ahead. He wouldn’t be released so soon. And what am I doing out in public like this, at a Thornsdale football game? It’s not even football season.
I scratch the small patch of eczema on the inside of my wrist and feel nothing. I’m dreaming. Which means at any second, something frightening will appear. A skeletal, white-eyed man will show up and attack these people and my classmates and this crowd. Only it won’t just be a dream. I have no idea how it works. Dr. Roth didn’t give us answers. All I know is that my dreams have a direct impact on real life. My brother is proof.
Pete stops a few steps ahead and hands one of the hot chocolates to somebody I can’t see. When he sits down and pulls a blanket over his lap, the person I can’t see comes into view.
“Leela!” Her name explodes from my mouth, equal parts joy and desperation and relief all encompassed in a two-syllable squeak.
Unlike Pete, she hears me. In fact, she looks at me as soon as her name escapes.
I run the short distance Pete walked, then stop suddenly in front of her. I have no idea what she will do. Leela and I might have been best friends once-upon-a-time, but that was before she found out I had been lying to her about my whereabouts after school every Monday. I told her I took piano lessons when I was really seeing Dr. Roth, my own personal shrink at the Edward Brooks Facility. I brace myself for the cold shoulder. Instead, she throws the blanket off her legs and wraps her arms around my neck.
She squeezes the air out of me, and when she lets go, her brown eyes are warm and friendly and every bit as excited as I feel. Oh, how I’ve missed my friend. Her excitement quickly morphs into alarm. She grabs my elbows and yanks me down into a crouched position, as if this will hide me from the crowd. “Tess, what are you doing here? The police are looking for you. If anyone sees you, you’ll be reported!”
“Leela, it’s okay. Nobody is going to see me.”
“What happened? Those guys—they came and took you and then you were gone. Your mother was in a panic. And now you’re on the news. Tess, you can’t be here.” Her voice grows increasingly freaked. She looks around again and spots a patch of teachers beyond the student section. “Principal Jolly called the whole school together for this big meeting and told everyone that if any of us have any clue where you might be, we are required to report it. The police interrogated almost everyone.”
As Leela panics, Pete sits under his half of the blanket with a blank look on his face, staring mindlessly off into the football field. I ache to talk to him. To ask how he’s doing. How our parents are doing. But I understand now that this isn’t Pete. This is a figment of Leela’s dream. Leela’s version of Pete doesn’t see me. He can’t interact with me. Only Leela can, because somehow, I have entered into Leela’s dream. I have no idea how it works, but it has to be it.
A puzzle piece clicks into place. This is not the first time this has happened. I visited Summer Burbank’s dream once, only at the time, I thought I was visiting Luka, because up until that point, I had only ever visited Luka. It all makes sense now. The Luka who was making out with Summer and completely ignoring me was never really Luka at all, but Summer’s wishful thinking.
“Nobody else can see me but you. This is your dream.”
“A dream?”
“Yes.”
She lets go of my arm, her face transforming into a mask of skepticism. Her attention flicks to Pete. Disappointment floods the brown of her eyes. It’s no secret she has had a crush on my brother since our first day at Thornsdale High School. Only she never got to meet the real Pete. She met the sullen, surly Pete, the one being controlled and influenced by a darkness he didn’t know existed. Now, thankfully, he is safe. He is my brother again. Maybe Leela will get to meet that Pete soon. “You mean this isn’t real?”
I don’t want to dash her
I scratch the small patch of eczema on the inside of my wrist and feel nothing. I’m dreaming. Which means at any second, something frightening will appear. A skeletal, white-eyed man will show up and attack these people and my classmates and this crowd. Only it won’t just be a dream. I have no idea how it works. Dr. Roth didn’t give us answers. All I know is that my dreams have a direct impact on real life. My brother is proof.
Pete stops a few steps ahead and hands one of the hot chocolates to somebody I can’t see. When he sits down and pulls a blanket over his lap, the person I can’t see comes into view.
“Leela!” Her name explodes from my mouth, equal parts joy and desperation and relief all encompassed in a two-syllable squeak.
Unlike Pete, she hears me. In fact, she looks at me as soon as her name escapes.
I run the short distance Pete walked, then stop suddenly in front of her. I have no idea what she will do. Leela and I might have been best friends once-upon-a-time, but that was before she found out I had been lying to her about my whereabouts after school every Monday. I told her I took piano lessons when I was really seeing Dr. Roth, my own personal shrink at the Edward Brooks Facility. I brace myself for the cold shoulder. Instead, she throws the blanket off her legs and wraps her arms around my neck.
She squeezes the air out of me, and when she lets go, her brown eyes are warm and friendly and every bit as excited as I feel. Oh, how I’ve missed my friend. Her excitement quickly morphs into alarm. She grabs my elbows and yanks me down into a crouched position, as if this will hide me from the crowd. “Tess, what are you doing here? The police are looking for you. If anyone sees you, you’ll be reported!”
“Leela, it’s okay. Nobody is going to see me.”
“What happened? Those guys—they came and took you and then you were gone. Your mother was in a panic. And now you’re on the news. Tess, you can’t be here.” Her voice grows increasingly freaked. She looks around again and spots a patch of teachers beyond the student section. “Principal Jolly called the whole school together for this big meeting and told everyone that if any of us have any clue where you might be, we are required to report it. The police interrogated almost everyone.”
As Leela panics, Pete sits under his half of the blanket with a blank look on his face, staring mindlessly off into the football field. I ache to talk to him. To ask how he’s doing. How our parents are doing. But I understand now that this isn’t Pete. This is a figment of Leela’s dream. Leela’s version of Pete doesn’t see me. He can’t interact with me. Only Leela can, because somehow, I have entered into Leela’s dream. I have no idea how it works, but it has to be it.
A puzzle piece clicks into place. This is not the first time this has happened. I visited Summer Burbank’s dream once, only at the time, I thought I was visiting Luka, because up until that point, I had only ever visited Luka. It all makes sense now. The Luka who was making out with Summer and completely ignoring me was never really Luka at all, but Summer’s wishful thinking.
“Nobody else can see me but you. This is your dream.”
“A dream?”
“Yes.”
She lets go of my arm, her face transforming into a mask of skepticism. Her attention flicks to Pete. Disappointment floods the brown of her eyes. It’s no secret she has had a crush on my brother since our first day at Thornsdale High School. Only she never got to meet the real Pete. She met the sullen, surly Pete, the one being controlled and influenced by a darkness he didn’t know existed. Now, thankfully, he is safe. He is my brother again. Maybe Leela will get to meet that Pete soon. “You mean this isn’t real?”
I don’t want to dash her