Assassination Academy (Book 1)

Chapter 6 - {Nightmare}

Ayrton looked up. 6PM. Woah. Did he just travel through time? It was only morning since he last checked the time, and he saw his homework neatly piled on his desk, and he saw words scribbled on the report card and all his homework.

Strange. He looked down to see he was still wearing the same clothes he was wearing on the same day. Everything seemed normal. Enough. 

He was sitting on his bed, though it was tidied, and Ayrton remembered he didn't tidy his bed that day.

"Ana?" He whispered.

Nothing.

"Ana?" He tried again, more loud and clear.

Still nothing.

"Mom? Dad?" He asked in his normal voice.

Nothing.

All right, this was weird. Ayrton looked at his hands, all normal; his hair, all normal; his eyes, normal brown; his clothes, all normal.

Ayrton stood up slowly, testing his bedroom floor. Sturdy as ever. He took a step. Nothing fell out of the sky.

The sky! He looked outside, it was dark with a billion shining stars. It was morning with clouds the last time he checked.

He ran toward his bedroom door and tried to open it, but it was locked tight. 

CREEEEAK. 

Ayrton jumped and turned back. Nothing.

CREEEEAK.

Ayrton checked his ceiling, his floor, his bed, everywhere. Nothing.

CREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAK.

It was louder this time. Ayrton screamed but nothing came out of his mouth this time. 

He tried to move his arm to try and open the door again, but he couldn't move at all. He stiffened his body, straining his neck to see behind him.

Suddenly, a dark shadow engulfed him, swallowing him with inky darkness.

He tried to scream again, still, nothing came out of his mouth.

"Ayrton! Ayrton! AYRTON?!" He heard Ana's voice yell. "WAKE UP!"

Then he felt a hand slap on his cheek, and he closed his eyes. 

The inky darkness slowly went away, bit by bit.

Ayrton awoke.

"Took you long enough," Ana said.

He looked around, his bed was not tidied, his homework wasn't finished, the time was right, the sky was normal.

Phew, he thought. That was just a small nightmare. 

"You've been out for thirty minutes," Ana said, sitting up straighter in the bean bag she sat on. "Why'd you doze off?"

"I don't know," Ayrton admitted.

"Were you dreaming?" Ana asked.

"A nightmare," Ayrton mumbled. "Very scary."

"Oh, poor thing," Ana patted his head and stood up. "You want some milk?"

"Why would I need milk?" Ayrton asked his sister.

"Because that always helped me clear my head some nightmare-ish stuff," Ana answered, smiling. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Um, OK. It was normal at the start, like any normal dream," Ayrton started, and Ana sat down again, "but then I saw weird things: it was nighttime, my homework was finished, and my bed was tidied. I called out for you, Mom, and Dad, but I couldn't say anything, and then I went to the door-"