Chapter 1 A Mere Dream

I woke up in a white room sleeping on a brown couch. I couldn't recognize the place. It had a familiar smell, like cherry blossoms. Sure it was cherry blossoms. I turned around to see pale white curtains surrounding a bed just a few feet away. Suddenly the smell of cherry blossoms washed away, and another strong wave of chemicals tickled my senses. It smelled like antiseptics and synergies. I recognized the place, a hospital room, pretty sure it was, by the looks and smell of it, but I don't remember coming to the hospital, and who could this ever possible on the hospital bed be related to me?

I slowly took small steps towards the bed as a sharp wind blew out of nowhere, and I saw a hand, veiny and muscular, with a tattoo going all the up to the arm. All types of machines surrounded the bed, and their beeping sounds soon took over my body.

But through all this chaos, I heard someone call my name. It was lighter than a whisper and kept coming from outside. I turned around and walked to the door. I still heard it calling me, Nora...Nora...Nora... so soft that anyone could drift away with it.

I held the doorknob in my hand for some moments before opening it, and I don't know why I was scared to open the door, to see what would be behind it. I gathered the leftover courage in me and opened the door it led to an empty corridor.

I felt the corridor strangely familiar. I heard my name spoken again. I turned to my right to find a shadow on the walls, disappearing in the dark. Suddenly it hit me that it was my school corridor.

"I remember being in the hospital room. How did I reach here?" I murmured under my breath.

I was just figuring out how and why, and that's when I suddenly felt a shiver from the neck to the toe of my body as if someone's eyes were on me. A gush of fear ran through my cold blood... an icy shiver, like frozen blood, running in my veins. I sensed danger.

The door behind me slammed shut before I could even turn around. It was so loud that I jumped in fear. Scary. A lot.

I turned around and tried to open it, but soon I released I was wasting my energy. It's deadlocked. Soon realized the doors were different from before..? I looked up, and it said "Library".

"What?" I murmured in confusion.

How did I reach here? Or was the hospital room inside the library?

I frantically opened the doors thinking maybe the man would still be inside on the bed. Soon as I opened the doors, my feet went cold, and my hands were numb. I-I- was in a kid's play area, and they were all in white hospital clothes. The kids didn't look cheerful but gloomy and silent. As if they possed some undesired aura or dark secrets.

But just one kid caught my sight, with those somber blue eyes, and pearl white hair. He stood out from everyone. He looked at others like he Yearned to be with them. No, he wanted to be them. His eyes locked mine and for a few seconds, I experienced the most grief feelings of life, and tears just rolled out of my eyes like there was nothing to stop them. I brushed my hands over it, but it was no use.

"Why am I crying?"

The wind rushed in within the rooms. I just closed my vision to avoid to blew myself off my ground. Just seconds...few seconds until the sight in front changed as if nothing was there before, no children, no white clothes, no blue eyes.

"What is happening here?"

I was in a library, an old library.

I looked around me, it looked like it was my school, but don't remember having a library this old though.

And I knew one this that I wasn't alone here too. I was pretty sure, I did see shadows on the corridor walls and heard my name called. Someone must have to be here.

"Is anyone here?" I called out as I walked through the old raged bookshelves of that library. No response.

I walked through the shelves, and all the books were arranged in colored order. It looked beautiful. But suddenly, something caught my eyes.

There was a blue book on the red shelves of books. It also was sticking out. I took it out. It was covered in dust as if nobody had touched it for years, I blew off most of the dust and patted the rest off the book, but it didn't have any title, and it was more like a...dairy? Its pages were torn out and brown, old.

I flipped through all the pages, but it was mostly empty until, in between a few pages, I saw something written in black ink. I flipped back a few pages to find that writing and found it. It had my name on top and just a message written below.

Nora,

Hope we meet again soon.

Who would write this and why?

The question lingered in my mind for a long time. My heart began to race fast, and I could feel it in my throat.

I dropped the book, not knowing why I suddenly sensed someone's presence behind me. I could see someone's shadow falling on the shelves in front of me as I looked up from the book. The air started to feel heavier with each second.

A scent lingered in my nose, cherry blossom, just like when I was in the hospital room. I could hear breathing need my ears, I closed my eyes shut out of fear of what's gonna happen next. He spoke my name with such a gentle voice...Nora.

I almost fell into it and turned around to see a black pearl eye looking staring into my eyes. The whole face was hidden in dark, but those eyes were holding something mysterious in them. I felt a gentle touch on my face before I was sucked up into reality.

I woke up in bed, the walls were painted bright green and had plant veins crawling on the ceiling. It was my room. A faint voice tingled my ear, and slowly the density rose. I was hearing my brother calling my name.

I turned my head to the way the voice was coming and saw him...concerned for me?

"what's up?" I spoke.

"what's up u ask?? I have been calling you for a long time. You didn't respond even when your eyes were opened wide like a monkey. Are you sure you are okay?"

Was I awake the whole time? Then that was a dream, a mere dream