July 3, 2020

I woke up.

Literally woke up.

I was drenched in sweat, and my head pounded. I felt dizzy and was struggling to breathe.

I was in my bed.

I was in my bed?

I was in my bed!

I was in my bed?!

I was bewildered and confused and almost scared of what my mind had just created.

No, it couldn't have been a dream. It couldn't have. I remember being stuck there for years!

I grabbed my phone. I could touch things again.

And I opened up the calendar.

It was on July 3. I had only been asleep for a night.

Of course, you guys probably guessed this. I told you it was a dream after all, but I had no idea I was dreaming.

I stood up from my bed and walked out of the room to the bathroom.

I looked at myself in the mirror.

It was me. I could see myself again.

It was the middle of the night, almost 3 in the morning, so every single light in the house was turned off. I was asleep for less than 3 hours.

I paused and looked at myself in the mirror again.

This time, the lights seemed to flicker, and a shadowy figure appeared beside me in the mirror. I inhaled sharply and practically sprinted out the door.

I ran to my room and could see the figure slowly float out of the bathroom, and to me.

I slammed the door shut, and hopped into my bed.

I grabbed my phone and pointed the luminescent light at the door.

Nothing was there.

I began to hyperventilate again.

When I got a message.

It said, "Hello? Is this Lauren?"

I almost threw my phone across the room I was so scared.

What if it was a stalker? A creepo? I always did have a terrible fear of strangers.

"Hello?" I responded in a message, "This is Lauren. Who are you?"

I glared at my phone in anticipation, almost too scared to see how they would respond.

"It's Luke." The message said.

I was in shock.

So it wasn't a dream?

But was it?

I was too confused to know or even guess.

"You're from my dream?" I texted back.

"Yeah. It worked. I can't believe it." Luke responded.

"Was it really a dream?" I asked.

"I don't know. I have to guess maybe." Luke texted.

"I don't know how we're supposed to figure this out." I texted.

"Maybe we don't need to?" Luke responded.

"Wdym?" I texted.

"Maybe, we could just assume it's fate. And learn more about each other. If it's the same Lauren from my dream, then we're friends." Luke texted.

As much as I would've loved to ignore it, just keep living my life, I should've known deep down that I couldn't ignore it.

But I went along with it anyway.

"Yeah. Well, we don't know much about each other in terms of background. Where do you live?" I texted him.

"Bar Harbor, Maine. You?"

"Cincinnati, Ohio. Yay."

"That's the most pathetic YEE HAW I've ever heard."

"Haha"

"What school?"

"I go to a private school in Cincy."

"I go to public in Mount Desert. I couldn't be more excited about the next chapter we're working on in class tomorrow."

"Wdym? Do you go to school in the summer?"

"What? What do you mean? It's September."

"Haha, very funny. Even if it were September, why would you be going to school, we're in quarantine."

"Wdm? Quarantine was two years ago..."

"I am cracking up. Very funny."

"I'm not kidding..."

Something, deep inside me, knew that he was telling the truth.

But how? How would this even be possible?

"How old are you?" I texted him.

"14," he responded.

"Then...are we the same age?"

"Want to get on a call?" he asked.

"Sure. FT?"

Not a second later, I got a call from him.

I saw his face, it was definitely Luke alright.

"Hey." I said, awkwardly.

He smiled and said, "We should just start with what's important. Are you saying you live in 2020?"

"Yeah... are you saying you live in 2022?"

"Most definitely. I know I'm not in quarantine."

"Well, then how is this all working?" I said, confused.

"I-I don't know..." he said.

I tried to keep calm while I processed this information. It was almost too much to handle. I felt like I was going to have a panic attack.

Just when I was about to answer him, the screen started to glitch, then showed the shadowy figure.

I dropped my phone, and then looked around me.

On every single reflective surface, I saw the shadowy figure. It was the tall form of a woman with a hood, who had no legs, and only a floating shadow beneath where she should be standing.

In the mirror, on the knobs, on my phone, on my computer, it was everywhere.

I crouched back in fear and heard nothing, other than the labored breathing of whatever was outside my door.

"H-h-hello?" I said shakily.

I heard a sharp inhale.

Then all around me turned neon green. And I covered my eyes in fear.

Then I felt my conscience fade.

________________________________

I woke up, and my room and everything was normal.

Had I dreamt of everything?

I struggled to emerge from my bed.

And walked out into the hallway.

The sun was shining, as it was 7 in the morning. I had slept terribly and was in disarray.

My everything still ached and my head still pounded steadily.

"LAUREN!" I heard my mother scream.

Suddenly, my senses were heightened and I was as awake as I'd ever been.

I sprinted to my parents' room and stopped at the door.

"LAUREN, CALL THE AMBULANCE!" my mother screeched.

"What's going-"

"JUST DO IT! YOUR DAD ISN'T RESPONDING!" my mother said.

I was suddenly stabbed with fear, and my eyes widened.

Why had all this happened to me?!

I sprinted to my room and snatched my phone, and quickly dialed 911.

"Hello?!" I said through the phone.

A voice responded and asked what the emergency was.

I screamed to come to our house with an ambulance.

Not 2 minutes later, an ambulance was at the front of our house, running inside to my parents' room.

My brother and sister were now wide awake, and standing next to me by my parent's bed.

Amber was sobbing and my brother was just staring at my father confusedly.

I was crying too because it felt too scary to be real.

My dad wasn't waking up.

Ever.

It was all a rush.

The ambulance was there, then the police.

And I just stared at all of it in fear.

By the time everyone had left the house, it was silent.

I was instructed to watch my brother and sister, while my other family went to the hospital.

I just stood outside the front door and stared.

Stared at nothing whatsoever.

Still in shock of what had happened to me.

Then, just one moment, I broke.

I told myself that I was going to be fine.

That my dad is in a better place now.

That we'll get through this somehow.

That I'll be happy.

That's when the lies got worse.

I trampled up to my room and laid on my back.

And stared at the ceiling.

I stayed like that for a while, then I grabbed my phone and looked at it.

I opened up calls.

And there it was.

Luke's call.

It was real.

All of it was real.

I stood up from the bed and looked in the mirror in my room.

And next to me, was the shadowy figure.

Wispy and black as ever.

With a smirk on her face.

Almost proud of what she had done. I only looked at the figure in anger. Not in fear.

And from that day on, my life was forever different.