I immediately got up from the bed and rushed towards the mirror. No matter how much I examined my arm I couldn’t find any trace of a scar or evidence that I nearly lost a limb a few moments ago.
Although I felt physically fine, I was mentally beaten. I slumped into my computer chair and pressed my face into my hands, in a futile attempt to avoid the nagging suspicion that started to appear in my head. The creeping thought that just maybe, everything I’ve been experiencing the past few days wasn’t just a simple dream. It was all real.
I took a sharp breath as I just sat there dazed staring at my reflection.
I needed answers. I needed to know the truth of this whole situation.
I walked over and grabbed my phone from the bed, sifting through the countless social media notifications looking for a reply to my message. Finally, I found the replies I was looking for, all of which were sent at 11 at night while I was struggling in my dreams.
“Sorry I was busy last night with Tatiana :P”
“We’ll talk more at school tomorrow.”
I couldn’t help but roll my eyes. Of course, he was with his girlfriend last night...
“Sounds good. Talk during lunch?” I finally replied.
When I checked my phone earlier I noticed it was five in the morning, which meant I could start getting ready for school.
Even though I tried to focus my thoughts elsewhere, my mind was distracted as memories of each fight replayed themselves in my head.
By the time I realized it, I was already standing outside waiting for the school bus. I thought I’d be like this the entire day, but when I entered the bus someone I didn’t recognize caught my eye. Although I didn’t talk to anyone on the bus, since we all went to different schools, I was confident I could recognize anyone there in a typical police lineup.
I wasn’t sure if I just wanted to escape my thoughts about the dreams, but it seemed like my body and mind were drawn towards the passenger. As if every fiber of my being wanted to give my full attention to them.
I didn’t want to seem creepy, so after I sat down I slightly edged upward in my seat until my eyes were peeking out above the cover. I found my breath instantly taken away.
A teenager with extremely pale skin was staring at me intensely. I wanted to hide in my seat with shame, but her light yellow contacts seemed to hold me in place. Black hair stuck to her pale skin, and I found my eyes and thoughts wandering the longer I kept eye contact with her.
She was definitely a senior because she gave off an aura of maturity that was practically nonexistent with underclassmen.
It suddenly occurred to me that I was being extremely rude.
I slid down into my seat and groaned internally. That was so embarrassing…I cringed at how blatantly I was staring at her. You’d think I’ve never seen an attractive woman before by how I acted. I gave a glance to the person across from me hoping they didn’t see me gawking at the girl in the back.
Instead, I was surprised to see that I wasn’t the only admirer of the mysterious stranger. Unlike me, however, the guy had no shame in his blatant staring and seemed frozen in place.
At least I wasn’t the only one being creepy.
The bus finally arrived at my school and once I exited, I couldn’t help myself from taking another glance at the now departing bus.
The girl’s yellow contracts were focused on me as they deeply contrasted the dark window she was staring from.
Why was she wearing yellow contacts in the first place? I didn’t mean to be judgmental but it did seem a little weird. I chalked it up to some phase she was going through.
As the bus drove off, the girl was still staring at me and by this point, I went from feeling flattered to creeped out. Her contacts left a deep impression in my mind as the bell started ringing signaling classes would start soon.
----------------------------------------
The familiar taste of peanut butter and jelly-filled my mouth while I followed through with a refreshing glass of milk.
It was always loud during lunch, as everyone in the school got together in their respective friend groups to chat away.
Unlike the majority of the people in the room, the only person I could call my friend was Erik.
We’ve been best friends since middle school and originally had a friend group to call our own. Most of our friends ended up moving to different states and we were too young to have phones at the time so we have no idea what happened to them.
However, two people at Oakland High switched up as soon as we started high school…
I felt myself scowling and turned my attention to Erik as he walked over with a tray of food in hand.
“You know you could’ve sent a text message like a normal person right? You interrupted my sex playlist and I was on beat too.” Erik laughed as he placed his food down.
“Dude I didn’t need to know about that.” I slightly shuddered at the thought of Erik having sex. I just couldn’t imagine it.
“Anyways…The message wouldn’t have come across the same if you read it. Besides I needed you to take me seriously.”
“You know I’m just fucking with you. I’m always here to listen man.”
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“Whatever man. I’ll forgive you when you finally introduce Tatiana to me.”
Over the summer Erik started messaging this e-girl and ignored my advice about trolling them because it seemed like some catfish scenario. Luckily for Erik, it turned out Tatiana was completely real and she was incredibly hot.
She was a 5’11 athletic redhead and was a really sweet person according to how highly he spoke of her. Honestly, I couldn’t have left my best friend in better hands. The only reason I know what she looks like is through the pictures Erik sent me when they originally started talking. She even planned on going to the same college as him too.
“I promise you’ll get to meet her in a few weeks. I’m planning on taking her on a nice date in town and announcing our status on social media for her birthday.”
“Alright show off we get it. You’re in a really good relationship, no need to showboat for us loners.” I rolled my eyes.
“You have life on easy mode man. You’re tall as fuck, you’re not ugly, and you’re still pretty athletic. You could get any girl in the school, let alone when we head to college and you realize how to take advantage of your looks.”
“I mean I guess you’re right. I haven’t worked out or ran in forever, although I plan to change that soon. Anyways you’re distracting me, I called you because I need some serious advice.” I moved my food tray to the side and put my arms on the table to convey my seriousness.
“Lay it on me.” Sensing the change in tone, Erik stopped playing around with his food.
“This is going to sound crazy but…I started having these really weird dreams. It’s just like those web novels we read, I got my own system and I have to fight monst-” I was interrupted by Erik laughing hysterically.
“Shut up I’m completely serious right now.” I gave him a look that forced him to wipe the tears out of his eyes and at least tries to take me seriously.
“I wouldn’t have told you about this if these dreams were that simple. This shit is a whole other level of lucid. The air, the grass, everything feels real. The past two days I’ve died twice and get phantom pain all over my body from even the slightest wound. So imagine how it feels to die twice, wake up and feel the very thing that killed you.”
“Are you messing with me right now? Your joke isn’t funny man.” Erik still wasn’t taking me seriously…
“I’m not kidding around man. Seriously what if everything I’ve experienced is real Erik. Think about it.”
“If I’m being honest it seems like you need to put the novels down man…” Erik chuckled to himself and I scowled at him.
“I guess since you’re scowling you must be serious.”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” I replied somewhat offended as Erik took the opportunity to continue eating his food.
“That’s like your telltale sign when you’re annoyed about something…You do it all the time without fail...I bet you’d suck at poker.” Erik replied between each bite of his food.
“Can you please stay on topic?” I groaned at him before he finally relented.
“Alright alright…On the off chance those dreams are real, you need to start acting like it.”
“Thank you captain obvious.”
“Don’t sass me when you probably haven’t bothered to test whatever powers you gained outside of the dream,” Erik asked while he cleaned a small stain off his glasses.
“Now that you mention it…I’ve never really bothered to try. Honestly, I just try to avoid thinking about my dreams and the pain associated with them.”
Erik turned around and I followed his gaze towards the clock. We still had half an hour left for lunch.
“Alright let’s use our senior privilege once I finish eating. For what we’re about to do, we don’t need to attract any unnecessary attention.”
We quickly finished our food, and I followed Erik to the main office where we signed out. Normally everyone would just leave without notifying the office since we were basically adults, however with all of the missing people the school started taking our privilege seriously due to liability issues.
With twenty minutes remaining of our free time, we headed towards the nearby park. There weren’t that many people there, just some random joggers or a few parents spending time with their kids. We moved away towards a more secluded area where no one would likely wander around.
“I’m surprised you went this long without activating your system.”
I took a deep breath and found myself growing nervous. What if I was just making a big fool of myself this whole time? What if it was real an-
“Dude we don’t have all day. Just do it.” Erik impatiently spoke.
I willed my status screen into existence.
Status
Name – Connor Bishop
Class – Fighter
Skills – Strong Strike.
“Holy shit…” I felt my jaw open in shock as I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
“What happened?”
“It worked Erik! I’m not a crazy person it worked!” I manhandled my friend as I tried to process the implications of this.
“Okay okay get off me! You know you still look crazy to me right?” Erik managed as he squirmed in my grasp.
“Wait you can’t see this floating blue screen?”
“Nope, what does it say?”
“My name, class, and singular skill called [Strong Strike].”
“What about your stats, experience, and skill level? What about paths?” Erik questioned.
“No matter how often I checked my status, I never saw any information about that stuff.” I scratched my head.
“Weird…Usually systems are supposed to come with stuff like that, at least in the stuff I’ve read. You can’t even cheese stats or skill levels, how are you supposed to get stronger...”
Erik started looking around the park for something. Suddenly his expression brightened and he motioned me to follow. We walked over towards a tree stump.
“What exactly does your skill do?” He asked.
“Whenever I use it, it just makes my attacks stronger than normal. I’ve only really…wait you want me to break that stump right? You can’t be serious Erik?” I chastised his recklessness.
“Relax it’s just some casual destruction of public property. Nothing too serious, besides your dad and mom, are both in professions that could resolve anything that goes wrong.”
“There’s nothing casual about…whatever man I’ll do it.” Frustrated at Erik’s reckless I threw my hands in the air and walked over to the stump.
Should I even go with this guy’s antics? I was mostly confident that my dream was real by this point, but there was still room for doubt. Although I saw my status screen, the very act could’ve been the result of my subconscious attempting to make me seem less crazy.
Maybe I was going crazy.
“Five minutes Connor.” Erik reminded me as he checked his phone.
Whatever this was my one chance at closure. It was do or die.
I got in a fighting stance and practiced how I was going to punch the stump for a few moments.
I was still nervous, but there was excitement just underneath the sensation.
I activated [Strong Strike] as I threw a punch at the former tree. This wasn’t just a simple attack, as every feeling I’ve experienced the past few days was let loose with this strike.
The confusion. The fear. The frustration.
I took it all out on the tree stump as the familiar dull light surrounded my fist before it made contact. A quiet boom sounded out that caused some of the birds in the area to take flight.
My fist stung from the splinters that exploded from my handiwork, and I knew I’d have to come up with a story for the school nurse and my parents.
More importantly, my mouth gaped at the fist-sized indentation left in the wood. I stared at Erik and saw he was left just as speechless at what just happened.
It wasn’t just a dream. It was real.
“Holy shit I should’ve recorded that! You’re a superhero!” Erik rushed to me and started chatting a few miles per hour. I didn’t blame him, this revelation was earth-shattering.
I mean how exactly was I supposed to proceed with my life now that these abilities weren’t just a figment of my imagination?