like forever- smiled from ear to ear.

As I continued typing, I thought about multiverses. Multiverses are a theory that there are infinite universes just like this one but with different events. In a multiverse, there are flying cars and robots taking over the world. In a multiverse, there are vacations to mars and the moon.

In a multiverse, Jackson would say I'm beautiful.

I pinched myself, making sure this wasn't a dream.

Ouch, it hurt!

Nope, not a dream!

All of this, unless I somehow transported to a multiverse, happened in real life and in the real world.