Chapter 1
It was the same as any other day.
I woke up, ate breakfast, went to school, and came home.
But something felt different. Something was off.
When I got home from school, I dropped my backpack on our dining room table. My mom was sitting on the couch watching mindless television. I used to enjoy watching TV until I realized how over-dramatic and fake it is. My mom, however, is hooked on reality TV.
“Juliana, you're home already! How was school?” My mom asked me, turning her attention away from some show with bad dancers and a cranky old man with a British accent.
“It was fine. I have a ton of homework, though.” I said, pulling out my homework for the day. Her eyes widened, looking at the papers in my hand.
“Well then, go get to work!” She said, as she usually does when I have a lot of homework.
“But mom, I have to study for my drivers test!” I said in a sarcastic tone. Although I knew that school came first, it was most likely that I would go upstairs and skim through the drivers manual. Then I would proceed to check Facebook, Twitter, and any other social media site I could think of.
My birthday is coming up in a few days. I'm finally turning 16. This is basically the day that I've been waiting for my whole life. I am going to take my drivers test on my birthday, and I'm really nervous. Most of my friends failed their first time, and I don't want that to happen to me. I want to get my license as soon as possible.
As soon as I mentioned my drivers test, my mom got a dark look in her eye. She gets this way every time I mention my 16th birthday or getting my license. I wasn't exactly sure why, however I think she might just be sad to see me growing up. But this was a different look, something with a much deeper feeling than just sad. But that was really the only answer I could come up with.
I went up to my room, and did as I expected. Nothing interesting was new with any of my friends, and I had skimmed my drivers book more times than I could count. So I decided it was time to quit procrastinating, and work on my homework.
That night at dinner, my mom and I sat in an awkward silence. I'm an only child, so I don't have any siblings to be obnoxiously loud at the dinner table. My mom and dad got a divorce when I was 5, so I have no dad to talk about how his day at work was. My mom and I already discussed my school day, and her job as a photographer hasn't been very interesting lately. So, there never is much for us to discuss. I decided to bring up my drivers license again, and maybe get to the bottom of why she acts weird when I bring it up.
“So, I think I'm prepared to take my license test on Thursday.” I cheerily declared.
I watched her eyes carefully as I was speaking, and the moment I said the word “license”, she instantly looked down at her almost-empty plate.
“That's nice,” she said, still looking down “but I wouldn't get your hopes too high. A lot of your friends didn't pass the first time.”
I was dumbfounded. She's never said anything like that. Whenever I strive to achieve something like this, she always supports me no matter what.
“Well, thanks a lot. It's great to know you believe in me.” I said with sarcasm. I was finished with dinner, so I put my plate and silverware in the sink, and went up to my room. I didn't even give my mom a chance to speak, because I didn't care to hear what else she had to say. I was so frustrated with her. She didn't need to be so negative.
Later that night, I had problems falling asleep. Not only was I stressed about taking my license test in a few days, but I was confused about my mom's strange reaction to my license test. The more I thought about it, I realized she got that way when I mentioned my birthday in general. I was so confused, but I was going to figure it out eventually. Either that, or I'll just forget about it and let it pass by. She has to get over it eventually.
When I finally fell asleep, I wish I hadn't. I had the weirdest dream I've ever had. I was in a dark, cold room, and there was a soft, calming whisper of a voice speaking to me. “Don't be afraid, you'll enjoy being one of us.” The voice was more clear than I would expect in a dream. I felt a sharp pain in my arm, and then I woke up. I felt like there was more to the dream, but I couldn't remember.
The day was once again the same. I was getting more and more excited about taking my license test. I only had the rest of the day and all of the next day to wait. Although I was still unsure of everything else that was going on. I had a brief thought that maybe everything might be tied together somehow, with my dream, and my mom's strange behavior, but I brushed off that idea.
The rest of that day and the next day went by quickly. The next thing I knew, it was the night before my 16th birthday. I was too excited to sleep. The only difference I noticed was my mom was acting really sad. I normally would have thought it was because I was growing up, but this was much more than that. She almost seemed depressed, and I was getting worried about her. Before I went to bed, she gave me a huge hug, and almost started crying when she left my room. I didn't understand why she was so upset, but I was just excited to get my license.
That night, I had that pesky dream again. But this time, it was even clearer than the last time. It almost seemed real. This time, I decided I wanted to see if I could figure out more about this dream. I wanted to know what it meant. When the voice said what it did about “being one of them”, I asked what it meant.
“People see us as beasts; as monsters of the land. They call us “criminals”, but it's something much deeper. This world is full of pathetic, mindless beings. We want to change that. We want to rid this planet of these beings, and replace them with much more meaningful creatures. Even if we are monsters, our intentions are good. The difference between us and the monsters in fairytales, is the monsters in fairytales are big, ugly creatures. When it comes to us, our beast is hidden on the inside.”
This dream was getting freakier by the second. I wanted and tried to wake up so badly, but I couldn't. “I can't be one of you, I want to be normal, please let me go!” I knew this was a dream, but I couldn't help but be terrified. I felt a strange need to defend myself.
“This will only hurt a bit, I promise.”
I felt the pain in my arm. A rushing of the blood in my head, pounding of my heart, and whirling of the room around me. I was expecting to wake up, but instead, I fell asleep.
This was no dream.
