The Blazing Rebellion

Chapter 9

John POV

The dream started with a whisper. He couldn't quite tell what it was saying, but something about the voice made shivers go down John's spine. He recognized it but couldn't quite place it.

John seemed to be standing in the darkness in his dream. He reached out to try and find a way out of it, but there was nothing. Nothing, until the voice spoke again.

"John." He turned around and froze. In front of him stood Claire, but not as he'd seen her in his two month suspension in New Bostin; no, here she was much younger. This was the Claire from the memories that had been burned into John's head. No, why is she here? I don't want to think about the past!

Claire stared at him with narrowed red eyes, her arms crossed. "Look at what you did," She told him, gesturing to the darkness around them. Suddenly it was no longer dark. John could see now that they were back in the Turf Wars field in New Bostin High School. The bodies of numerous students covered the floor. John took a step back.

"N-no. Not again," He whispered. He'd had variations of this dream so many times, repetitions of the memories that haunted him. They'd stopped after his break in New Bostin, and he'd thought they were gone for good, but now...

"J-John?" This time, it was a different voice speaking. Different, but just as familiar. John slowly turned around.

It was Sera. She stood a few feet away, staring at him with horror and shock in her eyes. She'd seen the bodies on the floor, the results of what John had done. John gulped. Sera hadn't been in his dreams very much before; it had always been Claire and New Bostin. Somehow, he knew that this would only make it worse.

"What did you do? Why would you beat them up?!" Sera exclaimed, backing away from John. Tears gathered in the corners of her dark blue eyes. John reached towards her, willing her not to go.

"I-I didn't," He tried to tell her, but Sera didn't seem to hear him.

"I trusted you," She whispered.

"I'm sorry-" John began again, but Sera's eyes had narrowed in anger. She ran towards him, pounding a fist against his chest.

"What a liar! You played me, John! I'll never make the same mistake again. I can't trust you any longer," Sera told him, her face growing more and more angry with every word. John tried to grab her arm, to tell her that he was really sorry for it all, but his hands slipped through and Sera vanished.

The bodies on the floor vanished, the room fading back to darkness. Sera and Claire were both gone. However, just as the dream was ending, John heard an echo of their voices through the black... "Monster!"

He woke up with a start. John stared at the ceiling for several minutes, breathing hard.

"What am I going to do?" He whispered.

His nightmares were back.

Although he had school the next day, John knew he couldn't lie in bed any longer. He threw back the covers and left the room, heart pounding in his chest. He had to do something. Talk to someone. Anything to get that dream out of his head.

John caught sight of his computer on the table outside of his bedroom. He walked over to it, opening it to check the time. It was late... John sighed. There was no way he was going to be very awake for school tomorrow if he didn't go to bed now. However, sleeping when he was still this stressed wasn't really an option. If he could even fall asleep. Most likely he'd lay awake, fearing the nightmares.

Glancing at the time again, John realized that Sera would probably have been back by now. She couldn't have been away for the night too, right? She has school tomorrow just like I do. John frowned. What if that Spectre thing is keeping her away though? Sighing, John wished he would've gone after her earlier.

There were so many things he'd wished he'd done at this point... John was living a life full of regrets. Maybe if I'd told Sera about my ability in the first place, then this wouldn't have happened. Maybe she would've trusted me more.

The words from his dream, a mix of Sera and Claire's voices, echoed in his head once again. Monster.

Maybe Sera wouldn't have trusted him more. Maybe she just would've hated him sooner. Sighing once again, John stared at the screen of his computer. Sera and his Dad, his only contacts, were both offline... Then, the screen flickered. Now, John's Dad was listed as online. If he's not working, I could call him.

A wave of relief washed over John. His Dad knew what had happened. He, like Sera, was supportive of John... and to John's knowledge he wasn't keeping any secrets. John didn't even need to tell him what was going on. He would most likely be able to cheer up John.

John clicked the call button and waited for his Dad to answer. The call rang again and again as John waited. He continued to wait.

His Dad didn't pick up.

There was a small beep as the call was ended, and another as John's Dad became offline. John stared at the computer for a second. Did I imagine seeing him online? He was sure about what he'd seen, though... Sera was still offline, but mere minutes before, John had been sure his Dad was there. So why hadn't he picked up? Why had he just left?

It left an uncomfortable feeling in his stomach, the same nervousness for the future that he'd felt when he'd watched Sera leave the school. It could've just been a simple glitch. Maybe his Dad was busy. However, the feeling made John doubt this; he could almost tell that something had happened.

What was going on with everyone, and what we he supposed to do?!

John was stuck once again.