The Weavers of Illusions

Chapter 2

Max woke up in a cold sweat gasping for breath. He looked around frantically searching for the mad lady. Once Max's heart slowed down, he silently scolded himself for thinking the witch came with him from his dream. Still Max was worried. He had been having the same dream since his last birthday, but this night it had been especially realistic. Max shivered and checked the clock, it read 5:00. Max groaned and shouted, "Again!". Max had been waking up 1 hour early, due to the dream. Max stared at the ceiling for a few minutes, pondering his dream, then he threw off his covers and started to get ready for school. As Max changed his clothes his thoughts returned to his dream from the night. Did it have any meaning in his life? Could the witch have any symbolize that he would meet someone odd? Max shook off these superficial thoughts, and had to tell himself that dreams had no effect on waking life, except for laughing at when they were over.

Once Max finished with getting ready, he checked the clock again, which now read 5:36. He smiled and thought that maybe the dream was a good thing, after all all it allowed him to wake up earlier. Max walked downstairs and shouted to his parents, " Mom, Dad, I'm going out for the bus!" Max walked out the door, and then jogged to his bus stop. Once he got to his stop, he looked around at the fog rolling slowly through his neighbor hood, as if it had no care in the world. Max waited as the fog slowly engulfed him and the bus stop, now seeming more sinister, than beautiful as it concealed everything surrounding him and made it much harder to detect anything around him. Max frowned and checked his watch, growing confused as he realized no kids had come to the bus stop, even though it was almost time for the bus to arrive. His worries dissipated as he heard the crunching of shoes against the brittle fall grass. Max turned to meet what he thought was going to be a familiar face,but was instead a stranger. Max was at first unworried by the stranger, who he assumed was a stranger, but as the stranger came into full view, it was obvious his intention was to speak to Max. The man had sharp blue eyes, dark black hair, and a friendly smile. He was wearing a brown coat that protected well against the cold fall evening.

"Are you waiting for the bus?", the man asked seemingly amused.

"Um... Yeah..?" Max replied confused, by the mans odd question. After all Max was waiting at the bus stop.

"Well the bus got into an accident on the way here, didn't you get the memo?" the man inquired, with the same amused smile, though there was a little bit of curiosity this time.

"No, I didn't here about that." Max replied frowning. "But, how did you know, and why did you come here?" The man appeared flustered for a moment, but then he regained his cool composure, and said

"I'm part of the school board, and I live across the street from here. When I saw you waiting here I thought I might tell you about what happened."

"Oh," Max replied surprised, "Well, I guess I should be on my-"

"No no, I have some questions to ask you." the man said quickly cutting off Max's reply. Max flinched, from the unexpected cut off, but he calmly waited for the questions when they came. The pulled out a notepad and started murmuring quietly to himself until he landed on a particular page, and let out a tiny yelp of triumphs. Suddenly Max wondered what this mans name was and why he was talking to him.

"Who are you?" Max said when he couldn't hold in that question any more," Like your name, and why your talking to me?" The man looked up and scowled, he started murmuring to himself, Max only heard,

"-let down my defense-" Max wondered what defense, but he brushed away his response and asked his question again.