My Sweetheart

two

I wake up in a cold dark room. Where am I? I stand up and hear a trickle. Water is leaking into the room through tubes in the wall. I start to panic. There's no way out of the room. I run to the other side. It's maybe twenty feet across. I look down and see my feet are submerged in water. But.. I don't feel wet. Even so, I get more and more anxious as it fills in around my knees. I want to call out, but I'm more afraid of what will answer me. I sit down and let the water submerge me. As I float to the top, the clear liquid goes up to my throat. It feels as though I'm floating on air. Why can't I feel the water?

It covers my mouth and there is no room left. I hold my breath as I float around, helpless. It feels like I'm defying gravity. There's no weight or pressure like there would be in a pool or the ocean.

I can't hold my breath any longer. I exhale and am surprised to find out that I am breathing perfectly fine. My heart rate starts to go down as I hover, suspended in midair by a substance I thought was familiar. Suddenly I hear a rip. I look down at my arm. There's a rip going down the side of it, as if.. a seam has come off. I gasp. Stuffing floats out of me like I'm some child's plush toy. I reach out for it but it dissolves in my hands like cotton candy. I want to cry but my tears are drowned out in the neverending sea around me. It's so dark.

I hear a siren.

My whole body starts to shake, it fills me with a terror I haven't known before. Where is the sound coming from? It's so distorted. I can't do anything. I swim around and just hit the blank walls of my enclosure. I look up. An air pocket! I don't need one, but the sight of it is refreshing. I paddle up effortlessly and my lips meet the oxyg-

"VESPER!" my mom yells. "YOU'RE LATE!"

I jolt up. My pajamas are soaked with sweat. Great. I hurriedly throw on some clothes and jog to school. No breakfast today.

I gasp as I walk into first period. I didn't have time to look for Sun during my rush. I'll see them in 45 minutes anyway. Teacher Cord drones on and on... something about metaphors and first person point of view... boring stuff. Saturn's swooning over Rudolph. Disgusting.

As the bell rings and I dart out of class, I see an energetic Sun come racing toward me.

"Hello Vesper!"

"Hey Sun. Sorry I couldn't see you earlier, I was late."

"It's okay! How are you?"

"I'm alright. Had a wacky ass dream last night, though."

"Hahaha!"

I smile as we walk into second period. Maybe the rest of 11th grade won't be so bad with Sun. It's only November, anyway.

"So Vesper," Sun chirps as the teacher hands out our worksheets, "what was your dream about?"

"I was in this room? Drowning. Funny water stuff. I also came apart, like a doll!"

"Hmm... are you stressed for tests coming up?"

"No- well, maybe. I'm not sure. I guess so."

"Could be a likely cause is all."

"True, true."

We do our math in silence until Sun peeps up again about half an hour later.

"How long til lunch?" they frown.

"Well, we still have third period first."

"I'm hungry," Sun whines.

I glance up at the clock.

Wait.

What?

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