As I stretched out, I felt the grass spring back underneath me, the thick blades cushioning me like a bed. I breathed in, smelling the scent of dew and fresh rainfall. It was peaceful, and I felt comfortable, my body relaxing as I laid there. At the same time though, I got the feeling that it wasn't trustworthy… Something was off. I had this feeling like I had been doing something important, something I had to remember but… I couldn't… quite… hmmm… what was I thinking about again? I feel like… ahh, that’s fine. 

How… odd… I took in another deep, long breath, calming me. I guess if it was that important, I'd remember it eventually. More importantly, where was I? I slowly opened my eyes, wincing at the sudden brightness of the sun. I glanced around, taking a long look at my surroundings. At first glance, I could see that I was laying atop a small hill on a prairie field, the sun just having risen. I continued scanning around, seeing only rolling green hills, stretching as far as I could see. I turned, looking to my right. There was a sea of tall, thin trees, reaching up into the sky. It was a deep forest, and even at a glance I could tell they were absolutely ancient. I turned to my left, where I saw a small town, awash with activity as people bustled about. The town was built around a wide moat, and behind that there was a small castle. Its walls were glistening in the sun’s rays, its towers and ramparts elegantly and proudly standing out, while at the same time seemingly being immaterial… as if it was made of diamonds. 

Looking around I searched for… Well, I wasn't sure what exactly. Something made me feel worried, and I knew I had to find it soon. I frantically searched for it, my eyes flicking back and forth. I felt like it was a matter of life or death, and the faster I found what was wrong, the better. As my eyes scanned my surroundings, I heard it, the sound of massive footfalls hitting the earth. Then I heard a thrumming ringing, as the sound of a bell's toll echoed over the hills. My head whipped around as I looked for the source of noise… but there was nothing. I looked around and around but there was nothing except… Wait… what was that in the forest? I narrowed my eyes and strained to make out more. There was definitely something moving in there, and as it got closer I saw and heard trees getting knocked over. Gods, it must be absolutely massive! Wait… I could make out more now, it looked almost like… eyes? 

Then before I could think another thought, a huge scaled beast exploded out of the forest, tearing out several trees, and digging several deep grooves into the earth. Its head was bigger than a car, and it pounded along the hills on four muscular legs, covered in brown and green scales. Its eyes were filled with rage and hunger as it loped along straight towards the diamond castle, and the town surrounding it. It was then that the gates to the castle opened, and a knight atop an armored horse raced out. He raced over the bridge spanning the moat, rushing through the town and charging straight towards the beast. 

As he got closer my eyes widened as I took him in. He was massive, and intent on the monster in front of him, his gaze unwavering. He had a huge lance, which reflected the sunlight making a halo around him as his horse galloped along. It was enough to make any normal opponent just give up. The only issue was… he wasn't facing a normal opponent. Even atop the horse, and as massive as he was, he was only a quarter the size of the scaled beast. He was outclassed in every metric, and yet, as he rode closer he lowered his lance and braced himself. The knight sped up even more, the long legs of the warhorse tearing up the ground as even the air itself parted in front of the lance. The beast roared, its mouth glowing red with flames. The hills echoed with the sound of their roars and war cries and then…

A screeching noise ripped through the air and my eyes snapped open. I shot up in bed, smacking my head on the ceiling painfully. Sucking in air through my teeth, I rubbed the top of my head and frantically looked around for the source of the noise. My heart felt like it was beating a million miles a minute, and my eyes finally snapped over to my phone which was glowing and shaking. I cursed and reached out, turning my alarm off.

 Groaning, I plopped backwards and smacked my hands on my face. Every night I swear I get so close to that final fight. I needed to see the end, but I just could never manage to. I go to bed early or even set my alarm later but every time… sigh.

I crawled over to the edge of my bed, careful not to smack my head on the ceiling again. Having four other brothers, two sisters  and a small house meant my parents had to get creative with bed ideas, hence the invention of the triple bunk bed. As the middle child, it also meant I was forced to sleep on the top bunk. Carefully I clambered down the ladder past the other empty beds my brothers slept in. I had set my alarm later hoping that I could catch that final fight, so I had to really rush to get ready for school. I threw on some shorts and a t-shirt, and then I raced down the stairs. I ran into the kitchen and made myself a bowl of cereal, before plopping down at the table and digging in.

“Slept in late again, have you been staying up all night, or should I be worried cross country is busting your ass too hard?” I looked up as my mom walked into the room. 

“Sorry, just been trying to really get rested up for that big race this saturday, but I’m okay I promise. Just a lot has been on my mind lately.” Smiling, my mom pulled out a chair and sat down across from me.

 “That’s okay, your brothers and sister already headed to school on the bus, so no need to wait up for them. I’ll see you after practice today?” I forced a smile, and nodded as I finished up the last of the cereal. Of course I'd see her after practice. Not like she didn’t already know that, she saw me after practice every day. I didn't have very many friends. It wasn't like I was rude to anyone; I just preferred my silence and peace… besides it’s not like I was really itching to be the center of attention like that.

 Well… until it came to running at least. I wasn't the best runner that the school had, and I didn’t win any races, but I placed high enough to get us some decent wins. That wasn't the reason why I ran though. It was something where if I worked hard enough, I knew I could get better. If I showed up to practice every day, I could feel myself getting faster, stronger, and better. The only issue was, I just… wasn't made for it. I was average height, and put on muscle like I was a weightlifter. When I got on that start line, I was the shortest guy there, but still outweighed everyone by 50 pounds. For an endurance runner, I was built like a sprinter who lifted weights and wrestled on the side.

I finished up the last of the cereal, and ran over to the sink and washed off my bowl before placing it in the dishwasher. I raced over to the door, grabbing my keys, school bag, and shoes. Damn I still had to finish my homework before class… ugh, at least the teacher always collected all the homework last, I should be able to get most of it finished before she collected it.

I leaned my head back and yelled, “Bye mom! I’ll catch you after practice! Love you!” I smiled as I heard her yell that she loves me too, and to be careful… right as I closed the door.

I raced down the stairs, careful not to trip and fall. I still had the bruise from the last time I did that… I swear there was a crack in that last step. I unlocked my car and got in, throwing my stuff in the backseat. Turning it on, I glanced around the empty inside. It wasn’t a very cool car, hence why my siblings never ended up coming with me in the mornings. I couldn’t blame them though, it's hard to be cool around your friends when you get dropped off in a minivan. I didn’t ever complain though, my mom and dad covered gas and insurance, and I needed to get home in something after practice. Not that I didn’t overhear my teammates' side comments. 

That was fine, they meant well I think. Despite being on Varsity, that didn’t really make me a popular kid. Probably because of how awkward I was… Wait, I didn't need to think about that right now just… drive drive drive, because if I started thinking about all of that, I might not stop, and then I’d end up spending the first class remembering all those times I messed up in the past like when I accidentally…

Before I knew it I had pulled into the parking lot and made my way inside. It was a public school in the suburbs, not all that old but definitely not new. It had about four thousand kids give or take, and if you saw someone in one class it was more than likely you’d never see them again. I made my way to the library and found a quiet corner in the back and pulled out my homework. Alright, first I have to finish these short answers and then I have a bit of calculus…

I finished up the last sentence right as the passing period bell went off, the loud rings dragging me back to reality. Damn it, I’d have to finish my calculus during my third period class. My first class was AP World History, so the teacher unfortunately paid attention to the class. It was my only AP class, but it was pretty easy, and hey free college credits. I usually had to rush my calculus in my English class when the teacher wasn’t looking. Mr. Rutherford usually didn't even care even if he did catch us on our phones. At least I'd be doing homework this time. 

I dodged around the rest of the kids in the library as I made my way out, giving the librarian a wave. I still had to return some of the books I'd checked out, but I still had another week before any late fees started accruing thankfully. My world history class was on the other side of the school so I’d make it with a couple minutes to spare if I really rushed. Even though I was a runner I hated running to class though. Everyone always gave me weird looks and laughed at me as I sprinted by. So not worth it.

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As I ducked around people in the halls, being forced to slow down around the clicks of popular kids and sports teams, I let my mind wander. I thought about going back to my dreams, but discarded the idea. They always changed, and sometimes I was in rolling fields with a diamond castle like last night, sometimes I was in a desert, scorching hot with a great vulture and a wyvern fighting in the sky, or even other nights I was watching a troop of men struggle to take down a massive golem on a snow capped mountain range. I never was able to stay asleep long enough to see the end of the dreams, though that wasn't for lack of trying. I always tried to imagine a cool ending, but they never felt exactly right. If I tried to daydream about any one of those, I'd just be disappointed like always.

Still, it was worth a try, and hey, maybe I’d get better at it over time. Sitting down I closed my eyes and tried to go back to that dream… as the knight and beast fought I imagined the slash impacting its side, denting its scales and causing the beast to grunt in pain. It opened its mouth and blew green flames at the knight, whose horse backed up and reared back, throwing the knight off. As he hit the ground and rolled he turned to me, his eyes glinting through the slits in his helmet. He held out his gauntlet, and as I reached out my hand… I was startled back to reality as the final bell rang and my teacher stood up. 

It was AP World History, so I felt as though I didn’t really need to pay much attention to what was going on. After all, the class was only as important as the AP test which I needed to pass at the end of the year. I was already at a B so as long as I didn’t bomb the final and turned in my homework I’d be fine. Okay… two more hours of this and then I had an off period so I could finish up that calculus before my next class… Lazily I looked out the window, half listening as the teacher rambled on about what life was like back in the 1800’s. I stared out the window at the school's parking lot and beyond that the football fields and track. I wonder what the workout was today? Probably a 6 mile run like always, it was a wednesday after all. 

Looking back I glanced at all the people in class. It was actually a pretty diverse class unlike what most honors classes were. There were a couple big kids that were on the varsity football team that were half paying attention as well, some full on AP honors kids that were attentive to every word our teacher was saying, a few artists that were doodling in their notebooks, and a couple of the more popular kids. I actually recognized most of them from Junior year, I guess they just took the recommended AP class like I did. Turning back to the window I stared out at the… giant field? Blinking in surprise, I leaned back in my chair and widened my eyes at what I saw outside. Where was the parking lot? The hell had happened to the stadium and track? All I saw now where they used to be, was a large grassy field, and what looked like a forest to the side.

“Is there something wrong?” Snapping around I looked back at Mrs. Fletcher, my jaw agape, they were only half visible.

“I’m sorry but…”

“OH MY GOD WHERE’S THE PARKING LOT!?” One of the popular girls, Traci, screamed out before I could finish what I was saying. As the whole class rushed to the window, I shakily stood up and backed away from them. They were all slowly disappearing before my eyes, and they were looking more and more like ghosts. The grassy fields that I’d seen in the parking lot were really  shimmering now, switching back and forth between the school parking lot and the fields.

Okay this can’t be that bad right? I mean this could just be a dream or something right? Maybe I’d actually fallen asleep before class like last week… I quickly turned around looking back at all of my ghost classmates. I saw Mrs. Fletcher run up to the door and open it, before gasping and falling backwards. Oh no… maybe this wasn't a dream. My mouth went dry as I watched everyone running around screaming and panicking. What the fuck was going on? Why did they all look like ghosts, and why the fuck was I just standing there watching them all slowly disappear? 

*ERROR ERROR, SPECIMEN INFERIOR. CANCELING SUMMON PROTOCOL FOR OBJECT. REJECTION OF BLAND OBJECT WITHIN SUMMONING PARAMETERS. CONTINUE SUMMON PROTOCOL ON THE OTHER SUBJECTS.*

I stumbled back as the message flashed in front of me in bold red words. Summon protocol? Inferior? I glared at the words and yelled at them, “Inferior!? Excuse me bitch the fuck you mean by that, and while you're at it, what the fuck are you doing to them!?”

I stomped around the message yelling at it and demanding that it give me back my classmates. I did that for what seemed like hours, but it still just floated there, seemingly mocking me. Then it suddenly popped out of existence, being replaced by a new giant message. 

*SUMMON PROTOCOL COMPLETED. SUBJECTS WERE SUCCESSFULLY TRANSPORTED TO NEW WORLD. BEGINNING ERASURE PROTOCOL.*

I yelped in shock and leaped back. Erasure protocol? Oh gods was it going to blow up or something? I frantically looked for cover, but right as I started running, the message turned bright white blinding me. I tripped on something and fell, hitting the ground hard. There I laid, curling up into a ball and waiting for the explosion to hit me. I guess I'd die quickly since I was so close to it. Oh well.

“The hell are you doing bro?” 

I frowned at the voice, didn't they know we were all about to die? Jeez, would it kill them to at least try to find cover or something? As a matter of fact, they actually sort of sounded like my younger brother. Same annoying tone of voice, same sense of self importance, same… wait did they just call me bro?

 I shot up and opened my eyes. I was in the classroom again, like nothing had happened. No floating messages talking about protocols and calling me inferior, no classmates frantically running around, no Mrs. Fletcher, just an empty classroom. Well, except for my little brother. I whipped around and grabbed him by his shoulders looking him in the eye. 

“Where is everyone Tucker? What happened to the floating message? Why did it reject me? And most importantly, am I bland?”

Startled, Tucker pushed my hands off his shoulders and stepped back with his hands raised, “Are you tripping or something? I never pegged you for that since you're in cross country and all, but nice. When you come down, hit me up, I want some.” Grinning, he winked and started to turn away before I stopped him.

“Look, I'm being serious, Tucker. Where's Mrs. Fletcher? And Sarah, Barry, Kirie, Jeremy, and all the other kids in class?”

Tucker's grin slowly faded, “Who are they? Are they your cross country buddies or something? And who's Mrs. Fletcher? Your first period teacher is Mr. Abraham, you forget or something?”

I folded my arms and shot him a glare, “Ha ha very funny, but seriously where’s Mrs. Fletcher and everyone? I know she teaches you second period so don’t even act like you don't know her name.”

“Dude what's your problem? If you don't believe me just wait around a bit, Mr. Abraham is probably just going to the bathroom. You can ask him about these ghost kids damn.”

I narrowed my eyes at him, but took a seat regardless. Even if the others were taken seamlessly, that doesn't take away people's memories of them. They were Varsity players, AP students, state gymnasts, and a teacher that had been here for literal decades. She'd literally taught my older brothers, there's no way that a dude was gonna walk through that door. It was all just a dream and a prank…

At least that’s what I tried to convince myself of at least. I stared at the door, waiting for Mrs. Fletcher to walk back in so I could smack my brother for being a dick. Then I saw someone's shadow and held my breath. “Please oh please be Mrs. Fletcher,” I muttered under my breath, my eyes straining.

It wasn't Mrs. Fletcher who walked in. It wasn't even another student. It was a tall, dark skinned man holding a large stack of books. He was muttering to himself about exams and test scores and as I kept on watching, I felt more and more unnerved. As he walked over to Mrs. Fletcher's desk my mouth went dry. I knew what was going to happen, but I still wasn’t prepared to watch him pat the seat before sitting down. He set down the books in front of himself and finally looked up, his eyes landing on me. “Young man, what are you still doing here? First period ended ten minutes ago, so you’re late for your second period class. Please don’t make me have to send you to the Dean's office.”

I wish I could say I was surprised by that and sat there with my mouth wide open, demanding who he was and where the rest of my classmates were, but instead I just leaned back and sighed. Oh who was I kidding, the hell was that going to do? Get me sent to the deans? Sent home? Or worse… a visit to the school psychologist. The thought made me shiver. No, definitely not the time or place to make a scene. Maybe I could talk to their families? Or try to talk to the cops? Ugh was there anything I could do?

I got up and said goodbye to Tucker, who was snickering at me. Gods that blabbermouth was going to tell everyone about this before I even got home. Knowing them all, they’d probably be waiting for me in our room when I got home. What a real headache. I waved to “Mr. Abraham” before walking outside the classroom. I was really starting to get fed up with this bullshit. I had an off period, so I didn’t have to get to class for another hour and a half. The final bell rang and I sighed, putting my hands in my pockets and walking to the doors. It was time to go get something to eat and relax in my car. Maybe things will start to make sense then. Ugh today really was going to be a long one… I wish I could just skip ahead in the future and be at cross country already. At least that was something that made sense. Something that I could zone out and feel free doing again. No more shimmering grass fields, no more giant floating words, just my feet pounding the concrete again. Yeah… that was all I needed… I just needed to get back into the flow again. I’d go drive up to McDonalds, grab myself a quarter pounder with cheese, and relax. 

And yet… that was still a whole class full of people. I’d known some of them for years. I couldn’t just forget about them. How could I just go back to living a normal life? Dammit what was I even going to do? Has this ever even happened before? Maybe I could go to the school's computers and look that up. Okay, plan it out. First, obviously, quarter pounder with cheese. No… make it a double- quarter pounder. I needed it after today’s nightmare… Damn it… Honestly… was I really bland?