Chapter 3: I dreamed a dream
Opening Theme:
Demi Lovato – Don’t Forget
Did you regret ever standing by my side?
Did you forget what we were feeling inside?
Now I'm left to forget about us.
It has been weeks since I last talked to Gray. Our eyes occasionally met and every time it did, I tried my best to ignore him. I don't know if I'm over reacting or not. I just know that Gray was a liar, and he broke my trust, our trust, Seven and mine.
As much as I tried to forget what happened that night, I just couldn't seem to. I was standing as still and as quiet as I could in front of Gray's house. I could hear them talking, him and Seven. Suddenly, the door burst open which caught me off guard. I couldn't think of a reason as to why I was there. Instead, I ignored Seven and Gray, went inside the house, retrieved my phone, then left, without a word.
I could hear them both calling me but I kept ignoring them. Later that night, my phone kept vibrating and vibrating. I knew it was Gray so I just turned it off. It was one of the worst nights of my life.
The next day was a school day so I prepared myself since it’s not inevitable for Gray and I to meet or see each other. We go to the same school, after all. However, to my surprise, I did not see him. I saw Quinn, yes, but not Gray. Seven, on the other hand, was present. "Let's just forget about last night, and Gray. We can live without him," I proposed to Seven, to which he agreed.
I had to pretend that I didn't hear anything when I was standing outside Gray's house. "I wasn't standing for a long time. And I didn't really hear anything," was my usual excuse whenever Seven asked me, followed by, "I thought we wouldn't talk about that night, anymore? Please, Seven. I just really want to forget about that night, forget about him."
"It's been a while since I last saw you and Gray together," Mom said, as I was eating my breakfast in the kitchen.
My eyes were locked on the television. "Apparently, he had better things to do. Things that doesn't include hanging out with Seven and I," I replied. I couldn't lie to my mom, but I had to tell her another reason. I just figured telling her the whole truth would break her heart. She loved the thought of Gray and me. I felt the same, felt.
"Really? But you both had so much fun, the last time he was here." She put the cooking pan back to the cabinet and then sat across me.
"I know, Mom. I was there." Mom was getting on my nerves. "Let's just talk about other things."
Obviously, my day started at a low note. Just the reminder of Gray destroyed my day. Honestly, everyday reminded me of him. I, literally, live across his house so every time I went out, I see his house, which makes me think of him: instant destroyed day. So, I just try to not go out.
"Hey, Cassy," Seven greeted me, as I entered the school. He was behind me, trying to catch up.
I looked back, stopped to wait for him, and waved. "Hey, Sev," I greeted back.
When he finally caught up to me, we continued on walking. "Are you coming tomorrow?" he asked.
Tomorrow? "Huh?" I wondered.
"You forgot didn't you?" He had this ‘I knew it’ + ‘why am I not surprised’ face.
"I don't know." I was confused and dumbfounded. I really didn't know.
"Tomorrow's my birthday!" Seven revealed. "How could you forget?!"
Then, it hit me! Of course, Seven's birthday. And there will be a party tomorrow at his dad's place. How could I forget?! "I'm sorry, Sev," I apologized. "I didn't forget. I simply just didn't remember instantly."
"Which is forgetting," he pointed out.
"I'm really sorry, Sev," I kept on apologizing. "Who's coming?"
"It's just a small gathering so only a handful will be coming. A bunch of our classmates from elementary and a bunch from now," he replied.
There, my Saturday was booked. Thanks to that, it was all I could think about all day. Unfortunately, Seven didn't tell me what the party was going to be ( a casual or a semi-formal) so I had no idea what to wear. I forgot to ask Seven before we separated when we got out of school. "I'll just text him later," I thought.
As I was walking home, I kept imagining Gray running towards me. I just couldn't help it. He was that attached to me that even in hate, I kept thinking of him in a good way. I kept on trying and trying to make him seem bad in my mind but my heart just won't let me.
In order to keep the "Gray-running-towards-me" scenario from happening, I decided to ride the bus. The bus passes by our village so I thought it would be more practical time-wise to ride it, aside from the fact that there was a high probability of me not-seeing Gray because he hated buses.
Thankfully, I didn't have to wait long because just as I was going to sit on the bus-stop bench, the bus pulled over. I went in and sat on the nearest empty seat. I was just beginning to get comfortable when the bus pulled over on my stop. That was a fast bus ride.
"Well, that didn't take too long," I thought to myself, as I got down the bus. I looked around to see if anybody else went down from the bus, aside from me but there was none. "I guess I'm the lone bus rider who lives here."
While looking around, something caught my eye: A person, not too far away from me. The person was very familiar. When he got close enough, I saw who he was - Gray. He caught me looking at him which surprised him. Just as our eyes met, he stopped in his tracks. He just stood there and stared at me. I, too, was staring at him and I didn't know why.
Of course, I knew I had to get away as soon as possible because we couldn't possibly meet like this. I snapped out of my gaze. I turned away then ran for my life. I was running so fast that it seemed like a zombie invasion was happening. I felt stupid and pathetic. I could hear him shout, "Snow, wait!" but I ignored him. I arrived home sweaty and tired. I was panting like crazy.
"What happened? What were you running from?" Mom asked, flustered by what she was seeing. She tried to open the door that I was covering but I stopped her.
"Mom, don't open the door. Just don't!" I exclaimed, still panting, sweat trickling from my face to my body. "If someone knocks by the name of Gray, tell him I'm not home."
"Why? What's wrong with you and Gray?" Mom asked with a very curious yet concerned face but still flustered. She also kept wiping her apron on my sweaty face.
"Just please, tell him to go home, please," I begged her. I knew I looked pathetic being sweaty and panting and begging at the same time but it had to be done.
"Okay, okay, but please, explain everything to me later," she said. "Go to your room and change."
I went to my room hoping Mom would abide by what I asked her. While changing, I never heard any knocks or calls so I became rest assured that Gray didn't bother. After changing, I went back down and talked to Mom. I told her everything, my feelings for Gray, the supposed reconciliation night, everything.
"Come here, Cassidy," Mom said, as she opened her arms, opting for an embrace.
Tears started falling from my eyes. I just couldn't help it. Emotions rushed through me. I acknowledged Mom's embrace. It felt good to finally have someone who really cared. I should've gone to my mom sooner.
"It's okay. I'm here," Mom said, still embracing me.
I kept wiping my tears on her apron which, I assumed, was the same apron she used to wipe my sweat, earlier. "I'm sorry, Mom. I didn't tell you the truth, earlier. I just, I wanna forget it," I explained. "But, as much as I try, it just won't get out of my head."
"Cassidy, you can't just forget Gray like that," Mom said, pulling me up so we could talk properly and face to face. I was still crying so I was sure I looked horrendous.
"But, why not? Why can't he just disappear?"
"Because he's special to you. You're crying over him, Cassy. That means he's very special to you. He's so special that he brings out your emotions, your feelings. Only the people who we care about the most can bring out our true emotions."
Mom had a point. Of course, Gray is very special to me. He has been and he always will be. I just couldn't get over the fact that he could betray us, destroy our trust like that. "But he lied to us," I told Mom.
"Look at Seven. He got over it fast. Why do you think so?"
"Because Seven is more of our neutral friend?" I guessed. Come to think of it, Seven doesn't really have any enemies. He only has friends and acquaintances, no enemies. He's more of a neutral-positive type of person so I can't imagine him being mad or negative for a long time. "Or maybe because he accepted the fact that these things happen. And, he’s a guy. They don’t really harbor grudges."
"Yes and yes and yes," she nodded in agreement. "Seven is a neutral friend which makes him the perfect friend for you."
"Was that an insult, Mom?" I tried to clarify. What did she mean by Seven being a perfect friend for me?
"No, Cassy, of course not! What I meant was he would always be there. Even if you're angry or negative towards him, he'd still be positive or neutral towards you," Mom explained. "Now, let me get back to my point. Seven got over Gray's actions quickly because, yes, he accepted that these things do happen and because he looked at the now."
"The now?" I asked. My mind was too boggled to function, so simple references sounded complicated to me.
"The present," she replied. "He looked at what is happening rather than what had happened. Instead of looking at the 'Gray lied' part, he looked at the 'Gray came back' part."
My tears stopped falling. I stopped sobbing. I was starting to understand Mom's point, which was pretty clear and simple. She had a point and she was right. Why look at the past when it's the present that matters? Sure, the present depended on what happened in the past but the present justified the past. How could I not have seen that? Why didn't Seven tell me?
"But it's still your choice if you need more time to heal," Mom continued. "This is your present, Cassy. Control it!"
"Wow, Mom. I didn't know you had it in you. Thank you!" I thanked her then hugged her. "But, how did you know how Seven processed all that had happened? Are you some kind of psychologist now?"
"No, silly! Seven told me," she confessed, which surprised me.
"So, you knew all along? And you let me tell you everything, all over again?!" I felt so embarrassed, crying in front of her and all.
"I'm sorry, Cassy, but I had to know your side of the story," she explained. "I didn't mean to let you go through all that again."
"Oh, Mom, I can't get mad at you. At least, you gave me some things to think about," I told her.
Right after our little moment together, we ate dinner, and then watched some reality show about some normal girls trying to be top models or something. Of course, my mind was preoccupied by so many things that I couldn't really process anything, even the time. I've been thinking so much that I didn't notice Mom was already asleep beside me. I woke her up, turned the T.V. off, then we went straight to our own rooms.
For the rest of the night, I only had one thought in mind, "What do I wear for tomorrow's party?"
I really had no idea what to wear. I wanted it to be special for Seven's sake but I didn't want it to be too special that I'd outshine him. I was browsing my closet when I found my checkered polo which made me think about that night with Gray and Seven.
Now, two thoughts were running in my mind, "What do I wear for tomorrow's party?" and "Will Gray be there?"
"I'm messed up! I should just sleep for now and think about all of these tomorrow," I thought to myself. I cleaned myself up, brushed my teeth, and then went to bed.
I closed my eyes and tried to catch some Z’s but I just couldn't. Thoughts just kept piling up and piling up making my head restless. I was awake for well about an hour before I finally fell asleep. Before falling asleep though, I wished that I could dream the answers to my earlier thoughts. If only it was possible.
I woke up and found myself in the middle of a road, not a paved road but a dirt road. The sky was blue and the sun was up, staring at me. I stood up and looked around. North, I could see more road that led to two mountains; east, a forest; west, the ocean; south, more roads. "Where the heck am I?" I muttered.
Suddenly, I felt a tugging on my leg. I looked down and saw a small rabbit, about 2 ft tall; wearing a vest and a pocket watch, and it was standing upright. I wanted to be shocked by what I was seeing but my mind didn’t seem to process properly so even though I knew this rabbit was unusual, I thought it was normal.
He or it was saying something but I couldn't decipher. He was also pointing at his watch. "What are you saying? I can't hear you," I kept pointing out.
With one last tug, he looked at his watch and hopped away to the forest. Before he entered the vastness of the trees, he looked at me and waved, as if persuading me to go with him. Something inside me told me to come with the rabbit so I did. I followed him but he was just too fast. I lost track of him. The next thing I knew, I was, I assumed, in a clearing in the middle of the forest.
I looked around and saw a house, a single house, in the middle of the clearing. If I’m not mistaken, the house was made of candy. I came closer to the house and realized it wasn't just made of candy. The house was made of different kinds of sugary treats and pastries, candies, chocolates and bread. I was about to knock on the door for god knows why when I heard a voice from behind me say, "Stop! Don't do that!"
I looked back and saw a girl dressed in a red hood holding a basket. "Don't knock on that door. Always remember that. It's either you barge in or you don't enter. Just don't knock," the little girl said.
I was confused. Why was I going to knock on the door, anyway? And who was this girl in front of me. "Why?" was all I could mutter.
"A witch lived there," she replied, which shocked me. How could a witch exist in this world?! Wait, what did she mean by lived?
Without warning, she ran away. Immediately, I thought, "She might know how to get out of this forest!" So, I followed her, at least, I tried to. While running, she kept looking back so I was sure she knew that I was following her.
I didn't know how she was doing it but she was so swift. I kept on stepping on stones, roots and branches, which delayed me, but she just kept on running, as if there were no obstacles on the ground. Eventually, after running for who knows how long, I saw a light from afar. I assumed it was the exit that I was looking for so I aimed for it.
I ran towards the light. I didn't even notice that the red hooded girl was gone. I was too focused on getting out that I forgot about her. When I finally made it out, I found myself in front of a vast green field. In the distance, a house can be seen. Behind it was a tree. Not just any normal a tree, it was a tree that towered up to the sky.
"What the heck is that?!" I thought to myself. I couldn't believe what I was seeing. It was actually a tree that went as high as the clouds, maybe even higher.
I found myself getting closer and closer to the house and the tree, as if I was in a trance that compelled me to get there. But, I knew it wasn't a trance because I could still think straight. Before I could even turn back, I was already standing on the porch of the house, knocking on the door.
The door creaked open. I waited for someone to go out but no one. I planned on entering the house but I hesitated. From the porch, I called out, "Hello?" But nobody replied.
I turned around and walked away, trying my best not to look back. When I was a couple of feet away from the house, someone suddenly, I assumed from the house, said, "Hello?" Then snorted.
Snorted. The person or the thing behind me snorted, like a pig. I looked back to see what or who it was.
To my surprise, the house and the tree that were once behind were gone. However, there was a different house in front me. Not just one house, actually, three houses. One was made of straw, one was made of wood, and the last one was made of bricks. On the porch of each house was a pig standing upright. Collectively, there were three houses and three pigs.
I wondered if all animals here stood upright but I let go of the idea as soon as it came to me because it sounded so absurd.
"You're not the wolf," said the wooden house pig. I couldn't sense if he was frustrated or delighted to see that I wasn't the wolf, whatever that meant.
"No, I'm not," I replied. I was sure the confusion in my face could be seen from a mile away.
The straw house pig looked at me cautiously then turned its attention to the brick house pig. "You said, it was the wolf," said the straw house pig. "Snort."
"I thought I heard footsteps, so I assumed it was the wolf," the brick house pig explained then snorted.
"I think that was me," I interrupted. "But clearly, I'm not a wolf."
"We can see that," said the straw house pig. It waved his hands to my direction, seemingly, shooing me away. "Off you go, then. Snort."
In unison, the three pigs turned their backs at me then went back inside their respective houses. I was going to ask them where the exit to this place was but it was too late. They were already inside their houses and it seemed to me that unless I was a wolf, they couldn't be bothered.
"So far, I saw a formal rabbit, a candy house, a little red hooded girl, a giant tree and three little pigs," I said to myself as I backtracked. "What the heck did I eat last night?! Why am I seeing these things?!"
That was when I realized I was dreaming. "Oh my, this is just a dream! How was I not able to sense it?! All those weird things, they couldn't really exist, right?!"
After realizing that I was just dreaming, I closed my eyes and just hoped that I would just wake up. Suddenly, I felt myself float. I didn't dare open my eyes because I didn't want to see myself flying. I floated for about a minute or so before I felt flowers brushing up on my shoulders. I was sure enough that I wasn't flying anymore so I opened my eyes only to see seven, no, eight figures looking at me with a shocked and confused expression.
I figured I was lying down in some sort of glass box filled with flowers because when I tried to get up, I hit my head on the glass cover. When they, the figures, saw my stupidity, they immediately opened the box and helped me up.
"You - you're alive!" One of them said which confused me a whole lot. I've been alive for quite some time now.
"What?" I asked but nobody answered. "Where am I, exactly?"
"You're in Grimoire," a deep male voice replied. I looked at the direction of the voice and saw a dashing royal-looking man. He looked very familiar but I didn’t know him. "Grimoire is the name of this land," he continued. "You're specifically in the house of the seven dwarves, but you already know that."
"I'm sorry?" I was so confused by everything. "Grim-war?"
"Yes, Grimoire," one of the dwarves answered.
"None of that is important," said one of the dwarves who looked mightier than the others. I assumed he was their leader, or the head dwarf, or whatever. "What's important is Snow is awake."
"He said my name," I thought to myself. "At least, my nickname."
"But, she doesn't seem to be in a very good shape," said another dwarf, the one wearing yellow clothes.
"I agree," said another dwarf, the one wearing green clothes.
"WAKE UP!" shouted the red dwarf. "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!" He kept on shouting. Suddenly, everyone was shouting, "WAKE UP! WAKE UP! WAKE UP!"
I was so dazed and confused that I just covered my ears, closed my eyes and curled in a ball, hoping that everything would just end.
And it did.
Silence echoed. It was the best silence I've ever encountered. "Finally, peace and quiet," I thought to myself.
Just when I thought no more disturbances would occur, my body started shaking. However, it was a different kind of shake. It was as if someone was shaking me. Then, I heard some kind of noise, no, a voice but it was muffled so I couldn't really decipher what it was saying.
"Cassidy, wake up!" Finally, I figured out what the voice was saying. I opened my eyes, got up and saw my mom sitting beside me with a surprised look on her face.
"What happened?" I muttered, while scratching my eyes. "Were you shaking me?"
"You were moaning," she replied. "I went here to check up on you and saw you moaning and sweating like crazy. Were you having a nightmare?"
“A dream?” Suddenly, I recalled my dream. "It wasn't really a nightmare, just a really complicated dream," I said, wiping off my sweat using the blanket. "There was this rabbit who had a pocket watch, a house made of pastries, a girl with a red hood, a giant beanstalk, three pigs, a prince and seven dwarves. How crazy was that?"
"Very," Mom said, her voice fading. She had a very dazed look on her face, as if she was trying to remember something and was shocked at the same time. She was just sitting there beside me, her gaze unbreakable.
"Mom?" I tried to snap her out of her daze. "Mom?"
"Huh? Yes, honey?" She finally came to. "What was that?"
"What happened to you?" I asked her. "I was just telling you my dream when suddenly, you looked out the window but your expression was blank. It was like you were in some kind of trance."
"Oh, nothing," she hesitated. I knew she was lying but I was already too bothered by my dream that any more mystical thing would make my head explode. "You should prepare. You still have a party to attend to," Mom reminded before leaving my room.
"Oh yeah, what time is it?" I thought to myself, as I took my cell phone from the bedside table. I turned the display on and was about to check the time when I noticed I had 18 unread messages. All, but one, of the messages were from the same unregistered number. I didn't know who the number belonged to so I hesitated in opening them but I felt like I had to so I ended up opening them, anyway.
I didn't know if my phone was broken or if the person who sent the messages was crazy because every message contained only one letter. Plus, each message was sent within a 15-minute period. The first message was sent at 10:24 PM, the next was at 10:39 PM, the third was at 10:54 PM. It was all so bizarre.
The first message contained the letter "H". The next one had "A". The next two messages had "P" so I didn't know if those were just double sent or what. The fifth was "I". Was the sender trying to spell something? Why not just - wait. Maybe he was trying to spell something.
Collectively, the letters read... H. A. P. P. I. L. Y. N. E. V. E. R. A. F. T. E. R.
"Happily never after," I mumbled. "What could this possibly mean?"
Those were the 17 messages. I thought the 18th message would come from the same number but it didn't. The last message was from Gray. I thought hard whether I would open the message or not. I hesitated so many times. Then I remembered Mom's point last night. This urged me to open the message.
"Can we talk?"
Ending Theme:
Avril Lavigne - Alice
Trippin' out, spinnin' around
I'm underground
I fell down
I'm freaking out, where am I now?
Upside down
And I can't stop it now
Next chapter: The feeling of fireworks
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