Walking, not able to catch his breath as he walked on the jagged grass path, a weight on his body made it difficult to continue walking. Only able to see the path under his feet, he continued this struggle and walked, pain with every step, as if he had been walking forever on this trail, leading to a light for which he could bask in again. As the path didn’t end, his pain did neither, forgetting why he was there. With this feeling grew a more present feeling of something important that slipped his memory. The longer the path extended, the more unending it seemed. What was bugging him? He must have forgotten something—something he needed, something… It was probably nothing important. As the path continued, the pain in his chest continued to worsen. Knowing only one thing, he continued on the straight cobble path, not knowing wh… Slowing his pace, he looked at the path he was on—wasn't it grass? His vision started to get fuzzy, pain striking him, his chest feeling like it was about to burst from the pressure coming from inside. Falling to the ground, he clutched his chest, pounding coming from within as he tried to breathe in and out, in and out. Why was he here, where was the pain coming from, what was the path he was following, and who was he? Those thoughts being glossed over as his chest and body continued to grow in pain, falling further to the ground, only able to just feel the pain growing and growing without stopping, only able to lay there. His body soon becomes numb with pain, his vision fades, and the path he followed seems to shift and change into the darkness as he closes his eyes. The feeling of darkness encloses on him the pain he was feeling in his chest starting to leave. All feeling seems gone, like he’s floating in a sea of darkness, complete bliss with a mixture of discomfort like he lost something soon forgetting the thought as he embraces it. He hears something, a voice calling, what was it, can’t it just leave him alone, but it persists until—BEEP, BEEP, BEEP rising from his bed, eyes opening, a cold sweat drips down his body, his alarm continuing to beep giving him a headache. “shut up,” he sighs, clicking a button on his alarm.

Groaning he gets up out of his bed, his headache continuing to persist, going to his dresser he quickly puts on a red t-shirt and pants and moves to the door of his bedroom. Opening the door, he can smell breakfast being made downstairs being able to hear the crackle and pop of the bacon on the pan, “Philip are you finally awake, come down quickly and have breakfast so you can be ready for the bus, you need to go soon.” he grabs his phone and heads down the stairs, getting closer and closer to the source of the smell, he walks into the kitchen, light from a window blinding him for a second making him squint, “Hurry and eat breakfast you need to go soon, you can’t be late for school.” School, the thought seeming worse than his still persistent headache. Though his summer break wasn’t really any better, comprising staying inside and watching TV. Philip sits down to eat his breakfast, his mother sitting down with him, “Your second year in high school, you excited to go back,” Philip thinking about a reply while eating his breakfast says, “It will fill my time at least since the summer was kind of boring.” His mother, hoping for a better answer, decides not to pry and continues to eat her food, quickly finishing she gets up from the table and puts her dishes in the dishwasher, “Today I won’t be able to pick you up from school so you will have to take the bus,”, “Ok,” he says in a monotone voice, looking around the doesn’t see his dad anywhere, “Mom where’s dad,”, “He’s just asleep he has to get to work early today,” His dad has to work nights so this isn’t anything surprising to him. Finishing his food he puts his plate in the dishwasher and starts moving to the door, grabbing his bag that was sitting on a hook near the front door, he grabs his brown winter coat, a large coat that was worn out in some parts but does its job of keeping him warm well, he goes to a window and looks outside. Snow can be seen covering the area, patches of green grass scattered randomly, going back he grabs his shoes and puts them on. A thought then strikes him, what was that dream, but as fast as the thought came to him he seemed to have already forgotten the contents of the dream only making him more curious about it. He stands up ready to leave, “Bye mom, I’m leaving now!”, “Bye honey!” walking out the door, a chill touching his cheeks, he starts his walk to school.

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Walking on this path everything seems to be the same as last year, he has walked this path many times over since the start of high school, the path never getting easier. Listening to the sounds as he walked, hearing the rustling of the few leaves on the trees that still had them, the crunching of the snow under him as he walked. Getting closer to the bus stop the same thing happens, he feels tired losing his breath as his heart beats faster, but this was fine this has happened before and he’s just tired from walking. Looking ahead, he can see his bus stop, him feeling more and more out of breath as he gets closer. He walks up to the bus stop, standing in the same place as he did each day when going to school, it all still boring to him as the last time he was there. Other students that go to his school show up, him being more than aware of them, his heart still beating hard, but this is nothing new to him and like last year he will be fine none of them are aware of him or the others so he shouldn’t care. In the corner of his eye he sees the bus finally coming, it parks, and he walks to get on, going up the stairs he goes to sit in the seat he would sit in last year, but there is someone there, a bad feeling wells up inside him, but he ignore this feeling sitting in a different seat and looks out the window. The bus stops at different streets picking up more students, Philip just hoping no one sits beside him. Philip ends up falling asleep as the bus goes to school, feeling the turns and shaking of the bus. Thinking back still curious about the dream he thinks harder on it, was he in a forest, no he was in a cave, everything coming up to a blank except the one thing, he remembers needing something and looking for something in the dream, his thoughts get interrupted with a big bump of the bus waking him up. Looking out the window he can see the bus moving into the parking lot of the school lining up with the other buses. Philip grabs his bag and as the bus stops he stands up, moving out of his seat and down the stairs of the bus, a bad feeling welling up again in his chest as he walks through the doors marking the start of another year and the start of school.