After I finished brushing my teeth, I rushed to my room and swung my door open. When the door opened, I found a long gift wrapped box with a sealed envelope lying on my bed. Naturally, I grabbed the envelope first to see what it contained before opening the main present. I tore open the envelope and saw a folded note that was laid inside.

Unfolding the note, I read, “To my dearest Jeremy, Inside this box you will find a very special item that was specifically crafted for you. I hope you enjoy this gift as much as I enjoyed making it. Make sure to keep it close to you everyday, you’ll need it. Love, Alice B.”

“Strange.” I thought to myself. Have you ever had a dream that you know something is off, maybe an inaccurate time on a clock or reading a book that does not make any sense. Well that is how I felt about this note, not necessarily thinking it was fake, but thinking it was, well… off. For one, the note was written in print, whereas all the other letters Alice has given me were written in cursive. Secondly, her signature was different, the “i’ in “Alice” was dotted though she never dots the “i” in her signature. I thought about this for a few moments before setting the note down and opening my present.

I tore the wrapping paper off of the long cardboard box, after the it was off, I opened the cardboard box that the gift laid inside. As I inched open the box, laid inside was a long sheet of velvet that wrapped around another object. I tossed the cardboard box aside and started to unwrap the velvet, inside was a sword. This shocked me, my mom would kill me if she saw I had this. My mom was very protective of me when it came to weapons, she never let me touch, let alone own a sword. I knew if I was caught with this sword, my mom would take away everything I owned. I quickly wrapped the sword back into its velvet casing and threw it under my bed.

“But why would Alice get me a sword?” I thought to myself, “She knows how my mom hates these sorts of things.”

I turned my light off, climbed in my bed and fell asleep. The sword stayed in my head all night, I could not stop thinking about how angry my mom would be if she found it hidden under my bed. I woke up the next morning with tired eyes, barely getting any sleep because of the sword. The moment I woke up, I noticed Wilbur was laying at the foot of my bed, “How’d you get in here, boy?” I asked him expecting a response, but alas, he only laid there and snored.

I got up from my bed and started making my way to the kitchen. My mom was preparing breakfast for us, the air was fumed with biscuits and gravy, this smell made me happier than I was moments earlier. The thought of the sword left my head instantly as I smelled mom’s cooking. She gracefully walked through the kitchen with a tray full of freshly baked biscuits as she spotted me in the hallway.

“You're up awfully early Jerry!” She said with surprise.

“I am? What time is it?” I asked.

“Seven o’clock, usually you’re up around nine, especially in the summer.”

“I guess I must've gone to bed earlier last night. Wilbur tired me out from our walk” I said jokingly. She smirked and sat a plate of biscuits and gravy on the kitchen counter, “Well you can finally have some fresh-baked breakfast for the first time in a while.” she said with a smile. She set a fork next to my plate and started to prepare a plate for herself. I grabbed my plate from the counter and walked with it towards the dining table. As I sat at the table with my plate, Scout stood up from his bed, hobbled his way over towards me, and sat next to my chair. I scratched his head and passed him a piece of my biscuit. He ate the piece of biscuit with a smile on his face, and continued to wag his tail. When Scout finished the piece of biscuit, I started hearing the sound of Wilbur’s nails clicking against the wooden floor.

He was making his way down the hallway lazily in hope for a scrap from the breakfast table. When he arrived at the table, he sat down next to Scout, whining for any scraps of food. I broke another piece of my biscuit off and handed it to Wilbur. He gulped down the biscuit, nearly taking my fingers with it, I pulled my hand back from the pain of his teeth against my fingers. He left my hand covered with his slobber that I wiped off on his head. At that moment, mom walked around the corner and said, “No wonder you’re getting so skinny, you're feeding all of your breakfast to the dogs.” I laughed and continued eating my breakfast. She sat down at the table and started eating her food as Wilbur started whining at her.

“Oh! Honey. The mail you brought in yesterday, it had letters for Alice. The mailman must’ve gotten confused again. Would you take it to her after breakfast?” I nodded in agreement as I was almost done with my meal. “Thank you. Also, speaking of Alice, did you open the present she gave you?” My blood ran cold as she asked this question,

“Oh, no. I had forgotten. I’ll open it later today after I bring her the mail.” I said trying not to stutter through my nervousness.

“Forgotten? About the present? That’s not like you, are you feeling alright?” She asked with worry in her voice.

“Yes, I’m feeling fine. I was just so tired last night, and must’ve forgotten all about it.” I felt the sweat dripping down my face as I responded.

“Well, I hope you’re not catching a cold. If you need anything, just ask.”

As she finished her sentence, I got up from my chair and started walking towards the kitchen, “Thank you for the breakfast mom, I really enjoyed it. Well I better bring that mail to Alice.” Before she could respond I grabbed Alice’s letters, and dashed through the front door.

I sprinted down our driveway towards the road and started to head to Alice’s house. While walking I heard the sound of birds crowing overhead, they were perched on the telephone pole, staring at me, as if they were watching me. They flew away once I made eye contact with them. I had never seen this type of bird before. They were a vibrant red, such as a cardinal but much larger, they were about the size of a raven. I admired the birds as they flew away before I continued my trip to Alice’s house.

I finally approached Alice’s driveway after a few minutes. I walked to her front door and knocked on it a few times; I waited ten seconds or so before I rang the doorbell. Still no response; I rang the doorbell again and checked to see if her truck was in the driveway. Her truck was parked there, so she must have been home. I rang the doorbell one more time before opening the door and walking inside. When I set one foot inside her house, I smelled a horrendous stench. As soon as it entered my nose, I gagged, almost losing my breakfast, “Alice?” I called while covering my nose with my shirt. I saw a trail of blood that led to the kitchen, the sight made my knees weak, my heart started to pound through my chest. “Alice?” I called once more. As I turned the corner to the kitchen, I saw her lying in a pool of her own blood. Her chest was full of stab wounds, blood was splattered throughout the kitchen. When I saw this scene, tears filled my eyes, my stomach started to ache and churn, it felt like my entire body shut down as I fell to my knees sobbing. I quickly got myself to my feet and reached for my phone. I reached my hand into my pocket but felt nothing, I had forgotten to bring it; I was in such a rush.

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After seeing such a bloody scene I ran back to my house. As I opened the front door, I yelled to my mom, “Alice was murdered!” She was relaxing on the couch then turned towards me with shock in her eyes. It did not take long before she grabbed her phone and dialed 911, as the phone rang, she hugged me and told me everything would be alright. The police arrived soon after the incident, they investigated the scene while asking me and my mom questions. Tears were falling from my eyes as the police and detectives were asking me questions about the murder, most of which I could not answer I was so hysterical. After the investigation, the police told us we were free to go, and that we would have to show up for court as witnesses if they ever caught the suspect. We were escorted home by the deputy.

As we walked to the entrance the deputy patted me on the shoulder, I looked up at him and saw his face was odd. I thought it might have been the tears in my eyes so I wiped away my tears. When I looked back up at him, he was already making his way back towards his car. I stared at him to see if he would turn around, but it seemed like he was trying to hide his face from me. He walked towards his car and opened the door and sat in the driver’s seat. He closed the door, and I never made out his face. Shortly after he drove off, my mom grabbed me by the arm and pulled me inside the front door. That night, no dinner was made, not that I was in the mood for it anyway. The sun set and I started getting ready for bed, Wilbur was making himself at home on my bed, practically taking up the whole bed. I turned my light off and put on a movie, “Scoot over Will.” I commanded Wilbur, but he would not move. I climbed in bed and pushed him out of the way, as I did so, he growled at me, “Oh stop.” I said as I lifted the blankets over Wilbur and I. I felt sick, I had just lost my only friend. My body started to quiver in sorrow and hatred to whoever had taken her life. Then for some odd reason, my despair and anger lifted from my mind as if someone were comforting me. I stared at the movie for a while before my burning eyes started to drift off.

Suddenly, the world around me faded to black, “Hurts, doesn’t it?” a gentle, yet eerie sounding voice said. Quickly turn to the direction of the voice, standing in the black void was a tall woman, her hair was a very dark purple, almost black, her hair fell well past her shoulders. She wore a long sleeved black dress, the sleeves were laced with images of ravens. Her skin was a lighter shade of purple than her hair, and her eyes glowed with a bright red. I felt as if I have seen this lady somewhere before, I dug deep in my memory, then it hit me, she had the face of the deputy who patted me on the back.

I looked at her in shock, thinking I was dreaming. I shook my head trying to wake myself up, “What?” she asked as if I were the crazy one “Haven’t seen a woman before?”

“You’re th-”

“The deputy, the birds, your guardian. Whatever you want to call me sweetie. Now let me ask again. Hurts, Doesn’t it?” She interrupted me.

“Y-yes, yes, it does.” I said with fear still in my voice.

“Well? What will you do about it?” She asked as if I had an answer. “Don’t you want justice?”

“Yes.” I said with a more confident voice.

“Good answer. Remember that little present I gave you yesterday?”

I thought for a moment and said, “The sword?”

“Mhm. You catch on quick. Now, I need you to read what it says on the sword, and then, you can have that justice you want so badly.”

“The sword says something?” I asked.

“Yes! There’s a little poem that’s written across the blade, I need you to read it, and then, you’ll be able to find the person who has killed your neighbor.”

“B-but I d-”

“But what, there should be no question about it” She ran towards me and grabbed the collar of my shirt, I could tell she was getting annoyed at my questions, “Read the sword and then we can have a talk after!” She shouted in my face.

After she said this the room faded back to normal, the movie was still playing on the TV. My heart was pounding and sweat was dripping from my face, I turned towards Wilbur but he seemed unaffected by the encounter, maybe it was just a dream. Nonetheless, I reached under my bed in search of the sword. My hand brushed up against the velvet sheet the sword was wrapped in. I grabbed the sword and lifted it up on the bed, this sparked Wilbur’s attention. He started sniffing the velvet sheet the sword had been laid in, he quickly made it his new favorite bed and curled up on it. This was my first time actually looking at the blade. I admired it for a while, it truly was beautiful. The blade looked as if it was made from platinum, the handle and pommel were made from what seemed to be gold, they even had small gems engraved inside of them. I searched the sword for any words, I turned the light on, and something grabbed my attention. Words were sketched across the bottom of the blade. I read aloud, “The blade of dreams will cut through your false sight; the one who sees will have truly been taken by the night.” I read these words expecting something to happen, yet nothing did. I hung my head in disappointment and set the sword back under my bed. I turned my light off and laid back in my bed. As I laid there, I felt a pain in my hand. I took a gander at my hand and sure enough, I cut myself with the blade, “No wonder mom doesn’t let me touch weapons.” I pulled the blankets over my head and tried to get back to sleep.

After a few minutes of lying in bed, I noticed the TV had shut off. The room had gone cold. I felt freezing, when I opened my eyes, I saw I was no longer in my bed, I was in a field of grass. My heart started to pound, I tried to convince myself it was all a dream, but it all felt so real. I started to panic, but then like a flash, all my worry faded away, It was like I was being comforted by nothing. As my nerves calmed, I stood up, I felt heavier. I looked down at my clothing and saw I was not wearing my pajamas anymore, but I was wearing some sort of cloth armor. My legs started to shake from the weight of the armor and equipment. I looked down at the ground in front of me, I saw the sword Alice had gotten me was lying there. I picked up the sword and noticed it started glowing a vibrant shade of green as I picked it up. I looked down at the belt that was wrapped around my waist to see if there was a sheath for the sword, sure enough there was. I slipped the sword into the sheath and took a look around. I noticed a cobblestone path that led to a kingdom, one that you would see in a fairytale. The more I looked around the more real it felt. I looked around the field I was lying in and noticed that I was not alone. I saw something shaking in the grass, I quickly drew my sword and approached the shaking grass. As I got closer, I saw the familiar face of Wilbur. He was rolling around in the grass, when he spotted me, he yipped for joy. “Wilbur, I’m so glad you’re here!” I quickly picked him up and gave him a kiss on his nose. I set Wilbur down and walked to the path of cobblestone, “Well Wilbur, I guess it’s off to the castle we go!” Wilbur barked, and with those words, we started our way to the kingdom.