Escaping Reality

Prologue

First POV

Hi, I'm Allenna Maxine, just a typical girl who is an introvert and has a lot of imagination. My hobbies are reading books, mostly novels, and sketching. 
 
And it's hard to say that. I really liked to sketch, which led me to this path... being looked down on by everyone; no one seems to know the beauty, the pain, the sorrow, and the other emotions that the artists show in their works. That's why me, who realized the beauty of such, motivated me to draw something, and that's what I decided to be. 
 
To be an artist, but... Even my parents don't care how much I love the arts; no one seems to see the light that I emit through these endless voids. 
 
As they kept pushing me down, I tried to get back up. I'm motivating myself to pass those challenges, but as time passes, I'm starting to feel hopeless. 
 
The chains keep pulling me down into an abyss of darkness that even I can't escape. The anger my parents face when I try to reason... The disappointment of my friends when I brag about it to them... I came to the thought, Why am I even here when no one even acknowledges my own flaws?". 
 
I want to go to a place where I could start over and everyone would accept me for who I am going to be. But that would be impossible unless I had money to go abroad... I couldn't even pay much of the school's expenses for projects and such. 
 
"Escaping reality would be a nice choice, but..." I sighed, because who am I kidding? A person can't escape reality! HAH! "Me and my imaginations." I chuckled to myself. I don't have school today because it is a holiday, so here I am stuck in my room reading this interesting book I found at my grandparents house. 
 
I haven't seen this book before, and the cover was written in Latin, Desideravit, which also means The Desired Reality. The books were mixed in every genre, which was kind of interesting, and when I was so engulfed in the book, I hadn't noticed the time that was nearing midnight. 
 
Reading each of the pages was relaxing. My mind wondered about the events as they created scenes because they were explained in the book. 
 
My happiness was cut short, though, as I was pulled back to reality when my eyes started to drop because of sleepiness. 
 
Falling asleep is one of my problems since every time I fall asleep, I mostly get nightmares, though this time... It seemed so different; my dreams aren't that horrific; instead, the dream contains a paradise. 
 
The place was peaceful, a grassy ground with trees everywhere. Butterflies flew around with each step I took. It felt so real, as I could hear the river flowing and birds chirping. 
 
I closed my eyes and felt the breeze when I opened them. I was met with the sight of my ceiling, and the book that I was reading was lying in my stomach. 
 
This made me sigh in disappointment. "Happiness isn't always there, because this is the reality." I trailed off as I stared at the ceiling and then at my clock, which showed me that it was still three in the morning. 
 
"And the dream wouldn't last long either." I hugged the book and turned around, closing my eyes for the second time, hoping that the dream would still be there, but what I witnessed was not what I was hoping for. 
 
The pit of darkness is all I could see—no land, no beautiful plants. What surrounded me was darkness with thorns of black roses that didn't exist. I was standing there, confused out of my mind. The laughter of a child echoed around the place as I saw my friends and family's backs facing me. 
 
"You guys!" I called as I ran towards them, ignoring each thorn that pierced into my flesh just to get to them with a smile, but as they turned around to face me... I realized that their faces were full of disappointment, regret, and emotions that I didn't want them to have.
 
Which made me stop; these aren't my friends nor my family. "You're a disgrace," my father stated as he hugged my mother, who started crying. 
 
"We don't even know why we tried to befriend you; you're useless." My best friend followed as my other friends nodded their heads in agreement. 
 
'T-this was just a dream, right? ' I thought as I watched them disappear from my sight. Their voice sounded like theirs, their faces resembled the real ones, and the words they spoke stung more than the black rose thorn that I currently feel. 
 
I couldn't breathe, my face was empty, and no tears fell even though I wanted to. What came out was a chuckle of laughter. "I'll escape this reality that gives me this suffering." I closed my eyes, and once again, I was back in my room. I don't remember anything in the dream that I had. Yet, the tears keep flowing down my face, nonstop. 
 
"What is wrong with me?" I questioned myself and hopped out of bed and walked into my bathroom to wash my face. The book was the only thing left on my bed. 
 
As I went in, a knock was heard at my door. "Come in!" I shouted since I was still in my bathroom. "I'll leave your new uniform here on your bed, sweetie!" My mom's voice said to me. I immediately wiped my face with a towel and walked out of the bathroom. 
 
I saw my mom putting a new uniform on my bed as she said to me, "Mom?" I called, since I was confused. The uniform was odd, since I haven't seen that uniform before, and there was only one school in this country. 
 
"Yes, sweetie," Mom said as she turned around with a smile. "Why do I have to wear that uniform?" I asked, and I was met with my mom's confused face. 
 
"It's your new school uniform, sweetie, don't you remember?" She answered, and now I was super confused. 'Since when do I have a school uniform?! ' I thought.