I am on my way home, just walking on the sidewalk. The air is clear with its chilly feeling. I am thinking about what Megan said to me back in school. About Billy always taking my money and threatening to beat me up. Even Mrs. Thatcher was worried about my fear of Billy the bully.

“Why am I so scared of him?” I ask myself.

I smack myself on the fore head.

“Oh come on!” I lower my hand back down. “I am not afraid of him. I just…I just get what he wants even if it is my homework. I just get what people want so they won’t beat me up, or worse, but I don’t know what’s worse than being bullied,” I say.

I am half way home when my eye sees something by the street light. It is an old shop. It has a creaky old door with a glass window on the top of it. The shop has two more windows with the front door in between them. The windows on the shop look very dirty. I can barely see the inside of the shop.

It is none of my business to sneak into the shop, but I want to see what’s in there. So I cross the street looking both ways with no cars in sight. I continue walking to the shop. I look through one of the dirty windows. All I can see is the dirt on them. I cannot see inside the shop.

“Who would want to live in a place like this?” I ask myself.

Then someone is honking at me with their vehicle. I turn around to see who was getting my attention. There is an adult in his mid fifty’s is in a red van. His hair is brown like mine but he does not have enough on his head. His glasses are round and his clothes are blue with a tie around his neck shirt.

“Coming dad!” I wave at the man in the red van.

I walk to the red van, open the right door and sit on the front seat. No one else is in the van. Just me and my Dad. Before he drives away, I see the back of someone in the shop and he or she walks away in the darkness. I am wandering who is in that shop. The red street light turns green. I close the right side of the door. My dad drives away from the shop.

“Daniel, I got a call from Mrs.…Mrs.…” my dad seems like he does not know the name of my teacher.

“Mrs. Thatcher,” I correct him.

“Oh Right.” My dad nods. “Anyway, she said that you have been drawing in your sleep…Again,” my dad says to me.

I know that if I lie to my dad he will figure out sooner or later, but for now I just don’t want him to worry. Considering that I’ve been drawing in my sleep for as long as I can remember.

“It was not me. It was Billy,” I lie.

I still think I should blame Billy even though I know that it is wrong to lie. My dad has no idea who Billy is.

“Billy? Who’s Billy?” he asks.

“He’s my…” I pause for a moment.

“Just a boy in school,” I say to forget the conversation.

But my dad never intends to forget any conversation with me.

“Well I am positive that he did not draw anything inappropriate…did he?” my dad asks.

“Of course not dad, it was just a tiger,” I answer.

“A tiger?” my dad asks.

“It was just a human tiger that is so huge. About 9 feet tall, he’s muscular and he is always showing off his lean body. I think his name is Tigeron, he is half-human and half-tiger he is so big and strong…” I stop explaining because Dad looks confused.

“Daniel.” My dad turns to me than back to the road. “It seems that you know more about those drawings than this Billy,” says dad.

“Billy told me everything about his pictures,” I say to my dad.

“Pictures? You mean he drew more than one?” asks dad.

“Yes he has been doing it ever since we moved here. For two weeks Mark,” I lied.

My dad sighs very slowly.

“Daniel, how many times have I told you to call me dad, and not by my name?” asks Mark.

“Sorry Mar- I mean dad,” I say.

Mark clears his throat. “So is this Billy some kind of bully?” asks Mark.

“Y-yes. Yes he is,” I answer.

Mark notices Megan walking on the side walk.

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“Hello, Megan Dale!” he says to her as he waves and Megan waves back.

I roll my eyes. “Dad can you call her Meg?” I ask.

“Why,” asks Mark.

“I just want to call her that on my birthday tomorrow,” I answer.

Mark, my dad nods. “Ok. Unless that is what she wants?” asks Mark.

“She does,” I say.

“Ok then. Meg it is,” says Mark.

We drive into the drive way and park just in the right spot. My house is wooden brown with a white door frame and a window above the door. It has two levels. I walk to open the front door. I enter the living room, then into the kitchen, then Mark’s and Diana’s bed room, and then up the stairs.

The living room has a wide dark green couch and flat screen TV a few feet in front of it. There are brown wooden book selves on the right side of the TV, and family pictures on top of them. I look at a bunch of family pictures. One picture has Diana, my mom, and Mark, my dad with me when I was a baby in Diana’s arms. Another picture has me when I was eight and running with Mark on the grass. Another picture has me when I was thirteen and blowing my candles on a vanilla round cake. The last picture is a family picture of me, Mark, and Diana. We are all smiling.

I walk across the hallway and into my room. It has a window on the ceiling. There is a shelf with a few Marvel Legends action figures on it, a TV, a VCR, a Bluray player, a home phone, and some DVD’s. None of them are above rated R or even R rated, just some PG-13 and PG movies. All of my movies are fantasy, war and family types. I walk towards my bed to lay on it. I’ve never felt so tired in my life.

I lay my head down on my pillow and close my eyes to rest a bit. Then I wake up. I notice the clock says nine AM. I have been sleeping almost all day. I did not know that I could sleep for that long.

I sit up and yawn. I spot a white paper on my bed in front of me. It has a picture on it. It is a red dragon. I see two more pictures on my bed. One is a Merman with blue hair and a blue fin. The other one is a buff lion Gargoyle. I know how these pictures got in my room. I must have drawn them in my sleep again. I have to hide the pictures before dad or mom sees any of them.

There are only three pictures in my room so it isn’t going to be hard to hide them. I grab the pictures and crumble them up like paper balls. I turn to my blue garbage bucket. I am about to put them in the garbage when my cell phone rings. I answer the phone.

“Hello,” I say.

“Hi Daniel, its Megan calling,” says Megan.

I put the drawings in the garbage.

“H-hello Megan what’s up?” I ask.

“I was trying to call you for the last six or seven hours. Where have you been?” asks Megan.

“That’s weird,” I say.

“What is?” asks Megan.

“I didn’t even hear the phone in the last few hours,” I answer.

“Really, how long were you asleep Daniel?” asks Megan.

“I think it was...” I rub my head. “I think it was almost all day. I think,” I say.

Megan scoffs in the cell phone. “Get real. That’s almost thirteen or fourteen hours ago,” says Megan.

I shake my head.

“Never mind the time, so how’s Billy?” I ask just to be sure.

Megan sighs in the phone. “He is still angry at you for blaming him for your drawings. Yes he found out,” answers Megan.

“Is that a good thing?” I ask.

Megan’s tone begins to sound tense. “Of course, if you want to get a black eye again,” says Megan.

I shake my head. “Look it’s my birthday. I’m turning sixteen. So I’ll see about having a party with you and our friends,” I say.

“Awesome. Are Paul and Spencer coming to your party too?” asks Megan.

“Nnn…” I pause for a moment. “I don’t know,” I say.

“What do you mean you don’t know, we’ve know them since first grade?” Megan asks.

“Because I only want to invite cool people, not nerd’s or geeks,” I say.

“Daniel, you’re better than that,” says Megan.

“You don’t know me at all!” I shout.

“Sure I do. We’re neighbors,” says Megan.

“I don’t see what the big deal is. You’re invited too you know,” I say.

“But I’m not cool. I wear a robe. So do you. What’s the real reason for not inviting Paul and Spencer?” asks Megan.

“Because they are nerd’s and geeks,” I say.

“You know them since first grade. You can’t be that selfish on your birthday,” says Megan.

I lower the phone and turn to my garbage can with the paper balls. I just stare at them.

“Daniel you better not have hung up on me!” says Megan on the phone.

I shake my head and raise the phone back onto my right ear. “Sorry Meg, I’m just so nervous today and scared too,” I say.

“What are you so nervous about? Is it Billy?” asks Megan.

“No not at all. It’s just that something is going to happen. I just have a feeling that something is going to happen on this day,” I answer.

“Is the feeling good or bad?” asks Megan.

I rub my head and lower it. “I don’t…don’t know.” I raise it back up. “Maybe both, I don’t know,” I say.

“Don’t worry about it. Just enjoy you’re B-day and please invite Paul and Spencer. You’ll regret it if you don’t,” says Megan.

“I’ll think about it. I probably will. Sorry for being a bit selfish,” I say.

“It’s all right. Happy Birthday,” says Megan.

I hear her hanging up the phone. I hang up the phone too. I sigh and rub my face to try to feel relaxed. I walk down stairs and into the kitchen. Diana, my mom, is making some breakfast. She is cooking eggs, bacon, and toast.

“Happy birthday Daniel,” says my mom.

I sit on a wooden chair by the table.

“Mom?” I ask.

“Yes?” Diana asks back.

“You don’t have to do that,” I say as she is making me breakfast.

“Do what?” asks Diana.

“Make breakfast for me. I can just have some cereal,” I answer.

I do not want her to work too much because she worked so much yesterday. She works at Home Depot. They don’t pay her very much. But her boss is really nice to his workers, especially to Diana, my mom.

“I don’t have to make you breakfast, I just want too,” says Diana as she puts the toast, eggs, bacon, and the glass of orange juice on the table.

“Here you go,” says Diana.

I stare at the food.

“Aren’t you going to have some?” Diana asks me.

I look away from the food. “I’m not hungry,” I say in a bored tone.

Diana sits on another wooden chair by me. “Honey what’s wrong? It’s your birthday and yet you look a little miserable. Why?” she asks me.

I want to tell her about blaming Billy, but I am afraid to tell her. So I try to change the subject.

“Where’s dad?” I ask.

“How’s school?” asks Diana.

“Can I put up the decorations?” I ask.

“Would you like some honey with your toast?” asks Diana.

“Mom, if we keep this up we won’t have enough time to put up the decorations,” I say to her.

“Well, we better get started.” says Diana as she walks to the closet and gets out some balloons.

“My party starts at nine,” I say.

Diana places the boxes of balloons on the table. “Oh, we won’t be here at nine. I am going on a date with your father and we will come home at eleven,” says Diana.

The thought of her and my dad staying late makes me think of a late party. “Oh Well that’s…that’s…cool,” I say.

I look back down at my breakfast and begin eating the eggs.